As a writer of penny-weekly novels for the lower classes, G. W. M. Reynolds enjoyed an unparalleled popularity in the 1840s and the 1850s. When the second series of The Mysteries of London was appearing in the London Journal in 1845, the circulation was about 40,000 copies per week; and in 1854 a contemporary writer estimated the weekly circulation of Reynolds's Miscellany (in which most of the author's novels first appeared) at 200,000. Consideration of the ways Reynolds maintained the loyalty of his immense readership, especially through his use of conventions, settings, and themes that are often similar to those found in Dickens's novels, can provide a better understanding of the significance of popular literature in the early Victorian period and of its relationship to some of the major literary works of the time.

George William MacArthur Reynolds was born on 23 July 1814 in Sandwich. Enrolling in the Royal Military College at Sandhurst...