Our Mutual Friend is the last novel Charles Dickens completed during his lifetime; The Mystery of Edwin Drood was left incomplete when the author died in 1870. The novel was published in 20 parts spread over 19 months (the final installment was a "double issue"), beginning in May 1864 and concluding in November 1865. Each installment included two illustrations and a selection of advertisements. This form of publishing had been devised early in Dickens's career and used regularly up until the mid 1850s. At that point, Dickens moved to publishing his novels largely in weekly (as opposed to monthly) serial form; his return to the older format with Our Mutual Friend meant that he now had to...
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