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Page last updated at 09:26 GMT, Thursday, 2 July 2009 10:26 UK

Victorian standard for self help

Self help books have been the big publishing success of the past couple of decades but it is not just a recent phenomenon. Back in the 1850s, Charles Darwin's seminal work On the Origin of Species was outsold by a self help book. Radio 4 documentary presenter Kate Williams discusses if people have always looked to literature for assistance.

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