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All the Year Round was a Victorian
Victorian literature

Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Victoria of the United Kingdom and corresponds to the Victorian era. It forms a link and transition between the writers of the Romanticism period and the very different literature of the 20th century....
 periodical, being a British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 weekly literary magazine
Literary magazine

A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters....
 founded and owned by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens, Royal Society of Arts , pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English people novelist of the Victorian era, as well as a vigorous Reform movement....
, published between 1859 and 1895 throughout the United Kingdom. Edited by Charles Dickens, it was the direct successor to his previous publication Household Words
Household Words

Household Words was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens which took its name from the line from Shakespeare "Familiar in his mouth as household words" ? Henry V ....
, abandoned due to differences with his former publisher. It hosted the serialization of many prominent novels, including Dickens's own A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It depicts the plight of the French proletariat under the brutal oppression of the France aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and the corresponding savage brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries t...
.






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All the Year Round was a Victorian
Victorian literature

Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Victoria of the United Kingdom and corresponds to the Victorian era. It forms a link and transition between the writers of the Romanticism period and the very different literature of the 20th century....
 periodical, being a British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 weekly literary magazine
Literary magazine

A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters....
 founded and owned by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens, Royal Society of Arts , pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English people novelist of the Victorian era, as well as a vigorous Reform movement....
, published between 1859 and 1895 throughout the United Kingdom. Edited by Charles Dickens, it was the direct successor to his previous publication Household Words
Household Words

Household Words was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens which took its name from the line from Shakespeare "Familiar in his mouth as household words" ? Henry V ....
, abandoned due to differences with his former publisher. It hosted the serialization of many prominent novels, including Dickens's own A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It depicts the plight of the French proletariat under the brutal oppression of the France aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and the corresponding savage brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries t...
. After Dickens's death in 1870, it was owned and edited by his eldest son Charles Dickens, Jr
Charles Dickens, Jr

Charles Dickens, Jr, born Charles Culliford Boz Dickens , was the first child of the novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine Dickens....
.

History


In 1858, Charles Dickens was the editor of his then magazine Household Words
Household Words

Household Words was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens which took its name from the line from Shakespeare "Familiar in his mouth as household words" ? Henry V ....
, published by Bradbury and Evans; a petty dispute with them led Dickens to realize that he was at the whim of his publisher, and to decide that he would create a new weekly magazine that he would own and control entirely.

1859–1870, conducted by Dickens Sr


In 1859, All the Year Round was founded by Charles Dickens, also its editor. Similarly to his previous magazine, Dickens searched a title that could be derived from a Shakespeare quote. He eventually found it on 28 January 1859 (in Othello
Othello

Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian language short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio first published in 1565....
, act one, scene three, lines 128-129), to be displayed before the title:



The new weekly magazine had its debut issue on Saturday 30 April 1859, featuring the first instalment of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It depicts the plight of the French proletariat under the brutal oppression of the France aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and the corresponding savage brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries t...
.

The launch was a success, Dickens writing about it, "So well has All the Year Round gone that it was yesterday able to repay me, with five per cent. interest, all the money I advanced for its establishment (paper, print etc. all paid, down to the last number), and yet to leave a good £500 balance at the banker's!"

One month after the launch, Dickens won a lawsuit in the Court of Chancery
Court of Chancery

The Court of Chancery was one of the court of equity in Courts of the United Kingdom....
 against his former publisher Bradbury and Evans, giving him back the trade name of his previous journal. On Saturday 28 May 1859, five weeks after the launch of All the Year Round, Dickens terminated Household Words
Household Words

Household Words was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens which took its name from the line from Shakespeare "Familiar in his mouth as household words" ? Henry V ....
, publishing its last issue with a prospectus for his new journal and the announcement that, "After the appearance of the present concluding Number of Household Words, this publication will merge into the new weekly publication, All the Year Round, and the title, Household Words, will form a part of the title-page of All the Year Round." AYR's full title then acquired a fourth item: " All the Year Round. A Weekly Journal. Conducted by Charles Dickens. With Which Is Incorporated Household Words. "

All the Year Round contained the same mixture of fiction and non-fiction as Household Words
Household Words

Household Words was an English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens which took its name from the line from Shakespeare "Familiar in his mouth as household words" ? Henry V ....
 but with a greater emphasis on literary matters and less on journalism. Nearly 11 per cent of the non-fiction articles in All the Year Round dealt with some aspect of international affairs or cultures, discounting the American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
, which Dickens instructed his staff to avoid unless they had specifically cleared a topic with him first. Old tales of crime (especially with a French or Italian setting), new developments in science (including the theories of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin Royal Society was an English people natural history who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolution over time from common descent, through the process he called natural selection....
), lives and struggles of inventors, tales of exploration and adventure in distant parts, and examples of self-help among humble folk, are among the topics which found a ready welcome from Dickens.

