Jewsbury is believed to have reviewed over 2000 books between 1846 and 1880, including novels, children's books, memoirs, biographies, histories, cookbooks and household management books, mainly for the weekly Athenaeum.
Jewsbury also worked as a publisher's reader for Hurst and Blackett and for Bentley, recommending they publish Ellen Wood's best-selling East Lynne (1861), although turning down such later successful authors as M. E. Braddon and Ouida.