Critical Response 2
Today I examined the installment of Bleak House in the Rare Books Room. I
looked at installment which started with Chapter XXX and was from December
1852. I was supposed to look at Chapter 50 but was told that that particular
issue was not available. However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the installment
in which I was given.
To start with, I examined all eighteen pages of advertisements before the
actual story began. It was interesting to note that all of the advertisements
were either before or after the actual text and there was not any throughout.
The advertisements were given different fonts and also some had pictures of
what was being advertised which enhanced the experience and really allowed for
me to understand the Victorian era. The advertisements ranged anywhere from new
publications that were going to be released which included good reads for young
people to an advertisement for the funeral of the Duke of Wellington. It was
almost like reading the classifieds of a newspaper in today’s society.
Also, the installment came right before Christmas so there
was a lot of advertising for products for people to buy for gifts. In
particular I enjoyed the ad for the reversible raincoat. Also there was an ad
for Crochet Cotton which featured a picture of a Crochet design. While reading
this I was just amazed and wondered just how long this must have taken to
produce in that time for this advertisement. They obviously did not have the
technology we do today and this would have taken so much time to produce.
Reading the actual text of Bleak House in its original format was very
enjoyable. I understand that now all the installments are put together but I
would have been more inclined to read it if it came in shorter installments such
as these. While we are reading it in installments, the actual text and format
would have been easier to read and would keep me more on my toes as to what the
next installment may bring. The installment form would be something that I
would prefer to read as it almost was more like a short story rather than just
one huge novel.
Also, I found it interesting that the pictures came before the actual text
instead of in direct placement throughout the story like they are in the novel
that we are reading. It almost was a way for the reader to use their
imagination looking at the pictures as to what this installment may bring and
actually create a story before the actual story.
If the book were to come in actual installment form instead of one book, I
think reading it that way would better enhance the context in which Bleak House
was supposed to be read.
-Casey Weitz
Critical Response #2
I was able to go in for the afternoon reading of Bleak
House on Friday the 17th. The issue I read was volume IX,
which included the chapter in which Mr. Guppy reveals the truth about Esther to
Lady Deadlock. One of the first things I noticed as I read the
installment was how it ended. Although we are aware of when the
installments begin and end in our 900 page edition, it is much more apparent in
the original editions. The installment ended with Lady Deadlock crying “O
my child, O my child!”. I think this would definitely pull the reader in
and leave them in suspense. They would be dying to find out who this
revelation would affect and how it would change the events of the story, but
would have to wait a whole month to continue reading. I’m sure this was
intentional; to keep reader’s interest over 19 months would be a difficult
task, so leaving them hanging probably assisted in holding on to readership
from month to month.
I noticed many different types of ads before and after the installment
itself. There were ads about the perfect-fitting shirt for men, which
would allow a man to move freely without causing his shirt to become out of
place. There were ads for educator’s books, for bitter ale, for perfume,
and many others. I think including all these ads helped to incorporate Bleak
House into the everyday lives of Victorians. Picking up that
small blue installment each month is a lot different than tackling the larger
book version, and would seem less overwhelming. Combining that fact with
the advertisements, and it is easy to see how these installments became a
monthly tradition for so many readers.
-Hannah Swart
Critical Response #2
Handling
the original installments of Bleak House was so
amazing. I don’t recall ever holding anything that old and fragile in my life.
Looking at the cover of each installment, I thought it was odd to choose that
color but I suppose it was to make the installment stand out from any other
papers. The cover was interesting in itself to study and look at. All
the illustrations on the front reminded me of all the chaos that
surrounds this book. The illustrations were facing all ways and covered the
borders around the installment as much as there was room for. I liked how the
book was in installments because it makes the reader stay interested in the
book and most of them ended with a cliff hanger to keep the reader
guessing until the next installment came out. It was also easy to
read and interpret having the installments broken up because a reader may have
a busy life and have only 50 pages or so to read, the installment went faster.
There
were many ads that I thought were funny to look at and read. One ad was for
Rodgers Improved Shirts. And another ad held gardening tips for a person to
learn. If there was space for an ad, one was placed there no matter what kind
of ad it was. Even inside of the story there was a green insert ad for
Household Words (see image). Many of those green inserts were inside of the
story. Some of the ads I saw had words going every direction to catch a
person’s eye and read what the ad was about. I also noticed that the pages of
the installment were not all cut the same length and also that the edges of all
the pages were also curling up just a little. I could also feel all the words
through the pages when reading through the installment.
For
me looking at the illustrations, they seemed to look more clearer in the
installment than in the book. That’s probably because the ones in the book have
been scanned in so they lost some of the life-like details that I could see in
the installment. I also noticed that it was neat to see how the paper around
the illustration was turning brown but underneath the image was still
pure white. It definitely was different to have all the illustrations in the
beginning of the story instead of inside like in our book. Having them right in
the middle of the story in our books made it easier to see what may have been
happening during that scene, but having them in the beginning like in the
installment it took away from being able to connect each illustration to the
scene it was portraying. I also noticed the parchment paper in between each
illustration to keep them from rubbing together and smudging the ink on them. I
loved reading out of the installments more than the book.
