The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
EXCURSIONS IN
VICTORIAN BIBLIOGRAPHY
“If it is true that the Victorian time was ugly
and vulgar, the excitement of those years
between 1848 and 1890 was something like
that of a religious revival.”
The Early Life of Mark Rutherford.
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
FREDERICK MARRYAT
WILKIE COLLINS
CHARLES READE
G. J. WHYTE MELVILLE
MRS. GASKELL
AND
HERMAN MELVILLE
BY
MICHAEL SADLEIR
LONDON
CHAUNDY & COX
40 MADDOX STREET
MCMXXII
TO MY
FATHER
ERRATA
P. 24 line 33 for “first” read “second.”
P. 24 line 36 for “Finn” read “Redux.”
P. 29 line 20 for “invented for” read “'presented' in.”
ADDENDUM.
P. 72. The following paragraph should precede “1863/ A
WELCOME, etc.”
1861
THE VICTORIA REGIA: A Volume of Original
Contributions in Poetry and Prose. Edited by
Adelaide A. Procter. London: Printed and Published
by Emily Faithfull and Co., Victoria Press
(for the Employment of Women), Great Coram
Street, W.C. 1861. 1 vol. Royal 8vo (6¼ × 9⅜).
Pp. x + 349 + (1). No half-title. Red-brown embossed
cloth, all edges gilt, blocked in gold and blind. Red
chocolate end-papers.
NOTE.—Pp. 187 to 214 are occupied by a story by Anthony Trollope
entitled The Journey to Panama. This is the first appearance in book
form of a tale afterwards published in Lotta Schmidt and other Stories.
A Note on the Terms used in the Bibliographies which follow, together with Observations relative to Victorian Bookmaking and Recommendations to Collectors
This book is so essentially an accumulation of notes and
so emphatically wanting in the qualities of completeness
and learning proper to genuine bibliography that I have
sought, even on the title-page, to indicate its limitations.
It were indeed presumption to enter the field of nineteenth-century
bibliography, in which already so much
fine and skilful work has been accomplished, with the
slight technical equipment to which I may lay claim.
On the other hand, the experience of collectors conforms
oddly to type, and where, in the study of certain Victorian
first editions, I have found perplexity and doubt,
others in the same study will likely find them too.
Wherefore my annotations, in this book set in order and
to a certain point rounded off, should help my fellow-students
to a speedier knowledge of points and pitfalls
in the collecting of their favourites than was easily
accessible to myself. In time (maybe in short time) my
work will be superseded by investigation more accomplished,
by analysis more detailed. At such time
collectors (and myself among them) will rightly substitute
for this volume on their shelf of bibliographies the
later, more comprehensive, handbooks that shall have
taken its place. Meanwhile I dare to hope that the
present work, with all its shortcomings, will find appreciative
users, and among them a few who, realizing the
difficulties that even so modest a compilation has been
2forced to surmount, will forgive its imperfections for the
sake of its attributes.
With the general propriety of book-collecting I am not
here concerned. Men there are to whom all collecting is
folly; others to whom every passion is vile. To the
logical asceticism of their private Utopias they are welcome,
provided the lover be left to enjoy his mistress,
the lepidopterist his butterflies, the bibliophile his books.
Even the more subtle critic, who admits the lure of collecting
but maintains that the craze of the first edition
is senseless hysteria, shall not tempt me to dispute.
This is a book about first editions, and will be read only
by the initiate. If we be hystericals, we have at least
our weakness in common. Let us therefore shut the
door and compare symptoms, for we are all fools
together.
The superior and the sceptical are now excluded from
the privacy of our imaginary club-house. But a further
reservation must be made. Although it were impractical
idealism to demand that the collector transcend in
his collecting every sordid consideration of market and
fluctuating value, it is reasonable to look askance at the
mere speculator. From the scope of this word I exclude,
of course, the whole fraternity of booksellers.
They exist frankly for the marketing of books; and who
shall grudge them the profits of their toil? My animadversion
is against the private person to whom rare
books are mere scrip, to be bought and sold by telephone,
their very titles meaningless, their contents utterly unknown.
No doubt, if this book is of service at all, it
will be of service incidentally to individuals of the kind
described. That it should be so is unpreventable. But
on the general ethics of collecting the compiler may be
allowed the consolation of bearing his trivial testimony.
The private collector who buys what he likes to read
merits such reward as wise buying may earn for him.
He, however, who buys by rote, puts away and resells,
3is no collector at all, but rather a trespasser on the preserves
of the bookseller, taking advantage of a noble
trade while sharing none of its burdens.
With this dictum I descend from the august to the
particular. Collecting, collecting books, collecting first
editions of books—all these are postulates. At this
point is a parting of the ways. The frontiers of dispute
now lie across our path; for within the bounds of the
realm of first editions are to be found divergent tastes,
conflicting fancies, all the clamour and thrust of an
enthusiasm that grows ever more complex.
The collecting of first editions is, in its present form,
a diversion of recent growth. Fifty years ago amateurs
of books were few in number and, necessarily, rich in
gold, for only the great books of past literature were
regarded as fit material for collection, and great books,
though cheaper then than now, were never to be had for
love. But the passage of time has transformed, in
another way than that of mere numbers, the community
of book-collectors. Not only are there nowadays more
collectors and a greater variety of books collected, but
there has come to its own the great principle of original
condition. This is not so pale a platitude as to many it
will appear. A few book-buyers there have always been
to whom original binding, original end-papers, uncut
edges, incidental advertisements, errata slips, and half-titles
have meant perfection. But they were rare exceptions.
To the large majority a first edition was a book of
a certain date without “Second” or “New Edition” on
its title-page. Buyers of this school were indifferent
to the disfigurement of library labels on side or end-paper;
gave no thought to errata slips; but shaved their
favourites, fore-edge and tail, dressed them in uniform
calf gilt, affixed a bookplate, and went their way.
Such collectors as these are still amongst us, but
they are now awaking to the folly of their past. The
market—that indisputable witness to human taste—gives
hard but practical proof of their wrongdoing. “Good
and original condition” is nowadays three-quarters of a
4book's value, and the fraction, if it alters at all, will with
the passage of time increase rather than decrease.
Is it too much to hope that the importance of original
condition has now been permanently realized? The
change, if it has really been effected, is in the main a
healthy one. Although—for it is undeniable—the craze
for the fine copy has produced its own extremism;
although there are to-day book-lovers who refuse even to
open the pages of their books lest, by such violation,
they unsuit them for a mart in which, conventionally
enough, virginity is value; although advance prospectuses
and dust jackets of contemporary publications have
scrupulously to be preserved in order that a “set” be
genuinely complete—the desire for a book as issued does
at least argue a consciousness of its individual personality.
Standard authors, be they ancient or modern,
can be purchased in calf by telephone and at so much per
yard; but the obtaining of shelf furniture in original
cloth is a matter of much seeking and of progress
measured in fractions of an inch.
It has seemed well thus to emphasize the importance
of “condition” to the modern book-collector, because
“condition” in the case of such authors as those here
examined is their admirer's greatest problem, and because
the few bibliographies that already exist, while
listing dates of publication and in one case at least
supplying adequate collation of the various volumes, do
not provide any real description of the externals of those
volumes when in original state.
This description I have endeavoured to supply. That
my work contains errors of omission I am certain; that
it be free from errors of commission I may hardly dare
to hope. But the trouble I have had even to arrive thus
far on the way to completeness encourages belief that
some portion of the donkey work may now be regarded
as done for good and all, and that the trained minds of
bibliographers proper may, if they incline, turn their
talent to such refinements of detail as surely underlie
many of the books herein examined.
5To the collecting of first editions of Victorian novelists
I came by the honourable way of literary liking.
Brought up on Jane Austen, Scott, and Dickens, I read,
during my years of flapperdom, Marryat, Trollope, and
Wilkie Collins. Oxford and the audacities of undergraduate
curiosity estranged me from all save the last
quarter of the nineteenth century. While many of my
contemporaries made sour sacrifice at the altars of disillusion,
feeding their pessimism on Gissing and Butler,
their taste for paradox on Bernard Shaw, I sought disreputable
refuge among fleshly symbolists. The children
of Baudelaire and Poe jostled the faint offspring of
Gaelic legend on my shelves, and, while the voluptuous
pallor of tuberoses shone against blue wall-paper,
imagination floated on the dim tide of decadence. Came
reaction as swift and irrational as were inevitable.
From Paris echoed the clash of neo-barbarism, and
before the strident onslaught of the rediscovered primitive
the faint elegance of a pose too exhausted even for
sin dissolved in air. They were great days, those early
days of the new brutality. Blues and mauves gave place
to orange checked with black, to vivid greens, to fierce
outrageous reds. From the scented secrecy of lamplit
boudoirs the young intellectual rushed into the wind and
sunshine, and he who once made tired love to Phryne on
a couch of silk now clipped the milkmaid grossly in a
ditch. The way of other tastes went taste in letters and
in art. After d'Annunzio, Synge; after Verlaine, Verhaeren;
after Pater, Hardy; after Rops and Carrière,
Gauguin and the rest.
For a while all was well. Cubism, a false interpretation
of the synthetic doctrine of Cézanne, began its brief
and rigid reign. Painters and writers fled naturalism in
a search for true reality. Some are still wandering,
drearily absurd, in the desert of their own bleak imaginings.
The rest found reality, truly enough and rapidly
enough—in war.
And now war has passed, leaving a world weary of
fact and fever, weary of striving, weary almost of its own
6ideals. For long enough yet will persist turbulent discomfort
and the clamour of quacks hawking the millennium;
but at last will be peace, and it is surely a
longing for that peace that has turned men's minds
partly to high romance, but more generally to the manners
and genius of a century ago. Those of an older
generation than my own have, perhaps, never betrayed
their gentle Victorian heritage. One may envy and
applaud their wisdom. But we prodigals, returned from
our rioting and sick with the husks of a démodé violence,
stoop to any self-abasement, to any denial of our own
past judgment, so we be allowed entry to the quiet courts
and ordered opulence of the age we once affected to
despise. Literary enthusiasm expresses itself in various
ways. For my part to love an author is to collect him,
for I can read no borrowed books, and only with difficulty
such as are not first editions. Of the absurdity of
this I am cheerfully aware. We have each one of us our
foible, and this is mine. Considered broadly it is harmless
enough, less cruel than killing birds, less degrading
than drink. Naturally, however, it cannot be indulged
to more than limited degree. Shakespeare and Sterne
and Keats and Browning I may own, but in reprint.
And so with many another. But to the extent possible in
fact and a little beyond that permissible in money, I have
contrived, from one phase to another, to keep myself
fairly supplied with “reading firsts.” A decadent, I
collected Verlaine and Mallarmé, Rimbaud and the
Anglo-Irish nineties; a neo-primitive, I bought Synge
and Verhaeren, Conrad and the chief Georgian poets of
the new simplicity. And so matters progressed, while
gradually novels ousted poetry from my shelves, and,
again gradually, from the reading of modern novels I
came once more to Trollope and the writers of his age.
It is not until one undertakes seriously the collecting
of the less-known Victorian novelists that one realizes
how prime the sport that their assembling offers, how
7destitute of guide-posts is the maze of their work. In
the capacity of quarry few authors or groups of authors
can rival those with whom this volume deals. The
essence of collecting is the chase. The buyer of world-famous
rarities, of which the whereabouts is trumpeted
abroad, knows nothing of the thrill of that dusky provincial
bookshop, among whose tumbled piles Victorians
must surely lurk. The dapper expert in ingenious
moderns with his prefaces, his cancel-titles, his censored
(but disappointing) curiosa, his “works” and
“limiteds,” can set one joy alone against my dozen. He
may, if the gods be kind, on the shelves of bookshops
proper find books that were bought for new, but have not
sold and still remain, lacking an entry to the world of
second-hand, still fresh, still offered at the published
price. But in the main his life is one of “inside information”;
his ally in the trade sells books instead of
making them; it is the principle of the turf in terms of
Whatman paper and grey Michalet boards. To the
collector of Victorians (exception made, of course, of
Dickens's parts, of Wuthering Heights, of Desperate
Remedies, of other far reputed treasures) belongs neither
the pursuit of “folios” across the world nor the click
of the tape pegging out details of obscure pamphlets.
Copies of three-volume novels by writers of reputation
are hard to find at all, and very hard in anything of condition.
Nevertheless, when found, they are often cheap.
And then, when one is bought, there comes the reading
of it.
And yet at times the collector feels forlorn and without
guidance, for maybe the book he buys is a little
known one, of which the very name is strange. Indeed,
the lack of pointers obtrudes harshly, and in a sense no
less literary than bibliographical. Not only is information
as to actual titles scarce and unreliable, but among the
great number of these writers' books the student must
perforce read his own way to a sense of relative quality.
At the cost of some hours of tedium and of many mistaken
purchases I have arrived at a general knowledge
8of what these novelists wrote, when they wrote it, and
what it looked like when it first appeared. This knowledge
is herein set out for the possible assistance of all
and sundry.
The relative value as literature or as story-telling of
their many books makes more perilous judgment. I am
no expert in comparative literature. I cannot even claim
to have read all or nearly all the books that are, in the
pages following, materially dissected. I have preferred
therefore to make no pretence to serious literary criticism,
but have contented myself with indicating at the beginning
of each section the general character of the work
of the writer in question, into what groups (if any) his
novels fall, and have called attention here and there to
certain little known or unknown stories that have pleased
me and may, though hardly for that reason, please some
of my contemporaries. Where an author has little
attraction for me, I have said so. Books of all kinds are
listed between these covers, and no single being will
enjoy them all. But this is certain: that among them
the inquirer, be his tastes what they may, will find reading
to soothe him and to stimulate; will come to seek in
the solidity, whether downright, fantastic, or lurid, in
the quiet charm, in the dexterous sincerity of good Victorian
fiction, a satisfaction of spirit produced by the
novels of no other period of English literature.
Those who for years have known and pondered these
Victorian tales will smile contemptuously at such pompous
revelation of a stale secret. To them, in scorn of
self and lest they lose any of that pleasurable pride
allowable to old initiates who watch a novice at his
scourgings, I offer the apology that is my book. Others,
arrogant in knowledge of Dickensiana, in possession of
priceless Borrows, of Jane Austen perfect in her boards,
will turn from this humble chronicle of humble writers
with the bored serenity of a brass hat on his way to conference.
To them I make obeisance, wondering secretly
whether great collections were amassed more joyfully
than my little one. Last of all, however, may come a
9few, to whom, as to me, Trollope is balm and meat at
once, who love three volumes of a novel for their very
spacing and ornate expansiveness, who find shelves of
cloth or labelled triplets more beautiful than any other
shelves, to whom, in short, the collection and the reading
of Victorian first editions is romance and quiet happiness.
To them my book with all its faults will come
kindly and joyfully, for they will welcome in it the voice
of one who thinks and loves, as they do, the plaint of
one suffering from the same sweet sickness as themselves.
A NOTE ON THE TERMS USED IN THE BIBLIOGRAPHIES WHICH FOLLOW TOGETHER WITH OBSERVATIONS RELATIVE TO VICTORIAN BOOKMAKING, RECOMMENDATIONS TO COLLECTORS, AND AN APPEAL TO THE EXPERIENCE OF OTHER STUDENTS FOR ASSISTANCE AND CORRECTION
10
(i) I am aware that bibliographers proper designate by
means of upright strokes the alignment of wording on
the title-pages of books subject to their analysis. This
mannerism I have eschewed, and for two reasons. In
the first place, a bibliography so displayed baffles the
inexpert reader by a suggestion of mathematical
obscurity. Tempted by the desire to attract a few such
readers to a book that, for all its overplus of sinew and
lack of flesh, is in intention a tribute to a group of very
human and consoling writers, I have sought an appearance
of readability at the cost of a small technical sacrifice.
The sacrifice is small—and here lies the second
justification of my heterodox technique—because no
variety of any one of the books hereafter listed depends
either on the alignment of title-page wording or (save in
a single case to which attention is specially drawn) on
the phrasing, absence or presence of a note of reservation
of foreign or dramatic rights. In short, that which is
required for the identification of a first edition I have
given; but beyond that—nothing.
(ii) The first editions of almost any author include, in
addition to books written wholly by him, a number of
works for some part of which only he is responsible.
These secondary items cannot be neglected by collectors,
for any book in which for the first time is published an
11essay, a story, a poem, or what not by one particular
writer ranks as a first edition of that writer. Naturally,
however, complete works take precedence over partial
works, and I have grouped at the end of each section of
this book such partial or minor first editions as I have
been able to identify.
It must be clearly understood that first magazine publication
is not here referred to. The only periodical issue
of a book that can rank with book issue is that in
parts, according to which the text of a novel made its
appearance in monthly or weekly sections, separately
wrappered, under its own title and unaccompanied by
any extraneous matter save advertisements. Part issues
are essential to a collector; on the other hand, the numbers
of magazines in which this story or that made serial
appearance may be ignored. In many cases I have
stated where (if anywhere) novels were serialized, but
such information is of general rather than of collecting
interest, save to those whose catholicity of taste and
house-room permit them the luxury of adding sets of
magazines to those of actual books.
(iii) The terms used to-day to describe sizes in
uncut books vary from those of an earlier period. For
example, the terms “Post 8vo” and “12mo” are now
rarely met with, whereas prior to 1880 they were in
regular and common currency. Fearing that the modern
buyer or seller of books would be puzzled by too frequent
an encounter with technicalities virtually obsolete,
I have expressed book sizes in terms familiar to present-day
ears and as nearly equivalent to those replaced as
makes no matter. The “8vo” book of the fifties is the
“Demy 8vo” of the nineteen-twenties; “Post 8vo” has
become “Extra Crown 8vo”; “12mo” has become
“Foolscap 8vo.” The phraseology adopted, being
familiar, will give an immediate general idea of a book's
dimensions; the measurement in inches, given in
brackets in all but a handful of cases, will supply to an
eighth of an inch any further detail required.
(iv) The half-title is something of a bugbear to the
12collector of Victorians. Its absence may be fatal; its
presence may give pause. As the nineteenth century
progressed, methods of bookmaking became standardized;
but during the first fifty years publishers printed to
paper and their own convenience, regardless of uniformity
even between volumes of the same work. For
this reason no certainty exists as to the possession by
any book of a half-title. Usually examination will show
whether, in a book lacking a half-title, the first sheet
should rightly provide one or no. The publisher who
found his preliminary matter adequate, without half-title,
for four or eight pages, let it go at that; if, however,
he had two pages of his four or eight to spare, he
used them for half-title and verso. Wherever in the
notes that follow I have satisfied myself that an absence
of half-title is correct, I have drawn attention to that
absence; wherever nothing is said, the silence should be
taken to signify that in perfect copies half-titles must
appear.
(v) In the matter of binding it was the custom from
about 1830 to 1850 to issue many books both in cloth and
in paper boards. The old fashion for boards and labels
died hard, and doubtless the trade found it paid to
humour at once the enthusiast for the new cloth and the
conservative lover of ancient ways. The collector who
has the choice of a book either in cloth or in boards (with
which must be understood boards, half-cloth[1]) and lacks
either inclination or money to buy the two should, if
condition be equally good, buy the copy in boards.
Such a copy may be of earlier but cannot be of later issue
than one in cloth. Should the book be one of which the
two styles were issued simultaneously the copies will rank
equally, although even in such cases a board copy is
preferable, seeing that probably fewer were published
than of those in cloth, and certainly fewer have survived.
1. For convenience' sake the word “cloth” is used throughout
these bibliographies to signify woven material used in binding.
Technically, in the transition period between bound books and
those fully bound, half-binding was carried out in “canvas,” cloth
proper being of somewhat later date.
13The phrase “boards (half-cloth) paper labels” is used
in these bibliographies to describe books which may be
found both in full-board and half-cloth styles. The
colours of board and canvas vary greatly, as different
tones were often used for books belonging to one edition.
(vi) It will be noticed that in the majority of cases I
give the month as well as the year of a novel's publication.
This, had it been possible, I would wish to
have supplied throughout, for by its help alone can the
vexed question of dated catalogues be properly determined.
Unfortunately, with the disappearance in toto
of many publishing firms, the absorption of others under
new names, and the surprising lack of any complete files
of lists and catalogues for the decades in question, it has
been impossible in every case to fix the dates thus
accurately. In determining the various issues of a first
edition (for a publisher does not bind his whole printing
at once, but in lots as required, and often at intervals of
years), the date, if any, of the catalogues of publications
generally bound at the end of Victorian novels is an
essential factor. Where I give the month of publication
in the pages that follow, there can be no difficulty in
detecting copies bound up and issued after first publication.
