Refletion 2

Emily Dodd

Reflection 2

1/17/13

            During my afternoon reading of the Bleak House installment I was able to closely examine the piece as it was published in Dickens’ time. It was very interesting to note even the texture and make of the print and the paper. The print was bumpy when you ran your fingers across it as in you could tell where the press was pushed into the paper creating the words. There were many ads in the front and back of the installment for all different objects. Some of them were for fake hair and others for clothing. When I skimmed through further I noticed the drawings were in the front of the installment rather than within the work. Also, when looking at the paper they were drawn on I noticed it was much thicker.

            The fact that the illustrations came at the beginning of the installment rather than throughout could be seen as a way to give those reading the installment a preview as what was to come and who or what they should expect to see while reading this installment. Today, having the illustrations within the text is a way for us to comprehend what is happening and see how it could be interpreted. Writing stories in serials was a way to get more people talking over a work and to get them excited about it. As the interest grew demand would also grow and lead to the selling of a greater number of copies seeing as everybody would want to know what happened next right away.

            Dickens has strategic ideas of where to end installments, generally leaving his readers with a cliffhanger that would cause them to want to buy the next installment. It points to his great ability to write commendable works since he was able to keep his readers interested for so long.

                One such advertisement I found was one advertising patent letter copying press. It gives listings of different prices for different options of copying. I thought this fit well with my reflection since I focused on how the pages and the words on the pages felt. I found this advertisement very fitting for this reflection. It was extremely grand to be able to feel the words on the page as that is something we do not get today.