fter the glory days of the brilliant editor-novelists Charles Dickens in 1837-38 and William Harrison Ainsworth in 1838-39, the sales of Bentley's Miscellany dropped catastrophically from the 10,000 per monthly issue when the journal was featuring Oliver Twist (February 1837-April 1839, for which Bentley paid the young author 500 pounds) and Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard (January 1839-February 1840). Both were "Newgate" novels which explored the lurid criminal underworld of London in the 19th and 18th centuries respectively.
The "Prologue" to Bentley's Miscellany (January 1837) See Chittick, 38. [click on thumbnail to enlarge the image.]
With Dickens at the helm as the Miscellany's first editor, the new venture for publisher Richard Bentley (1794-1871) and his brother, Samuel, as head printer, launched brilliantly, its arrival anticipated by advertisements in the London daily newspapers. Originally entitled Wit's Miscellany, the monthly magazine featured the graphics of George Cruikshank, illustrator of Sketches by Boz (1833-36), and therefore was as hot a publishing property as the young Dickens. Under Ainsworth's term as editor-in-chief, the monthly magazine continued its climb in popularity. It proved to be a precursor to such weeklies as Household Words and All the Year Round, not relying upon reprints and contentious political topics as its precursors had done. Instead, it featured diverse material ranging from poetry and serialised fiction to criticism and travelogue, all by established writers. "The style of the new name drew obviously upon a resemblance to other 'flash' magazines of the day, Fraser's and Blackwood's, and such a reputation was important to Bentley's designs for this new property. William Maginn, the editor of Fraser's, was engaged to write the first half of the new magazine's introductory Prologue" (Chittick, 38). The new editor, Dickens, provided the second half.
Dickens's own contribution to the first issue of Bentley's (January 1837) consisted of a short satirical tale, 'The Public Life of Mr Tulrumble, Once Mayor of Mudfog', set in the village of Mudfog (later the 'MUDFOG PAPERS', satirizing scientific associations, appeared in October 1837 and September 18387, when Oliver Twist was not appearing). [Chittick, 38]
The Cover to the eighth monthly number of Bentley's Miscellany (August 1837). See Guilliano and Collins, p. 616 [click on thumbnail to enlarge the image.]
Owing to Richard Bentley's interfering with editorial decisions such as the revisions of proofs, editorial quarrels ensued, so that each novelist lasted as editor only two years, and the journal declined in the quality of its articles under Bentley's ensuing editorship, although it is now regarded as the forerunner of the middle-brow Cornhill Magazine (1860-1975), a highly successful illustrated monthly issued by publisher George Smith. In 1854, Bentley's reverted to the editorship of Ainsworth under its new owners, Chapman and Hall, but Richard Bentley had essentially presided over its demise, and Ainsworth never fully resurrected it. George Bentley took it over in 1868, and immediately submerged it in a new vehicle for publishing new fiction, Temple Bar (founded in 1860 as a rival to the Cornhill under George Sala).
Some Novels that ran Serially in Richard Bentley's Monthly Magazine (1837-1868)
- Dickens's Oliver Twist (February 1837 to April 1839), illustrated by George Cruikshank
- Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard (January 1839 to February 1840) illustrated by George Cruikshank
- Ainsworth's Guy Fawkes (January to November 1840), illustrated by George Cruikshank
- Ainsworth's Tower of London (January to December 1840), illustrated by George Cruikshank
- Samuel Lover's Handy Andy (January 1837 to May 1839)
- Albert R. Smith's The Adventures of Mr. Ledbury (September 1842 to December 1843)
- Fenimore Cooper's Captain Spike; or, The Islets of the Gulf (November 1846 to April 1848)
- Ainsworth's The Spendthrift (January 1855 to January 1857)
- Ainsworth's The Constable of the Tower (January to September 1861)
- Ainsworth's The Lord Mayor of London (January to November 1862)
- Ainsworth's Cardinal Pole; or, The Days of Philip and Mary (December 1862 to November 1863)
- Ainsworth's John Law (November 1863 to September 1864)
- Ainsworth's House of Seven Chimneys (November 1864 to October 1865), re-entitled The Spanish Match
- Ainsworth's The Constable de Bourbon (November 1865 to August 1866)
- Ainsworth's Old Court (October 1866 to May 1867)
- Ainsworth's Myddleton Pomfret (July 1867 to March 1868)
Bibliography
Chittick, Kathryn. "Bentley's Miscellany." The Oxford Reader's Companion to Dickens. Ed. Paul Schlicke. Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. 38-41.
Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. The Annotated Dickens. 2 vols. Ed. Edward Guilliano and Philip Collins. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1988. Vol. 1. Pp. 548-823.
Sutherland, John. The Stanford Guide to Victorian Fiction. Stanford: Stanford U. P., 1989.
Vann, J. Don. "William Harrison Ainsworth (1805-82)." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: Modern Language Association, 1985. Pp. 19-42.
Created 1 April 2015
Last updated 15 October 2026