Manorama Books

''Malayala Manorama'' is a morning newspaper in Malayalam published from Kottayam, Kerala, India by the Malayala Manorama Company Limited. Currently headed by Mammen Mathew; it was first published as a weekly on 22 March 1888, and currently has a readership of over 20 million (with a circulation base of over 2.4 million copies). It is also the second oldest Malayalam newspaper in Kerala in circulation, after ''Deepika'', which is also published from Kottayam. ''Manorama'' also publishes an online edition.

According to World Association of Newspapers, as of 2016, it was the fourteenth most circulated newspaper in the world. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) 2013 figures, it is the third largest circulating newspaper in India (behind ''The Times of India'' and ''Dainik Jagran'') and the largest circulating newspaper in Kerala.

History

Beginnings in Kottayam

Malayala Manorama Company is a private LLC corporation, owned by the Kandathil family, incorporated by Kandathil Varghese Mappillai at Kottayam in south-western Kerala on 14 March 1888. The company started with one hundred shares of ₹100 each. The investors paid in four equal instalments. With the first instalment, the company brought a Hopkinson and Cope press, made in London. A local craftsman, Konthi Achari, was hired to make Malayalam types for the imported press.

Varghese Mappillai had worked for a year as editor of ''Kerala Mitram'', a Malayalam newspaper run by Gujarati businessman Devji Bhimji, in Cochin and he took over the same position for ''Manorama''. The Maharajah of Travancore Moolam Thirunal approved the logo of the newspaper which was a slight modification of the Travancore Coat of Arms.

The first issue was published on 22 March 1890 from M.D Seminary, Kottayam, while the town was hosting a popular cattle fair. It was a four-page weekly newspaper, published on Saturdays. The weekly newspaper became a bi-weekly in 1901, a tri-weekly on 2 July 1918 and a daily on 2 July 1928. After Varghese Mappillai death in 1904, his nephew K. C. Mammen Mappillai took over as editor.

In 1938, Travancore state proscribed ''Malayala Manorama'' on charges of publishing news against the Diwan; Mammen Mappillai was convicted and imprisoned. ''Malayala Manorama'' re-commenced regular publication in 1947 after the Indian independence and the Diwan's downfall.

On Mammen Mappillai's death, his eldest son K. M. Cheriyan took over as the Editor-in-Chief in 1954. At this time, ''Malayala Manorama'' was produced in a single edition in Kottayam with a circulation of 28,666 copies.R Krishnakumar ''OBITUARY: Mathew touch''. '' The Hindu'' Vol: 27 Iss: 1

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By the late 1950s, ''Manorama'' steadily increased circulation and overtook ''Mathrubhumi'' in circulation, the dominant Malayalam daily at the time.

Expansion across Kerala (1960s)

The struggle between ''Malayala Manorama'' (based in Kottayam) and ''Mathrubhumi'' (based in Kozhikode) demonstrated the forces that would drive the expansion of Indian regional newspapers. The contest also illustrated the difficulties if expansion had to rely on Gutenberg-style printing as with the case of ''Manorama''.

Comparison of circulation ''Malayala Manorama'' and ''Mathrubhumi''
(from ''India's Newspaper Revolution'' (2000) by Robin Jeffrey, ''Western Influence on Malayalam Language and Literature'' (1972) by K. M. George and Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) 2013)

In 1962, ''Mathrubhumi'' launched its second edition in Kochi. The new edition sent ''Mathrubumi'' to a circulation of 170,000 copies by 1964, 19,000 more than its rival, ''Malayala Manorama''. With ''Mathrubhoomi'''s circulation rising, it became a compulsion for ''Manorama'' to expand its reach, and consequently, introduce new technology. The competition set off a keen struggle for more readers, faster equipment and national advertising from major consumer goods companies uch as Hindustan Lever">Hindustan_Lever.html" ;"title="uch as Hindustan Lever">uch as Hindustan Lever ''Manorama ''launched its printing centre at Kozhikode, Malabar in 1966 with a cast-off press from the paper's base at Kottayam and hand-composed type. But in the run-up to that event, it had installed an offset press at Kottayam and established a teleprinter line with New Delhi in 1965.

By 1970, it was the leading daily in Kerala. The circulation of the newspaper rose from around 30,000 to 300,000 by this expansion across the Malabar region">Malabar