Dombey and Daughter

Two contemporary reactions to the big success of Dombey. The first is reprinted in Dickens: the Critical Heritage ... a popular Punch-like magazine called The Man in the Moon published an 'Inquest on the late Master Paul Dombey', which is interesting:

Thou art gone from our counter,
Thou are lost to our pocket
Thou hast fallen, brief meteor,
Like spark of a rocket.
New numbers appearing
Fresh interest may borrow,
But we go on "oh dearing,
For Paul there's no morrow!"

And here's something rather different, if related: my account of Renton Nicholson's unauthorised sequel to Dombey and Son, Dombey and Daughter: you'll see, if you click that link, how tangential this book is to Dickens, a desperate attempt to cash-in on the enormous success of the original tale.