Notes and Queries

Notes and Queries (originally subtitled "a medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists, etc") is a correspondence magazine where scholars and interested amateurs exchange miscellaneous knowledge. It was first published in 1849 as a weekly periodical edited by William John Thoms.

The format consisted of "Notes", miscellaneous thoughts from correspondents that they and the editors considered might be of interest to the readership, and "Queries" (and responses to queries), which formed the bulk of the publication. The magazine has been likened to a (moderated) Internet newsgroup, with which the correspondence shared many features.

Its motto, When found, make a note of, is a catchphrase of a character in Dickens' Dombey and Son.

Notes and Queries has given its name to a number of similar columns and publications; for instance there is a regular feature under the similar title Notes & Queries in The Guardian newspaper.

External links

• N&Q at Oxford University Press
• The Bodleian Internet Library of Early Journals has scans of early numbers. (As of 2004, Project Gutenberg is converting these into text.)
• Article on N&Q from Victoria Research Web
• Notes and Queries in The Guardian