When the first “Facts of Journal Publishing” appeared in PMLA (December 1954), its circulation statistics were cited as illustrations of the precarious positions of a number of publications in the field of modern languages. William Riley Parker introduced the tabulations with an exhortation to the MLA membership to support journals in their respective disciplines with their subscriptions. “Study the stark figures we have compiled for you,” he advised. “In some cases they are a kind of fever chart in reverse, showing the condition of dying, or very sick, patients. In general they reveal many periodicals in search of a profession. We have been letting George support these old friends of ours, and George has not been very numerous lately.”