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34-660: In 1859 Dickens founded a new journal called All the Year Round , and the "Uncommercial Traveller" articles would be among his main contributions. He seems to have chosen the title and persona of the Uncommercial Traveller as a result of a speech he gave on 22 December 1859 to the Commercial Travellers' School in London, in his role as honorary chairman and treasurer. The persona sits well with

68-504: A Druid in the midst of a light Stonehenge of samples. And yet – proceeding now, to introduce myself positively – I am both a town traveller and a country traveller, and am always on the road. Figuratively speaking, I travel for the great house of Human Interest Brothers, and have rather a large connection in the fancy goods way. Literally speaking, I am always wandering here and there from my rooms in Covent-garden, London – now about

102-511: A collapse due to a hectic schedule of public readings. In "Nurse's Stories"' he revealed that the stories told him by his nurse when he was a child were one of the sources of his story-telling talents and his love of ghost stories . All the Year Round All the Year Round was a Victorian periodical, being a British weekly literary magazine founded and owned by Charles Dickens , published between 1859 and 1895 throughout

136-558: A greater emphasis on literary matters and less on journalism. Nearly 11 per cent of the non-fiction articles in All the Year Round dealt with some aspect of international affairs or cultures, discounting the American Civil War , which Dickens instructed his staff to avoid unless they had specifically cleared a topic with him first. Old tales of crime (especially with a French or Italian setting), new developments in science (including

170-510: A lawsuit in the Court of Chancery against his former publisher Bradbury and Evans, giving him back the trade name of his previous journal. On Saturday 28 May 1859, five weeks after the launch of All the Year Round , Dickens terminated Household Words , publishing its last issue with a prospectus for his new journal and the announcement that, "After the appearance of the present concluding Number of Household Words , this publication will merge into

204-403: A man into ordering something he doesn't want. As a town traveller, I am never to be seen driving a vehicle externally like a young and volatile pianoforte van, and internally like an oven in which a number of flat boxes are baking in layers. As a country traveller, I am rarely to be found in a gig, and am never to be encountered by a pleasure train, waiting on the platform of a branch station, quite

238-422: A set of such books, extending beyond twenty large volumes, would be quite incompatible), but is also resolved upon for the purpose of effecting some desirable improvements in respect of type, paper, and size of page, which could not otherwise be made." After hiring him as the subeditor of the magazine a year earlier, Dickens bequeathed All the Year Round to his eldest son Charles Dickens, Jr. ("Charles Dickens

272-475: A storm which wrecked many other ships and has become known as the Royal Charter Storm . The Royal Charter was driven ashore on the east coast of Anglesey just north of the village of Moelfre in the early hours of the morning of the 26th, eventually being smashed to pieces against the rocks, with the loss of over 450 lives. Dickens visited the scene and talked to the rector of Llanallgo church ,

306-491: A writer who liked to travel, not only as a tourist, but also to research and report what he found visiting Europe, America and giving book readings throughout Britain. He did not seem content to rest late in his career when he had attained wealth and comfort and continued travelling locally, walking the streets of London in the mould of the flâneur , a "gentleman stroller of city streets". He often suffered from insomnia and his night-time wanderings gave him an insight into some of

340-571: Is also Dickens's characteristic concern for the conditions of the poor and oppressed, as in "Wapping Workhouse", "A Small Star in the East" and "Titbull's Alms-Houses". The second chapter describes the results of a visit he made to Anglesey in 1859 to investigate the wreck of the Royal Charter , a ship returning from Australia. It was forced onto the rocks in a severe storm in October 1859 –

374-614: Is expressly cooked for me, no pigeon-pie is especially made for me, no hotel-advertisement is personally addressed to me, no hotel-room tapestried with great-coats and railway wrappers is set apart for me, no house of public entertainment in the United Kingdom greatly cares for my opinion of its brandy or sherry. When I go upon my journeys, I am not usually rated at a low figure in the bill; when I come home from my journeys, I never get any commission. I know nothing about prices, and should have no idea, if I were put to it, how to wheedle

