Rise and Fall of the Victorian Three-Volume Novel

Troy J. Bassett is Professor of English at Purdue University Fort Wayne, USA. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on Victorian book history and literature and is the creator of the digital humanities project At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901.

“The data and detailed history offered in this book give readers the opportunity to explore the validity of many long-held beliefs about the Victorian novel and its relationship to publishing structures and formats and should inspire further research in this area.” (Natalie M. Houston, Victorian Studies, Vol. 65 (4), 2023)“Troy J. Bassett’s book reconsiders a staple of nineteenth-century fiction, the three-volume novel, as a literary and economic product. … the book points indirectly to the bearing of nineteenth-century material culture on current concerns with genre, gatekeeping, and meaning-making in a digital world.” (David Buchanan, Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, Vol. 59 (1), 2022)“Rise and Fall of the Victorian Three-Volume Novel pioneers a new methodology to answer long-standing questions about the place of the triple decker in Victorian literature and culture. … Bassett’s resulting study is a broad overview of multivolume fiction that will provide invaluable context to scholars moving forward.” (Karen Bourrier, Victorian Periodicals Review, Vol. 54 (1), 2021)

• Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: The Production of Multi-Volume Fiction, 1837–1898.- Chapter 3: Publishing the Three-Volume Novel: The Experience of Richard Bentley and Son.- Chapter 4: Buying, Renting, and Selling the Multi-Volume Novel: The Economics of W. H. Smith and Son’s Subscription Library.- Chapter 5: De-Monopolizing Literary Space: Alternatives to the Three-Volume Novel.