Book Description

A detailed study of working-class writers in the period 1830-70, writers such as Thomas Cooper, Thomas Miller, Charles Mackay, William Thom and William and Mary Howitt, whose work appeared in journals such as Douglas Jerrold's Shilling Magazine and Howitt's Journal, this text examines the struggles of Victorian novelists and poets. It looks at how they found publishers and got into print, their readership and the view of the literary establishment. It includes the role of the Royal Literary Fund; the help, if any, from such established writers as Charles Dickens; and the part played by the Countess of Blessington, the patron of some these writers.