Bentley's Miscellany
Encyclopedia
Bentley's Miscellany was an English literary magazine started by Richard Bentley
. It was published between 1836 and 1868.
s, Bentley began the journal in 1836 and invited Charles Dickens
to be its first editor
. Dickens serialised his second novel Oliver Twist
but soon fell out with Bentley over editorial control, calling him a "Burlington Street Brigand". He quit as editor in 1839 and William Harrison Ainsworth
took over. Ainsworth would also only stay in the job for three years, but bought the magazine from Bentley a decade later. In 1868 Ainsworth sold the magazine back to Bentley, who merged it with the Temple Bar Magazine.
Aside from the works of Dickens and Ainsworth other significant authors published in the magazine included: Wilkie Collins
, Catharine Sedgwick
, Richard Brinsley Peake
, Thomas Moore
, Thomas Love Peacock
, William Mudford
, Mrs Henry Wood, Charles Robert Forrester
, Frances Minto Elliot
, The Ingoldsby Legends
and some of Edgar Allan Poe
's short stories. It was also the first place to publish cartoons by John Leech, who became a prominent Punch
cartoonist.
Richard Bentley (publisher)
Richard Bentley was a 19th century English publisher. From a family of publishers, Bentley started a firm with his brother in 1819. Ten years later, he went into partnership with the publisher Henry Colburn...
. It was published between 1836 and 1868.
Contributors
Already a successful publisher of novelNovel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s, Bentley began the journal in 1836 and invited Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
to be its first editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
. Dickens serialised his second novel Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to...
but soon fell out with Bentley over editorial control, calling him a "Burlington Street Brigand". He quit as editor in 1839 and William Harrison Ainsworth
William Harrison Ainsworth
William Harrison Ainsworth was an English historical novelist born in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in London he met the publisher John Ebers, at that time manager of the King's Theatre, Haymarket...
took over. Ainsworth would also only stay in the job for three years, but bought the magazine from Bentley a decade later. In 1868 Ainsworth sold the magazine back to Bentley, who merged it with the Temple Bar Magazine.
Aside from the works of Dickens and Ainsworth other significant authors published in the magazine included: Wilkie Collins
Wilkie Collins
William Wilkie Collins was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. He was very popular during the Victorian era and wrote 30 novels, more than 60 short stories, 14 plays, and over 100 non-fiction pieces...
, Catharine Sedgwick
Catharine Sedgwick
Catharine Maria Sedgwick , was an American novelist of what is now referred to as "domestic fiction". She promoted Republican motherhood.-Biography:...
, Richard Brinsley Peake
Richard Brinsley Peake
Richard Brinsley Peake was a dramatist of the early nineteenth century best remembered today for his 1823 play Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein, a work based on the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley....
, Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron's memoirs after his death...
, Thomas Love Peacock
Thomas Love Peacock
Thomas Love Peacock was an English satirist and author.Peacock was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and they influenced each other's work...
, William Mudford
William Mudford
William Mudford , was a British writer, essayist, translator of literary works and journalist. He also wrote critical and philosophical essays and reviews. His 1829 novel The Five Nights of St. Albans: A Romance of the Sixteenth Century received a good review from John Gibson Lockhart, an...
, Mrs Henry Wood, Charles Robert Forrester
Charles Robert Forrester
Charles Robert Forrester was an English lawyer and writer, who sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Hal Willis, frequently with illustrations provided by his brother Alfred Henry Forrester who shared the pseudonym Alfred Crowquill.Charles Robert Forrester was a son of Robert Forrester of 5 North...
, Frances Minto Elliot
Frances Minto Elliot
Frances Minto Elliot was a prolific English writer, primarily of non-fiction works on the social history of Italy, Spain, and France and travelogues. She also wrote three novels and published art criticism and gossipy, sometimes scandalous, sketches for The Art Journal, Bentley's Miscellany, and...
, The Ingoldsby Legends
The Ingoldsby Legends
The Ingoldsby Legends is a collection of myths, legends, ghost stories and poetry written supposedly by Thomas Ingoldsby of Tappington Manor, actually a pen-name of an English clergyman named Richard Harris Barham....
and some of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
's short stories. It was also the first place to publish cartoons by John Leech, who became a prominent Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
cartoonist.
Volumes I-X
- Volume I digital copy at Google Book SearchGoogle Book SearchGoogle Books is a service from Google that searches the full text of books that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its digital database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October...
- Volume II digital copy at Google Book SearchGoogle Book SearchGoogle Books is a service from Google that searches the full text of books that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its digital database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October...
- Volume V digital copy at Google Book Search
- Volume VIII digital copy at Google Book Search
- Volume IX digital copy at Google Book Search
Volumes XI-XX
- Volume XVI digital copy at Google Book Search
Volumes XXI-XXX
- Volume XXII digital copy at Google Book Search
Volumes XXXI-XL
- Volume XXXI digital copy at Google Book Search
Volumes XLI-L
- Volume XLIV digital copy at Google Book Search
- Volume XLV digital copy at Google Book Search
- Volume XLVII digital copy at Google Book Search
Volumes LI-LX
- Volume LI digital copy at Google Book Search
- Volume LIX digital copy at Google Book Search