-Rebecca
See
Critical
Response 2:
This week I finally received my
opportunity to return to the Rare Books Room to read and examine one of the
monthly installments of Bleak House in its original
copy. I had been looking forward to this, since I knew it would be a
distinctly different experience than reading in my large, 900 plus page Oxford edition. Unfortunately,
the installment for the assigned reading for tomorrow was not available to look
at, so I chose an installment at random. I ended up looking at
installment four, which contained chapters eleven, twelve, and thirteen.
Before
delving into the actual Bleak House reading however, there was
plenty of other things to look at. The advertisements in the front
of the installment included ones for a waterproofing kit, different literary
works (including a book about The History of the Celts and Saxons, a book about
Canada, and something called “Love A Reality, Not Romance” which I would love
to read), and advertisements for many religious books. Over the next
few pages there were ads for men’s suits, and the latest fashion for women. All
of these advertisements prior to the actual story of Bleak House offered
a fairly stark contrast to Dickens’ work. The advertisements, for
the most part, were very light hearted, and straight forward. I
think it’s interesting that the Victorians had so many ads in their books,
considering today that we pay so much to not have ads in our books, or to be
able to fast forward through commercials on television.
Before
the start of the installment of Bleak House, we had the
illustrations by H.K. Browne. I somehow lucked out, and got to look
at what I think are two of the funniest illustrations in the work: “The Family
Portraits of Mr. Bayham Badgers” and “Mr. Guppy’s Desolation”. I
think both of these illustrations offer an added bonus to the reader, allowing
us to see someone else’s interpretation of the characters and how they would
look. The installment that I read contained the chapters immediately
following the discovery of Nemo’s body. Chapter eleven dealt with
the court case around Nemo’s death, and the introduction of Jo. Chapter
twelve dealt with Hortense, Rosa, and Lady Deadlock and the former two
competing for the latter’s attention. Later in the chapter, we get
the first real sign of conflict between Mr. Tulkinghorn and lady
Deadlock. Lastly, in Chapter thirteen, we meet the Badgers via
Esther and Mr. Jarndyce and company. We also get to see Mr. Guppy
drunk and mopey at the opera. Most importantly, the installment ends
with Esther alluding to another gentleman she met at dinner, but not offering
up much more. Now we know that this is Mr. Woodcourt, who she
admitted to loving in the reading for last night. However, I thought
it was interesting that Dickens ended his installment with the ambiguous
introduction of a seemingly unimportant character. In terms of a juicy
cliffhanger, he’s definitely had better, but it still worked.
After
the installment of Bleak House, there were more
advertisements. There were many for more literary magazines,
including a new one for children. The thing I found most interesting
was an ad for a printing press, which promised that “Every person may become
his own printer”. I saw this as a sign of industrialization in the Victorian
era, and thought it was interesting that printing presses were marketed to the
every-man; I would have assumed that they were marketed to more knowledgeable
people, like the literary elite.
-Kelly
Wedlake
Critical Response #2
Things
that were important to note in these advertisements is that they were something
that stuck out when reading the installments. When I say stick out I meant they
literally stuck out. The advertisements were something that was its own page.
Sometimes they came in a whole page and sometimes they were the size of
business cards. This was something though that definitely would have got the
reader’s attention. It is something that sometimes you have to move out of the
way in order to keep reading the text. Then at the end of the installments,
there were fuller page advertisements that even came in different colors. The
picture that I have provided shows how there are advertisements that are
smaller than some of the other ones. This definitely would have got the reader’s
attention. The one that I examined was on silver spoons and with those being a
little more expensive, they would really want to capture the reader’s attention
in order to get them interested in their product.
The
feel for the installments is definitely more manageable than the huge 900 page
Oxford Classic. This makes it something that can possibly be carried around in
a pocket and kept up with regularly. With the version that we have it isn’t
something that is convenient to pick up and read. It’s bigger and bulkier which
may make it difficult to read at times. This would have made it easier to page
as well and then that would benefit the advertisers. There are no
advertisements in the Oxford addition so there is clearly a big difference there.
I’m guessing the advertisements aren’t there because of the fact that we're
more than 150 years away from the original advertisements that were in there.
Overall,
it is a way better experience to witness the real actual installments than it is
to read to Oxford edition. Both contain the same story, but just being able to
hold and read through the installment like many of the Victorians would have,
gives the reader a feel of how it was to be in this era. We have the whole
story and know that we can keep reading if something gets good, but people back
then literally had to wait because they didn’t have the whole story available
to them. Also, if they wanted to recap, they had to make sure they had the
previous installment. So although now future readers are blessed to have that
available to them with a bigger bulkier version, people back then had to be
patient and wait which would not have been very fun.
-Nicholas Estrada
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