Light Reading with a Vengeance.
Keeper of Circulating Library: "I'm very sorry, Miss, the Third Volume happens still to be out; but here is the entire Novel in One Volume!
Young Lady: "Oh, That won't do! How on Earth am I to find my Place in it!"
Punch for 27 January 1877 (page 30) comments on Mudie's and other circulation libraries, which long promoted publishing novels in three volumes, or as so-called triple deckers. [Scanned image (from a volume in the Athenæum Club Library) and text by George P. Landow [This image may be used without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose.]
Last modified 3 September 2007