Elsewhere buyers can only be advised to compare
the date of title-page with that of catalogue. If the latter
predates or tallies with the former all may be well; if the
catalogue date be later, the book is not a first issue,
although still, so far as the sheets are concerned, a copy
of the first edition. In a few rare cases, where numerous
catalogues were printed during the same year, the
earliest date found in any particular first edition of that
year can be established only by experience. It is for this
reason that identity of year between title-page and catalogue
may rather than must indicate a true first issue.
(vii) Advice as to condition is easily given.
Never buy a rebound book or one of which the edges
have been shaved.[2]
2. In this, as always, generalization fails. The vast majority of
the books here listed were first issued uncut; there are, however, a
few—and those among the books of later date—that were published
cut. The collector can identify these, if in original binding,
by comparing measurement with that here given.
14Be wary of books in cloth which bear no publisher's
imprint on the spine; a few are right, but the majority
are remainder-bound. Only in the very early days of
cloth binding were spines unimprinted. Of course
labelled books, whether in boards or half-cloth, never
show publishers' imprint at the tail of their spines.
Always examine end-papers. The quality of Victorian
end-papers cannot be obtained to-day, and it is
rare that the substitution in one book of an old end-paper
from another is so neatly done as to defy detection.
Library labels and their horrid traces have no place in
a fine copy. If, however, a buyer inclines to accept
ex-library copies pending better fortune, he should prefer
those marked inside front covers to those of which the
actual cloth is disfigured. Should the choice be between
a copy in disfigured cloth and one of which the cloth is
clean but the end-papers renewed to obliterate some previous
damage, the wise buyer will take the first and
leave the second. Better a dirty original than a book
neat but doctored.
Do not reject an otherwise good copy of a book because
the case is loose or the back-stitching perished. Such
deterioration is easily and painlessly repaired.
In the case of books illustrated with etchings or steel
engravings, compare the date often to be found on the
plates with that on the title-page. These dates should
tally, or, if they do not, thought or examination of
prefatory matter should show the reason why.
Several cases exist of books reissued more than once,
but without printed indication of reissue, in a style
identical with that of the first edition. In such cases the
plates, more often than not, bear their silent witness, and
the careful buyer, momentarily uncertain of his dates, is
saved the purchase of a book he does not want.
(viii) The volumes listed which I have not myself
seen and examined are asterisked and thus expressly
15noted as catalogued without personal investigation. As
may be imagined, some of the obscurer works of the
authors dealt with are extremely rare, and all my seeking
has failed to discover some of them. In every other
case personal handling has preceded analysis, even
although collation may already have existed in published
form.
(ix) In conclusion I would appeal to any reader of my
book who can emend, develop, or dispute the statements
therein contained to send me forthwith his criticisms and
suggestions. To work of this kind can be no finality.
Freak copies, copies containing catalogues of earlier
date, copies in earlier varieties of binding—of such things
is the sport of bibliography composed. No individual
can be sure that one particular issue of any book is the
earliest; comparative certainty comes only from cooperation.
Wherever possible I have compared several
copies of the same book, but this was by no means everywhere.
Consequently to look forward to revision and
yet more revision is, in the circumstances, a matter for
hope rather than one for shame.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
16
Perhaps the most pleasant element in the compiling of
this book has been the generosity and enthusiasm with
which persons able to help have responded to inquiries.
Among those who have contributed of their private
knowledge facts that but for them I could never have
discovered, Mr. Richard Bentley must have first place.
Unique as an authority on Victorian publishing, Mr.
Bentley not only replied promptly and in detail to my
importunate inquiries, but made suggestions and gave
information—often at considerable personal trouble—which
have greatly extended the scope and utility of my
book.
Other publishers and editors were no less ready to give
me access to such records of the past as were still in their
keeping. To Mr. Arthur Waugh (of Messrs. Chapman
and Hall), to Mr. Kelk and to Mr. Barnard (of Messrs.
Longmans, Green), to Mr. Spalding (of Messrs. Chatto
and Windus), to Mr. Herbert Virtue (of Messrs. Virtue
and Co.), to Mr. Farquharson and to Mr. Leonard
Huxley (of Messrs. John Murray), to Mr. Marston (of
the “Publishers' Circular”), I tender my best thanks.
Gratitude must next be expressed to booksellers and
owners of books whose contribution differed in kind but
not in degree from that of the foregoing. Mr. Walter
Spencer put his unrivalled stock of Victorian first editions
wholly at my disposal, thus enabling me to examine
many rare items not elsewhere discoverable. He also
lent me a series of autograph letters from which certain
details were obtainable. To Messrs. Bain and Messrs.
Maggs I owe opportunities of seeing books necessary to
my list. Mr. Hugh Walpole gave me access to his
private collection, and Mr. Cecil Davis, Mr. J. A. Green,
17and Mr. Clement Shorter helped to a clearer understanding
of the bibliography of Captain Marryat and of
Mrs. Gaskell.
Further, I should like to set down my appreciation of
the facilities afforded to me by the authorities of the
British Museum and of the Bodleian Library. Their
willingness to shorten in my favour the tedious process
of extracting scattered volumes from their stores and
vaults saved much fatigue and hours of valuable time.
To my mother, to my wife, and to one of my publishers
I owe thanks for friendly collaboration at points where
two heads and four hands had more than twice the value
of half their number. Lastly, and perhaps mostly, I am
indebted, for secretarial assistance and for help in the
labour of research, to Miss Martha Smith, whose accuracy
and devotion have halved my personal toil.
Trollope's novels, like those of Jane Austen, are of the
very essence of fiction. Whatever they may lack in
verbal subtlety, in passion, in tragedy or in comedy of
idea, they never lack that spiritual skeleton without
which no structure of a story-teller's imagining can
survive. Palaces more delicate, more romantic, more
brilliant and more terrible than those of Trollope have
been erected and have stood to win the admiration of
posterity; but their splendour and their beauty are due
more to the solid material that upholds their walls and
roofs than to the skill and fancy of their decoration.
Other palaces, because they lacked such invisible but
vital solidity, have drawn for an hour the fickle favour
of the crowd and then toppled into dust. It is easy, in
fiction, to create a nine days' wonder, but hard indeed
to win the esteem of ninety years.
3. For his consent to the reprinting of this Essay I am grateful
to the Editor of the “Nineteenth Century and After.”
Trollope has achieved that victory. Oblivion can now
never be his, for he has lived his bad times and survived.
As must any artist worth the name, he suffered eclipse—temporary,
indeed, but so severe as at one time to
threaten permanence. He was scorned as dowdy and
parochial by the brilliant metropolitans of a succeeding
generation. Only in the hearts of quiet folk and among
readers uninstructed in the genius of their own time were
his books remembered and cherished.
Until, slowly and slowly, opinion has begun to
change. Quality has outstayed vogue, and the latter
comes smirking back to the smiles of a lover yesterday
despised. Indeed, Trollope is in a fair way to become
once again the fashion. For a while he will be honoured
by the enthusiasm of the intellectuals. Then, when they
have turned their volatile benevolence to some other
22quarter, he will settle firmly in the respect of the critical.
And that will at once be fame and his deserts.
Any summary analysis of Trollope's individual novels
is wellnigh impossible, in view not only of the bulk of
his work but also of its scope and richness of content.
His quality is more intangible and at the same time more
concentrated than that of the other writers treated in this
book. “Of all the needs a book has, the chief need is that
it be readable,” wrote Trollope himself. And again:
“The primary object of a novelist is to please.” Readability
has, in these latter days, become a term of condescension.
But that is the fault of a superior age, and
for the ten who use the word contemptuously there are
ten thousand who, did they care to do so, would give it
an older and a more honourable meaning. To them, as
always to the large public of novel-readers, fiction, when
it is not costume-romance, mystery-story, or topical
propaganda, is a revelation of their own lives. It is this
demand for an expression of emotions in which the
normal reader can share that Trollope so amazingly
satisfies. No précis of plot, no indication of social
setting, of character types, nor of period, can in his case
convey the essence of any particular novel.
Nevertheless his stories fall into certain specific categories,
some of which form actual series of tales with
characters reappearing from volume to volume, while
others, although severally independent and self-contained,
may be classified as belonging to one type of
fiction or to another.
The best known group of novels is that dealing with
the society of the city of Barchester and of the surrounding
neighbourhood. The Chronicles of Barsetshire, as
they have been called, are six in number:
The Warden (1855),
Barchester Towers (1857),
Doctor Thorne (1858),
Framley Parsonage (1861),
The Small House at Allington (1864), and
The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867).
23Although these famous stories undoubtedly contain
much of Trollope's best work, they do not contain the
whole of it. It is a mistake to suppose that they rank
altogether higher than his other books, and one of the
most disastrous results of the disfavour into which his
novels fell after their author's death is that a wealth of
really first-rate material, just because it is included in
books of which the late eighties chose to forget the titles,
lies hidden to-day and withdrawn from the enjoyment of
modern readers.
Cases of such unmerited neglect are encountered immediately
and among the novels of Trollope's second
continuous and interconnected series. The “political”
stories, like those of Barsetshire, are six in number:
Can You Forgive Her? (1864),
Phineas Finn (1869),
The Eustace Diamonds (1873),
Phineas Redux (1874),
The Prime Minister (1876), and
The Duke's Children (1880).
It is truly remarkable to what an extent these admirable
tales have fallen into oblivion. Not only do they
introduce many of Trollope's most masterly characters,
but they present, vividly and with knowledge, the minds
and manners of the political aristocracy, the social
hangers-on, the Tadpoles and Tapers of the day. Speaking
generally, the social setting of the political novels is
different from that of The Chronicles of Barsetshire. Indeed,
it could hardly be otherwise, seeing that the whole
series takes its tone from the personalities of Plantagenet
Palliser and his wife Lady Glencora, who, as the stories
progress and by natural course of inheritance, become
the Duke and Duchess of Omnium and the greatest of
English nobility. Trollope's method is not slavishly to
serialize the life story of any individual character or pair
of characters. All the political novels have their own
clearly defined plot. They are, however, all tinged with
the compelling personalities of Lady Glencora and her
24husband, into which Trollope threw all that he had of
art and enthusiasm.
Can You Forgive Her? is a long novel, concerned
primarily with the troubles of a motherless girl who
breaks an engagement with an oppressively upright man
in order to return to a youthful love affair with a
dissipated and unscrupulous cousin. Mr. Grey, the
honourable man, gets in the end the wife he wants; but
Trollope does not hesitate to show fairly the preference
of a high-spirited girl for an adventurous rascal, and
there will be many who, when the book is finished, will
regret—a little ashamedly—that virtue has ultimately
triumphed. In the life story of Lady Glencora Can You
Forgive Her? is important, for it pictures her newly
married and literally on the verge of running away from
her shy, proud, inarticulate husband, with a beautiful
young reprobate, whose previous intimacy with her the
reader may imagine at his discretion. The fallibility of
Lady Glencora is skilfully contrasted with that of Alice
Vavasor, the heroine of the book; their circumstances are
so similar, and yet the young women react to them so
differently!
Phineas Finn is a tale of political ambition. The
hero, by whose name the book is called, is a poor Irishman
who comes to seek his fortune in Parliament. The
ups and downs of his career; Lady Laura Kennedy, who
loves him but from family pressure marries millions;
Madame Max Goesler, the fascinating, mysterious widow
who rejects flattering if dubious proposals from the old
Duke of Omnium, combine with a mass of other material
to make a really dramatic story that is continued, and
equally well continued, in Phineas Redux.
Not the least remarkable feature of the second of these
two books is the hero's trial for murder. Trollope has a
genius for trial scenes, and to my mind it is an open
question whether that in Phineas Redux is not finer than
its more celebrated predecessors in The Three Clerks
and in Orley Farm.
The Eustace Diamonds turns on the personality of
25Lizzie Eustace, a selfish but attractive little woman who
keeps possession, in the teeth of lawyers and of her late
husband's relations, of certain priceless jewels to which
she has no right whatever. There are two or three subplots
in the story, all of good quality; but the character
of Lizzie Eustace, who, for all her lying and her insincerity
and her cheap smartness, is seductive and appealing,
stands out as the book's essential achievement.
The Prime Minister and The Duke's Children are the
only two novels of the political series in which Plantagenet
Palliser, now Duke of Omnium, is admittedly the
central figure. The former book is so constructed as to
give prominence to the love affair and unhappy marriage
of Emily Wharton with Ferdinand Lopez, a stock
gambler and commercial adventurer. But although the
history of the Lopez ménage is admirably told, and gives
scope for the reintroduction of Lizzie Eustace, as well as
other strange and disreputable people, the story of the
first premiership of the Duke of Omnium is the real story
of the book. By the time he came to the writing of The
Prime Minister, Trollope had become deeply interested
in presenting in the person of the Duke his ideal conception
of an English aristocrat. No praise can be too high
for the skill with which he implies, but does not describe,
the divergent qualities of ambition possessed by the
Duke and by his wife. Throughout the book she is for
ever striving to make him in the eye of the world the
greatest gentleman of the greatest kingdom of all time.
He, on the other hand, sees in his position only duty and
responsibility and disappointment. Not the least of his
troubles are his wife's insistence that the life of a public
man is never private, and her expressed conviction that
give and take is the essence of political compromise and
therefore of premiership.
In the interval between The Prime Minister and The
Duke's Children the Duchess of Omnium dies. The
unhappy Duke is left to find, if he may, in the achievements
of his children that completeness and success to
secure which he feels that he has himself so utterly failed.
26Everything goes awry. His only daughter gives her
love to an unknown and penniless commoner. His
younger son, after ragging through his university career,
resorts disastrously to cards and racing. Finally, his
heir—Lord Silverbridge—stands for Parliament in the
opposite interest to that of his father, and, worse still,
turns from the girl the Duke has chosen as his bride, in
order to throw his title and prospects at the feet of the
beautiful daughter of an American savant. The Duke
struggles against his own humanity; slowly and unhappily,
as is his way, he adjusts himself to the changing
times; at the last he sacrifices his ideals of nobility to
personal affection. The Duke's Children worthily closes
a series of fine novels. In some ways this last story of
the political group is the best, and it speaks a good deal
for the author's power of sustained imagination that he
contrived, over a period of sixteen years, to maintain the
interest and develop the vitality of so complex a collection
of characters.
The rough classifications of novels in themselves independent
may, out of respect for chronology, begin with
the stories of Irish life. The Macdermotts of Ballycloran
(1847), The Kellys and the O'Kellys (1848), Castle
Richmond (1860) and The Landleaguers (1883), are the
four books which belong, properly speaking, to this
category. Of course there are Irish scenes in many
other novels, for Trollope lived for years in Ireland,
knew it well and loved it, and was for ever introducing
Irishmen and Irish incidents into his work. The books
above mentioned are, however, wholly and deliberately
novels about Ireland. The first two have the faults of
very early work, in that they are prolix and lack that
control of character and material that marks the experienced
novelist. Both, however, are worth reading, and
the plot of The Kellys needs no excuse on the score of
inexperience. Castle Richmond, however, is definitely
an unsuccessful book. It is packed with information
about the Irish famine, and the story is over-melodramatic
for Trollope's method. One of his most characteristic
27qualities as a novelist is his refusal to keep the
reader in suspense. In direct contrast to Wilkie Collins,
he goes out of his way to explain, as he comes to it, each
seemingly inexplicable event. It is as though he scorns
to save himself the trouble of characterization by erecting
between himself and the reader a screen of mystery.
For this reason, the secret power exercised by the unsavoury
Molletts over Sir Thomas Fitzgerald is, because
it soon ceases to be secret, a weak foundation upon
which to erect a story. The Landleaguers, the book left
unfinished by Trollope when he died, is concerned to
present the social condition of Ireland in the early
eighties, as was Castle Richmond to depict that of the
famine-ridden forties. And yet what a difference! In
The Landleaguers the novelist presents his picture of
politics in his actual story. There are no passages of
blue-book instructionalism, but it is doubtful whether a
more vivid impression of the state of Ireland at the time
can be obtained from any other source. Even if there
were no others among Trollope's old-age novels to disprove
the theory, The Landleaguers alone should put
an end to the contention that toward the end of his life
he had lost his cunning or written himself out.
It is now necessary to examine that large and heterogeneous
collection of novels which, from one point of
view or another, satirize contemporary life or present
some definite aspect of the English social scene. Let me
once more insist that the classification of Trollope's
books here attempted should not be understood too
literally. All the Barchester novels, all the political
novels, are in one sense wholly presentments of society;
in the same way many of them contain passages definitely
satirical. But they have other claims to special
grouping which the numerous isolated stories now to be
considered do not possess; and, while satire is mainly
incidental to the tales of Barchester and to those of
political life, it is in some at least of Trollope's other
books the principal purpose of the story.
28First, then, the books which may fairly be termed
books of social satire. The earliest in date is The
Bertrams, which, although the situations and characters
are of the kind which Trollope was to make
essentially his own, is a failure even more complete than
Castle Richmond. The central theme is one to which
the author more than once returns. Caroline Waddington
rejects George Bertram for reasons of income and
prospects. She marries his successful lawyer friend,
only to find that she has sold herself to a greedy tyrant.
The parallel case of Julia Brabazon and Harry Clavering
immediately suggests itself; but where in The Claverings
Trollope achieves an intense humanity, in The
Bertrams he is dully mechanical. He allows the subsidiary
plots to disturb and obscure his main story.
When, as frequently, he attempts the comic in social
enjoyment he comes clumsily to grief. The widow's
seaside picnic in Can you Forgive Her? has only to be
contrasted with the excursion from Jerusalem described
in The Bertrams to make clear the difference between
successful and unsuccessful satire. And yet there are
points in The Bertrams. The close-fisted old man, the
disposal of whose money provides the motive of most
of the incident, is drawn with consistent restraint.
There are touches in the description of society at Littlebath
that prepare the reader for the pleasure of Miss
Mackenzie. On the whole the book should be read. It
is Trollope “off” (or rather “not yet on to”) his game,
but it was published at an important moment in his
career and helps to make clear his subsequent development.
Rachel Ray (1863) and Miss Mackenzie (1865) may,
without any critical licence, be considered together.
Both are bitter satires on Evangelical Christianity.
Trollope inherited from his mother a hatred of the
brimstone school of religious teachers, and in these
novels he lets himself go with considerable effect. The
earlier of the two books contains comparatively few
characters, and those of modest social position. Rachel
29herself is delightful and gives to the book, despite its
obvious weaknesses of construction, a freshness and
charm that is very pleasing. Mrs. Prime and her
horrible clerical admirer are frankly caricature, but that
they should be so is not unnatural, seeing that they
represent the very puritanism that the book is intended
to attack.
In Miss Mackenzie we are given the story of a spinster
of thirty-five, to whom unexpectedly a small fortune
is bequeathed. She becomes immediately the quarry of
fortune hunters—shabby social, religious, and commercial.
Some of the best scenes in the story are staged in
Littlebath, where Miss Todd and Miss Baker (who help
to retrieve The Bertrams from disaster) make welcome
reappearance. As satire the novel is more dexterous
than Rachel Ray, but it lacks the attraction of a real
Trollope heroine, and throughout has a faint tinge of
the sordid. It is interesting to note on page 242 of the
second volume a mention of Lady Glencora Palliser,
whom Trollope had 'presented' in Can you Forgive Her?
Not until 1875 did Trollope publish another definitely
satirical novel. When he did so, the event marked an
important stage in his evolution as a novelist. Critics
had begun to grumble at comedies of manners, which
spoke of the suavity of yesterday rather than of the competitive
hustle of to-day. England was moving step by
step along the road to commercialism. Trollope, with
his county and clerical families, his political aristocrats
and comic tuft-hunters, was shrugged aside as out of
date. Such treatment was intolerable, and, with a
gesture half impatient, half appealing, he sent out into
the world The Way We Live Now. This long and
crowded novel—perhaps, with the exception of The Last
Chronicle of Barset, the most abundant of all his books—presents,
in the person of Mr. Melmotte, the financial
magnate of alien origin proper to a truly modern story
of English life. Whether the cavillers, whose complaints
spurred Trollope to so violent an effort, admitted,
after reading The Way We Live Now, that the old dog
30could in truth out-modern the best of them, history does
not relate; but undeniably this book, in which he
asserted his vitality and showed that in the matter of
satiric observation he was well abreast of the times, has
no lack of vigour or luxuriant invention.
