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Literature in the Marketplace: Nineteenth-Century British Publishing and Reading Practices
This innovative collection of essays addresses important issues in the history of the book. The multidisciplinary essays consider different aspects of the production, circulation, and consumption of printed texts, analyzing such topics as market trends, modes of publication, and the use of pseudonyms by women writers. Contributors draw on speech act, reader response and gender theory in addition to historical, narratological, materialist, and bibliographical perspectives to study authors such as Dickens, the Brontës and George Eliot.
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First published May 25, 1995
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January 6, 2026
When we are reading an early Victorian novel, it is sometimes hard for us to bear in mind that it was almost certainly written to be read as a serial. Every single one of Charles Dickens’s 15 novels was issued as a serial, and then in volume form (although later on, publication of the volume edition sometimes overlapped with the serial's final installments).
This obviously could affect the events in the story; the enthusiastic (or otherwise) responses from readers, for instance. Sometimes, as in “The Pickwick Papers”, the events would seem to look forward as the serial proceeded, and in others, as in “Barnaby Rudge”, the action looks back. Other serials would include current events from the time, although at the commencement they may not have been in the author’s mind even as a possibility. It’s interesting to imagine for instance, if serial fiction was the norm now, how authors would have incorporated the Covid pandemic into their serialised novel.
It is very rare for us to read in this way now, whether we choose to read a novel in 3 days, 3 weeks or 3 months. The pace of reading has escalated vastly, and many of us have a voracious appetite for books. Most of us choose our speed of reading, rather than allowing the author/publisher to impose their own ideas.
Again, we like to decide for ourselves how much to read in one sitting, although sometimes we might accidentally respect the ending of an installment, if we pause at the end of a specific chapter. This is less likely though, as many installments ended deliberately with a cliffhanger, to ensure high sales of the magazine the following month. This was later seen by critics such as Henry James, as debasing the literary form.
When we consider that many of these serials were published in 18 monthly parts, it seems impossible for 21st century readers to read in such a way. As well as affecting the content of the stories, it also necessarily affected the style. Charles Dickens for instance, with his plethora of characters, regularly had to think of a way to keep an individual character in his reader’s minds, knowing that they might not come into the story again for 3 or 4 months - or even perhaps a year! So he tended to give some characters ways they could be remembered; perhaps a particular feature of their appearance, or a behavioural “tic”, or an inflexion in their speech. It must be memorable enough to function as a trigger for the reader. Dickens found he loved to play with these “quirks”, and often cleverly made us aware of their return, moments before we could quite remember who they belonged to …
These are a few of the aspects of serial literature that we have now lost. Another is the fact that each serial installment was usually illustrated. When did you last read a modern novel which was illustrated? Interestingly one illustration in each installment would be proleptic: anticipating a scene that the readers had not yet been told. Thus it functioned much as a modern blurb on the back of a novel does nowadays.
All these aspects are noticeable by the reader, but Literature in the Marketplace: Nineteenth-Century British Publishing and Reading Practices has a multidisciplinary approach, covering all aspects of publication at the time. Some of these may appeal to you more than others. For instance, I was not very interested in a detailed survey, cataloguing the production levels and variable sales of all the types of books and serials available over 120 years. The books comprised 3 main groups: high priced, middle priced - and just a few cheaper ones - which could be compared with juvenile fiction, and also with the magazine prices. Figures and bar charts showed how books gradually became cheaper, and thus available to more people. This was interesting up to a point, but I don’t need that amount of detail!
Another advantage a book of scholarly essays has over a single work, is that some of the authors may be known to you, and even if they are all “new”, the likelihood is that you will enjoy reading some. In an industry where academic books are extremely highly priced, and rarely stocked by public libraries, this is worth bearing in mind. Not everyone has access to university libraries, or wishes to pay a subscription. I never purchase such books new; this one was secondhand, from 2003 (originally published in 1995) - and suspiciously unpriced on the cover. A similar one I have from around the time was priced at £55, new, but they can be over £100.
