Exploring Charles Dickens's Serial Form

The Digital Dickens Notes Project allows users to explore the Working Notes Charles Dickens kept as he wrote his novels in monthly or weekly installments. In as few as 19 pages per novel, the Notes are concise, dynamic records of Victorian serial composition. Access legible, visually faithful transcriptions of the Working Notes; read editorial annotations that interpret and explain the significance of the Notes; learn about Dickens’s compositional practice; and consider how to incorporate Dickens’s Notes into your teaching and research.

David Copperfield Working Notes

David Copperfield Working Notes (1849-50)

Immerse yourself in the composition of Dickens's most autobiographical novel through our introduction and annotations to these Notes.

Bleak House Working Notes

Bleak House Working Notes (1852-53)

Explore Dickens's management of the novel's dual narrators with our introduction and annotations to these Notes.

Hard Times Working Notes

Hard Times Working Notes (1854)

Follow Dickens's difficulties navigating a weekly serial with our introduction and annotations to these Notes.

Little Dorrit Working Notes

Little Dorrit Working Notes (1855-57)

Discover how Dickens's idea for 'Nobody's Fault' transformed into 'Little Dorrit' through our introduction and annotations to these Notes