That Mr. Scarborough's Family (1883) may reasonably
be said to conclude the list of Trollope's satirical
novels is perhaps disputable. And yet, because its
power is mainly ironic, I prefer to mention it here rather
than treat of it as a purely social story. A while ago
one example was quoted of a first-rate book from
Trollope's last period. Mr. Scarborough's Family is
another.
An aged and wealthy cynic suddenly (and, as it turns
out, with deliberate falsehood) makes public the illegitimacy
of his eldest son. With the complications of
inheritance, with the changing relations between old
Mr. Scarborough and his two sons, of whom the elder is
now destitute and the latter coldly triumphant in his
unexpected good fortune, is involved an elaborate second
plot, centring round the love story of an amiable young
man, whose fortunes depend on the favour of a peevish
and eccentric uncle. Analysis of a tale so full of
happening and character is impossible in a few lines.
Sufficient to say that Mr. Scarborough's Family, were
it not for the date on its title-page, might be thought to
belong to a much earlier period, not only of Trollope,
but of fiction as a whole, to a period more lavish than
subtle, more genial and full-blooded than detached and
sensitive.
With The Three Clerks (1858) opens the chronology
of those novels which, although partially satirical, are
in the main straightforward stories of English cultivated
life. The Three Clerks is one of the few Trollope
novels that has been seriously overrated. In its pages
Mr. Chaffanbrass, the notorious Old Bailey lawyer,
makes his first appearance, but he is infinitely more
effective in Orley Farm and in Phineas Finn than at his
first entrance on the Trollope stage. In so far as The
31Three Clerks gives a picture of the Civil Service that the
author himself knew, it has documentary value, but as
fiction it is formless and flaccid. Its young women are
wholly devoid of that freshness and frankness that place
Trollope, as a creator of femininity, apart from all other
novelists of his generation; its menfolk are either riotous
dummies like those in Smedley's novels, or prigs and
villains, compounded so slavishly by recipe as to have
little meaning beyond that of the conventional types
they represent.
Of Orley Farm (1862) it is unnecessary to speak, the
novel being one of the two or three outside the Barchester
series which are still read to-day. The Belton
Estate (1866), on the other hand, badly needs rehabilitation.
Henry James, in a review written when quite a
young man, concluded a long paragraph of hostile
criticism with the words: “The Belton Estate is a stupid
book.” One may venture that the obtuseness was not
all on one side. Using a cast of four principal and as
few subsidiary characters, Trollope fills three good
volumes with the matrimonial dilemma of Clara Amedroz,
who has to choose between the uncouth, well-to-do
farmer to whom passes her thriftless father's estate, and
the polished, self-seeking Captain Aylmer—in parlance,
though not in fact, also her cousin—who offers her marriage
because at the deathbed of his rich aunt and as part
condition of becoming her heir he swore to do so. The
Belton Estate has, to a greater degree than any other
of Trollope's books, that art of concealing art which
delights one type of mind, but by another is dismissed
as “stupid.” In a sense it is the most difficult to
appreciate of all the important novels, and, were an
examination in Trollope a thing of practical import, the
examining board would be wise to make this book the
test question of their paper.
The Claverings (1867) and He Knew He Was Right
(1869) are very long books, each of which turns on a
theme highly characteristic of the author. Mention has
already been made of Julia Brabazon, heroine of the
32former book, who jilts the nobody she loves for a rich
invalid peer. The price she has to pay is counted in
full in the pages of The Claverings, which also introduce
a number of excellent characters, from Sir Hugh
Clavering, hard, savage, and selfish, to Sophie Gordeloup
and her scoundrelly brother, who play so desperately
for the wealth and person of Lord Ongar's lonely and
embittered widow. He Knew He Was Right describes
the steady growth in a husband's mind of unjust suspicion
of his wife's fidelity. As a crescendo of hysterical
mistrust, the book is a fine piece of sustained
writing. As a novel, it would be gloomy and distressing
but for an admirable and humorous by-plot laid
in cathedral Exeter. It would, perhaps, be hypercritical
and unappreciative of his adroit handling of incident to
blame the author for the very liberal use of coincidence
with which he aids the progress of his story.
Of the six social novels that remain, one is first-rate,
three are very good second-rate, one is ordinary second-rate
and the last frankly bad. Is He Popenjoy? (1878)
may rank with The Claverings as a book undeservedly
excluded from the upper room of every Trollope-lover's
mind. The Dean of Brotherton, son of a jobmaster,
father of the heroine and ultimately grandfather of a
marquis, is a Trollope dignitary of the first water. His
daughter is as eminent in the world of heroines as is
her father in that of ecclesiastics. She is gay, loving,
whimsical, courageous, and always natural. Her dour
husband with his excessive sense of duty and inadequate
sense of humour; her aristocratic sisters-in-law, shrouding
in ill-nature and good works the emptiness of their
lives and purses; the society siren; the society matchmaker;
and perhaps above all the ill-tempered, dissolute
marquis, on the legitimacy of whose son turns the whole
mechanism of the story, are each one of them fictional
characters that only a master could create.
Ralph The Heir (1871)—the plot of which was pirated
by Charles Reade and dramatized under the title Shilly
Shally—contains some good characters and perhaps the
33best parliamentary election of all those contrived by its
author. The troubles and difficulties of the shy, ineffective
Sir Thomas Underwood, and the determination of
Mr. Neefit, the breeches-maker, to buy up a bankrupt
young squire as husband for his daughter would give
distinction to any story. Lady Anna (1874) is a delicate
elaboration of Trollope's favourite motif—projected or
(as in this case) actual misalliance. The American
Senator (1877) contains some excellent hunting and
much good general observation. Ayala's Angel (1881),
like The Belton Estate but less pronouncedly, is a book
that must be read to be realized, for it is quiet Trollope
and a thing of shades rather than one of definite, contrasted
colours.
There remains Marion Fay (1882), once again a tale
of misalliance. This is undeniably the worst book that
its author ever wrote. Everywhere but here he contrives
to keep either his hero or his heroine (and more frequently
both) sympathetic, sensible, and convincingly
normal; but in Marion Fay he sinks to mawkishness and
to a deathbed scene that is frankly inexcusable.
Plenty of novels still remain of this astonishing and
untiring writer. They may, however, be somewhat
summarily dismissed. The most interesting group is
that of the short, single-theme stories which succeeded
the publication of The Way We Live Now. It is not
unreasonable to attribute to the mood of challenge in
which that novel was sent out the noticeable change in
the author's method during the years that followed. It
is as though he had determined to try his hand at the
psychological analysis which was just coming into
fashion among novelists. And so we are given in quick
succession six little books, each written round a single
event or describing the reactions of one individual to a
definite set of circumstances. The titles are as follow:
An Eye for An Eye (1879),
Cousin Henry (1879),
Doctor Wortle's School (1881),
34The Fixed Period (1882),
Kept in the Dark (1882),
An Old Man's Love (1884).
It so happened that An Eye for An Eye was written
before the publication of The Way We Live Now,
although not published until some while after. It is,
however, clearly the product (if an unconscious one) of
the same impulse as gave birth to the other books, and
its theme—the struggle in the mind of a young Englishman
between pride of family and desire to fulfil a marriage
promise to a girl who has become his mistress—is
a theme of the type peculiar to these six brief stories
and distinctly foreign to Trollope's more bulky and
eventful work.
A further group of five stories may roughly be termed
Trollope's “oversea” novels. The first three—Nina
Balatka (1867), Linda Tressel (1868), and The Golden
Lion of Granpere (1872)—were written more or less
intentionally to form a distinct trio. They are semi-romantic
tales, staged respectively in old Prague, in old
Nürnberg, and among the Vosges mountains; pleasant
enough, but quite definitely of minor importance. The
first two were published anonymously but achieved
little success, and were later reissued over the author's
name. Harry Heathcote of Gangoil (1874) and John
Caldigate (1879) are novels of Australia, based on the
knowledge of that continent which the author gained
when visiting one of his sons who had established himself
there. I understand that as pictures of Australian
life they are vivid and reliable. Be that as it may, the
untutored reader, seeking only for Trollope, will find
him abundantly in Harry Heathcote, which is an
eventful, almost an adventurous story, and to a very
satisfying degree in the longer book that appeared five
years later.
Of Trollope's various volumes of short stories nothing
need here be said. Of Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite
(1871) there is little that can be said. Of The
Struggles of Brown, Jones, and Robinson (1870) there
35is much that had better be left unsaid. One important
full-length novel remains, good in itself and at the same
time remarkable as the only one of the author's tales in
which he arms himself formally as a social crusader.
The Vicar of Bullhampton (1870) is a novel written in
defence of the “fallen woman.” It is quaint to read
Trollope's solemn and tactful preface, in which he
almost apologizes to his public for venturing on such
indelicate ground. Fortunately the book is so feeble as
propaganda that, but for the preface, one would be
unaware that it was written with any special purpose.
It can be enjoyed as a good story of village life, with a
delightful parson as central figure and the necessary
complement of charming Trollope ladies, gruff farmers,
lonely landowners, and aggressive Nonconformity.
This novel, like all Trollope's really good work, impresses
the reader first and foremost with its Englishry.
Perhaps it would not be too much to say that the very
greatness of the author himself springs from this same
quality. He is intensely English, with the quiet
humour, the shy sympathy masquerading as indifference,
the delicate sense of kindliness and toleration,
the occasional heaviness, the occasional irritability, that
mark a man or a book as English. But if to these
qualities he owes his place in our proud heritage of
literature, to them also he owes the tarrying of due recognition,
for they and the natures that possess them are
of all qualities and of all natures the most difficult to
impress upon the sceptical outsider, seeing that their
very beauty and preciousness and power lie in their
elusiveness.
ANTHONY TROLLOPE: His Work, Associates
and Literary Originals. By T. H. S. Escott.
London: John Lane, 1913.
This book will be of interest to the general reader,
although it is rather overloaded with analyses of novel-plots
and the arrangement is not ideal.
36By far the most valuable feature of the volume is the
bibliography of Trollope by Margaret Lavington included
at the end. For the help this careful and
documented compilation has given me I wish to make
acknowledgment, although I have throughout worked
independently and from original sources and taken none
of the facts hereafter given without verification. Miss
Lavington's descriptions lack certain details essential to
the collector, she makes one or two actual mistakes, but,
within the limits she has laid down for herself, her work
is wonderfully complete and accurate.
37
THE MACDERMOTTS OF BALLYCLORAN. By
Mr. A. Trollope. London: Thomas Cautley
Newby, Publisher, 72 Mortimer Street, Cavendish
Square. 1847. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (ii) + 345 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 382.
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 437 + (1).
No half-titles. Boards, half-cloth, paper label.
White end-papers. Also in dark brown cloth, gilt,
blocked in blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—On the title-page of Vol. III. “Mortimer” should be
spelt “Morimer.” In the same volume, p. 437 is mis-paged “743.”
Copies of the first edition were reissued in 1848 with title-pages
so dated and differently worded, but with no indication of reprint.
On this second title-page the misprint is corrected. The wording
is as follows:
THE MACDERMOTTS OF BALLYCLORAN: A Historical
Romance. By A. Trollope, Esq., author of The Kellys and
the O'Kellys. London: T. C. Newby, 72 Mortimer Street,
Cavendish Square. 1848.
THE KELLYS AND THE O'KELLYS: Or Landlords
and Tenants. A Tale of Irish Life. By
A. Trollope, Esq. London: Henry Colburn,
Publisher, Great Marlborough Street. 1848. 3 vols.
Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. (ii) + 298.
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 298.
38Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 285 + (1). Publisher's catalogue,
24 pp., undated, bound in at end.
No half-titles. Paper boards (half-cloth), paper
label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1848.
LA VENDÉE: An Historical Romance. By Anthony
Trollope, Esq. London: Henry Colburn, Publisher,
Great Marlborough Street. 1850. 3 vols.
Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 320.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 330.
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 313 + (1). No half-title to this
volume. Publisher's advertisement occupies p. (314).
Publisher's catalogue, 16 pp., undated, bound in at
end.
Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1850.
THE WARDEN. By Anthony Trollope. London:
Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans. 1855.
1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo. (4¾ × 7¾). Pp. iv + 336. No
half-title. Publishers' catalogue, 24 pp., dated
September, 1854, bound in at end. Pale brown
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Brick-red end-papers
printed on inside front and inside back covers with
publishers' advertisements.
Notes—(i) This book was published in January, 1855. An
edition of 1,000 copies was printed, of which 600 were sold during
the first eighteen months of publication. The balance of 400 was
bound, very nearly uniform with the first issue, in 1858 and a
catalogue dated with that year inserted at end.
(ii) In 1879 Chapman and Hall published, under the series title
Chronicles of Barsetshire, Trollope's novels dealing with the city
and district of Barchester. The Warden was the first volume of
this reissue, and was preceded by a brief introduction by Trollope
not previously published.
39
BARCHESTER TOWERS. By Anthony Trollope,
author of The Warden. London: Longman,
Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts. 1857.
3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 305 + (3). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (307) and (308). Advertisement
of The Warden occupies p. (ii). Half-title to
this volume.
Vol. II. pp. iv + 299 + (1). No half-title.
Vol. III. pp. iv + 321 + (3). No half-title. Publishers'
advertisements occupy pp. (323) and (324).
Pale brown cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Brick-red
end-papers printed with publishers' advertisements.
Note—This book was published in May, 1857. The earliest
issue had end-papers of a much redder brown than those used for
later bindings of the first edition sheets. The latter can also be
identified by the date of a publishers' catalogue bound in at the
end of Vol. I.
THE THREE CLERKS: A Novel. By Anthony
Trollope, author of Barchester Towers etc. London:
Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street.
1858. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. iv + 340.
Vol. II. pp. iv + 322 + (2).
Vol. III. pp. iv + 334 + (2).
No half-titles. Paper boards, half cloth, paper
label. White end-papers. Also in dark grey-purple
watered cloth, gilt, blocked in blind, with
yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) Although dated 1858, this book was actually published
in December, 1857.
(ii) I have seen a copy of this book in a binding of the grey-purple
cloth above mentioned, but with paper labels as employed on
the half-cloth edition.
40
DOCTOR THORNE: A Novel. By Anthony
Trollope, author of The Three Clerks, Barchester
Towers etc. London: Chapman and Hall,
193 Piccadilly. 1858. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. iv + 305 + (3). Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated April, 1858, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. iv + 323 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. iv + 340.
No half-titles. Dark grey-purple cloth, gilt,
blocked in blind. Pale green end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1858.
THE BERTRAMS: A Novel. By Anthony Trollope,
author of Barchester Towers, Doctor Thorne
etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly.
1859. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. iv + 335 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. iv + 344.
Vol. III. pp. iv + 331 + (1).
No half-titles. Dark grey-purple cloth, gilt,
blocked in blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This novel was published in March, 1859.
THE WEST INDIES AND THE SPANISH MAIN.
By Anthony Trollope, author of Barchester
Towers, Doctor Thorne, The Bertrams etc. London:
Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1859.
1 vol. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¾). Pp. iv + 395 + (1).
Publishers' catalogue, 32 pp., dated November, 1859,
bound in at end. No half-title. Coloured map
printed separately facing title. Maroon cloth, gilt,
blocked in blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in October, 1859.
(ii) It is possible that the earliest copies of all contained no
publishers' catalogue, but I have been unable to find a copy with a
catalogue dated earlier than that mentioned above.
41
CASTLE RICHMOND: A Novel. By Anthony
Trollope, author of Barchester Towers, Doctor
Thorne, The West Indies and the Spanish Main
etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly.
1860. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. vi + 303 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (vi) [p. vi is erroneously numbered
iv] + 300.
Vol. III. pp. vi + 289 + (1). Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated May, 1860, bound in at end.
Dark grey-purple cloth, gilt, blocked in blind.
Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1860.
FRAMLEY PARSONAGE. By Anthony Trollope,
author of Barchester Towers etc. etc. With 6
illustrations by J. E. Millais, R.A. London:
Smith Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill. MDCCCLXI.
3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅝).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 333 + (3).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 318 + (2).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 330 + (2). Publishers' catalogue,
14 pp., dated April, 1861, bound in at end.
No half-titles. Each volume contains two line-engraved
illustrations printed separately. Grey-purple
cloth, blocked in gold and blind. Yellow
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1861. The story
appeared serially in the “Cornhill.”
TALES OF ALL COUNTRIES. By Anthony
Trollope, author of Barchester Towers, Doctor
Thorne, The West Indies and the Spanish Main.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1861.
421 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾). Pp. (iv) + 312. Publishers'
catalogue, 32 pp., dated November, 1861,
bound in at end. No half-title. Blue embossed
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Bright blue end-papers.
Contents: La Mère Bauche—The O'Conors of Castle Conor—John
Bull on the Guadalquivir—Miss Sarah Jack, of Spanish Town,
Jamaica—The Courtship of Susan Bell—Relics of General Chassé—An
Unprotected Female at the Pyramids—The Château of Prince
Polignac.
Note—This book was published in November, 1861.
ORLEY FARM. By Anthony Trollope, author of
Doctor Thorne, Barchester Towers, Framley Parsonage
etc. With illustrations by J. E. Millais.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1862.
2 vols. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 320. Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated October, 1861, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. viii + 320.
Each volume contains twenty illustrations.
Brown-purple embossed cloth, blocked in gold and
blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
This story originally appeared in twenty demy
8vo one shilling parts, dated March (1861) to October
(1862), bound in fawn wrappers printed in blue
and red, and containing the illustrations by J. E.
Millais afterwards included in the two-volume
edition. Each part contains two illustrations.
Note—The first volume of this novel was published in book form on
December 3, 1861; the second volume on September 25, 1862. Both
title-pages are, however, dated 1862.
ORLEY FARM: Part Issue.
The following advertisement pages, etc., should be found in a
complete set. The advertisements at the front of each number are
headed: “Orley Farm Advertiser.” All wrappers except front
covers are printed with advertisements.
43Part I: Front—16 pp., dated March, 1861. Back—10 pp.,
unnumbered, of which the first two on pink paper.
Part II: Front—8 pp., dated 1861. Back—4 pp., unnumbered,
of which the first two on yellow paper.
Part III: Front—8 pp., dated May, 1861. Back—2 pp.,
unnumbered, on lilac paper.
Part IV: Front—8 pp., dated June, 1861. Back—2 pp.,
unnumbered, on pale yellow paper.
Part V: Front—8 pp., dated July, 1861. Back—4 pp.,
unnumbered, of which the first two on lilac paper.
Part VI: Front—Inset slip of yellow paper advertising the
serialization in “Great Expectations” of A Strange Story, by
Lytton. 8 pp., dated August, 1861. Back—6 pp., unnumbered,
of which the first two on yellow paper, the third in coloured lithograph,
the fifth and sixth on pink (or green) paper, the fifth being
blank and a sample of cambric frilling being attached to the sixth.
Part VII: Front—8 pp., dated September, 1861. Back—4 pp.,
unnumbered, of which the first printed in colours, and the last
two a foolscap 8vo leaflet on blue paper advertising “The Queen.”
Part VIII: Front—8 pp., dated October, 1861. Back—2 pp.,
unnumbered, on pale yellow paper.
Part IX: Front—8 pp., dated November, 1861. Back—nil.
Part X: Front—8 pp., dated December, 1861. Back—2 pp.,
unnumbered, on yellow paper. [Note—This part contains half-title,
title, contents and list of illustrations (in all 8 pp.) to Volume I.]
Part XI: Front—8 pp., dated January, 1862. Back—12 pp.,
unnumbered.
Part XII: Front—8 pp., dated February, 1862. Back—2 pp.,
unnumbered, on pale yellow paper.
Part XIII: Front—Inset slip of yellow paper advertising the
serialization in “All the Year Round” of No Name, by Wilkie
Collins. 8 pp., dated March, 1862. Back—4 pp.
Part XIV: Front—8 pp., dated April, 1862. Back—8 pp., of
which the first two (unnumbered) are on blue paper, the next four
are numbered, and the last two unnumbered.
Part XV: Front—8 pp., dated May, 1862. Back—12 pp., of
which 1-4 unnumbered and the rest a publishers' catalogue paged
(1) to 8 and dated April 25, 1862.
Part XVI: Front—8 pp., dated June, 1862. Back—10 pp., of
which the first two (unnumbered) are on yellow paper and the
remainder are a publishers' catalogue paged (1)-8 and dated
April 25, 1862.
