First published in 1846, Mitchell's Press Directories listed newspaper titles with additional information about their geographical and topical coverage.
[2] His goal in publishing the Directories was 'to form a guide to advertisers in their selection of journals as mediums more particularly suitable for their announcements',[3] and as a 'more dignified and permanent record' of British newspapers.
[4] As described in the first edition, for each newspaper published in 'Great Britain and Ireland and the British Isles', Mitchell aimed to list the 'leading features connected with the population, manufactures, trade, &c., of each newspaper district': Sometimes this included a short summary of history of the paper, and comments on its 'style and contents'.
[4] Originally their geographical coverage was the British Isles,[4] but by 1891 his Directories were international in scope, listing titles from 'Algeria, Pondicherry, Senegal, the French provinces, and many other locales'.
[4] In recent years, the Directories have become an important source of information for scholars studying the British press in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.