Charles Dickens's Great Expectations was published in thirty-six weekly installments in Dickens's journal All the Year Round between 1860 and 1861. The first part appeared on December 1st 1860 (contrary to Dickens's original intentions for the work) in a bid to boost dwindling circulation figures. Charles Lever's novel A Day's Ride: A Life's Romance had been the journal's featured serial, but the story had received unfavourable reviews and was not popular with readers. The strategy was a successful one; Robert L. Patten notes that by the final installment of Great Expectations, weekly sales...
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Citation: Moore, Grace. "Great Expectations". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 December 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4892, accessed 09 June 2026.]
