The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the Year ..., Volume 70

As well as being a record of events, The Annual Register was originally conceived as a miscellany, including a Chronology, which gave an account of noteworthy events in Britain over the previous year, and a collection of “State Papers”, a miscellany of primary source material which included official documents, speeches, letters and accounts as well as reviewing important books, and featuring historical sketches, poetry, observations on natural history, and other essays, reproduced from books and periodicals. The early volumes of The Annual Register continued to follow this format, with contributions articles on international organizations, economics, the environment, science, law, religion, the arts (art, drama, music) and sport, together with poetry, obituaries, patents, a chronicle of major events. Although Burke was elected to parliament in 1765 and was a committed and prominent Whig,The Annual Register strove to remain non-partisan in its political coverage. After the end of the war in 1763, the History section evolved to cover the past year’s developments more generally in Britain, its colonies, and mainland Europe. From 1775 its length was significantly increased, becoming the main focus of the publication. Burke apparently resigned the editorship in 1789; from that year until the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815 the History was primarily devoted to describing the French Revolution and the wars arising from it.