"List of Plates" — For the Sixteen Illustrations by "Phiz" for "A Tale of Two Cities" (Nov., 1859) (original) (raw)

Discussion: The Monthly Numbers and Weekly Parts in All the Year Round

The cover or wrapper for the first monthly number (June 1859) certainly reflects more events than those in Book One, chapters 1 through 6; however, by the end of May, 1859, in the pages of All the Year Round, Phiz would have read as far as Book Two, Chapter 2. The Frontispiece and the title-page vignetteappeared in the 26 November 1859 instalment, as did the last four monthly illustrations: Before the Prison Tribunal, The Knock at the Door, The Double Recognition, and After the Sentence, material covered by weekly numbers 21 through 31 (17 September through 26 November). The serialisation of the eight monthly parts occurred in just seven numbers:

• No. 1 June: A Discussion of the June 1859 Plates
• No. 2 July: A Discussion of the July 1859 Plates
• No. 3 August: A Discussion of the August 1859 Plates
• No. 4 September: A Discussion of the September 1859 Plates
• No. 5 October: A Discussion of the October 1859 Plates
• No. 6 November: A Discussion of the November 1859 Plates
• No. 7 December: A Discussion of the December 1859 Plates.

The last monthly issue contained the equivalent of seven weekly numbers: 15 October to 26 November (Book 3, Chapters 1 through 15). The volume itself was published on 21 November. The first weekly instalment of A Tale of Two Citiesran in the first issue of All the Year Round on 30 April 1859. The last ran 30 weeks later, on 26 November. The volume was actually published ahead of the final monthly number, which appeared on the 26th, on the very same day as the last weekly instalment.

Related Materials

• A Tale of Two Cities 1859 — the last Dickens's novel "Phiz" Illustrated
• Costume Notes on A Tale of Two Cities
• List of Plates
• Compare McLenan's illustrations
• 25 Illustrations for Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities by Fred Barnard (from the household Edition, 1874)

Bibliography

Allingham, Philip V. "Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Illustrated: A Critical Reassessment of Hablot Knight Browne's Accompanying Plates." Dickens Studies. 33 (2003): 109-158.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 21 November 1859.

Sanders, Andrew. "Introduction" to Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Vann, J. Don. "A Tale of Two Cities in All the Year Round, 30 April—26 November 1859." New York: Modern Language Association, 1985. Pp. 71-72.

Woodcock, George. "Introduction" to Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970.

Last modified 2 November 2025

Created 29 July 2011