for the early issues, and within a few years the journal had a circulation of 84,000. From 1847 to 1849, it was edited by William Henry Wills. In 1854 the title was changed to Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, and changed again to Chambers's Journal at the end of 1897.

The journal was produced in Edinburgh until the late 1850s, by which time the author James Payn had taken over as editor, and production was moved