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408-567: The Mersey a wind pressure of 28 pounds per square foot (1,300 Pa) was measured, more than ever previously recorded. On the north coast of Anglesey , where the Royal Charter , a steam clipper , was approaching the end of her voyage from Melbourne to Liverpool , the wind at Point Lynas changed direction to ENE at 10 p.m. on 25 October and rose to gale force. By 10 p.m. the wind had reached force 10 and continued to increase, reaching force 12 by midnight. It continued to blow at force 12 until

442-468: The Rev. Stephen Roose Hughes, whose exertions in finding and identifying the bodies probably led to his own premature death soon afterwards. Dickens gives a vivid illustration of the force of the gale: So tremendous had the force of the sea been when it broke the ship, that it had beaten one great ingot of gold, deep into a strong and heavy piece of her solid iron-work: in which also several loose sovereigns that

476-409: 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. , with a quarter-share being owned by

510-487: The Year Round ended. It had its last issue on 30 March 1895, after three series. Each volume was 26 numbers long, half a year (thus Vol. 1 was Nos 1 to 26, Vol. 2 was Nos 27 to 52, Vol. 3 was Nos 53 to 78, but the annuals and seasonal extras counted for additional numbers.) Dickens collaborated with other staff writers on a number of Christmas stories and plays for seasonal issues of the magazine, including: A number of prominent authors and novels were serialised in All

544-545: The Year Round , including: Other contributors included: Staff writers included: Most articles were printed without naming their author; only the editor, "Conducted by Charles Dickens", was mentioned on the first page and the head of every other page. While a complete key to who wrote what and for how much in Household Words was compiled in 1973 by Anne Lohrli (using an analysis of the office account book maintained by Dickens's subeditor, W. H. Wills ), unfortunately

578-465: The Year Round , naming all the contributors. A full guide to the magazine is now in progress and should be published in 2018. Noted anonymous articles include: Royal Charter Storm 53°21′14″N 4°14′06″W  /  53.354°N 4.235°W  / 53.354; -4.235 The Royal Charter Storm (also known as the Great storm of 1859 ) of 25 and 26 October 1859 was considered to be

612-617: 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: 'The story of our lives, from year to year.' – Shakespeare. ALL THE YEAR ROUND. A weekly journal. Conducted by Charles Dickens. The new weekly magazine had its debut issue on Saturday 30 April 1859, featuring

646-607: The account book for All the Year Round has not survived. Ella Ann Oppenlander has attempted to provide something comparable in a 1984 book not easily procured, but only manages to identify less than a third of the contributors: Dickens' All the Year Round: Descriptive Index and Contributor List . In July 2015 antiquarian bookseller and Dickens scholar Jeremy Parrott announced at a conference in Belgium that he had discovered Dickens's own annotated set of All

680-607: The aftermath as described in The Uncommercial Traveller . A total of 133 ships were sunk during the storm and another 90 badly damaged according to the Board of Trade records. The death toll was estimated at around 800, including some people killed on land by falling rocks and masonry. Twice as many people died in these two days as had been lost at sea around the British Isles in the whole of 1858. There

714-409: The afternoon of 26 October. The Royal Charter was driven ashore on the east coast of Anglesey just north of the village of Moelfre in the early hours of the morning of 26 October 1859, eventually being smashed to pieces against the rocks, with the loss of over 450 lives. The public impact of the shipwreck may be judged by the fact that Charles Dickens travelled from London to Anglesey to report on

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748-499: The city streets: now, about the country by-roads – seeing many little things, and some great things, which, because they interest me, I think may interest others. These are my chief credentials as the Uncommercial Traveller. Dickens began by writing seventeen episodes, which were printed in All the Year Round between 28 January and 13 October 1860 and these were published in a single edition in 1861. He sporadically produced eleven more articles between 1863–65 and an expanded edition of

