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Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl
Interesting! I hadn’t really thought of this question. I read somewhere that his illustrator claimed to have been told the intended ending. Can anyone explain please how the book installments were published? Were they soft-bound? Did each installment have a different image or was the same one used over and over?
Did Dickens choose the title himself? If yes, then why did he pick that title? It is “mystery” and not “murder.” Was it to emphasize that he was trying his hand at writing a mystery this time?
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The Drood Inquiry website I found does give images of the magazines in which the serial appeared, complete with advertisements - lovely stuff to browse over. The green wrapper appeared for each instalment.
The wrapper illustrations were done by his son-in-law David Collins (brother of Wilkie, and first husband of his daughter Kate), but he didn't do the illustrations which appear in the text.
On the titles, Nicoll in his book
The Problem of 'Edwin Drood': A Study in the Methods of Dickens (one of
Catlady's finds) gives Dickens' notes for the novel. It includes a list of possible titles:
Quote:
The Loss of Edwyn Brood.
The Loss of Edwin Brude.
The Mystery in the Drood Family.
The Loss of Edwyn Drood.
The Flight of Edwyn Drood. Edwin Drood in hiding.
The Loss of Edwin Drude.
The Disappearance of Edwin Drood.
The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
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Immediately below this list is:
This suggests that Dickens intended to tease his readers with wondering whether Edwin was indeed dead or alive, which is why he called it "Mystery" rather than "Murder".