After 1863, although Charles Dickens continued to micromanage the editorial department, scrupulously revising copy, his own contributions fell off considerably, largely because he spent more and more time on the road with his public readings.

A few weeks before 28 November 1868, Dickens announced a new series for All the Year Round: "I beg to announce to the readers of this Journal, that on the completion of the Twentieth Volume on the Twenty-eighth of November, in the present year, I shall commence an entirely New Series of All the Year Round. The change is not only due to the convenience of the public (with which a set of such books, extending beyond twenty large volumes, would be quite incompatible), but is also resolved upon for the purpose of effecting some desirable improvements in respect of type, paper, and size of page, which could not otherwise be made."

In 1869, Dickens hired his son Charles Dickens, Jr
Charles Dickens, Jr

Charles Dickens, Jr, born Charles Culliford Boz Dickens , was the first child of the novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine Dickens....
 as subeditor of the magazine.

1870–1895, conducted by Dickens Jr


In 1870, Dickens bequeathed All the Year Round to his eldest son Charles Dickens, Jr
Charles Dickens, Jr

Charles Dickens, Jr, born Charles Culliford Boz Dickens , was the first child of the novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine Dickens....
 ("Charles Dickens the younger" in the testament) one week before his death.

After Dickens's death on 9 June 1870, the magazine was owned and edited by Charles Dickens, Jr from June 25 1870 until the 1895 end (or possibly just until 1888).

In 1889, the magazine started a "Third series". It is unclear how much Dickens Jr was involved with the new series.

In 1895, All the Year Round ended. It had its last issue on 30 March 1895, after three series:

  1. (First Series): Vol. 1 (30 April 1859) to Vol. 20 (28 November 1868)
  2. "New Series": Vol. 1 (5 December 1868) to Vol. 43 (29 December 1888)
  3. "Third Series": Vol. 1 (5 January 1889) to Vol. 13 (30 March 1895)


Each volume was 26 numbers long, half a year (thus Vol. 1 was Nos 1 to 26, Vol. 2 was Nos 27 to 52, Vol. 3 was Nos 53 to 78, but the annuals and seasonal extras counted for additional numbers.)

Contributors


A number of prominent authors and novels were serialized in All the Year Round, including:

  • Charles Dickens
    Charles Dickens

    Charles John Huffam Dickens, Royal Society of Arts , pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English people novelist of the Victorian era, as well as a vigorous Reform movement....
    • A Tale of Two Cities
      A Tale of Two Cities

      A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It depicts the plight of the French proletariat under the brutal oppression of the France aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and the corresponding savage brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries t...
       (June 1859 to December 1859)
    • Great Expectations
      Great Expectations

      Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens first serial ised in All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It is regarded as one of his greatest and most sophisticated novels, and is one of his most enduringly popular, having been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
       (1 December 1860 to August 1861)
    • The Uncommercial Traveller
      The Uncommercial Traveller

      The Uncommercial Traveller is a collection of literary sketches and reminiscences written by Charles Dickens.In 1859 Dickens founded a new journal called All the Year Round and the Uncommercial Traveller articles would be among his main contributions....
       (28 January 1860 to 13 October 1860, plus 1863-65 and 1868-69)
  • Wilkie Collins
    Wilkie Collins

    William Wilkie Collins was an English people novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. He was hugely popular in his time, and wrote 27 novels, more than 50 short stories, at least 15 plays, and over 100 pieces of non-fiction work....
    • The Woman in White
      The Woman in White (novel)

      The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, Serial ized in 1859?1860, and first published in book form in 1860....
       (29 November 1859 to 1860)
    • No Name
      No Name (novel)

      No Name by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century Illegitimacy in fiction. It was originally serialized in Charles Dickens's magazine All the Year Round before book publication....
    • The Moonstone
      The Moonstone

      The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century United Kingdom epistolary novel, generally considered the first detective novel in the English language....
  • Anthony Trollope
    Anthony Trollope

    Anthony Trollope became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English language novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works, known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire; he also wrote penetrating novels on politics, social, gender issues and conflicts of hi...
    • The Duke's Children
      The Duke's Children

