DICKENS | Household Words. A Weekly Journal. Conducted by Charles Dickens, 1858-1859

DICKENS, CHARLES, EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTOR

Household Words. A Weekly Journal. Conducted by Charles Dickens, London: Bradbury and Evans for Office, 16 Wellington Street, North, Volume I March 30 to September 21, 1850 - Volume XIX December 4 1858 to May 28 1859

8vo (230 x 148mm.), 19 volumes (all published) first edition in book form, contemporary half red morocco gilt, marbled boards, spines decorated and lettered in gilt, contemporary ownership inscription on title page volume I,some rubbing to covers and at extremities

Dickens launched Household Words in March 1850 and it was soon selling 40,000 copies a week. Dickens owned half and Bradbury and Evans a quarter. Dickens contributed in total around 180 stories and articles in the first three years as well as the serialisation of Hard Times and A Child's History of England. Dickens "set out to raise standards of journalism in the crowded field of periodical publication and, by winning educated readers and speaking to their consciences, to exert some influence on public matters and to this end he hinself wrote on many social issues - housing, sanitation, education, accidents in factories, workhouses, and in defence of the right of the poor to enjoy Sunday as they chose" (Claire Tomalin, Charles Dickens: A Life, p. 229). At the time of the separation from his wife Catherine he published his own 'Personal Statement' which also appeared in The Times. Many of the articles and stories were contribued by women writers such as Elizabeth Gaskell and Harriet Martineau.