IN DICKENS' TIME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19608, 9 April 1927, Page 7 (Supplement)

IN DICKENS' TIME.

TREASURE CASKETS. Those who have read the pick of English literature of the last century and in earlier days know that although printing was macbf slower than it is to-day the books were bigger or the subject was invested with many more words. One may form some idea of what is contained within the covers of a book if he takes as a standard of length " The Pickwick Papers," which contains nearly 190,000; " David Copperfield " more than 390,000, and Richardson's "Pamela" 524,000 words. Jane Austen's " Emma " carries some 160,000 words, and " Sense and Sensibility " about 120,000 words. Goldsmith's " Vicar of Wakefield " does not pass the 60,000 standard, and although we admit that it is not usual for a reader to scamper through a story of Walter Scott's, most of us are surprised when we learn the word-number of the Waverley novels "Rob Roy" has about 165,000 words, " The Talisman " 130,000 words, and " The Antiquary " 172,000. Dr. Johnson's " Rasselashas 39,000 words, " Tristram Shandy''' has about 220,000 words, Fielding's " Tom Jones " has more than 340,000 words.