Serialization and the Novel in Mid-Victorian Magazines

223 Pages·2015·3.592 MB·English

by  Delafield, Catherine

Serialization and the novel in
Mid-victorian MagazineS
Examining the Victorian serial as a text in its own right, Catherine Delafield
re-reads five novels by Elizabeth Gaskell, Anthony Trollope, Dinah Craik, and
Wilkie Collins by situating them in the context of periodical publication. She
traces the roles of the author and editor in the creation and dissemination of the
texts and considers how first publication affected the consumption and reception
of the novel through the periodical medium. Delafield contends that a novel
in volume form has been separated from its original context, that is, from the
pattern of consumption and reception presented by the serial. The novel's later
re-publication still bears the imprint of this serialized original, and this book’s
investigation into nineteenth-century periodicals both generates new readings
of the texts and reinstates those which have been lost in the reprinting process.
Delafield's case studies provide evidence of the ways in which Household Words,
Cornhill Magazine, Good Words, All the Year Round and Cassell's Magazine were
designed for new audiences of novel readers. Serialization and the Novel in Mid-
Victorian Magazines addresses the material conditions of production, illustrates
the collective and collaborative creation of the serialized novel, and contextualizes
a range of texts in the nineteenth-century experience of print.
The Nineteenth Century Series
General Editors’ Preface
The aim of the series is to reflect, develop and extend the great burgeoning of interest
in the nineteenth century that has been an inevitable feature of recent years, as that
former epoch has come more sharply into focus as a locus for our understanding
not only of the past but of the contours of our modernity. It centres primarily
upon major authors and subjects within Romantic and Victorian literature. It also
includes studies of other British writers and issues, where these are matters of
current debate: for example, biography and autobiography, journalism, periodical
literature, travel writing, book production, gender, non-canonical writing. We are
dedicated principally to publishing original monographs and symposia; our policy
is to embrace a broad scope in chronology, approach and range of concern, and
both to recognize and cut innovatively across such parameters as those suggested
by the designations ‘Romantic’ and ‘Victorian’. We welcome new ideas and
theories, while valuing traditional scholarship. It is hoped that the world which
predates yet so forcibly predicts and engages our own will emerge in parts, in
the wider sweep, and in the lively streams of disputation and change that are so
manifest an aspect of its intellectual, artistic and social landscape.
Vincent Newey
Joanne Shattock
University of Leicester
Serialization and the Novel in
Mid-Victorian Magazines
catherine delafield
© Catherine Delafield 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Catherine Delafield has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
Wey Court East 110 Cherry Street
Union Road Suite 3-1
Farnham Burlington, VT 05401-3818
Surrey, GU9 7PT USA
England
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Delafield, Catherine.
Serialization and the novel in mid-Victorian magazines / by Catherine Delafield.
pages cm. — (The nineteenth century series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4724-5090-6 (hardcover: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4724-5091-3 (ebook)
— ISBN 978-1-4724-5092-0 (epub)
1. English fiction—19th century—History and criticism. 2. Literature publishing—
Great Britain—History—19th century. 3. Serialized fiction—Great Britain—History and
criticism. 4. Authors and publishers—Great Britain—History—19th century. I. Title.
PR878.P78D45 2015
823’.809—dc23
2014038423
ISBN: 9781472450906 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781472450913 (ebk – PDF)
ISBN: 9781472450920 (ebk – ePUB)
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgements ix
