Smart Dealings: The Fate of Household Words in the United States

• Published in: Dickens quarterly 2017-03, Vol.34 (1), p.46-53
• Main Author: SCHELSTRAETE, JASPER
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: British & Irish literature; Collins, Wilkie (1824-1889); Dickens, Charles (1812-1870); Editors; English literature; Households; Novels; Publishing industry
• ISSN: 0742-5473; 2169-5377; 2169-5377
• DOI: 10.1353/dqt.2017.0005

According to the flyer, Harpers paid Dickens $2,000 for the privilege.1 This deal marked an important moment in Dickens's transatlantic career. Not only was the class sensibility that informed Dickens's editorial policies in England much less of a factor with American publishers, but concurrent with the international copyright debates, literary nationalism in the country was also on the rise.6 Indeed, as Jennifer Phegley observes in "Literary Piracy, Nationalism, and Women Readers in Harper's New Monthly Magazine 1850-1855," while the editors of Harper's New Monthly Magazine were initially outspoken about their intentions to "transfer to its pages [...] all the continuous tales of Dickens [...] and other distinguished contributors to British Periodicals" (67) and identified the source of reprinted pieces, they soon changed tack. [...]fiction by lesser known authors and all non-fiction pieces from Household Words reappeared without credit (McParland 55). What we do have is a series of negative responses from Dickens and Wills to overtures from smaller US firms to issue an authorized reprint (131). Since wholesale marketing of Household Words in the States could have preserved Dickens's editorial persona, these declined offers suggest a lack of interest in establishing his presence as the Conductor in the New World7 despite the journal's commercial value.