All the Year Round

All the Year Round was a British weekly literary magazine founded and owned by Charles Dickens, published between 1859 and 1895 throughout the United Kingdom. Edited by Dickens, it was the direct successor to his previous publication Household Words, abandoned due to differences with his former publisher.

It hosted the serialisation of many prominent novels, including Dickens's own A Tale of Two Cities. After Dickens's death in 1870, it was owned and edited by his eldest son Charles Dickens Jr., and a quarter-share was owned by the editor and journalist William Henry Wills.

History

1859–1870

In 1859, Charles Dickens was the editor of his magazine Household Words, published by Bradbury and Evans; their refusal to publish Dickens' defensive "personal statement" on his divorce in their other publication, Punch, led Dickens to create a new weekly magazine that he would own and control entirely.

In 1859, Dickens founded All the Year Round, taking William Henry Wills with him from Household Words as part-owner and sub-editor. As with his previous magazine, the author searched for a title that could be derived from a Shakespearean quotation. He found it on 28 January 1859 (in Othello, act one, scene three, lines 128–129), to be displayed before the title:

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|<blockquote><span style="font-family: Georgia;">

'The story of our lives, from year to year.' – Shakespeare.

ALL THE YEAR ROUND.

A weekly journal.

Conducted by Charles Dickens.

</span></blockquote>

The new weekly magazine had its debut issue on Saturday 30 April 1859, featuring the first instalment of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. The launch was an immediate success.