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Victorians were great readers of the novel, and the number of novels available for them to read increased enormously during Victoria’s reign.
The activity of reading benefited hugely from wider schooling and increased literacy rates, from the cheapening costs of publication, from improved distribution that resulted from better transportation, and, towards the end of the century, from the arrival of gas and electric lighting in homes, which meant that reading after dark no longer had to take place by candlelight or oil lamp.
Here below is a set of amazing photos that show Victorian people posing with their books.
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