All the Year Round Front Page

Charles Dickens’ periodical All the Year Round displays a simpler layout than that of Harper’s Weekly. This can be seen from the cover page as it dives right into The Moonstone without any current events or advertisements preceding it. The periodical provides the texts one after another, without other media infiltrating it like in Harper’s Weekly. The periodical dives right in and this allows for readers to immerse themselves in the world of the story. They are able to separate themselves from their own world, and this allows them to connect with the text more emotionally and meaningfully as they are free to examine the fictional world as is and make connections to their personal lives. This is unlike Harper’s Weekly, which directs attention to things outside of the fictional realm like current events, leading readers to structure their reading in relation to their world rather than themselves. All the Year Round wants readers to leave societal turmoil and such outside of the periodical, and use texts to explicate things relative to their own lives and find meaning through that.

Wilkie Collins’ name is omitted when crediting The Moonstone, and is instead replaced with “By the author of ‘The Woman in White’ &c. &c.” This is an interesting stylistic choice as it steers readers into the fictional world with the mention of another story, rather than putting a name which would remind readers that this is just a story written by a person. It is shaping the periodical to be separate from the real world in order to promote a connection between the readers and the texts. Moreover, the periodical is opened with a quote from William Shakespeare’s Othello which again places the readers as entering the fictional world. They are meant to bring themselves in and leave the rest of the world outside of their reading.