Note 23 to Chapter 2 of the author's Pegasus in Harness: Victorian Publishing and W. M. Thackeray, which University Press of Virginia published in 1992. It has been included in the Victorian Web with the kind permission of the author, who of course retains copyright.
Fraser's was paying £12 a sheet, or 15s. 9d.. per page. Thackeray got £385 for The Irish Sketch Book or about 12s. 2d. per page. However, Fraser's double-column format accommodated approximately twice the text required to fill a page of the book, so that in effect Thackeray's rate of pay for the book was nearly double the magazine rates. In addition, the total payment for the job was much more and, when it finally came, came in lump sums. Punch paid Thackeray two guineas per page, but its pages held even more than Fraser's.
Last modified: 4 April 2001