As the preface to A Tale of Two Cities reminds us, the novel was inspired by the magnum opus of Charles Dickens's friend and mentor Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution (1837). A Tale of Two Cities was originally published in installments to launch Dickens's new journal All the Year Round (which replaced his earlier publication Household Words 1850-1859) from 30 April 1859 to 26 November of the same year. The novel appeared concurrently in monthly parts, with illustrations by Dickens's long-time collaborator Hablôt Knight Browne. A Tale of Two Cities is one of Dickens's most painstakingly researched works, and the author recounts re-reading The French Revolution over and over again, whilst digesting “two cartloads” of books that Carlyle ordered for him from the London Library. Early titles for the novel included “Buried Alive”, “The Thread...
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Citation: Moore, Grace. "A Tale of Two Cities". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 December 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6942, accessed 09 June 2026.]
