ABSTRACT
The weekly Athenaeum, called by its editors "the mirror of Victorian culture," published more than 10,000 reviews of fiction from its incep tion in 1828 until 1900. While Athenaeum reviewers recognized Dick ens's ability from the earliest review of Sketches by Boz, they had reservations about his vulgarity. They also distinguished between the enthusiastic popular reception and the more sophisticated understanding of the critics. Impressed by Dickens's growing social criticism, however, they came to value both his moral influence and his art. These judgments are apparent not only in the reviews of Dickens himself but also in the extensive comments on him found in reviews of other nov elists.
