The particular magazines may have died in some cases: but the magazine-appearance of novels is nearly as vivacious as ever.
Publication in parts is nearly as old, but has a less continuous history, and has seen itself suffer an interruption of life.

There are scattered examples of it pretty far back both in France and England.
Marivaux had a particular fancy for it: with the result that he left not a little of his work unfinished.

Such volume-publication as that of _Tristram Shandy_, in batches really small in quantity and at fairly regular if long intervals, is not much different from part-issue.

As the taste for reading spread to classes with not much ready money, and perhaps, in some cases, living at a distance from libraries, this taste spread too.

But I do not think there can be much doubt that the immense success of Dickens--in combination with his own very distinct predilection for keeping the ring himself and being his own editor--had most to do with its prevalence during the period under present consideration.