Doubtless there are reasons why, such as the ones in the 19th century, detailed in this book. Nowadays it might be short print runs due to limited interest, or pricing aimed at a wealthy academic institution who might be willing to buy a copy for their library, whereas the students could ill afford it. I can only surmise these sort of reasons, but the effect is that I feel we are fast receding to a time when information and knowledge was severely restricted, and inaccessible to the masses. It was reserved for the nobility; French - or Latin - was the language of power, and used exclusively to enable this. Norman French was the language of the ruling class, court, government, and law for centuries in England. But I am digressing.
If you do manage to acquire a copy of Literature in the Marketplace: Nineteenth-Century British Publishing and Reading Practices, there are 14 essays in this book, which are:
1. Introduction: publishing history as hypertext - John O. Jordan and Robert L. Patten
2. Some trends in British book production 1800-1919 - Simon Eliot
3. Wordsworth in The Keepsake, 1829 - Peter J. Manning
4. Copyright and the publishing of Wordsworth 1850-1900 - Stephen Gill
5. Sam Weller’s Valentine - J. Hillis Miller
6. Serialised retrospection in The Pickwick Papers - Robert L. Patten
7. Textual/sexual pleasure and serial publication - Linda K. Hughes and Michael Lund
8. The disease of reading and Victorian periodicals - Kelly J. Mays
9. How historians study reader response or, what did Jo think of Bleak House? - Jonathan Rose
10. Dickens in the visual market - Gerard Curtis
11. Male pseudonyms and female authority in Victorian England - Catherine A. Judd
12. A bibliographical approach to Victorian publishing - Maura Ives
13. The ‘wicked Westminster’, the Fortnightly, and Walter Pater’s Renaissance - Laurel Brake
14. Serial fiction in Australian colonial newspapers - Elizabeth Morrison
Index
It’s an eclectic mix, for sure. Also, some, such as "Sam Weller’s Valentine" seem quite small and specific topics to cover, and others such as "Serial fiction in Australian colonial newspapers", are simply huge. Also included is a brief bio of each of the authors, so the reader knows their particular academic field, and thus what approach they are likely to take.
Serial publication in the 19th century fascinates me, and this is a good solid look from all aspects. It’s not the sort of a book to be read cover to cover, but if it’s an area of interest for you too, some of the critics may be familiar, and some of these essays should certainly appeal.
This obviously could affect the events in the story; the enthusiastic (or otherwise) responses from readers, for instance. Sometimes, as in “The Pickwick Papers”, the events would seem to look forward as the serial proceeded, and in others, as in “Barnaby Rudge”, the action looks back. Other serials would include current events from the time, although at the commencement they may not have been in the author’s mind even as a possibility. It’s interesting to imagine for instance, if serial fiction was the norm now, how authors would have incorporated the Covid pandemic into their serialised novel.
It is very rare for us to read in this way now, whether we choose to read a novel in 3 days, 3 weeks or 3 months. The pace of reading has escalated vastly, and many of us have a voracious appetite for books. Most of us choose our speed of reading, rather than allowing the author/publisher to impose their own ideas.
Again, we like to decide for ourselves how much to read in one sitting, although sometimes we might accidentally respect the ending of an installment, if we pause at the end of a specific chapter. This is less likely though, as many installments ended deliberately with a cliffhanger, to ensure high sales of the magazine the following month. This was later seen by critics such as Henry James, as debasing the literary form.
When we consider that many of these serials were published in 18 monthly parts, it seems impossible for 21st century readers to read in such a way. As well as affecting the content of the stories, it also necessarily affected the style. Charles Dickens for instance, with his plethora of characters, regularly had to think of a way to keep an individual character in his reader’s minds, knowing that they might not come into the story again for 3 or 4 months - or even perhaps a year! So he tended to give some characters ways they could be remembered; perhaps a particular feature of their appearance, or a behavioural “tic”, or an inflexion in their speech. It must be memorable enough to function as a trigger for the reader. Dickens found he loved to play with these “quirks”, and often cleverly made us aware of their return, moments before we could quite remember who they belonged to …
These are a few of the aspects of serial literature that we have now lost. Another is the fact that each serial installment was usually illustrated. When did you last read a modern novel which was illustrated? Interestingly one illustration in each installment would be proleptic: anticipating a scene that the readers had not yet been told. Thus it functioned much as a modern blurb on the back of a novel does nowadays.