Part XVII: Front—8 pp., dated July, 1862. Back—4 pp.
Part XVIII: Front—8 pp., dated August, 1862. Back—6 pp.,
unnumbered, of which the first two on green paper.
Part XIX: Front—8 pp., dated September, 1862. Back—4 pp.
44Part XX: Front—8 pp., dated October, 1862. Back—12 pp.,
of which the first two unnumbered and on orange paper, the next
two unnumbered, and the remainder a publishers' catalogue
paged (1)-8 and dated September 24, 1862. [Note—This part contains
half-title, title, contents and list of illustrations (in all 8 pp.)
to Volume II.]
NORTH AMERICA. By Anthony Trollope, author
of The West Indies and the Spanish Main, Doctor
Thorne, Orley Farm etc. London: Chapman and
Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1862. 2 vols. Demy 8vo
(5½ × 8¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 467 + (1). Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated May, 1862, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. viii + 494 +(2).
In Vol. I. a folding map is inserted facing p. 1.
Maroon embossed cloth, gilt, blocked in blind.
Chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1862.
TALES OF ALL COUNTRIES: Second Series. By
Anthony Trollope. London: Chapman and Hall,
193 Piccadilly. 1863. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Pp. (iv) + 371 + (1). No half-title. Blue embossed
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Uniform with Tales
of All Countries: First Series. Pale yellow end-papers.
Contents: Aaron Trow—Mrs. General Talboys—The Parson's
Daughter of Oxney Colne—George Walker at Suez—The Mistletoe
Bough—Returning Home—A Ride Across Palestine—The House
of Heine Brothers in Munich—The Man Who Kept His Money in
a Box.
Note—This book was published in February, 1863.
RACHEL RAY: A Novel. By Anthony Trollope,
author of Barchester Towers, Castle Richmond,
Orley Farm etc. London: Chapman and Hall,
193 Piccadilly. 1863. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 7¾).
45Vol. I. pp. iv + 319 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. iv + 310 + (2).
No half-titles. Maroon cloth, gilt, blocked in
blind. Cream end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1863.
THE SMALL HOUSE AT ALLINGTON. By
Anthony Trollope. With 18 illustrations by J. E.
Millais, R.A. London: Smith Elder and Co.,
65 Cornhill. MDCCCLXIV. 2 vols. Demy 8vo
(5½ × 8⅝).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 312.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 316.
No half-titles. Vol. I. contains ten illustrations,
and Vol. II. eight illustrations. Green embossed
cloth, blocked in gold and blind. Chocolate end-papers,
printed with publishers' advertisements.
Note—This book was published in March, 1864, and completed
its serial run in the “Cornhill” the month following.
CAN YOU FORGIVE HER? By Anthony Trollope,
author of Orley Farm, Doctor Thorne,
Framley Parsonage etc. With illustrations. London:
Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1864.
[1865, Vol. II.] 2 vols. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¾).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 320.
Vol. II. pp. (viii) + 320.
Vol. I. contains twenty etched illustrations by
Phiz, and Vol. II. twenty illustrations [by a Miss
Taylor], all printed separately. Red embossed cloth,
blocked in gold and blind. Yellow end-papers.
This story originally appeared in twenty demy 8vo
one shilling parts, dated January, 1864, to August,
1865, bound in fawn paper wrappers printed in blue
46and red, and containing the illustrations afterwards
included in the two-volume edition. Each part contains
two illustrations.
Note—The first volume of this novel appeared in book form on
October 1, 1864, the second volume in August, 1865. The title-pages
are dated differently.
CAN YOU FORGIVE HER?: Part Issue.
The following advertisement pages, etc., should be found in a
complete set. The advertisements at the front of each number are
headed “Can you Forgive Her? Advertiser.” All wrappers,
except front cover, are printed with advertisements.
Part I: Front—8 pp., dated January, 1864. Back—14 pp., of
which the first two unnumbered on buff paper, the next four
printed in blue on white paper, and the remainder a publishers'
catalogue paged 1-8 and dated January 1, 1864.
Part II: Front—4 pp., dated February, 1864. Back—2 pp.,
unnumbered, on pink paper.
Part III: Front—4 pp., dated March, 1864. Back—6 pp.
Part IV: Front—4 pp., dated April, 1864. Between pp. 2 and
3 an inset slip on green paper advertising the part issue of Dickens'
Our Mutual Friend. Back—8 pp., of which the first two on yellow
paper and unnumbered, the second two unnumbered, and the remainder
a publishers' catalogue paged 1-4 and dated April 1st, 1864.
Part V: Front—4 pp., dated May, 1864. Back—14 pp., of which
the first four paged 1-4, the next two a reproduction on green
paper of the wrapper of Part I of Our Mutual Friend, and the
remainder a publishers' catalogue paged 1-8 and dated April 30, 1864.
Part VI: Front—4 pp., dated June, 1864, and printed on buff
paper as wrapper. Back—14 pp., of which the first four and the
publishers' catalogue the same as in Part V. A wrapper of Our
Mutual Friend, this time of Part II, completes the total.
Part VII: Front—4 pp., dated July, 1864, printed on buff
paper as wrapper. Back—2 pp., unnumbered, on yellow paper.
Part VIII: Front—4 pp., dated August, 1864, printed on buff
paper as wrapper. Back—4 pp., numbered 1-4.
Part IX: Front—4 pp., dated September, 1864, printed on buff
paper as wrapper. Back—Inset slip of yellow paper announcing
the serialization in “All the Year Round” of Never Forgotten, by
the author of Belladonna. 2 pp., unnumbered, on yellow paper.
Part X: Front—4 pp., dated September [sic], 1864, printed on
buff paper as wrapper. In later issues “September” corrected to
October. Back—8 pp., of which the last four a publishers' catalogue
47paged 1-4 and dated October 1, 1864. [Note—This part contains
half-title, title, contents and list of illustrations (in all 8 pp.)
to Volume I. It is also the last part illustrated by Hablot K.
Browne.]
Part XI: Front—4 pp., dated November, 1864, and printed on
buff paper as wrapper. Back—6 pp., of which 1-4 on lilac (or
blue) paper. [Note—Although the illustrator had already been
changed, the wrapper to this part still bears the name of H. K.
Browne.]
Part XII: Front—4 pp., dated December, 1864, printed on buff
paper as wrapper. Inset slip on yellow paper announcing Mrs.
Lirriper's Legacy as Christmas number to “All the Year Round.”
Back—8 pp., of which the last four a publishers' catalogue paged
1-4 and dated November 25.
Part XIII: Front—4 pp., undated and printed on buff paper as
wrapper. Back—2 pp., of which the first printed in lilac.
Part XIV: Front—4 pp., undated and printed on buff paper as
wrapper. Back—Inset slip of green paper and 2 pp. unnumbered,
printed on yellow.
Part XV: Front—4 pp., undated and printed on buff paper as
wrapper. Back—Inset slip of blue paper and publishers' catalogue
4 pp., dated February 28, 1865. Inset slip on white paper advertising
the part issue of the Headless Horseman, by Captain Mayne Reid.
Part XVI: Front—4 pp., undated, printed on buff paper as
wrapper. Back—Inset slip of yellow paper announcing the
serialization in “All the Year Round” of Half a Million of Money,
by Amelia B. Edwards. 6 pp., of which the last four on pink
paper.
Part XVII: Front—4 pp., undated and printed on buff paper as
wrapper. Back—Nil.
Part XVIII: Front—4 pp., undated and printed on buff paper as
wrapper. Back—Nil.
Part XIX: Front—4 pp., undated and printed on buff paper as
wrapper. Back—8 pp., unnumbered, of which the first four on
pale blue paper.
Part XX: Front—4 pp., undated and printed on buff paper as
wrapper. Back—Nil. [Note—This part contains half-title, title,
contents and list of illustrations (in all 8 pp.) to Volume II.]
MISS MACKENZIE. By Anthony Trollope.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1865.
Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. vi + 312.
48Vol. II. pp. vi + 313 + (3). Advertisement of works
by the same author occupies p. (315).
Maroon cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in March, 1865.
(ii) A binding of dark green cloth is more frequently seen than
that of maroon, but it is fairly certain that the latter is really the
first issue. I have come to this conclusion after a study of other
publications, for binding which the two types of cloth used for Miss
Mackenzie were employed. Both are patterned cloths, but differently
patterned. That used in maroon for Miss Mackenzie was also
used—differently coloured, of course—for Trollope's Tales of All
Countries (1861); Ainsworth's Constable of the Tower (1861);
Mrs. Gaskell's Round the Sofa (1859) and Right at Last (1860);
Charles Allston Collins' Cruise Upon Wheels (1862); and Reade's
Love me Little, Love me Long (1859). The pattern of cloth, on the
other hand, used in dark green for Miss Mackenzie reappears on
Trollope's Belton Estate (1866); Ainsworth's John Law (1864); and
Wilkie Collins' My Miscellanies (1863). I think these facts provide
sufficiently conclusive evidence that the maroon cloth is of an earlier
pattern than the dark green. Publishers were probably inclined,
then as now, to use one type of cloth more than another at certain
given dates (possibly they tended to adopt novelties as produced by
their binders). This is independently suggested by the fact that in
the year 1863 alone an identical pattern of cloth was used and by
various publishers for Ainsworth's Cardinal Pole, for Mrs. Gaskell's
A Dark Night's Work, for George Eliot's Romola, and for Mrs.
Oliphant's Perpetual Curate.
HUNTING SKETCHES. By Anthony Trollope.
Reprinted from the “Pall Mall Gazette.” London:
Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1865. 1 vol.
Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7½). Pp. iv + 115 + (1). Publishers'
catalogue, 32 pp., dated May, 1865, bound in at end.
No half-title. Red cloth gilt, blocked in blind.
Green-black end-papers.
Contents: The Man who Hunts and Doesn't Like It—The Man
who Hunts and Does Like It—The Lady who Rides to Hounds—The
Hunting Farmer—The Man who Hunts and Never Jumps—The
Hunting Parson—The Master of Hounds—How to Ride to
Hounds.
Note—This book was published in May, 1865.
49
THE BELTON ESTATE. By Anthony Trollope,
author of Can you Forgive Her?, Orley Farm,
Framley Parsonage etc. etc. London: Chapman
and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1866. 3 vols. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. iv + 284.
Vol. II. pp. iv + 308.
Vol. III. pp. iv + 276.
Publishers' catalogue, 24 pp., dated December 1,
1865, bound in at end. No half-titles. Scarlet embossed
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in January, 1866. The story
appeared serially in the “Fortnightly Review.”
TRAVELLING SKETCHES. By Anthony Trollope.
Reprinted from the “Pall Mall Gazette.”
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1866.
I vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7½). Pp. iv + 112. Publishers'
catalogue, 24 pp., dated February 1, 1866, bound in
at end. No half-title. Red cloth, gilt, blocked in
blind. Green-black end-papers. Uniform with
Hunting Sketches.
Contents: The Family that Goes Abroad Because it's the Thing
to Do—The Man who Travels Alone—The Unprotected Female
Tourist—The United Englishmen who Travel for Fun—The Art
Tourist—The Tourist in Search of Knowledge—The Alpine Club
Man—Tourists who Don't Like their Travels.
Note—This book was published in February, 1866.
CLERGYMEN OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
By Anthony Trollope. Reprinted from the “Pall
Mall Gazette.” London: Chapman and Hall, 193
Piccadilly. 1866. I vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7½). Pp.
(iv) + 130 + (2). Publishers' catalogue, 24 pp., dated
50March 30, 1866, bound in at end. No half-title.
Red cloth, gilt. Green-black end-papers. Uniform
with Hunting Sketches and Travelling Sketches.
Contents: The Modern English Archbishop—English Bishops,
Old and New—The Normal Dean of the Present Day—The Archdeacon—The
Parson of the Parish—The Town Incumbent—The
College Fellow who has Taken Orders—The Curate in a Populous
Parish—The Irish Beneficed Clergyman—The Clergyman who Subscribes
for Colenso.
Note—This book was published in April, 1866.
NINA BALATKA: The Story of a Maiden of
Prague. Wm. Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh
and London, MDCCCLXVII. 2 vols. Fcap. 8vo
(4¼ × 6¾).
Vol. I. pp. (vi) + 228 + (2). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (229) (230).
Vol. II. pp. 215 + (I). Publishers' advertisements,
8 pp., undated, bound in at end.
The words: “Originally published in 'Blackwood's
Magazine'” occupy verso of half-title in each
volume. Red-brown cloth, gilt, blocked in blind.
Chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published on February 1, 1867.
THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BARSET. By
Anthony Trollope. With 32 illustrations by
George H. Thomas. London: Smith Elder and
Co., 65 Cornhill. MDCCCLXVII. 2 vols. Demy 8vo
(5½ × 8⅝).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 384.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 384.
No half-titles. Each volume contains sixteen
illustrations printed separately, and line drawings in
the text at the beginnings of several of the chapters.
51Violet-blue cloth, blocked in gold and blind. Yellow
end-papers.
This story originally appeared in thirty-two sixpenny
demy 8vo parts dated December 1 (1866) to
July 6 (1867), bound in white wrappers with a design
in scarlet and dark blue, and containing the illustrations
afterwards included in the two-volume edition.
Each part contains one illustration.
Notes—(i) Vol. I. of the novel in book form was published on
March 16, and Vol. II. on July 6, 1867.
(ii) The words “With 32 illustrations by George H. Thomas”
occur only on the title-page of Vol. II.
THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BARSET: Part Issue.
The following advertisement pages, etc., should be found in a
complete set. Advertisements at the front of each part are printed
on lilac paper, except where otherwise stated. All wrappers, except
front covers, are printed with advertisements.
Part I: Front—4 pp., unnumbered, on grey paper; 8 pp., numbered
1-8. Back—10 pp., of which the first is printed in colours and
the last four on yellow paper (or green).
Part II: Front—8 pp., numbered 9-16. Back—4 pp., of which
the first is printed in colours and the last two on blue paper (or pink).
Part III: Front—8 pp., numbered 17-24. Back—Inset slip
(4 pp.) of Chapman and Hall publications.
Part IV: Front—4 pp., unnumbered, on grey (or lilac) paper;
4 pp., numbered 25-28. Back—Nil.
Part V: Front—4 pp., numbered 29-32. Back—2 pp., of which
the second is printed in colours.
Part VI: Front—4 pp., numbered 33-36. Back—Inset slip
(4 pp.) on yellow paper.
Part VII: Front—4 pp., numbered 37-40. Back—Nil.
Part VIII: Front—Inset slip (4 pp.) of Chapman and Hall
publications (as at back of Part III). 4 pp., numbered 41-44.
Back—Nil.
Part IX: Front—4 pp., numbered 45-48. Back—Nil.
Part X: Front—4 pp., numbered 49-52. Back—4 pp.,
unnumbered.
Part XI: Front—Inset slip (4 pp.) of Chapman and Hall publications
(as in Parts III. and VIII.); 4 pp., numbered 53-56.
Back—Nil.
Part XII: Front—4 pp., numbered 57-60. Back—2 pp., unnumbered,
of which the second printed in colours.
Part XVI: Front—4 pp., numbered 73-76; inset slip of lilac
paper announcing the appearance of Vol. I. of The Last Chronicle
of Barset at ten shillings. Back—Nil. [Note—This part contains
title-page, contents and list of illustrations (in all 4 pp.) to Vol. I.]
Part XVII: Front—4 pp., numbered 77-80. Back—Nil.
Part XVIII: Front—4 pp., numbered 81-84; inset slip of lilac
paper announcing the appearance of Vol. I. of The Last Chronicle
of Barset at ten shillings. Back—2 pp., unnumbered, of which the
second printed in colours.
Part XIX: Front—4 pp., numbered 85-88. Back—Nil.
Part XX: Front—4 pp., numbered 89-92. Back—Nil.
Part XXI: Front—4 pp., numbered 93-96. Back—Nil.
Part XXII: Front—4 pp., numbered 97-100. Back—Nil.
Part XXIII: Front—4 pp., numbered 101-104. Back—Nil.
Part XXIV: Front—4 pp., numbered 105-108. Back—Nil.
Part XXV: Front—4 pp., numbered 109-112. Back—Nil.
Part XXVI: Front—4 pp., numbered 113-116. Back—Inset slip
(4 pp.) advertising the “Charles Dickens Edition” of Dickens'
works.
Part XXVII: Front—4 pp., numbered 117-120. Back—Nil.
Part XXVIII: Front—4 pp., numbered 121-124. Back—Nil.
Part XXIX: Front—4 pp., numbered 125-128. Back—Nil.
Part XXX: Front—4 pp., numbered 129-132. Back—Nil.
Part XXXI: Front—4 pp., numbered 133-136. Back—Nil.
Part XXXII: Front—4 pp., numbered 137-140; inset slip of
lilac paper announcing the completion of The Last Chronicle of
Barset in 2 volumes at 20s. Back—Nil. [Note—This part contains
title-page, contents and list of illustrations (in all 4 pp.) to
Vol. II.]
THE CLAVERINGS. By Anthony Trollope. With
16 illustrations by M. Ellen Edwards. London:
Smith, Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill. MDCCCLXVII.
2 vols. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 313 + (3). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (315) and (316).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 309 + (3). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (311) and (312).
No half-titles. Each volume contains eight illustrations
printed separately. Bright green cloth,
53blocked in black and gold. Pale chocolate end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published on April 20, 1867. The
story appeared serially in the “Cornhill.”
(ii) There are two varieties of binding to this book. It is an
open question whether the simpler design with no black on the sides
is earlier or later than that which is more elaborate.
LOTTA SCHMIDT: AND OTHER STORIES. By
Anthony Trollope. Alexander Strahan, Publisher,
56 Ludgate Hill, London. 1867. 1 vol. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4⅞ × 7¾). Pp. (iv) + 403 + (1). Dark red cloth,
gilt. Green-black end-papers.
There is no list of contents. Titles are as follow: Lotta Schmidt—The
Adventures of Fred Pickering—The Two Generals—Father
Giles of Ballymoy—Malachi's Cove—The Widow's Mite—The Last
Austrian who Left Venice—Miss Ophelia Gledd—The Journey to
Panama.
Note—This book was published in August, 1867. The original
sheets were reissued in 1870, without indication of there having
been an earlier edition. The reissue is cr. 8vo in size, pp. (vi) + 425
+ (1), bears the imprint “Strahan and Co.,” and is bound in pale
maroon cloth. Later still copies, taken over in sheets by Chapman
and Hall and also dated 1870, were issued in bright green cloth,
with chocolate end-papers, printed with Chapman and Hall
advertisements.
LINDA TRESSEL. By the author of Nina Balatka.
Wm. Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.
MDCCCLXVIII. 2 vols. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾).
Vol. I. pp. 216.
Vol. II. pp. 215 + (1).
The words: “Originally published in 'Blackwood's
Magazine'” occupy verso of half-title in each
volume. Red-brown cloth, gilt, blocked in blind.
Chocolate end-papers. Uniform with Nina Balatka.
Note—This book was published in May, 1868.
54
PHINEAS FINN, THE IRISH MEMBER. By
Anthony Trollope. With 20 illustrations by J. E.
Millais, R.A. London: Virtue and Co., 26 Ivy
Lane, Paternoster Row. 1869. 2 vols. Demy 8vo
(5½ × 8¾).
Vol. I. pp. vi + (ii) + 320.
Vol. II. pp. vi + (ii) + 328.
No half-titles. Ten illustrations in each volume
printed separately. Bright green cloth, gilt, blocked
in blind. Pale yellow end-papers. It may be noted
that the author's name is not given on the spine of
this book.
Note—This book was published in March, 1869. The same novel
still in two volumes and at the same price (25s. net) was advertised
in May, 1869, by Strahan and Co., who were at the time closely
identified with Virtue and Co. Copies with a Strahan imprint, if
such exist, are not of the first issue. The story appeared serially
in “St. Paul's Magazine.”
HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT. By Anthony Trollope.
With 64 illustrations by Marcus Stone.
Strahan and Co., Publishers, 56 Ludgate Hill, London.
1869. 2 vols. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8⅝).
Vol. I. pp. ix + (iii) + 384.
Vol. II. pp. ix + (iii) + 384.
Each volume contains sixteen illustrations printed
separately and sixteen line drawings in the text.
Green cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Pale yellow
end-papers.
