ABSTRACT
Imagine yourself as an enthusiastic reader of novels in 1800 wanting to buy the latest fashionable novel. W hat would it look like, and how much would it cost you? Early nineteenth-century novels were often published in two, three, or more volumes; com monly in duodecimo size - smaller than most modern octavo novels. The type would usually be large with generous spacing between the lines and wide margins (this was a way of bulking out a novel to fill three volumes). Because there was no such thing as standard publisher’s binding until the 1830s, most novels would have been issued in temporary bindings of grey cardboard — with a printed paper label on the spine — on the assumption that those who bought them would wish to bind them in their own library style.