782-404: The editor and journalist William Henry Wills . 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

816-406: The first instalment of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities . The launch was an immediate success. So well has All the Year Round gone that it was yesterday able to repay me, with five per cent. interest, all the money I advanced for its establishment (paper, print etc. all paid, down to the last number), and yet to leave a good £500 balance at the banker's! One month after the launch, Dickens won

850-424: The hidden aspects of Victorian London, details of which he also incorporated into his novels. The role of the explorer and investigator of interesting things was explained by Dickens in the introduction to the work: Allow me to introduce myself – first negatively. No landlord is my friend and brother, no chambermaid loves me, no waiter worships me, no boots admires and envies me. No round of beef or tongue or ham

884-471: The ingot had swept in before it, had been found, as firmly embedded as though the iron had been liquid when they were forced there. Of particular interest are the elements of autobiography Dickens includes such as his reminiscences and opinions on his childhood home town, Chatham , under the name Dullborough. He also describes the period of enforced inactivity – "A Fly-Leaf in Life" – he was forced to endure after

918-547: The most severe storm to hit the Irish Sea in the 19th century, with a total death toll estimated at over 800. It takes its name from the Royal Charter ship, which was driven by the storm onto the east coast of Anglesey , Wales, with the loss of over 450 lives. The storm followed several days of unsettled weather. The first indications were seen in the English Channel about 3 p.m. on 25 October 1859, when there

952-422: The new weekly publication, All the Year Round , and the title, Household Words , will form a part of the title-page of All the Year Round ." AYR ' s full title then acquired a fourth item: " All the Year Round. A Weekly Journal. Conducted by Charles Dickens. With Which Is Incorporated Household Words. " All the Year Round contained the same mixture of fiction and non-fiction as Household Words but with

986-550: The road with his public readings. A few weeks before 28 November 1868, Dickens announced a new series for All the Year Round : "I beg to announce to the readers of this Journal, that on the completion of the Twentieth Volume on the Twenty-eighth of November, in the present year, I shall commence an entirely New Series of All the Year Round . The change is not only due to the convenience of the public (with which

1020-431: The theories of Charles Darwin ), lives and struggles of inventors, tales of exploration and adventure in distant parts, and examples of self-help among humble folk, are among the topics which found a ready welcome from Dickens. After 1863, although Dickens continued to micromanage the editorial department, scrupulously revising copy, his own contributions fell off considerably, largely because he spent more and more time on

1054-713: The things that he saw. There is simple reportage , such as an investigation into a shipload of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ready to emigrate in "Bound for the Great Salt Lake", but more usually it is the inventive and embroidered descriptions of everyday London life: "The City of the Absent", "City of London Churches", "Shy Neighbourhoods". There are character sketches such as "Tramps", and excuses for Dickens to retell stories he has previously told, such as "The Italian Prisoner" and "Chambers". There

The Uncommercial Traveller - Misplaced Pages Continue

1088-455: The work was printed in 1866. Once more he returned to the persona with some more sketches written 1868–69 and a complete set of these articles was published posthumously in 1875. The work is not markedly different from articles he contributed to Household Words , an earlier journal, or the contents of Sketches by Boz written near the start of his literary career. They display his wit, humour and occasionally his righteous indignation towards

1122-454: The younger" in the testament) one week before his death in June 1870. After Dickens's death, his son would own and edit the magazine from 25 June 1870 until the end of 1895 (or possibly just until 1888). In 1889, the magazine started a "Third series". It is unclear how much Dickens Jr. was involved with the new series, but a number of stories were contributed by Mary Dickens . In 1895, All

1156-559: Was a sudden increase in wind speed and a shift in its direction. There was extensive structural damage along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall . The storm drifted northwards, hitting Anglesey by about 8 p.m. and not reaching maximum force at the River Mersey until midday on 26 October, then continued northwards to affect Scotland . The winds reached force 12 on the Beaufort scale and were well over 100 mph (160 km/h). At

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