History of England) was issued by a London printer in monthly parts. A rival printer then tried to compete by selling another translation of de Rapin's work in weekly, six-penny installments. An edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs was issued in three-penny installments in 1732. At the time, printing a book was a lengthy process, copies of each section of the book being printed in turn until the work was complete; the sections would then be collated and the print-run of books could then be sold. The alternative of selling individual sections as soon as they were printed would enable the printer could gain a steady income while the book was being produced, and potentially increase sales by selling to people who could not afford the upfront cost of a copy of the complete book. In the 19th century, many of Charles Dickens' novels were first published as partworks. For example, The Pickwick Papers was first published in 19 parts, between 1836 and 1837. The Old Curiosity Shop was first published in 88 weekly parts between April 1840 and November 1841. In the mid-20th century, partwork serialized encyclopedias were issued. Publishers soon branched out to other topics, including cookery books and series on gardening and car maintenance. Criticisms Partworks, particularly those that contain parts for the production of a model or similar collectable items that are individually of little value, often draw criticism for the extremely high prices of their finished product. One example, released in the UK in 2009, required the purchase of 125 issues to collect the parts for a static, model aircraft; the total would be £620.25, many times higher than the cost of buying a standard model kit of the same aircraft outright. Examples of other models that cost over £400 to produce are cited, and some subscribers complain they have parts missing that they are unable to replace. Notable partwork publishers Amalgamated Press (no longer trading) De Agostini, who have approximately 50% of the worldwide market Del Prado (no longer trading) Eaglemoss Publications G E Fabbri Hachette IPC Magazines (no longer trading) Marshall Cavendish Midsummer Books (including Bright Star Publications) Orbis Publishing Purnell and Sons (no longer trading) See also Periodical literature Serial (literature) Part-publication Part References Publications by format Partworks