Dickens published Our Mutual Friend in twenty monthly parts from May 1864 to November 1865. It was the fourteenth and final novel in his vast corpus of novels, only to be followed by The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870), which remained unfinished at the time of his death.
This section of the Scholary Pages provides a repository of information about the history, composition, publication, and reception of Our Mutual Friend, including scans of the manuscript and number plans, a gallery of Marcus Stone’s forty original illustrations, and rare digitizations of 19th-century advertisements that were included with the novel during its serial publication.
Composition and Publication
Professor Robert L. Patten (Rice University) dives into the composition, publication, and reception of the novel.
Manuscript and Number Plans
Jon Michael Varese examines the manuscript and number plans of the novel.
Illustrations
Jenny Wren, Silas Wegg, the Golden Dustman, and many other characters appear in the gallery of Marcus Stone’s illustrations for Our Mutual Friend.
Advertisements
The advertising sections of Our Mutual Friend contained some of the earliest—and most stunning—examples of 19th-century color advertisements.
Contemporary Reviews
British and American reviews of the novel.