In early 1870, George Eliot was 236 pages into writing <em>Middlemarch</em> (1871) when she realised the novel was too long for the three-volume standard of the time. In her diary of 19 March 1871, Eliot (whose real name was Mary Anne Evans) wrote “My present fear is that I have too much matter, too many ‘momenti’”<sup>1</sup>.<br><br>For most of the 19th century, novels were published in one of two ways. Works by popular writers, such as Charles Dickens, were printed on one sheet of paper folded 8 times (making 32 pages) and sold in cheap monthly instalments for one shilling. Alternatively, longer novels, such as Eliot’s <em>Mill on the Floss</em> (1860), were published in the three-volume “three-decker” format. These were bought by libraries and were more often borrowed than bought. <br><br>Eliot had written <em>Romola</em> (1863) in instalments but was loath to publish <em>Middlemarch</em> in the low quality format.<sup>2</sup> Instead, her lover George Lewes recommended splitting the novel into eight volumes, each volume to be issued every two months. The format retained the prestige of the three-decker but with a smaller price tag, encouraging readers to buy rather than borrow.<br><br>Middlemarch was successful in generating a new readership paying five-shillings per volume, with publisher Blackwood saying the sales “make a very pretty show.”<sup>3</sup> The structure of the publication accounts for the structure of the narrative: each volume acts as a stand-alone story, generating suspense and encouraging the reader to purchase the next instalment. The final effect is a book comprised of many plots whose threads merge to form the tapestry of a whole town and its people: the fictional <em>Middlemarch</em>.<br>