Before 1850, associational culture among Slovenes was relatively weak. With economic development, urbanization and the growth of a bourgeois middle class came the expansion of press, publishing and institutional life. Sociability prospered after the 1848 revolution, which abolished preliminary censorship. The emerging national media and publishers, in tandem with cultural societies, reading rooms, sports clubs, etc., fostered a sense of a community along ethnic and linguistic lines, connecting Slovenians in the traditional Habsburg lands of Carniola (the only region where they were in the majority) with those in Carinthia, Styria and the coastal area.

The first continuous newspaper in Slovenian was Lublanske novice (“Ljubljana news”), published between 1797-1800 by Valentin Vodnik. From 1830-34, the almanac Kranjska čbelica (“The Carniolan bee”) published new Romantic poetry. In 1843, the authorities allowed the publication of Kmetijske in rokodelske novice (“Agricultural and artisan news”) by the Carniolan Agricultural Society (Kmetijska Družba za Kranjsko), edited by the veterinarian Janez Bleiweis, political leader of the so-called Old-Slovenians; it appeared as a weekly from 1843 until 1902 (twice-weekly between 1852 and 1857).

After the abolition of preliminary censorship in 1848, a number of new media were launched. The liberal Slovenski narod (“Slovene nation”) was founded in 1868 in Maribor; initially appearing three times a week, it became a daily in 1873, a year after moving to Ljubljana. In 1873 the conservative-clerical Slovenec (“The Slovenian”) was established in Ljubljana, initially with three editions per week as well; it became a daily in 1883. The third daily was the Triestine Edinost (“Unity”), founded as a bi-weekly in 1876 (and a daily from 1896 on). The expanding media system fostered the functional differentiation and professionalization of editorial and writing roles and at the same time stimulated the development of prose literature (fiction, feuilletons), advertising, etc.

Throughout the century, literary and cultural topics were prominently represented in all printed media, including the dailies. Especially noteworthy were the literary magazines which emerged after 1848. From 1848 to 1850, the weekly Vedež, edited by Ivan Navratil, was published in Ljubljana; in 1850, another weekly, Slovenska čbela (“The Slovenian bee”), was published in Celje by Jožef Drobnič, while from 1850 to 1853, Anton Janežič published Slovenska bčela (the same title in an alternative spelling) in Celovec/Klagenfurt. The first magazine to last a decade (1858-68) was Slovenski glasnik (“The Slovenian herald”), also edited by Janežič in Celovec. Josip Stritar’s bi-weekly Zvon (“The bell”, 1870, 1876-80) appeared in Vienna. In 1881, Ljubljana began to take over primacy with the monthly Ljubljanski zvon (“The Ljubljana bell”, 1881-1942), which set the standard for a modern literary-cultural magazine. Simultaneously, Jakob Sket in Celovec brought out Kres (“The bonfire”, 1881-86), a rival Catholic magazine. From 1884 to 1887, the Ljubljana liberals Ivan Tavčar and Ivan Hribar published Slovan (“The Slav”), edited by Tavčar with Anton Trstenjak. In 1888 Dom in svet (“Home and world”) started its career as a new, Catholic rival to the liberal Ljubljanski zvon, surviving on the scene until 1944.

A similar development characterizes book publishing. In the pioneering phase, prior to 1848, the publishing of Slovenian books was thwarted by preliminary censorship, a scant reading audience, limited market and deficient copyright regulation. Slovenian books were published only incidentally, by printer-booksellers dealing mainly in German- and Latin-language publications: Janez Friderik Eger (publisher of Lublanske novice and the poetry almanac Pisanice, 1779-81), Ignaz Kleinmayr (later Kleinmayr & Bamberg, publisher of the German-language Laibacher Zeitung), Johannes Retzer (publisher of Valentin Vodnik’s Pesme za pokušino, 1806) and Josef Blaznik (Kmetijske in rokodelske novice and a number of Slovenian books).

A breakthrough came with the Catholic Mohorjeva Družba (St Hermagoras Society), organized by Anton Janežič and Andrej Einspieler in 1853 on the initiative of Bishop Anton Martin Slomšek and based in Celovec/Klagenfurt. The annual book package for the society’s local subscribers consisted mostly of religious and practical instruction and fictional leisure reading. Its efficient network of advertising and distribution, using the social and infrastructural network of the Catholic Church, ensured an increasing membership after 1860; by the end of the century, it served no less than 80,000 subscribers, producing the Slovenian “literacy miracle”.

As a part of the Pan-Slavic Matica trend, the Slovenska Matica (Slovenian Matica) was founded in 1864 for publishing quality and scholarly books. Slower in growth, its number of subscribers reached 3600 in the first decade of the new century. The Matica published original work and fiction, and initiated text-critical editions of the national literary classics. Most notable were its scholarly editions: Slovenske narodne pesmi (“Slovenian folk songs”, 1895-1907), collected and edited by Karel Štrekelj; Zgodovina slovenskega slovstva (“History of Slovenian literature”, 1894-1900) by Karel Glaser; Slovenska bibliografija (“Slovenian bibliography”, 1903-05) by Franc Simonič; and the topographical-historical Slovenska zemlja (“The Slovenian land”), published irregularly in separate volumes starting in 1892. Another notable publishing society was Dramatično Društvo (Dramatic Society), which brought out c.60 dramatic works between 1867 and 1896.

Towards the end of the century the publishing societies had to face the growing competition of private publishers and booksellers, such as Janez Giontini in Ljubljana, the ambitious Janez Krajec in Novo Mesto and Andrej Gabršček in Gorica (Gorizia, today in Italy). After 1898, the publishing of literature in Ljubljana was strongly marked by Lavoslav Schwentner. As the Habsburg Empire collapsed, the majority of Slovenians found themselves in a new political context of Royal Yugoslavia, experiencing a greater level of cultural autonomy. In the new setting, German culture lost its primacy, and Slovenian publishing flourished. Exposed to the free market and regulated from 1929 on by relatively modern copyright legislation, a set of publishers of various sizes and profiles operated. Among the leading ones were Tiskovna Zadruga, Katoliška Knjigarna (Katoliško Tiskovno Društvo), Jugoslovanska Knjigarna, Zvezna Knjigarna, Modra Ptica, Umetniška Propaganda and Nova Založba.