All the Year Round, The Moonstone, 1 August 1868. [text]

                The last page of All the Year Round’s publication of Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone does not surprise the reader with any interesting images or foreshadowing illustrations. This is especially interesting when considering the fact that this page contains the revelation readers have been awaiting for months; Godfrey is the thief! This climax is realised only in the text itself. As mentioned, there are no images at all throughout the publication, and even the placement of the text sullies the big reveal.

                The thirty-first installment of Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone is followed immediately by an article titled ‘BEAVERS’. The readers’ eye goes directly from ‘GODFREY ABLEWHITE!’ to ‘BEAVERS’ with little more than a small dividing line to separate these two proclamations. While the inconspicuous title of the next article does seem to be commonplace in weekly journals, its presence here only heightens the underwhelming nature of how Collins’ narrative is presented in All the Year Round.

                All the Year Round appears to be entirely interested in promoting itself as a journal, rather than advertising its necessary contributors. This is especially evident when compared to Harper’s, which took nearly every opportunity to at least make the first page engaging. The commodity focus of All the Year Round is particularly thought provoking when considering the fact that Dickens was an author himself. It is strange that someone who has gained fame from publishing periodical works would be so uninterested in adequately displaying other authors’ texts, and rather would utilize their place in the print industry to further their own reputation.