List of Abbreviations x
Introduction: Rereading the Novel 1
1 Serialization and the Nineteenth-Century Periodical 5
2 Authorship and the Serialized Novel 23
3 Serialization and the Periodical Editor 47
4 The Periodical and the Serialized Novel 73
5 The Serialized Novel 93
6 The Afterlife of the Serialized Novel 161
Appendices 185
Bibliography 195
Index 207
This page has been left blank intentionally
List of Figures
2.1 Opening page of The Moonstone, All the Year Round, 4 January
1868, 73. 31
5.1 ‘A Black Sheep,’ Illustration opening Chapter 4 of Lovel the
Widower, Cornhill Magazine 1 (1860): 385. 108
5.2 J.E. Millais, ‘Lord Lufton and Lucy Robarts,’ Cornhill Magazine
1 (1860): facing page 449. 109
5.3 J.E. Millais, Illustration for R. Monckton Milnes, ‘Unspoken
Dialogue,’ Cornhill Magazine 1 (1860): facing page 194. 111
5.4 J.E. Millais, ‘“Mark,’ she said, ‘the men are here,”’ Cornhill
Magazine 3 (1861): facing page 342. 112
5.5 J.E. Millais, ‘Was it not a lie?’ Cornhill Magazine 1 (1860):
facing page 691. 114
5.6 ‘Water-newt,’ Studies in Animal Life, Cornhill Magazine 1
(1860): 291. 115
5.7 ‘Campanularia polyp,’ Studies in Animal Life, Cornhill
Magazine 1 (1860): 683. 116
5.8 Frederick Sandys, ‘Legend of the Portent,’ Cornhill Magazine
1 (1860): opposite page 617. 117
5.9 J.E. Millais, Illustration accompanying Chapters 5–6 of Mistress
and Maid, Good Words 3 (1862): 161. 126
5.10 J.E. Millais, Illustration accompanying Chapters 21–23 of
Mistress and Maid, Good Words 3 (1862): 609. 129
5.11 Simeon Solomon, Illustration for William Robertson, ‘The
Veiled Bride,’ Good Words 3 (1862): 592. 130
5.12 J.E. Millais, Illustration accompanying Chapters 24–25 of
Mistress and Maid, Good Words 3 (1862): 673. 132
5.13 Matthew Lawless, Illustration for [Dora Greenwell], ‘The Bands
of Love,’ Good Words 3 (1862): 632. 133
viii Serialization and the Novel in Mid-Victorian Magazines
5.14 Edward Hughes, ‘Her clever fingers were passing over it rapidly,’
Chapter 5, Poor Miss Finch, Cassell’s Magazine, 9 September
1871, 25. 151
5.15 Mary Ellen Edwards, ‘Perchance it gave but a jealous glimpse,’
illustration for H.G.B. Hunt, ‘Found – A Veil,’ Cassell’s
Magazine, 9 September 1871, 17. 152
5.16 Edward Hughes, ‘Traced with a finger dipped in blood,’
Chapter 11, Poor Miss Finch, Cassell’s Magazine, 23 September
1871, 57. 153
5.17 Mary Ellen Edwards, ‘Stood at Gaze,’ illustration for ‘Over the
Snow,’ Cassell’s Magazine, 2 December 1871, 209. 157
5.18 Mary Ellen Edwards, ‘Flower-crowned hair with the berries
between,’ illustration for ‘Led Captive,’ Cassell’s Magazine,
16 December 1871, 241. 157
5.19 Mary Ellen Edwards, ‘The buds of the crocus gay,’ illustration
for ‘The Crocus,’ Cassell’s Magazine, 13 January 1872, 305. 157
5.20 Mary Ellen Edwards, ‘Grasped in thy whiter hand,’ illustration
for William Sawyer, ‘The Snowdrop,’ Cassell’s Magazine,
3 February 1872, 353. 158
5.21 Edward Hughes, ‘Miss Batchford rose to her feet,’ Chapter 45,
Poor Miss Finch, Cassell’s Magazine, 3 February 1872, 361. 158
6.1 J.E. Millais, Frontispiece to Good Words for 1862. 179
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the efforts of staff at the British Library and the
University of Leicester Library in locating material, as well as the unseen compilers
of Dickens Journals Online who have helped to make this research possible.
The illustrations were scanned and restored by Nick Walker. Some parts of the
argument relating to Dinah Craik’s Mistress and Maid have already appeared in
‘Marketing Celebrity: Norman Macleod, Dinah Mulock Craik, and John Everett
Millais in Alexander Strahan’s Good Words,’ Victorian Periodicals Review 46
(2013): 255–78 which is used with permission.
I am grateful to Janice Allan, Beth Palmer and Shafquat Towheed for their
interest in earlier drafts of some sections of the book; also to Alexis Easley for her
welcome feedback and suggestions. Both the anonymous Ashgate reader and editor
Ann Donahue have provided practical and supportive comments, and I would like
to thank Joanne Shattock for her encouragement. Finally, as in everything, thank
you to George.