This story first appeared in thirty-two demy 8vo
sixpenny weekly parts, dated October 17 (1868) to
May 22 (1869), bound in green-grey paper wrappers,
printed in red and black. Each part contains a full-page
line-engraved illustration by Marcus Stone,
printed separately, and one small drawing in the
text. Each part, as well as the title-page, etc., included
55in Part XXXII. bears the imprint of Virtue
and Co., but the novel, when issued in book form,
appeared over the imprint of Strahan and Co.
Notes—(i) Four weeks after the appearance of Part I. (early in
November, 1869) a parallel series of two-shilling monthly parts was
inaugurated, of which the first, containing the first four weekly
parts, was immediately issued, and the remainder at regular
intervals. The earliest part issue was therefore the weekly one.
Margaret Lavington in her Trollope bibliography, states that the
first four parts were wrappered in one. This observation was
probably made from an examination of a made-up set of parts
composed, as to the first four, of the second issue and, as to the
remainder, of the first (see above).
(ii) The story appeared in two-volume form in May, 1869.
HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT: Part Issue.
The following advertisement pages, etc., should be found in a
complete set. Advertisements at the front of each part are printed
on greenish blue paper except where otherwise stated. All wrappers
except front covers are printed with advertisements.
Part I: Front—6 pp. Back—4 pp.
Parts II to XXIX: Front—4 pp. Back—Nil.
Part XXX: Front—Inset slip of orange paper announcing the
serialization in “S. Paul's” of The Three Brothers, by Mrs.
Oliphant. Back—Nil.
Part XXXI: Front— Nil. Back—Nil.
Part XXXII: Front—Nil. Back— Nil. [Note— This part contains
half-title, titles, contents and lists of illustrations (in all 24 pp.)
to both volumes of the novel.]
*DID HE STEAL IT? A Comedy in three Acts. By
Anthony Trollope. Printed for private circulation.
1869.
Note—This is a dramatization of an episode in The Last
Chronicle of Barset, which Trollope prepared by special request,
only to have the play rejected by the commissioning manager.
THE VICAR OF BULLHAMPTON. By Anthony
Trollope. With 30 illustrations by H. Woods.
London: Bradbury, Evans and Co., Bouverie
56Street. 1870. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¾).
Pp. xvi + 481 + (11). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (483) to (492). Brown cloth, blocked in
gold and black. Grey end-papers.
This story originally appeared in 11/12 demy 8vo
monthly parts, dated July 18, 1869, to May 18, 1870.
Parts I. to X. cost one shilling, and the last double
part (XI./XII.) half-a-crown. The parts are bound
in blue-grey paper wrappers, with a design in red
and black, and contain the illustrations afterwards
included in the one-volume edition. Parts I. to
X. each contain two full-page illustrations; Part
XI./XII. contains four, of which one is a picture
title-page.
Note—The novel was published in volume form in April, 1870.
THE VICAR OF BULLHAMPTON: Part Issue.
The following advertisement pages, etc., should be found in a
complete set. The advertisements at the front of Parts I. to III.
are headed “The Vicar of Bullhampton Advertiser.” All wrappers,
except front covers, are printed with advertisements.
Part I: Front—12 pp., dated July, 1869. Back—4 pp., printed
in colours and unnumbered.
Part II: Front—4 pp., dated August, 1869. Back—Nil.
Part III: Front—4 pp., dated September, 1869. Back—Nil.
Parts IV to X inclusive contain no advertisement pages.
Part XI (double number): Front (or back)—10 pp., publishers'
advertisements, unnumbered and undated. [Note—This part contains
half-title, title, preface, contents, list of illustrations and
frontispiece to the complete novel. This preliminary matter is
paged (i)-xvi, despite the fact that frontispiece and title-page
(4 pp.) are printed separately.]
AN EDITOR'S TALES. By Anthony Trollope.
Strahan and Co., Publishers, 56 Ludgate Hill, London.
1870. 1 vol. Sq. Ex. Cr. 8vo (5⅛ × 7¾).
Pp. (viii) + 375 + (1). Publishers' advertisement occupies
p. (376). Brown cloth, gilt, blocked in black.
Chocolate end-papers.
57Contents: The Turkish Bath—Mary Gresley—Josephine
de Montmorenci—The Panjandrum—The Spotted Dog—Mrs.
Brumby.
Note—This book was published in July, 1870. The stories had
appeared in “St. Paul's Magazine.”
THE STRUGGLES OF BROWN, JONES AND
ROBINSON: BY ONE OF THE FIRM. Edited
by Anthony Trollope, author of Framley Parsonage,
The Last Chronicle of Barset etc. etc.
Reprinted from the “Cornhill Magazine.” With
four illustrations. London: Smith, Elder and
Co., 15 Waterloo Place. 1870. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo
(4⅞ × 7½). Pp. iv + 254 + (2). Advertisements of
works by the same author occupy pp. (255) and
(256). No half-title. Frontispiece and illustrated
title-page, in line engraving and printed separately,
precede the printed title. Brown cloth, blocked in
black and gold. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in November, 1870. The story
had appeared serially in the “Cornhill” in the years 1861 and 1862.
Its unpopularity as a serial accounts for the delay in its book
publication.
THE COMMENTARIES OF CÆSAR. By Anthony
Trollope. William Blackwood and Sons,
Edinburgh and London. MDCCCLXX. 1 vol. Fcap.
8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. (x) [paged as vi] + 182. Publishers'
advertisements occupy pp. (i) to (iv), and a
list of volumes in the Series “Ancient Classics for
English Readers” occupies p. (vi), facing title-page.
Brown cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Chocolate
end-papers.
58
SIR HARRY HOTSPUR OF HUMBLETHWAITE.
By Anthony Trollope, author of Framley Parsonage
etc. London: Hurst and Blackett, Publishers,
13 Great Marlborough Street. 1871. 1 vol.
Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½). Pp. vii + (1) + 323 + (1). Publishers'
catalogue, 16 pp., undated but paged, bound
in at end. Scarlet cloth, gilt, blocked in black.
Black end-papers.
Note—Although dated 1871, this book was actually published in
November, 1870. The story appeared serially in “Macmillan's
Magazine.”
RALPH THE HEIR. By Anthony Trollope, author
of Framley Parsonage, Sir Harry Hotspur etc.,
etc. London: Hurst and Blackett, Publishers,
13 Great Marlborough Street. 1871. 3 vols. Cr.
8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜).
Vol I. pp. (iv) + 342. Advertisement of Sir Harry
Hotspur occupies p. (ii) facing title.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 338.
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 347 + (1).
Publishers' advertisements, 16 pp., printed on
text paper and paged, bound in at end. Brown
cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Blue-black end-papers.
This story originally appeared in parts, which
were issued as supplements to “St. Paul's Magazine.”
The instalments were paged continuously,
but separately from the rest of the magazine.
Parts I. to XI. were enclosed in fawn paper
wrappers printed in black and red and dated
January, 1870, to November, 1870. Parts XII. to
XVIII. were not wrappered at all, but merely
stitched in at the end of the numbers of the magazine
with their own pagination. The series contained
59eleven full-page line-engraved illustrations by F. A.
Fraser, the last of which appeared in Part XI.
Apart from that printed on the back wrappers
of Parts I. to XI., no advertisement material was
included with the part issue. Title-page and contents
(4 pp.) for the one-volume edition were supplied
with the eighteenth and last instalment.
Although the real first book edition of the novel
(published in April, 1870) was in three volumes
cr. 8vo. as described above, the type and illustrations
of the “St. Paul's” issue were used in a one-volume
demy 8vo (5⅝ × 7⅞) edition (pp. iv + 434—no
half-title or list of illustrations) issued by Strahan
and Co. in 1871, after the story's serial completion.
This one-volume edition is bound in green cloth,
gilt, blocked in blind, and has dark yellow or terra-cotta
end-papers.
Note—The three-volume edition was published on April 6, 1871.
I have failed to establish the exact publishing date of the one-volume
edition, but it was in June or July of the same year. Oddly
enough the later issue is rarer than the earlier, for the sheets were
quickly taken over by Routledge and issued in a different binding
in 1872.
THE GOLDEN LION OF GRANPERE. By Anthony
Trollope, author of Ralph the Heir, Can
you Forgive Her? etc. London: Tinsley Bros.,
18 Catherine Street, Strand. 1872. 1 vol. Ex.
Cr. 8vo (5⅛ × 7¾). Pp. (iv) + 353 + (9). Publishers'
advertisements, paged 1 to 6 and dated May, 1872,
occupy pp. 355 to 363. Red-brown cloth, gilt,
blocked in black. Pale yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in May, 1872. The story
appeared serially in “Good Words.” It had been written in 1867
for “Blackwood's,” but had proved unacceptable.
(ii) Copies are sometimes found in dark brown cloth, lettered and
blocked less heavily and with lighter boards. These are probably
later in issue.
60
THE EUSTACE DIAMONDS. By Anthony Trollope.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly.
1873. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7¼).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 354.
Vol. II. pp. viii + 363 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. viii + 354.
Brown salmon cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Yellow
end-papers.
Note—Although dated 1873, this book was actually published in
December, 1872. The story appeared serially in the “Fortnightly
Review.”
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. By Anthony
Trollope. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly.
1873. 2 vols. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8½).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) [paged as vi] + 533 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (viii) + 516.
Vol. I. contains a coloured map as frontispiece
printed on text paper, and two folding coloured
maps mounted on linen at end. Vol. II. contains
folding coloured map mounted on linen facing p. 1;
four folding coloured maps mounted on linen at
end. Orange brown cloth, gilt, blocked in black.
Dark green end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in March, 1873.
(ii) The text was later split up and issued in four small volumes,
each dealing with a definite province or provinces of Australia and
New Zealand. These little books have no importance as “editions,”
for they contain no matter not include in the original two-volume
issue.
PHINEAS REDUX. By Anthony Trollope, author
of Phineas Finn. With illustrations engraved on
wood. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly.
1874. 2 vols. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8⅛).
61Vol. I. pp. vi + (ii) + 339 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. vi + (ii) + 329 + (3).
Each volume contains twelve illustrations printed
separately. Blue cloth, gilt, blocked in black and
gold. Yellow end-papers.
Note—Although dated 1874, this book was actually published in
December, 1873. The story appeared serially in “The Graphic.”
LADY ANNA. By Anthony Trollope. London:
Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1874. 2 vols.
Cr. 8vo (5 × 7¼).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 317 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. viii + 314.
Red-brown cloth, blocked in black and gold.
Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1874. The story
appeared serially in the “Fortnightly Review.”
HARRY HEATHCOTE OF GANGOIL: A Tale of
Australian Bush Life. By Anthony Trollope.
London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Low and Searle,
Crown Buildings, 188 Fleet Street. 1874. 1 vol.
Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½). Pp. (iv) + 313 + (3). Publishers'
catalogue, 48 pp., dated October, 1873, bound in
at end. No half-title. Bright blue cloth, gilt,
blocked in blind. Cream end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in October, 1874. The
story appeared serially in “The Graphic.”
(ii) The sheets of this edition were, in the year of publication, cut
down and issued in a volume measuring 4½ × 6¾, together with six
full-page line-engraved illustrations, printed separately. This later
issue is bound in green or in violet cloth, blocked in gold and black,
and contains at the end a 40 pp. publishers' catalogue dated
October, 1874.
62
THE WAY WE LIVE NOW. By Anthony Trollope.
With forty illustrations. London: Chapman
and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1875. 2 vols. Demy
8vo (5½ × 8½).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 320.
Vol. II. pp. (viii) + 319 + (1).
Each volume contains twenty illustrations printed
separately. Bright green cloth, blocked in gold
and black. Dark brown end-papers.
This story originally appeared in twenty one-shilling
demy 8vo parts, dated February, 1874, to
September, 1875, bound in greenish-blue wrappers
printed in black and containing the illustrations
afterwards included in the two-volume edition. Each
part contains two full-page illustrations.
Note—The novel appeared in book form in July, 1875.
THE WAY WE LIVE NOW: Part Issue.
The following advertisement pages, etc., should be found in a
complete set. The advertisements at the front of each number are
headed: “The Way We Live Now Advertiser.” All wrappers,
except front covers, are printed with advertisements.
Part I: Front—8 pp. Back—16 pp., paged in fours, of which
the last eight publishers' lists.
Parts II to VIII: Front—4 pp. Back—Nil.
Part IX: Front—4 pp. Back—4 pp.
Parts X to XV: Front—4 pp. Back—Nil.
Part XVI: Front—4 pp. Back—Publishers' catalogue, 20 pp.,
dated April 10, 1875.
Parts XVII to XIX: Front—4 pp. Back—Nil.
Part XX: Front—4 pp. Back—Nil. [Note—This part contains
half-titles, titles, contents and lists of illustrations (in all 16 pp.) to
both volumes of the novel.]
THE PRIME MINISTER. By Anthony Trollope.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1876.
4 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
63Vol. I. pp. (iv) [paged as vi] + 337 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. iv + 342.
Vol. III. pp. (iv) [paged as vi] + 346.
Vol. IV. pp. (iv) [paged as vi] + 347 + (1).
No half-titles. Red-brown cloth, gilt, blocked in
black. Cream end-papers.
This story originally appeared in eight cr. 8vo
five-shilling parts, dated 1876 (no title-pages in
Parts I., III., V., and VII.), bound in grey paper
wrappers, printed in black. Part I. appeared in
November, 1875, and subsequent numbers at intervals
of one month.
Notes—(i) The novel was published in volume form in May, 1876.
(ii) Sets of the parts are sometimes met with, bound separately
in red-brown cloth and lettered on spine only with the title of the
book and the number of the part. I cannot establish the relative
dates of the regular four-volume cloth issue and of the eight clothbound
parts.
THE PRIME MINISTER: Part Issue.
Apart from that printed on the wrappers, no advertisement
material was included with the parts of this novel, save that at
front of Part VI was inserted a 4 pp. leaflet (4 × 6⅜) of Chapman
and Hall's Popular Two Shilling novels. Note should, however,
be taken of the incidence of preliminary matter.
Part I: (iv) + 1-162. The preliminary matter consists of: Section
half-title, reading: PART I., Vol. I. Verso blank. Title, reading:
The Prime Minister. By Anthony Trollope. London: Chapman
and Hall, 193, Piccadilly. 1876. Verso blank. No list of contents.
Part II: (ii) + 163-337 + (1). Preliminary matter: Section half-title:
PART II., Vol. I. Verso blank.
Part III: (vi) [paged as iv] + 1-170. Preliminary matter consists
of: Section half-title, reading: PART III., Vol. II. Verso blank.
Title, as in Part I. Verso blank. Contents of Vol. II. (2 pp.).
Part IV: (iv) + 171-342. Preliminary matter: 2 pp. blank. Section
half-title: PART IV., Vol. II. Verso blank.
Part V: vi + 1-174. Preliminary matter consists of: Section
half-title, reading: PART V., Vol. III. Verso blank. Title, as
in Parts I. and III. Verso blank. Contents of Vol. III. (2 pp.).
Part VI: (iv) + 175-346. Preliminary matter: 2 pp. blank.
Section half-title: PART VI. Verso blank.
Part VII: vi + 1-168. Preliminary matter consists of: Section
half-title reading: PART VII., Vol. IV. Verso blank. Title, as
in Parts I., III., and V. Verso blank. Contents of Vol. IV. (2 pp.).
64Part VIII: (ii) + 169-347 + (1). Preliminary matter. Section
half-title: PART VIII. Verso blank.
It is evident, from a comparison between the foregoing details and
the collation of the four-volume edition previously described, that
the publishers were compelled, to complete the latter, to print a
contents list to Vol. 1. and to add the words “In four volumes,
Vol. 1.,” etc., to the title-pages. It will be seen that they had so
mismanaged the pagination of the preliminary matter during part
issue, that only one of the four final volumes was correctly paged
throughout.
THE AMERICAN SENATOR. By Anthony Trollope.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly.
1877. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 293 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. viii + 293 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. viii + 284.
Yellow-ochre cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Yellow
end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in July, 1877. The story
appeared serially in the “Temple Bar Magazine.”
(ii) There is a remainder binding for this book, but the blocking is
lighter and the sheets are cut to a smaller size.
SOUTH AFRICA. By Anthony Trollope. London:
Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1878.
2 vols. Sq. Ex. Cr. 8vo (5¼ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. vii + (1) + 352.
Vol. II. pp. vii + (1) + 352.
Folding map in colours faces p. 1 of Vol. I. Red
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Black end-papers.
Note—This book was published in March, 1878.
IS HE POPENJOY?: A Novel. By Anthony Trollope.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly.
1878. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. vii + (i) + 301 + (3). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (303) and (304).
65Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 297 + (3). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (299) and (300).
Vol. III. pp. vii + (i) + 319 + (1).
Red-brown cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Yellow
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in April, 1878. The story appeared
serially in “All the Year Round.”
HOW THE 'MASTIFFS' WENT TO ICELAND.
By Anthony Trollope. With illustrations by
Mrs. Hugh Blackburn. London: Virtue and Co.
Limited. 1878. 1 vol. Demy 4to (8⅝ × 11⅛). Pp.
(vi) + 46. Bright blue cloth, blocked in gold. Dark
grey end-papers. Coloured map as frontispiece in
lithography; fourteen pencil drawings in lithography,
and two silver print photographs, mounted,
throughout the text. All illustrations printed
separately.
AN EYE FOR AN EYE. By Anthony Trollope.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1879.
2 vols. Small Cr. 8vo (4⅝ × 7⅛).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) [paged as vi] + 215 + (1). Publishers'
catalogue, 32 pp., dated December, 1878,
printed on text paper, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (viii) [paged as vi] + 288.
Greenish-ochre cloth, blocked in gold and black.
Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in January, 1879. It was, however,
written in 1871.
THACKERAY. By Anthony Trollope. London:
Macmillan and Co. 1879. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Pp. vi + (ii) + 210 + (2). List of volumes in the
“English Men of Letters” Series occupies pp. (211)
66and (212). A volume in the “English Men of
Letters” Series edited by John Morley. Buff cloth,
paper label. White end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in May, 1879.
(ii) The first issue was bound as described above. Later issues
of the first edition sheets were bound in scarlet or in yellow-ochre
cloth, blocked in black with the Series design, and had black end-papers.
These later copies were slightly cut, the pages measuring
4⅞ × 7⅛.
JOHN CALDIGATE. By Anthony Trollope.
London: Chapman and Hall. 193 Piccadilly.
1879. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. vi + 290.
Vol. II. pp. vi + 296.
Vol. III. pp. vi + 302 + (2).
Grey cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in June, 1879. The story
appeared serially in “Blackwood's Magazine.”
(ii) There are two varieties in the lettering and blocking of the
volumes of this novel. In one the words “Vol. I.,” “Vol. II.,”
“Vol. III.” on the spines of the volumes are in thicker roman
capitals than in the other. There are also slight differences of
decorative blocking. Which style is the earlier I do not know.
COUSIN HENRY: A Novel. By Anthony Trollope.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1879.
2 vols. Cr. 8vo (4⅝ × 7⅛).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 219 + (5). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (221) to (223).
Vol. II. pp. viii + 222 + (2).
Light blue cloth, blocked uniform with “An Eye
for An Eye” in black and gold. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in November, 1879.
67
THE DUKE'S CHILDREN: A Novel. By Anthony
Trollope. London: Chapman and Hall, Limited
193 Piccadilly. 1880. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 320.
Vol. II. pp. viii + 327 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. viii + 312.
Publishers' catalogue, 24 pp., undated but paged,
bound in at end. Dark blue-green cloth, gilt,
blocked in black. Pink-cream end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1880.
THE LIFE OF CICERO. By Anthony Trollope.
London: Chapman and Hall Limited 193 Piccadilly.
1880. 2 vols. Sq. Ex. Cr. 8vo (5⅛ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. vii + (i) + 419 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 424 + (1).
Dark red cloth, gilt. Black end-papers.
DOCTOR WORTLE'S SCHOOL: A Novel. By
Anthony Trollope. London: Chapman and Hall
Limited, 193 Piccadilly. 1881. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 7¼).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) [paged as vi] + 237 + (3).
Vol. II. pp. (viii) + 246 + (2).
Publishers' catalogue, 28 pp., dated November,
1880, printed on text paper, bound in at end. Grey
cloth, blocked in gold and black. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This novel was published in February, 1881.
68
AYALA'S ANGEL. By Anthony Trollope, author
of Doctor Thorne, The Prime Minister, Orley Farm
etc. etc. London: Chapman and Hall (Limited) 11
Henrietta Street Covent Garden. 1881. 3 vols.
Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. iv + 280.
Vol. II. pp. iv + 272.
Vol. III. pp. iv + 277 + (3).
No half-titles. Orange cloth, gilt, blocked in
black. Blue-black end-papers.
Note—This novel was published in June, 1881.
WHY FRAU FROHMANN RAISED HER
PRICES: AND OTHER STORIES. By
Anthony Trollope, author of Framley Parsonage,
The Small House at Allington etc. etc. London:
William Isbister Limited 56 Ludgate Hill. 1882.
1 vol. Large Cr. 8vo (5¼ × 7¾). Pp. vi + (ii) + 416.
Pale olive-green cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Dark
chocolate end-papers.
Contents: Why Frau Frohmann Raised Her Prices—The Lady
of Launay—Christmas at Thompson Hall—The Telegraph Girl—Alice
Dugdale.
Notes—(i) Copies of this book were also issued in two volumes,
but with the same pagination and composed of the same sheets as
the more usual one-volume issue. A new edition, with a frontispiece,
was issued in November, 1882.
(ii) In 1885, under the title Thompson Hall, the third story in this
volume was issued separately by Messrs. Sampson Low. In some
quarters the little book is regarded as a first edition and highly
valued accordingly, but in truth it is not bibliographically an item
of any importance, being a textual reprint of Christmas at Thompson
Hall, under a slightly different title and with the addition of a few
second-rate illustrations. For the benefit of those interested, the
description and collation of the book is as follows:
THOMPSON HALL. By Anthony Trollope, author of The
Prime Minister, Orley Farm etc. etc. With illustrations.
69London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington.
Crown Buildings, 188 Fleet Street. 1885. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 7). Pp. 127 + (1). Publishers' advertisements occupy
pp. (iv) and (128). Eight line-engraved illustrations printed on
text paper. Grey paper boards, printed in dark blue and
brown. White end-papers.
LORD PALMERSTON (English Political Leaders).
By Anthony Trollope. London: Wm. Isbister
Limited 56 Ludgate Hill, 1882. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 7¼). Pp. (iv) + 220. No half-title. Smooth
red-brown cloth, lettered in black. Black end-papers.
Note—This book was reissued the following year with title-page
dated 1883 but without any indication of there having been a
previous edition. The later issue is bound in grained cloth of the
same colour as that originally used and has white end-papers.
KEPT IN THE DARK: A Novel. By Anthony
Trollope. With a frontispiece by J. E. Millais
R.A. London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly.
1882. 2 vols. Short Cr. 8vo (5 × 7).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 253 + (3).
Vol. II. pp. (viii) + 239 + (1).
Publishers' catalogue, 32 pp., dated July, 1882,
bound in at end. Grey-green cloth, gilt, blocked in
black and red-brown. Blue and white decorated
end-papers. Line-engraved frontispiece to Vol. I.
printed separately.
Note—This book was published in October, 1882.
MARION FAY: A Novel. By Anthony Trollope,
author of Framley Parsonage, Orley Farm, The
Way We Live Now etc. etc. London: Chapman
and Hall Limited, 11 Henrietta Street. 1882. 3 vols.
Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7½).
70Vol. I. pp. viii + 303 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. viii + 282 + (2).
Vol. III. pp. viii + 271 + (1).
Yellow-ochre cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Dark
brown or yellow end-papers.
THE FIXED PERIOD: A Novel. By Anthony
Trollope. Wm. Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh
and London, MDCCCLXXXII. 2 vols. Small Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 7).
Vol. I. pp. (vi) + 200.
Vol. II. pp. (vi) + 203 + (1).
The words “Originally published in 'Blackwood's
Magazine'” occupy verso of half-title in
each volume. Dark red cloth, gilt. Dark green
end-papers.
MR. SCARBOROUGH'S FAMILY. By Anthony
Trollope. London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly.
1883. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¼).
Vol. I. pp. vii + (i) + 308. Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated March, 1883, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 326 + (2).
Vol. III. pp. vii + (i) + 325 + (3).
Greenish-blue cloth, gilt, blocked in red-brown.
White end-papers.
Note—This novel was published in May, 1883. The story
appeared serially in “All the Year Round.”
THE LANDLEAGUERS. By Anthony Trollope.
London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. 1883.
3 vols. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¼).
Vol. I. pp. vii + (iii) + 280. Note by Henry M.
Trollope occupies p. (ix).
71Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 296.
Vol. III. pp. vii + (i) + 291 + (1).
Publishers' catalogue, 32 pp., dated October,
1883, bound in at end. Dark green cloth, gilt,
blocked in yellow. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1883.
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. By Anthony Trollope.
Wm. Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.
MDCCCLXXXIII. 2 vols. Sq. Ex. Cr. 8vo (5⅛ × 7⅝).
Vol. I. pp. xi + (iii) + 259 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. vi + 227 + (5). Publishers' advertisements
paged 1 to 4 occupy pp. (229) to (232).
Publishers' catalogue, 24 pp., undated but paged
and printed on text paper, bound in at end. Portrait
in photogravure as frontispiece to Vol. I. Dark
red cloth, gilt, blocked and lettered on side in black.
Dark green end-papers.
Note—This book was published in November, 1883.
AN OLD MAN'S LOVE. By Anthony Trollope.
Wm. Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.
MDCCCLXXXIV. 2 vols. Sm. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 226.
Vol. II. pp. (vi) + 219 + (1).
Publishers' advertisements, 4 pp., numbered 1-4,
and printed on text paper, bound in at end. Red
cloth, gilt, uniform with The Fixed Period. Dark
brown end-papers.
72
THE VICTORIA REGIA: A Volume of Original
Contributions in Poetry and Prose. Edited by
Adelaide A. Procter. London: Printed and Published
by Emily Faithfull and Co., Victoria Press
(for the Employment of Women), Great Coram
Street, W.C. 1861. 1 vol. Royal 8vo (6¼ × 9⅜).
Pp. x + 349 + (1). No half-title. Red-brown embossed
cloth, all edges gilt, blocked in gold and blind. Red
chocolate end-papers.
A WELCOME: Original Contributions in Poetry
and Prose. London: Emily Faithfull, Printer and
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty, Princes
Street, Hanover Square, and 183A Farringdon
Street. 1863. 1 vol. Imp. 16mo (5½ × 7¾). Pp.
vi + (ii) + 291 + (1). Green cloth, full gilt, blocked in
gold. Pale pink end-papers. A story by Anthony
Trollope entitled Miss Ophelia Gledd occupies
pp. 239 to 283. This is the first appearance of a story
later included in Lotta Schmidt and other Stories.
NOTE.--Pp. 187 to 214 are occupied by a story by Anthony Trollope
entitled The Journey to Panama. This is the first appearance in book
form of a tale afterwards published in Lotta Schmidt and other Stories.
BRITISH SPORTS AND PASTIMES 1868. Edited
by Anthony Trollope. London: Virtue and Co.,
26 Ivy Lane. New York: Virtue and Yorston.
1868. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾). Pp. (vi) + 322.
Bright green embossed cloth, gilt, with title printed
both on spine and side. Pale yellow end-papers.
Contents: On Horse-Racing—On Hunting—On Shooting—On
Fishing—On Yachting—On Rowing—On Alpine Climbing—On
Cricket. Trollope was responsible for the preface (pp. 1-7) and the
Essay “On Hunting” (pp. 70-129).
Notes—(i) This book was published in November, 1868. The
contents had appeared in “St. Paul's Magazine.”
(ii) The sheets of the first edition were later issued without change
of date in a slightly different green binding, without the title in gold
on the side, and bearing as imprint on spine, Daldy, Isbister and Co.
The reissue was cut down to cr. 8vo, and the end-papers were
chocolate instead of yellow.
73(iii) A still later issue of the book in its reduced format was
bound in bright blue cloth, blocked in gold and black. This binding
bears no imprint on spine, and was probably carried out by
W. H. Smith and Son for a balance of edition purchased by them.
George Eliot's novel Felix Holt was treated in this way by Smiths
some twelve years after publication, and the binding is very similar
to that now under consideration.
It is stated by Margaret Lavington in her appendix to
Escott's book that Trollope “printed but never published”
several of his lectures. I have been unable to
trace any privately printed lectures, but feel sure that
Trollope's first bibliographer would not speak of them
as she does without certain knowledge of their existence.
The titles mentioned are:
The Civil Service as a Profession,
The War in America,
English Prose Fiction as a National Amusement,
The Higher Education of Women.
No dates or other details are given.
From the same source I borrow a statement that a
study of Thackeray by Trollope, originally printed in
the “Cornhill,” was republished as part of Theodore
Taylor's book Thackeray: The Humourist and Man of
Letters, which was issued in 1864. It is noticeable that
Margaret Lavington speaks of the publisher of this book
as Appleton of New York. A book of the same title by
the same author was issued in the same year by Hotten
of Piccadilly, and it is a fair presumption that the
volumes are identical, but, although I have been carefully
through the volume issued by Hotten, I cannot identify
any section as contributed by Trollope.
FREDERICK MARRYAT 1792-1849 — BIOGRAPHY — I.—EDITIONES PRINCIPES FICTION, ESSAYS, NAVAL TECHNICAL BOOKS — 1817 — 1822 — 1829 — 1830 — 1832 — 1834 — 1834 — 1835 — 1836 — 1836 — 1836 — 1836 — 1836 — 1837 — 1839 — 1839 — 1839 — 1840 — 1840 — 1841/2 — 1841 — 1842 — 1843 — 1844 — 1845 — 1846 — [1847] — 1848/9 — 1849 — II.—A BOOK ATTRIBUTED TO MARRYAT, ONE EDITED BY HIM AND OTHERS POSSIBLY WRITTEN WITH HIS HELP — 1836 — 1836 — NOTE — 1837 — 1838 — 1839 — 1840 — 1842 — 1859 — A NOTE ON MARRYAT AS ARTIST
75
77
FREDERICK MARRYAT
The reputation of Captain Marryat has suffered at the
hands of time somewhat differently from that of many
of his contemporaries. Superficially he has fared better
than they, for, if little read except by boys, he is at least
acknowledged as a classic, and there are few adult novel
readers who could not from their own childhood gather
sufficient memories to characterize in summary some of
his best known books.
Nevertheless, it is arguable that the forgotten author
is happier than he who is accepted but unread. A
revival of interest in the books of a man not already
docketed and filed in the appreciation of his age may
develop a new perspective. The body of his work may
be exhumed and permanently lodged in its proper niche
of the catacombs of literature. More hardly shall this
befall such a one as Marryat, who is “placed” already
as a writer of sea stories for boys and as an instructor
in adventure for young people.
Who shall deny that he is all of this? His fame as
a novelist of naval escapade, of risk and makeshift
among pirates and barbarians, is fame deserved. The
difficulty for one concerned to reappraise his work lies in
the fact that there is more to him than is here implied.
He is the only writer in the tradition of Fielding and
Smollett who can claim consideration on the same plane
as these famous authors. That he is overtopped by Tom
Jones no one will dispute, but that he ranks with and not
after Smollett is a contention that permits of argument.
The first result of an attempt to classify the books of
Captain Marryat is a realization that two of his finest
works are—the one wholly, the other mainly—unconcerned
with ships or seafarers. Japhet in Search of a
Father (1836) is a picturesque tale of vagabondage and
78social escapade. The Pacha of Many Tales (1835) is an
adaptation of “The Arabian Nights,” a series of narratives
held together by a framework of Oriental despotism.
Japhet is partnered by two later novels—Joseph Rushbrook;
or, The Poacher (1841) and Valerie (1849). All
three are land as opposed to sea novels, and the first two
show the fertile invention of the author, his power of
describing rogues and fashionable grotesques. But
whereas Japhet is the best book Marryat ever wrote, The
Poacher is a little weary, for it dates from the last period
of the writer's life, when ill-health and money troubles
were pressing hardly on a man already exhausted by a
reckless youth; while Valerie, the autobiography of a
French girl cast on her own resources in Paris and in
London, had better have been left, as Marryat left it, a
fragment cut short by sickness and by death.
The Pacha of Many Tales stands quite alone and
stands proudly. Marryat's humour is in this book congenial
to the modern reader, while of fantastic happening
few works of fiction can show so rich a store. It is
hard to understand why this admirable parody of the
“Thousand and One Nights” is to-day so little read.
Perhaps some enterprising publisher will extract the
story of Huckaback and issue it, grotesquely illustrated.
It should find its market.
The sea stories proper need little comment. They are
eleven in number:
The Naval Officer; or, Frank Mildmay (1829),
The King's Own (1830),
Newton Forster; or, The Merchant Service (1832),
Peter Simple (1834),
Jacob Faithful (1834),
Mr. Midshipman Easy (1836),
The Pirate. The Three Cutters (1836),
Poor Jack (1840),
Percival Keene (1842),
The Privateer's-Man (1846).
79The first of these titles is pure autobiography and, as
the author himself admitted, lacks most of the essentials
of fiction. The story is of the slightest and most perfunctory,
the book being little more than an account of
Marryat's own early adventures at sea. David Hannay,
in his excellent little Life of Marryat, remarks acutely
on the peculiar meanness of the hero's character—a
meanness that makes an even more repellant appearance
in the last but one of the sea stories—Percival Keene.
Seeing that Marryat was writing of himself and that the
events in the life of Frank Mildmay must have been
easily recognizable by naval contemporaries, it is remarkable
that he should present his central figure so unsympathetically,
unless he failed to realize the young man's
shortcomings. Perhaps in part he saw his mistake, for
in the five novels that followed The Naval Officer he
offers the reader more respectable but more colourless
heroes. When the time came for writing Percival
Keene, either he had forgotten the warnings of twelve
years before or else he was tired of erecting dummy
humanity to placate the idealism of his readers.
The constructional weakness of The Naval Officer
Marryat took pains to correct in his succeeding books.
Peter Simple, Jacob Faithful and the rest may depend
for their vitality and attraction on the excitements
encountered by their heroes while voyaging the seas or
fighting in the wars. Certainly the by-plots are unimportant
and conventional. But the author was careful
in them all to give to the course of the heroes' adventures
a real prominence and coherence, so that we read with
an anxiety to know what happens next and are not, as in
The Naval Officer, continually brought up by naval
“shop” or invited to feel indignant sympathy with the
members of a noble but scurvily treated service.
The Pirate and The Privateer's-Man are exciting tales
of ocean brigandage, the latter having in addition an
antiquarian interest, for the first portion of the story is
based on the actual life-record of an old time sea-rover.
Poor Jack, although told in the first person and comprising
80scenes on shipboard and adventurous happenings at
sea of a kind to suggest comparison with Mr. Midshipman
Easy, has an historical interest apart from its
value as fiction, because it is an account of Greenwich
Hospital, in those days a retreat for wounded seamen.
Two groups remain among the stories of Frederick
Marryat. Snarleyow (1837) and The Phantom Ship
(1839) stand definitely apart from the rest of the novels.
Both tell of Dutch seafaring in the old days and both
introduce a strong element of the weird and the mysterious.
That Marryat should in these books have come
under the influence of the “terror” motive in fiction is
surprising and interesting. After reading Japhet or
Mr. Midshipman Easy one would declare that nothing
was farther from the talent of their author than an excursion
into the “horrid.” And yet both Snarleyow and
The Phantom Ship are excellent books, which rank high
among Marryat's novels for liveliness and for characterization
and, in addition, merit notice for their fearsomeness.
Of their value as historical documents I am
unqualified to speak, but it may be presumed that before
writing them the author studied the lives and methods
of seventeenth and eighteenth century Dutch mariners,
for both books are circumstantially staged and show no
desire to shirk description of contemporary fact.
Of the stories written definitely for children the best
known (and rightly) is Masterman Ready (1841-1842).
It was followed by The Travels and Adventures of
Monsieur Violet (1843); The Settlers in Canada (1844);
The Mission; or, Scenes in Africa (1845); The Children
of the New Forest (1847); and The Little Savage
(1848-1849).
Monsieur Violet is an improbable and tedious tale of
Red Indians and Mormons. The rest—with the exception
of The Children of the New Forest, which is a story
of Cavaliers and Roundheads—tell in one form or another
the eternal tale of young adventurers in wild countries.
Marryat loved children and knew how to tell stories
that they could like and understand. This to-day is
81undisputed. But that he is equally a novelist for the
critical sorely needs reaffirmation. His juvenile public
has been more faithful to him than that of maturer years,
and one can only hope that time will restore him to the
affection of the adult. Masterman Ready is as fresh
to-day as when, eighty years ago, it first appeared; but
the freshness is due as much to Marryat as to his youthful
admirers, and that same freshness is no less present
in the best of his other books than it is in this children's
classic. Let the modern novel reader have no fear. In
taking up Japhet, or Peter Simple, or A Pacha of Many
Tales, he will take up a fine book and good literature,
and not merely a poker with which to rake among the
ashes of his own vanished childhood.
Two books have appeared dealing with the life and
work of Frederick Marryat:
LIFE AND LETTERS OF CAPTAIN MARRYAT.
By Florence Marryat. 2 vols. London: Bentley,
1872.
Like so many loyal and affectionate biographers,
Mrs. Ross Church is too casual a user of dates and
too summary an adherent to chronology to allow to
her book great reference value.
LIFE OF FREDERICK MARRYAT. By David
Hannay. London: Walter Scott. 1889.
This is an admirable little book so far as the main
text is concerned. Its bibliography, however, although
valuable for the list given of biographical
and critical articles devoted to Marryat, as well as
for facts regarding subsequent editions of Marryat's
works, is very unreliable as an authority on first
editions.
82
A CODE OF SIGNALS FOR THE USE OF
VESSELS EMPLOYED IN THE MERCHANT
SERVICE. By Captain Marryat, R.N. Dedicated
to the Committee of the Association of Shipowners
of the Port of London. London: J. M.
Richardson, 23 Cornhill. 1817. 1 vol. Royal 8vo
(6⅛ × 9¾). No pagination, the book consisting
wholly of tabulated code. Frontispiece, folding
plate, and one full-page plate in colours. Paper
boards, paper label on side only, printed in black.
White end-papers.
Note—I have only been able to consult the sixth edition of this
book as issued revised in 1837 and a seventh edition, further revised,
as issued in 1840; but that it appeared originally in the same form
and over the same imprint is proved by the retention in the later
edition of the author's original prefatory letter, dedicating his work
to the Association of Shipowners.
SUGGESTION FOR THE ABOLITION OF THE
PRESENT SYSTEM OF IMPRESSMENT IN
THE NAVAL SERVICE. By Captain Marryat,
R.N. (Quotation.) London: Printed by W.
Hughes, Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. Published
by J. M. Richardson, Cornhill and sold by all
booksellers. 1822. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¾).
Pp. (iv) + 64. The half-title serves as front wrapper
and bears the words “Price 2/6d.” No back
wrapper, p. 64 being the outside back page of the
pamphlet.
83
THE NAVAL OFFICER: Or Scenes and Adventures
in the Life of Frank Mildmay. (Quotation
from Don Juan.) London: Henry Colburn, New
Burlington Street. 1829. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo
(4⅞ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 297 + (3). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (299) (300).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 310 + (2). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (311) (312).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 270 + (2).
Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published on March 14, 1829.
THE KING'S OWN. By the author of The Naval
Officer. (Quotation from Shakespeare's Pericles.)
London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley,
New Burlington Street. 1830. 3 vols. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4⅞ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 324. Note of erratum occupies
verso of half-title.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 325 + (1). Note of errata occupies
verso of half-title.
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 327 + (5). Note of errata
occupies verso of half-title. Publishers' advertisements,
paged (1), 2, 3, (4), occupy pp. (329) to (332).
Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published on April 15, 1830.
NEWTON FORSTER: Or The Merchant Service.
By the author of The King's Own. “Honesty is
the best policy.” London: James Cochrane and
Co., 11 Waterloo Place, Pall Mall. 1832. 3 vols.
Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 270 + (2). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (271) (272).
84Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 295 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 260. Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (253) to (260).
Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—Although dated 1832, this book was actually published in
December, 1831.
PETER SIMPLE. By the author of Newton Forster,
The King's Own etc. London: Saunders and Otley,
Conduit Street. 1834. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. vii + (i) + 328. No half-title.
Vol. II. pp. viii + 343 + (1). Half-title to this volume.
Vol. III. pp. viii + 380 + (4). Publishers' advertisements
dated November, 1833, occupy pp. (381)
to (384). No half-title. Inserted in Vol. III. should
be a list of errata.
Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Notes—(i) Although dated 1834, this book was actually published
in December, 1833. The story ran serially in the “Metropolitan
Magazine” from June, 1832, to December, 1833. Marryat
edited this magazine from 1832 to 1836.
(ii) An edition of the book, illustrated by R. W. Buss, was
published by Saunders and Otley, in 1837, in three volumes. Extra
cr. 8vo. Dark green embossed cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers.
JACOB FAITHFUL. By the author of Peter Simple,
The King's Own etc. London: Saunders and Otley,
Conduit Street. 1834. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 304. Advertisement of Peter
Simple occupies p. (ii). No half-title.
Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 301 + (3). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (303) (304). No half-title.
Vol. III. pp. vii + (i) + 307 + (1). No half-title.
Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White
end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in November or December,
1834. The story ran serially in the “Metropolitan Magazine”
from September, 1833, to December, 1834.
85(ii) An edition of the book, illustrated by R. W. Buss, was
published by Saunders and Otley in 1837 in three volumes. Ex.
cr. 8vo. Maroon embossed cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers.
(iii) It was the intention of the publishers to bring out an illustrated
edition of all Marryat's novels, one novel to appear each month,
beginning on April 1, 1837; but only Jacob Faithful and Peter
Simple were issued, and the series was abandoned, doubtless
because in that year Marryat quarrelled with Saunders and Otley
and found a different publisher.
THE PACHA OF MANY TALES. By the author
of Peter Simple, Jacob Faithful etc. London:
Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street. 1835. 3 vols.
Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 308 + (4). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (309) to (312). Advertisement of
books by the same author occupies p. (ii) facing title.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 300.
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 312.
Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1835. The stories
appeared intermittently in the “Metropolitan Magazine” between
June, 1831, and May, 1835.
THE PIRATE, AND THE THREE CUTTERS. By
Captain Marryat, R.N. Illustrated with twenty
splendid engravings from drawings by Clarkson
Stanfield Esq., R.A. London: Published for the
Proprietor by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown,
Green and Longman. 1836. Large Med. 8vo
(5⅞ × 9⅛). Pp. (viii) + 315 + (1). The book contains
twenty full-page illustrations in steel engraving, of
which two—an engraved portrait frontispiece and
picture title-page—precede printed title. Cream
paper boards, gilt, lettered on spine in gold The
Pirate by Captn. Marryat. Yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) Although dated 1836, this book was actually published
in December, 1835.
(ii) Copies are more frequently met with in maroon cloth, blocked
86in gold and lettered on spine Marryats Pirate and the Three
Cutters. This cloth binding (of which two styles at least are
extant) is probably not so early in date as the paper-board binding
described above. Definite information is impossible to obtain, but
the evidence of similar illustrated books of the period (e.g., Lytton's
Pilgrims of the Rhine) supports the theory here laid down.
(iii) A large paper edition, imperial 8vo (11 × 7½), was issued
simultaneously, with plates printed on India paper and bound in
green paper boards, half dark-green figured cloth, cream paper
label, the last being lettered in gold: The Pirate by Captn.
Marryat. White end-papers. Copies of the large paper edition
also exist in maroon cloth, blocked in gold and blind and lettered
on the spine: Marryats Pirate and the Three Cutters. As
with the ordinary edition, these full cloth copies are of later issue
than those in boards.
(iv) In all Longman's first editions the plates bear the following
legend: 'Published Decr. 1, 1835 for the proprietor by Longman
and Co., Paternoster Row.' The book was, however, never
issued with a printed title of that year. That the actual plates
were published prior to the Longman book edition is proved by
the fact that I have myself a set, both before and after “letters,”
bearing the legend: 'London. Published Octr. 1835 for the proprietor
by Charles Tilt, 86 Fleet Street.' In every other respect,
even down to the page references, the wording on these early dated
plates is identical with that used for Longman's book edition.
(v) A curious feature of this book's publishing history is its issue
in parts, nine years after its appearance in book form. In 1845
there appeared over the imprint A. Fullarton and Co., 106 Newgate
Street, London; 67 Abbey street, Dublin; Steads Place, Leith
Walk, and 5 Nicholson Street, Edinburgh, fifteen shilling parts
(6 × 9½), bound in buff paper wrappers printed in red-brown, and
illustrated with steel engravings after Clarkson Stanfield. These
engravings are twenty in number and identical with those in the
first book edition, except that the Longmans imprint has been
substituted on the plates by that of Fullarton, and the printer's
name and the date of issue have been expunged. The distribution
of plates among the fifteen parts is as follows: Parts I. IV. VI.
VIII. X. contain two plates each; Parts II. III. V. VII. IX.
XI. XII. XIII. XIV. and XV. contain one plate each. Publishers'
advertisements occupy outside back wrappers. No date
appears on the parts, but a title-page (with other preliminary
matter) enclosed in Part XV. is dated MDCCCXLV.
The text of the book was clearly reset for this part issue, so
there can be no question of a refurbishing of Longman sheets.
It may be noted that, according to the wrappers, the plates were
“engraved under the superintendence of Mr. Charles Heath.”
87(This person was responsible for the principal Books of Beauty,
Keepsakes, and similar gift publications issued in large numbers
toward Christmas time between 1840 and 1850 and distinguished
by their beautiful steel engravings.)
There being no indication that the plates were re-engraved for
the Fullarton edition, it may be presumed either that Heath superintended
their original production in 1835 but had not at that time
the “selling name” that by 1845 was his, or that Fullarton,
anxious to give to their reissue something of novelty, paid Heath
for a supervisory activity of a nominal kind in order to have the
use of his name on their wrappers.
JAPHET IN SEARCH OF A FATHER. By the
author of Peter Simple, Jacob Faithful, etc.
London: Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street. 1836.
3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 304. Advertisement of other
works by same author occupies verso of half-title.
Vol. II. pp. viii + 299 + (1). No half-title.
Vol. III. pp. viii + 319 + (5). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (321) to (324). No half-title.
Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White
end-papers.
Note—This book was published early in January, 1836. The
story ran serially in the “Metropolitan Magazine” from October,
1834, to January, 1836.
STORIES OF THE SEA. By Captain Marryat, R.N.
author of Peter Simple, Japhet in Search of a Father
etc. New York: Published by Harper and Brothers,
No. 82 Cliff Street. 1836. 1 vol. Sm. Cr. 8vo
(4½ × 7¼). Pp. (236) [paged as 232 + (2)]. No printed
half-title, but 2 pp. blank precede title and form
part of the book, although omitted from page reckoning.
Advertisement to the American edition, dated
January, 1836, occupies p. (3). Figured maroon
cloth, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book is the American edition of The Pirate and the
Three Cutters. It also contains Marryat's story Moonshine, which
originally appeared in The Keepsake and was not published in book
form in England until its inclusion in Olla Podrida in 1840.
88
MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY. By the author of Japhet
in Search of a Father, Peter Simple, Jacob Faithful
etc. Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street. 1836.
3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. vii + (i) + 291 +(1). Advertisement of
author's previous works occupies verso of half-title.
Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 306 + (2). Publishers'
advertisement occupies verso of half-title, and 2 pp.
publishers' advertisements, dated July, 1836, occupy
pp. (307) (308).
Vol. III. pp. viii + 314 + (2). Publishers' advertisement
occupies verso of half-title and pp. (315)
(316).
Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in September, 1836. One
instalment was printed in the “Metropolitan Magazine” in July,
1836, but serialization was never completed.
THE DIARY OF A BLASÉ. By the author of Jacob
Faithful, Peter Simple etc. Philadelphia: E. L.
Carey and A. Hart. 1836. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 7¾). Pp. 197 + (1). Paper boards, paper label.
White end-papers.
Note—I cannot establish the month of publication of this book,
but twenty-eight chapters of a work entitled The Diary of a Blasé
appeared serially in the “Metropolitan Magazine” to July, 1836,
at which point the narrative was left incomplete. It made no
separate appearance in book form in England, being included under
the title Diary on the Continent in Olla Podrida (see below—1840).
SNARLEYOW or The Dog Fiend. By the author
of Peter Simple, Frank Mildmay etc. London:
Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13 Great Marlborough
Street. 1837. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅞).
89Vol I. pp. viii + 307 + (5). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (309) to (312).
Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 299 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. viii + 307 + (1).
Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1837. The story ran
serially in the “Metropolitan Magazine” from February, 1836, to
July, 1837. Marryat changed his publisher with this novel,
because Saunders and Otley refused to pay an advance on royalties.
THE PHANTOM SHIP. By Capt. Marryat, R.N.
Author of Peter Simple, Jacob Faithful, Frank Mildmay
etc. London: Henry Colburn, Publisher,
Great Marlborough Street. 1839. 3 vols. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 300.
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 289 + (1). No half-title.
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 266. No half-title.
Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in April, 1839. The story
appeared serially in the “New Monthly Magazine” during 1837.
A DIARY IN AMERICA: With Remarks on its
Institutions. By Captain Marryat, C.B. Author
of Peter Simple, Jacob Faithful, Frank Mildmay etc.
London: Printed for Longman, Orme, Brown,
Green and Longmans, Paternoster Row. 1839.
3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 321 + (3).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 319 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 311 + (1). Note of errata to
Vol. I. occupies p. (312) of Vol. III.
Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. Also full
green grained cloth, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1839.
90
A DIARY IN AMERICA etc. Part Second. By
Capt. Marryat, C.B. Printed for Longman, Orme,
Brown, Green and Longmans, Paternoster Row.
1839. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 304.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 293 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 362.
Vol. II. contains two folding maps, which precede
p. 1. Paper boards (half cloth), paper label.
White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in December, 1839.
POOR JACK. By Captain Marryat, C.B. With
illustrations by Clarkson Stanfield, R.A. London:
Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans,
Paternoster Row. 1840. 1 vol. Large Med. 8vo
(5⅞ × ¼). Pp. x + 384. Because the volume is composed
of bound-up parts, the half-title is p. 1 of the
story itself and does not precede frontispiece. The
book contains forty-seven wood engravings after
Clarkson Stanfield, of which thirty-six printed
separately and eleven in the text. Dark green cloth,
blocked in gold. Yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published on December 1, 1840.
(ii) Poor Jack first appeared in twelve monthly shilling parts
(5⅞ × 9), bound in buff paper wrappers, printed in black. The first
was published at the beginning of January, and the last at the
beginning of December, 1840. Each part (subject to the variations
stated below) contained three full-page wood engravings after
Clarkson Stanfield, printed separately. Eleven small engravings
appear throughout the text.
Included in Part XII. were title-page and preliminary matter
(x pp.).
Parts I. to III. were undated; Part IV. was dated April 1; and
each succeeding part was dated similarly with the month of its
appearance.
91Part I. should contain at front or back publishers' catalogue,
8 pp., dated January 1, 1840, and entitled “Poor Jack's Advertising
Sheet.” Also at back an illustrated advertisement of Paul
Periwinkle.
Part II. should contain at front publishers' 4 pp. list, dated
February, 1840, and a prospectus (8 pp., enclosed in buff wrappers)
of McCulloch's Geographical, Statistical and Historical Dictionary.
Parts III. to XI. contained (so far as I can discover) no advertising
matter apart from that printed on the wrappers themselves.
Part XII. should contain 2 pp. publishers' advertisements both at
front and back, printed on the buff wrapper paper.
Notes on the Plates.
(i) No plates were issued with Part IX., but six instead of three
with Part X. A slip should be found inserted in Part IX. calling
attention to the arrangement. My own set shows a similar
happening in the case of Parts VII. and VIII., but there is no sign
of a slip having figured in the former to explain the absence of
illustration.
(ii) In two cases there are variations in underline between part
and book issue: (a) One of the plates included in Part XI. is
entitled “The Euphrosyne in the Downs,” but this legend is
omitted altogether in some copies of the book. (b) Included in
Part XII. is a plate entitled “The Prize at Sheerness.” This
underline reads in most copies of the book “The Prize in The
Medway.” Collectors anxious to possess the actual first issue of
the book—i.e., that bound up from actual parts—should examine
these two points in copies they consider purchasing.
OLLA PODRIDA. By the author of Peter Simple etc.
etc. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and
Longmans, Paternoster Row. 1840. 3 vols. Ex.
Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. vi + (ii) + 310.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 362 + (2).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 332.
Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White
end-papers. Also issued in ribbed maroon cloth,
gilt. Yellow end-papers.
There is no contents list to Volume I. The complete contents
are: Diary on the Continent—The Monk of Seville (a play)—S.W.
92and by W. ¾ W.—Ill-Will (a charade)—The Sky-Blue Domino—Modern
Town Houses—The Way to be Happy—How to Write a
Fashionable Novel—How to Write a Book of Travels—How to
Write a Romance—The Legend of the Bell Rock—Moonshine.
Note—This book was published on December 1, 1840. Of the
contents the “Diary on the Continent” appeared serially in the
“Metropolitan Magazine” (see above, Diary of a Blasé, 1836),
and the shorter pieces partly in the same journal, partly in the
“New Monthly,” and one (“Moonshine”) in The Keepsake (see
above, Stories of the Sea, 1836).
MASTERMAN READY or The Wreck of the
Pacific. Written for Young People. By Captain
Marryat. London: Longman, Orme, Brown,
Green and Longmans, Paternoster Row. 1841
(Vol. I.), 1842 (Vols. II. and III.). 3 vols. in all.
Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 287 + (1). Publishers' catalogue,
16 pp., dated February, 1841, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 269 + (3). Publishers' catalogue,
16 pp. (maybe two catalogues each of 16 pp.), dated
April, 1842, bound in at end or, in some cases, after
first front end-paper.
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 225 + (3). Publishers' catalogue,
30 pp., dated October, 1842, bound in at end.
Each volume contains frontispiece (that to Vol. III.
is a map) and several text illustrations, wood
engraved and printed on text paper. Dark green
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) Vol. I. was published in May, 1841; Vol. II. in April,
1842; and Vol. III. in December, 1842.
(ii) Because the book was first planned to occupy one volume
only, there is no indication on Vol. I. of its being the first of a
series. Vols. II. and III., however, are so described on title-page
and on binding.
(iii) Vol. I. was catalogued on its publication as bound in
“boards.” This indicates that copies were first issued with paper
label and in half cloth, but I have never seen one so bound.
93
JOSEPH RUSHBROOK: Or The Poacher. By the
author of Peter Simple. London: Longman, Orme,
Brown, Green and Co., Paternoster Row. 1841.
3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 275 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. viii + 293 + (3).
Vol. III. pp. viii + 269 + (7). Advertisements of
works by the same author occupy pp. (270) to (276).
Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1841. The story
appeared serially in “The Era.”
PERCIVAL KEENE. By Captain Marryat, author
of Peter Simple, Jacob Faithful etc. etc. London:
Henry Colburn, Publisher, Great Marlborough
Street. 1842. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 293 + (3).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 279 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 315 + (1).
Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in August, 1842.
NARRATIVE OF THE TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES
OF MONSIEUR VIOLET IN CALIFORNIA,
SONORA AND WESTERN TEXAS.
Written by Captain Marryat, C.B. London:
Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, Paternoster
Row. 1843. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 312.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 318 + (2).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 299 + (1).
94Folding map faces title-page of Vol. I. Paper
boards, half cloth, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1843.
THE SETTLERS IN CANADA: Written for
Young People. By Captain Marryat. London:
Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, Paternoster
Row. 1844. 2 vols. Fcap. 8vo (4⅛ × 6¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 356. Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., undated or dated September, 1844, or earlier,
bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 374 + (2).
Each volume contains frontispiece in wood engraving
printed on text paper. Grey-brown cloth,
gilt, blocked in blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published on September 7, 1844. It is
possible that the earliest issue contained an undated catalogue, but
this can only be established by comparison between a larger number
of copies of the book than I have contrived to examine, and a
careful investigation of the books listed in any such undated
catalogue.
(ii) I have seen an announcement of this book as in “boards,”
but have never met with copies so bound.
THE MISSION: Or Scenes in Africa. Written for
Young People. By Captain Marryat. London:
Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans. Paternoster
Row. 1845. 2 vols. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾).
Vol. I. pp. (vi) + 328. Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp. and undated, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 374 + (2).
Each volume contains frontispiece in wood engraving,
printed on text paper. Vol. I. contains, following
title and also on text paper, a map. Brown
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1845.
95
THE PRIVATEER'S-MAN: One Hundred Years
Ago. By Captain Marryat, R.N. London:
Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, Paternoster
Row. 1846. 2 vols. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 379 + (1). Publishers' catalogue,
dated July, 1846, or earlier, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 361 + (1).
Grey-green cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1846. The story appeared
serially in the “New Monthly Magazine,” which periodical
had just been purchased by W. Harrison Ainsworth.
THE CHILDREN OF THE NEW FOREST. By
Captain Marryat, R.N. London: H. Hurst, 27
King William Street, Charing Cross. 2 vols.
Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) [enclosing inset title-page printed
in red and green] + 288 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) [enclosing inset title-page printed
in red and green] + 298 + (4).
Vol. I. contains eight and Vol. II. four steel-engraved
illustrations by Frank Marryat, printed
separately.
Notes—(i) This book was the first story in The Juvenile Library.
Vol. I. was published in July and Vol. II. in October, 1847.
In all the copies I have been able to examine pp. (299) to (302) of
Vol. II. are occupied by an announcement of this library and by
reviews of The Children of the New Forest itself. Whether the
book, on its actual first appearance, had these pages blank or
otherwise occupied I do not know, but it is certainly curious to find
press notices of a story in any but subsequent issues of that story.
It should be noted that the pages in question are not inset, but
form the last quarter of a 16 pp. sheet.
(ii) It is rumoured in some quarters that the book, as originally
issued, was dated on the title-page. I have never seen a copy so
dated.
96
THE LITTLE SAVAGE. By Captain Marryat, R.N.
In Two Parts. Part I. First edition. London:
H. Hurst, 27 King William Street, Charing Cross.
1848. Part II. First edition. London: H. Hurst
and Co., King William Street, Charing Cross.
1849. 2 vols. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾).
Part I. pp. (iv) [enclosing inset title-page printed
in red and green] + 298 + (4). Advertisements and
reviews paged 1-4 of The Juvenile Library and The
Children of the New Forest occupy pp. (299) to (302).
Part II. pp. (iv.) [enclosing inset title-page
printed in red and green] + 280 + (4). Advertisements
and reviews of Part I. and of The Children of
the New Forest paged 1-4 occupy pp. (281) to (284).
Each volume contains four line engravings printed
separately. Grey-green cloth, blocked in gold.
Uniform with The Children of the New Forest.
Notes—(i) Part I. was published in December, 1848, and Part II.
in February, 1849.
(ii) The second edition of Part II. differs from the first in that
there are preliminary pages (viii), of which p. (v) bears a note by
the author's son referring to Captain Marryat's death. Frontispiece
and title-page are, as previously, inset on different paper, and
the latter printed in red and green.
(iii) Of Part II. only two chapters were written by Marryat.
VALERIE: An Autobiography. By Captain Marryat,
R.N. Author of Peter Simple, Frank Mildmay etc.
London: Henry Colburn, Publisher, Great Marlborough
Street. 1849. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 312. Publisher's advertisements,
2 pp., printed on text paper bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 287 + (1). Advertisement of
Frank Mildmay occupies p. (288).
97Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. Also grey-green
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1849. The story—to the
end of Vol. II., chap. iii.—appeared serially in the “New Monthly
Magazine” during 1846 and 1847. Owing to illness, Marryat was
unable to complete the book, which was finished by another hand.
98
THE FLORAL TELEGRAPH: A New Mode of
Communication by floral signals. With Plates.
London: Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street.
MDCCCXXXVI. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. xv +
(i) + 307 + (11). Publishers' advertisements occupy
pp. (309) to (318)—others face title-page. The book
contains six hand-coloured plates, printed separately.
Olive-green cloth, blocked in gold and blind.
Yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in December, 1836. It was
reissued, probably in 1850, with a cancel title-page reading: “The
Floral Telegraph or Affection's Signals” by the late Captain
Marryatt [sic] R.N., author of Peter Simple etc. London:
Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street. The pagination reads: xv +
(i) + 324. Pp. xv + (i) + 189 + (1) are identical in the two editions,
which are probably to this point composed of the same sheets.
The second half of the book has, however, been reset, altered, and
extended. The illustrations are the same as in the earlier edition,
but they are much more coarsely reproduced and mechanically
coloured. Olive-green cloth, similar to the first edition, but
differently blocked in gold. Yellow end-papers.
