“A well-researched and well-written overview of the development of the Victorian illustrated book, illuminating an under-studied area of scholarship and pointing to intriguing connections between Victorian illustrated books and contemporary graphic narratives. . . . Exceptionally insightful.”—English Literature in Transition, 1880–1920  
 
“Rich scholarship and extensive illustrated materials.”—Victorian Periodicals Review
 
“Generously illustrated and highly informative. . . . The virtue of Golden’s book is its wide scope, from eighteenth-century artists such as William Hogarth to recent developments in the graphic novel.”—Dickens Quarterly  
 
“A significant contribution to the scholarly literature on a phenomenon of exceptional interest in a transformative era in art and society.”—Nineteenth-Century Contexts
 
"A valuable and comprehensive survey of an enormous subject. Extremely well written and a significant addition to scholarship."—Paul Goldman, coeditor of Reading Victorian Illustration, 1855-1875: Spoils of the Lumber Room

"A marvelous overview of how and why illustrations became an integral part of Victorian fiction. Golden documents a remarkable continuity from early nineteenth-century caricatures to realistic portrait-based illustrations to current graphic rewritings of familiar classics."—Martha Vicinus, author of Intimate Friends: Women Who Loved Women, 1778-1928

"A capacious and synthetic work that draws on a wide variety of scholarship, a very impressive command of the history of book illustration, a huge array of visual and verbal texts, and (most important) a commitment to the genre as a genre in the history of literary and artistic form."—Peter Betjemann, author of Talking Shop: The Language of Craft in an Age of Consumption

The Victorian illustrated book came into being, flourished, and evolved during the long nineteenth century. While existing scholarship on Victorian illustrators largely centers on the realist artists of the "Sixties," this volume examines the entire lifetime of the Victorian illustrated book. Catherine Golden offers a new framework for viewing the arc of this vibrant genre, arguing that it arose from and continually built on the creative vision of the caricature-style illustrators of the 1830s. She surveys the fluidity of illustration styles across serial installments, British and American periodicals, adult and children’s literature, and--more recently--graphic novels.

Serials to Graphic Novels examines widely recognized illustrated texts, such as The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Rabbit, and Trilby. Golden explores factors that contributed to the early popularity of the illustrated book—the growth of commodity culture, a rise in literacy, new printing technologies—and that ultimately created a mass market for illustrated fiction.

Golden identifies present-day visual adaptations of the works of Austen, Dickens, and Trollope as well as original Neo-Victorian graphic novels like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Victorian-themed novels like Batman: Noël as the heirs to the Victorian illustrated book. With these adaptations and additions, the Victorian canon has been refashioned and repurposed visually for new generations of readers.

Catherine J. Golden, professor of English and the Tisch Chair in Arts and Letters at Skidmore College, is the author of numerous books, including Posting It: The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing and Images of the Woman Reader in Victorian British and American Fiction. She is also the editor or coeditor of five additional books on topics ranging from Charlotte Perkins Gilman to Victorian illustration, literature, and culture.

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Table of Contents

Excerpt

Gives a detailed, thorough account of book and periodical illustration.
--Studies in English Literature 1500-1900

Golden succeeds in presenting critical analysis in an erudite but accessible style, and the book presents a thoughtful synthesis of meticulous historical research, critical scholarship, and careful readings of notable images and accompanying texts. . . . An exceptionally insightful addition to scholarship, bridging together several disciplines and enriching each of the fields as well as her readers.
--English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920

A labor of love, generously illustrated and highly informative.
--Dickens Quarterly

Generously illustrated and highly informative.
--Dickens Quarterly

Engaging and highly readable text. . . . An exceptionally insightful addition to scholarship, bridging together several disciplines and enriching each of the fields as well as her readers.
--English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920

Engaging and informative, perceptive in its readings, solid in its scholarship, and successful in eliciting a fresh and convincing shape for a complex field.
--Nineteenth-Century Contexts