      The Duke's Children is a novel by Anthony Trollope, first published in 1879 as a serial in All the Year Round. It is the sixth and last novel of the "Palliser novels" series....
       (1879 to ????)
  • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
    Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

    Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton was an England novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. Lord Lytton was a florid, popular writer of his day, who coined such phrases as "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", and the infamous incipit "It was a dark and stormy...
    • A Strange Story (10 August 1861 to 8 March 1862) then anonymous
  • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
    Elizabeth Gaskell

    Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, n?e Stevenson, , often referred to simply as Mrs. Gaskell, was an England novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era....
  • Charles Lever
    Charles Lever

    Charles James Lever was an Ireland novelist....
  • Charles Reade
    Charles Reade

    Charles Reade was an England novelist and dramatist, best known for The Cloister and the Hearth....
  • Frances Trollope
    Frances Trollope

    Frances Trollope was an English novelist and miscellaneous writer who published as Mrs. Trollope or Mrs. Frances Trollope. Her detractors diminished her reputation by making the common name used for her the overly familiar and slightly vulgar diminutive Fanny Trollope....


Other contributors included:

  • Sheridan Le Fanu
    Sheridan Le Fanu

    Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic Literature tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and had a seminal influence on the development of this genre in the Victorian era....
     - 6 short stories in 1870 (later collected in Madam Crowl's Ghost)
  • Adelaide Anne Procter
    Adelaide Anne Procter

    Adelaide Anne Procter , an England poet, was the eldest daughter of the poet Bryan Procter.In 1851, Procter became a Roman Catholic. She took much interest in social questions affecting women....
     - poems (later collected in Legends and Lyrics)
  • Hesba Stretton
    Hesba Stretton

    Hesba Stretton was the nom de plume of Sarah Smith, an English people author of children's literature. The name Hesba came from the initials of her siblings....
     - children's literature
  • Walter Goodman
    Walter Goodman

    Walter Goodman was a British painter, illustrator and author.The son of British portrait painter Julia Goodman and London Draper and town councillor, Louis Goodman , he studied with J....
     - humorous sketches
  • George Augustus Sala - travel sketches from Constantinople
    Constantinople

    Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
    , Rome
    Rome

    Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
     and St Petersburg
  • E A Worthington - humorous illustrated sketches


Staff writers included:

  • Henry Morley
    Henry Morley

    Henry Morley , was a writer on English literature....
     - informative though rather congested articles on historical, political, economic and literary topics, including the background to the American Civil War
    American Civil War

    The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
  • Charles Collins (younger brother of Wilkie Collins and son-in-law to Dickens) - reportage and articles on art and architecture, marked by a distinctive vein of melancholy humour. He wrote as 'David Fudge' and 'Our Eye-Witness'
  • Eliza Lynn Linton
    Eliza Lynn Linton

    File:Lynn Linton.pngEliza Lynn Linton , was a British novelist, essayist, and journalist....




Almost all articles were printed without naming their author; only the editor, "Conducted by Charles Dickens", was mentioned on the first page and the head of every other page. While a complete key to who wrote what and for how much in Household Words was compiled in 1973 by Anne Lohrli (using an analysis of the office account book maintained by Dickens's subeditor, W. H. Wills), unfortunately the account book for All the Year Round has not survived. However, Ella Ann Oppenlander has attempted to provide something comparable in a 1984 book not easily procured, Dickens' All the Year Round: Descriptive Index and Contributor List.

Noted anonymous articles include:

  • 1861 - "The Morrill Tariff", 28 December 1861 (cited in the Morrill Tariff
    Morrill Tariff

    The Morrill Tariff of 1861 was a protective tariff law adopted on March 2, 1861. The act is named after its House sponsor, Rep. Justin Morrill of Vermont, who designed it with the advice of Pennsylvania economist Henry C Carey....
     article)
  • 1871 - (aka "Vampires and Ghouls"), 20 May 1871, pp. 597-600 (later collected in: Gilbert, William
    William Gilbert (author)

    William Gilbert, was a United Kingdom novelist and Royal Navy surgeon, and the author of novels, biographies, histories and several popular fantasy stories, mostly in the 1860s and 1870s....
     (2005). The Last Lords of Gardonal. Dead Letter Press)


Further reading



External links


Full text copies of All the Year Round issues
  • available through Texas Tech University Libraries


Facsimiles of All the Year Round pages
  • , launching Dickens's novel A Tale of Two Cities
  • , with Dickens's short story "The Haunted House"