{"id":6375,"date":"2021-12-13T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-13T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.qc.cuny.edu\/?p=6375"},"modified":"2021-12-13T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T10:00:00","slug":"treasures-from-special-collections-and-archives-first-edition-serialization-of-a-dickens-masterpiece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/2021\/12\/13\/treasures-from-special-collections-and-archives-first-edition-serialization-of-a-dickens-masterpiece\/","title":{"rendered":"Treasures from Special Collections and Archives: First Edition Serialization of a Dickens Masterpiece"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Patricia Reguyal, Archives Assistant<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bleak<\/a>
Bleak House<\/em> by Charles Dickens<\/mark><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bleak House<\/em> was Charles Dickens’s ninth novel, and, according to Dickens scholar Paul Schlicke, \u201ctechnically his most ambitious novel and widely held to be his masterpiece.\u201d  The novel had four important editions while Dickens was alive\u2014as monthly serials from 1852 to 1853 (in twenty parts that came out in nineteen pamphlets because the nineteenth and twentieth parts were combined), the Cheap Edition of 1858, the Library Edition of 1868, and the Charles Dickens Edition of 1869.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first edition of the novel, the monthly serialization in nineteen pamphlets, is one of the most exciting items in the SCA collection of rare books.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bleak House<\/em> had mixed reviews when it first came out. While the structure of the novel was praised, its forceful indictment of oppressive social institutions and its straightforward didacticism were criticized by some. But each serial part sold well and allowed Dickens to accumulate enough wealth for a contemporary to call him a \u201cliterary Croesus.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many of us are probably aware that Dickens\u2019s novels were serialized when they first came out, it is still extraordinary to see these original pamphlets\u2014their pale blue covers, thin sheets, and Victorian advertisements are highly evocative of the era.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bleak<\/a>
First-page advertisements<\/mark><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The advertisements, in particular\u2014the specific items, and their descriptions and illustrations\u2014are remarkable. The advertisements  were for Dickens\u2019s books as well as other authors\u2019 and from other publications, but also for a variety of merchandise that included, among others, the following: waterproof garments (\u201cNo umbrella required\u201d!); a variety of hair products, including an actual head of hair; skin ointment (\u201cThese medicines excel all others in the cure of scrofula or king\u2019s evil, glandular and other unnatural swellings, scurvy, leprosy, and all diseases of the skin.\u201d); frocks, coats, and pelisses; cloaks, hoods, hats, and bonnets; Parr\u2019s Life Pills (\u201cThey mildly and speedily remove all Skin Eruptions, Sallowness of Complexion, Nervous Irritability, Sick Head-Ache, Depression of Spirits, Irregularity, or general derangement of the system.\u201d); chrystal spectacles and cough jujube lozenges; life insurance policies and loans; Rimmel\u2019s toilet vinegar; a chest expander; pulmonic wafers that will give \u201cperfect freedom from coughs in ten minutes\u201d; shawls and needles and \u201cpapier mache elegancies\u201d; mourning outfits; a self-acting pipe tube which is a \u201cnovelty in smoking\u201d; wools and parasols.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An article published in 1970 argues that reading Bleak House<\/em> as a novel, \u201call at once from cover to cover,\u201d is a misreading, that serialization was essential to Dickens\u2019s art, that \u201cthe slow, deliberate pace of publication, and the suspense which the monthly interruption of the narrative naturally aroused,\u201d is vital to understanding its artistry and implications.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slow and deliberate pace. The suspense of monthly interruptions. Living as we do in a world in which we can binge-watch one whole season of a show on a single afternoon, it is, for most of us, an effort to read Bleak House<\/em> as a novel \u201call at once from cover to cover\u201d and it is difficult to imagine reading it as a serial in the course of a year and a half.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These first edition pamphlets are powerful aids for us to envision a different way of reading and entertainment, a different way of engaging with our imagination, perhaps even a different way of relating to time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/h2>\n\n\n

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Bleak House\u00a0was Charles\u00a0Dickens’s ninth novel,\u00a0and, according to Dickens scholar Paul\u00a0Schlicke,\u00a0\u201ctechnically his most ambitious novel and widely held to be his masterpiece.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[166,155],"tags":[182],"class_list":["post-6375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover-to-cover","category-news","tag-special-collections-and-archives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}