All these aspects are noticeable by the reader, but Literature in the Marketplace: Nineteenth-Century British Publishing and Reading Practices has a multidisciplinary approach, covering all aspects of publication at the time. Some of these may appeal to you more than others. For instance, I was not very interested in a detailed survey, cataloguing the production levels and variable sales of all the types of books and serials available over 120 years. The books comprised 3 main groups: high priced, middle priced - and just a few cheaper ones - which could be compared with juvenile fiction, and also with the magazine prices. Figures and bar charts showed how books gradually became cheaper, and thus available to more people. This was interesting up to a point, but I don’t need that amount of detail!
Another advantage a book of scholarly essays has over a single work, is that some of the authors may be known to you, and even if they are all “new”, the likelihood is that you will enjoy reading some. In an industry where academic books are extremely highly priced, and rarely stocked by public libraries, this is worth bearing in mind. Not everyone has access to university libraries, or wishes to pay a subscription. I never purchase such books new; this one was secondhand, from 2003 (originally published in 1995) - and suspiciously unpriced on the cover. A similar one I have from around the time was priced at £55, new, but they can be over £100.
Doubtless there are reasons why, such as the ones in the 19th century, detailed in this book. Nowadays it might be short print runs due to limited interest, or pricing aimed at a wealthy academic institution who might be willing to buy a copy for their library, whereas the students could ill afford it. I can only surmise these sort of reasons, but the effect is that I feel we are fast receding to a time when information and knowledge was severely restricted, and inaccessible to the masses. It was reserved for the nobility; French - or Latin - was the language of power, and used exclusively to enable this. Norman French was the language of the ruling class, court, government, and law for centuries in England. But I am digressing.
If you do manage to acquire a copy of Literature in the Marketplace: Nineteenth-Century British Publishing and Reading Practices, there are 14 essays in this book, which are:
1. Introduction: publishing history as hypertext - John O. Jordan and Robert L. Patten
2. Some trends in British book production 1800-1919 - Simon Eliot
3. Wordsworth in The Keepsake, 1829 - Peter J. Manning
4. Copyright and the publishing of Wordsworth 1850-1900 - Stephen Gill
5. Sam Weller’s Valentine - J. Hillis Miller
6. Serialised retrospection in The Pickwick Papers - Robert L. Patten
7. Textual/sexual pleasure and serial publication - Linda K. Hughes and Michael Lund
8. The disease of reading and Victorian periodicals - Kelly J. Mays
9. How historians study reader response or, what did Jo think of Bleak House? - Jonathan Rose
10. Dickens in the visual market - Gerard Curtis
11. Male pseudonyms and female authority in Victorian England - Catherine A. Judd
12. A bibliographical approach to Victorian publishing - Maura Ives
13. The ‘wicked Westminster’, the Fortnightly, and Walter Pater’s Renaissance - Laurel Brake
14. Serial fiction in Australian colonial newspapers - Elizabeth Morrison
Index
It’s an eclectic mix, for sure. Also, some, such as "Sam Weller’s Valentine" seem quite small and specific topics to cover, and others such as "Serial fiction in Australian colonial newspapers", are simply huge. Also included is a brief bio of each of the authors, so the reader knows their particular academic field, and thus what approach they are likely to take.
Serial publication in the 19th century fascinates me, and this is a good solid look from all aspects. It’s not the sort of a book to be read cover to cover, but if it’s an area of interest for you too, some of the critics may be familiar, and some of these essays should certainly appeal.
February 5, 2013
This anthology asks the broad question, "How does form affect reception" in nineteenth century Britain especially? Several essays focus, in different ways, on the vicissitudes of seriality. Approaches include Hughes and Lund's reading of the serial as participating in a feminine pattern of desire, Patten on serial retrospective, Curtis on image text and Dickens in the emerging merchandising market.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews