Nor was the connection between nature of form and system of distribution limited to England: for the single-volume novel, though older in France than with us, is not so very old.
But a very considerable proportion of these famous books made appearances previous to that in three volumes, and not distantly connected with their popularity.

For the most part these previous appearances were either in magazines or periodicals of one kind and another, or else in "parts." Neither process was exactly new, though both were largely affected by changed conditions of general literature and life.

The magazine-appearance traces itself, by almost insensible gradations, to the original periodical-essay of the Steele-Addison type--the small individual bulk of which necessitated division of whatsoever was not itself on a very small scale.

If you run down the "Contents" of the _British Essayists_ you will constantly find "Continuation of the story of Alonso and Imoinda" and the like.

But when, in the early years of the nineteenth century, the system of newspapers and periodicals branched out into endless development, coincidently with the increase of demand and supply in regard to the novel, it was inevitable that this latter should be drawn upon to supply at once the standing dishes and the relishes of the entertainment.