Following their break with Charles Dickens over his cancellation of in 1859, publishers Bradbury and Evans launched to compete with Dickens' new magazine, . The weekly illustrated miscellany first appeared in July of 1859, under the editorship of Samuel Lucas, and sold for three pence. Remembered now for the quality of its illustrations (by notables such as Hablot K. Browne, Holman Hunt, Keene, Leech, Millais, Sandys, and Tenniel), never offered Dickens any strong competition from a literary or economic standpoint. However, it did publish Meredith's , Charles Reade's , and occasional poems by Tennyson, Swinburne, and Rossetti, as well as important work by women writers like Harriet Martineau, Isabella Blagden, and M.E. Braddon. ceased publication in 1880, following the slow but steady decline that characterized its fortunes from the beginning.

The indicates that DGR published illustrations in (under the entry for George Meredith), but Buckler doubts the accuracy of this information, and no illustrations by DGR have been identified.