(ii) It is a moot point whether or not Marryat was the author of
this rather foolish little book. That he had, however, definite
connection with it is suggested by the fact that on its first
publication the “Metropolitan Magazine,” at that time closely
identified with Marryat, devoted to it a three-quarter-page highly
laudatory review, of which, after praising the introduction, the
99writer said: “Though no name is found on the title-page, it is
evident that the work is from a practised and popular writer.”
Further, if Marryat were not the author, it is difficult to understand
the publishers' motive in reissuing it immediately after his death
with his name on the title-page. If he deserves responsibility for
the book, the manœuvre is comprehensible enough, especially on
the part of a firm with whom he had severed relations in 1837,
and thus deprived them of the profitable exploitation of his established
reputation.
RATTLIN THE REEFER. Edited by the author of
Peter Simple. “All hands reef top-sails—Away,
Aloft!” London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington
Street, Successor to Henry Colburn. 1836.
3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. xii + (ii) + 301 + (3). Note by Marryat
stating his connection with the work occupies p. (iv).
Publisher's advertisements occupy pp. (303) (304).
Vol. II. pp. viii + 300. No half-title to this
volume.
Vol. III. pp. viii + 344. No half-title to this
volume.
Each volume contains three full-page etched illustrations
by A. Hervieu, of which one is a frontispiece
and the other two in the course of the text. A
list of illustrations for the three volumes occupies
p. (xiii) of Vol. I. The illustrations are dated 1836.
Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book, which was written by Edward Howard (see
p. 100), was published on July 23, 1836. A second edition
appeared on August 5 of the same year. A dramatic version by
J. T. Haines (who also dramatized Jacob Faithful) was issued in
February, 1893, as No. 2008 in French's Acting Editions of British
Plays.
Two-thirds of the story appeared serially in the “Metropolitan
Magazine” under the title, The Life of a Sub-Editor. Reviewing
the book in its three-volume form, Marryat himself explained fully
how and to what extent it had been transformed from a record
of autobiographical fact to a frank experiment in fiction.
100
The six items that follow are, like Rattlin the Reefer,
the work of Lieut. the Hon. Edward Granville George
Howard, who worked as sub-editor to Marryat on the
“Metropolitan Magazine.” At one time the actual
authorship of Howard's books was ascribed to Marryat
himself. This is now proved to be a mistake. Indeed,
apart from the note of recommendation to Rattlin the
Reefer and Marryat's review of that book in his magazine,
there is no printed evidence that he had any share
whatever in the composition of any one of them. On
the other hand, he and Howard were very intimate; the
stories of the latter are clearly influenced by the work of
his chief; and Marryat collectors have been in the habit
of regarding Howard's books as desirable adjuncts to a
Marryat collection. For which reasons, and because it
is no less probable than improbable that Marryat, in
conversation if not by actual pencraft, helped to give his
sub-editor's books their final shape, I have thought well
to include them in this bibliography.
THE OLD COMMODORE. By the author of Rattlin
the Reefer. “Nestroque!” London: Richard
Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1837. 3 vols.
Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅝).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 306.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 304.
Vol. III. pp. iv + 307 + (1).
Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published on September 16, 1837.
(ii) The above reckoning was made from a rebound copy from
which clearly flyleaves were missing.
101
OUTWARD BOUND: Or A Merchant's Adventures.
By the author of Rattlin the Reefer, The
Old Commodore etc. London: Henry Colburn,
Publisher, Great Marlborough Street. 1838. 3
vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 299 + (1). No half-title.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 308 + (2). Half-title to this
volume. Publisher's advertisements occupy pp.
(309) (310).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 326. Half-title to this volume.
Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in March, 1838. The story
appeared in part as a serial in the “Metropolitan Magazine” under
the title Ardent Troughton.
MEMOIRS OF ADMIRAL SIR SIDNEY SMITH,
K.C.B. ETC. By the author of Rattlin the Reefer
etc. London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington
Street, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1839. 2 vols. Demy 8vo (5½ × 9).
Vol. I pp. vii + (i) + 400.
Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 411 + (5). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (413) to (416). No half-titles.
Steel-engraved portrait frontispiece to each
volume, printed separately. Pale blue ribbed cloth,
gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
JACK ASHORE. By the Author of Rattlin the
Reefer, Outward Bound etc. etc. London: Henry
Colburn, Publisher, Great Marlborough Street.
1840. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
102Vol. I. pp. xvi + 310.
Vol. II. pp. viii + 300.
Vol. III. pp. vii + (i) + 323 + (1).
Steel-engraved portrait frontispiece to Vol. I.
printed separately. Paper boards, paper label.
White end-papers.
SIR HENRY MORGAN: The Buccaneer. By the
author of Rattlin the Reefer, Outward Bound, Jack
Ashore etc. London: Henry Colburn, Publisher,
Great Marlborough Street. 1842. 3 vols. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. vii + (i) + 295 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. vi + 307 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. vii + (i) + 315 + (1).
There is a portrait frontispiece to Vol. I., lithographed
and printed separately. Paper boards,
half cloth, paper label. White end-papers.
TALES FROM BENTLEY. Vol. I. London:
Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1 vol.
Pott 8vo (4 × 6¼). Pp. (iv) + 96. Buff paper
wrappers printed in black. Also in boards. The
Marine Coast, a story by the author of Rattlin the
Reefer, occupies pp. 55 to 88.
Note—This first series of Tales from Bentley was published in
September, 1859.
It is well known that Captain Marryat was a painter
as well as a writer. Collectors of his written work will
perhaps also be interested to know of a published book
containing in reproduction some of his drawings. In
1825 or 1826 there appeared the following work:
103ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BURMESE WAR.
Both Series. With twenty-four plates after drawings
by Captain Marryat, Thornton and Moore displaying
the Operations of the British Forces. London:
Published by Thomas Clay. (N.D.) The volume
measures 20½ × 13¼, is bound in thick grey paper
wrappers lettered in black as above, and contains
five engravings of pictures painted by Stothard and
D. Cox after drawings by Captain Marryat. The
name Kingsbury and Co., 6 Leadenhall Street,
appears at the foot of the engravings as their publisher,
together with the date 1825.
It is easier to blame historians and political critics of the
life and statesmanship of Disraeli for neglecting his
novels, than it is oneself to judge these novels as literature,
apart from the huge mass of incident, ambition, and
achievement that went to make up the character of their
extraordinary author. To attempt in a few pages an
estimate of Disraeli as a man of letters were manifestly
absurd, seeing that he was rarely that and nothing else.
It were doubly absurd, even if possible, to treat in summary
of the interactions of his political and literary
genius when one of the finest biographies of modern
times (and that in six volumes) has already covered every
inch of the ground. The only purpose, therefore, which
these unauthoritative notes may serve is that of indicating
in a few words the development of Disraeli as a
novelist and the respective content of his principal books.
Although his novels fall into distinct and different
groups, they are all primarily satirical in character.
From the moment of the anonymous but sensational
appearance of Vivian Grey to that of the publication of
Endymion which bore on each of its three volumes the
name of the most distinguished statesman of the world,
Disraeli held up alike to the follies and the ideals of his
age the mirror of a keen and ruthless mind.
But if he gazed on his contemporaries more often from
the angle of satire than from any other, he enclosed in
their various frames the period portraits that are his
books. As a very young man—unknown, ambitious, at
once receptive and intensely sensitive—he used as material
for fiction not only the incidents of his own life, but,
even more, the thoughts and aspirations that filled his
teeming brain. Vivian Grey (1826-7), Contarini Fleming
108(1833), and Alroy (1833) are mainly interesting as autobiography,
and to the use of personal experience as
material for novel-writing he returned in extreme old
age when, looking back from the splendid eminence of
his power, he described in the pages of Endymion the
long road that he had travelled from obscurity to fame.
Vivian Grey appeared in five volumes, with an interval
of a year between the issue of the first two and that
of the last three. But for the brilliant publicity given
to it by Colburn, the book would have attracted little or
no attention. It is a showy, careless pastiche of the
society of the day, a gallery of isolated portraits rather
than a single composition, attractive to the fashionable
public of the time for its thinly veiled presentment of
well-known men and women. The reader is further
unpleasantly aware that the author's interest in his book
did not extend much beyond the first of the five volumes.
Young men find it easier to start a book than to finish
one, and Disraeli was clearly no exception to the rule.
Contarini Fleming and Alroy, written after an extended
tour in the East, show, at its most luxuriant and
ornate, the author's talent for heady, rhetorical prose.
Like most of his race, Disraeli was more susceptible to
magnificence and to decoration than to severe simplicity,
and throughout his books was prone to an excessive use
of epithet and metaphor. If these two early books show
his love of ornament more shamelessly than those
written at a maturer age, they can claim nevertheless to
have received more careful and conscientious working,
so that their embellishments, if too lavish, are at least
scrupulously fashioned.
Between the publication of the last three volumes of
Vivian Grey and that of the story of Contarini Fleming
Disraeli published two works of fiction which, although
in the matter of primary characteristic isolated from the
rest of his work and from each other, contain elements
that constantly reappear in the books of his later life.
The Voyage of Captain Popanilla (1828) is a satire on
English political and social institutions cast in the form
109of an inverted Gulliver's Travels or Erewhon. Instead
of an Englishman reaching an imaginary and fantastic
land, where he finds conditions that correspond partly
to the prejudices, partly to the ideals, of the author, the
hero of Disraeli's satire is a being from a mythical world,
who comes over the sea to an island that is, in all but
name, England as Disraeli saw it. As an example of
pertinacious and aggressive parody The Voyage of
Captain Popanilla is witty and readable enough, but it
fatigues, as do all pastiches of the kind, by its somewhat
literal pursuit of contemporary activity. Disraeli should
have limited his prospect of satire, for the individual
beauties of any view are appreciated in proportion to the
smallness of their number. Popanilla is overcrowded,
and the reader's mind tires with the effort to solve the
riddle that is contained in nearly every paragraph.
The Young Duke (1831) was written to make money.
One may go farther and confess that the author, seeking
frankly to profit by the contemporary popularity of the
novel of fashionable life, wrote a tale of society into
which he crammed all that he knew of character and
incident likely to appeal to the mood of the moment.
With such antecedents it is surprising that The Young
Duke is not a worse book than it is. Inevitably it reads
artificially, and the young writer had not the skill entirely
to conceal the wilfulness with which the work was
put together. On the other hand, the heroine deserves
the attention of Disraeli students, for she is the direct
forerunner of Sybil, and that part of The Young Duke
which depends on her personality is not without a touch
of the four great political novels upon which Disraeli's
fame as a writer must rest.
It was four years after the publication of Alroy that
Disraeli next appeared as a novelist. He then published,
within six months of one another, two stories that stand
markedly apart from the rest of his work, in that they
are wholly without political significance. Even amid
the extravagance of Contarini Fleming and The Young
Duke occur passages that depend for their significance
110on political movements or political thought of the time.
Vivian Grey, being a roman à clef of high society, and
Popanilla being a direct satire of institutions, are
naturally full of what was, even in those days, the
author's ruling interest. But Henrietta Temple (1837)
and Venetia (1837) are romances pure and simple. They
may be said also to have no autobiographical significance,
save in so far as the first part of the earlier book
was written under the stimulus of a real love affair. It
must be admitted that Henrietta Temple, once it gets
beyond the boundary of Disraeli's own passionate experience,
is a tame and careless book. The interval
that passed between the writing of the earlier and that
of the later portion seems to have extinguished his
enthusiasm for the work. Colburn was clamouring for
a novel, and Disraeli, as always hard pressed for money,
raked out his incomplete manuscript, furbished it up,
finished it off, and delivered it to the publisher. Venetia
has not this fault of interrupted fashioning. It is, however,
in one reader's opinion at any rate, a very tedious
affair—rhetorical, unreal, and sluggish in movement;
but this view is contrary to that held by many, who consider
that the book's portraiture gives it value as commentary
on the life of Byron and other famous people.
There follows, this time after an interval of seven
years, the first of the four famous political novels that,
whether or no they can be said to have introduced a new
genre into English fiction, are undoubtedly the finest
achievements of Disraeli's literary career. Coningsby
(1844), Sybil (1845), and Tancred (1847) are too well
known to need description here. Because, however,
their interdependence as parts of a general scheme in
the mind of the author tends to become obscured by consideration
of their respective quality, note may be taken
of the fact that Coningsby is a novel of political views,
Sybil one of social conditions and classes among the
people, and Tancred one of religion as an influence in
national life. Of the characters in Coningsby many
reappear in Tancred, while Tadpole and Taper, whose
111names have become part of English political slang, pull
their wires and cadge their jobs as assiduously in Sybil
as in the story that preceded it. It would be interesting to
work out a comparison between Disraeli and Trollope
as political novelists. Probably one would come to the
decision that those of Disraeli are the better political
novels and those of Trollope the better novels of politics.
In other words, Disraeli is the cleverer publicist, but
Trollope the finer artist. Coningsby and its fellows
depend very much on contemporary fact and personality
for their full understanding and significance. Surely it
is not hyperæsthetic to demand that literature be its own
interpreter? In so far as a work of art requires outside
knowledge for its proper appreciation, to that extent it
falls short from what in art is highest and most perfect.
The appearance of Lothair in 1870 caused something
of a scandal in serious political circles. The Briton is
accustomed to take his statesmen seriously, but his
novelists with frivolity and in the leisure hour. Wherefore
he regarded it as unseemly that the name of an
ex-Prime Minister and of a man whose political career
was by no means run should figure on the title-pages of
a three-volume novel. Curiosity conquered disapproval
and, as on an hundred other occasions, a book condemned
for its very existence was purchased and read in
tens of thousands. Lothair is the work of a man who
knew everybody and almost everything. The personal
satire, the constructive and destructive fervour of
Coningsby, Sybil, and Tancred have given place to a
greater gravity and restraint, to an ironic vision more
general and less individual. Taking as his subject the
power of the Catholic Church, the rival power of revolutionary
free thought and the indeterminate central position
of the Church of England, Disraeli built up his
fourth and most extensive picture of the England of his
time. If we miss the idealist conviction that gives to
some of the passages in Tancred the force of a splendid
sermon, we gain a certainty and a dignity of thought
which were inevitably lacking in the books of the earlier
112period. We also continue to enjoy the epigram, the
vivid minor portraiture, the lightning grasp of fact and
of every implication of fact, that give to the political
novels of Disraeli their unique flavour and importance.
THE LIFE OF BENJAMIN DISRAELI, EARL OF
BEACONSFIELD. By William Flavelle Monypenny
and George Earle Buckle. 6 vols. London:
John Murray. 1912-1920.
113
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE PLANS, PROGRESS
AND POLICY OF AMERICAN MINING COMPANIES.
London: John Murray. MDCCCXXV.
1 vol. Demy 8vo (5¼ × 8½). Pp. 135 + (1) of which
p. (6) is paged vi. Paper boards, paper label.
White end-papers.
Note—These observations were made from a third enlarged
edition published in the first year of issue, and it is likely that the
first edition, although similar in format, etc., contains fewer pages.
LAWYERS AND LEGISLATORS: Or Notes on
the American Mining Companies. (Quotation
from Hooker.) London: John Murray. MDCCCXXV.
1 vol. Demy 8vo (5¼ × 8½). Pp. (viii) + 99 + (1).
No half-title. Paper boards, paper label. White
end-papers.
THE PRESENT STATE OF MEXICO: As detailed
in a Report presented to the General Congress by
the Secretary of State for the Home Department and
Foreign Affairs at the Opening of the Session in
1825. With Notes and a Memoir of Don Lucas
Alaman. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street.
MDCCCXXV. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5¼ × 8½). Pp. 130.
Advertisement of Disraeli's two earlier pamphlets
occupies verso of half-title, facing title-page. Pp. (6)
to 55 are occupied by a Memoir of Don Lucas
114Alaman, written by Disraeli. Alaman's report
begins on p. 57. Paper boards, paper label. White
end-papers.
VIVIAN GREY. “Why then the world's mine oyster
which I with sword will open.” London: Henry
Colburn, New Burlington Street. 1826 (Vols. I.
and II.), 1827 (Vols. III. IV. and V.). 5 vols.
Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅝).
Vol. I. pp. (vi) + 266 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 236 + (4). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (237) to (240).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 333 + (3). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (335) and (336).
Vol. IV. pp. (iv) + 362.
Vol. V. pp. (iv) + 324.
Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—Vols. I. and II. of this story were published on April 22,
1826; Vols. III. IV. and V. on February 23, 1827.
THE VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN POPANILLA. By
the author of Vivian Grey. “Travellers ne'er did
lie though fools at home condemned 'em.” London:
Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street.
1828. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾). Pp. viii +
243 + (1). Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published on June 3, 1828.
THE YOUNG DUKE: “A moral Tale, though gay.”
By the author of Vivian Grey. London: Henry
Colburn and Richard Bentley, New Burlington
Street. 1831. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (7⅞ × 4¾).
115Vol. I. pp. iv + 300. No half-title.
Vol. II. pp. (vi) + 269 + (3). Text ends p. 269;
note occupies p. (271).
Vol. III. pp. (vi) + 265 + (3). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (267) (268).
Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White
end-papers.
Note—The only copy of this book I have been able to consult in
its original state contained at the end of Vol. I. a publishers' catalogue,
8 pp., dated April, 1832. Clearly it did not belong to the
first issue, but what date should be found on a catalogue of the
earliest issue, where in the three volumes such a catalogue should
appear, or whether there should be a catalogue at all, I do not
know.
ENGLAND AND FRANCE: Or A Cure for the
Ministerial Gallomania. (Quotation from speech
by Duke of Wellington.) London: John Murray,
Albemarle Street. 1832. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 7¾). Pp. viii + (xii) + 268. Paper boards, paper
label. White end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in April, 1832.
(ii) The above observations were made from a rebound cut copy,
and details of measurement are therefore conjectural.
CONTARINI FLEMING: A Psychological Autobiography.
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street.
MDCCCXXXII. 4 vols. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 288.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 247 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 194 + (2). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (195) (196).
Vol. IV. pp. (iv) + 230 + (2).
Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White
end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in May, 1832.
116(ii) The sheets of the Murray edition were issued in 1834 by
Edward Moxon, Dover Street, over the name: “D'Israeli The
Younger, author of Vivian Grey, Alroy and Ixion in Heaven,”
with a new preliminary signature (8 pp.) to Vol. I. containing a
preface in explanation of the author's action in putting his name
to the book. Consequently from the purist point of view the
Moxon edition of 1834 should be collected as containing fresh
matter. It was bound in pale maroon cloth, with paper label.
Yellow end-papers.
THE WONDROUS TALE OF ALROY: The Rise
of Iskander. By the author of Vivian Grey, Contarini
Fleming etc. London: Saunders and Otley,
Conduit Street. 1833. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. xxv + (iii) + 303 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 305 + (3). Publishers' advertisements,
dated February, 1833, occupy pp. (307) and
(308).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 324 + (4). Advertisements of
works by the same author occupy pp. (325) and (326).
Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published on March 5, 1833.
WHAT IS HE? By the author of Vivian Grey. (Extract
from a Letter.) London: James Ridgway,
Piccadilly and E. Lloyd, Harley Street, MDCCCXXXIII.
1 vol. Demy 8vo (5⅜ × 8½). Pp. 16. Half-title
serves as wrapper and bears the words “Price Sixpence.”
P. 16 serves as back wrapper. Advertisements
occupy p. (2).
Note—The above notation was made from a copy of the “New
Edition, Revised” of the pamphlet. Since, however, this first
appeared in the same year and over the same imprint, I have
ventured to assume comparative uniformity of size and appearance.
117
THE REVOLUTIONARY EPICK: The Work of
Disraeli the Younger. Author of The Psychological
Romance. London: Edward Moxon, Dover
Street, MDCCCXXXIV. [The title-page to Vol. II.
reads in addition: “Books II. and III. containing
The Plea of Lyridon, the Genius of Feudalism;
and the First Part of the Conquest of Italy.”]
2 vols. Large Post 4to (8¼ × 10½).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 89 + (3).
Vol. II. pp. xi + (i) + (91) to 206.
Advertisement of Contarini Fleming (differently
worded in each case) faces title in both volumes.
Paper boards. Paper label on sides. White end-papers.
Note—Only fifty copies of this edition were printed. See preface
to the second and revised edition published in 1864, details of
which are given below.
THE CRISIS EXAMINED. By Disraeli the
Younger. London: Saunders and Otley, Conduit
Street. 1834. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8½).
Pp. (iv) + 31 + (1).
Notes—(i) This pamphlet was issued in December, 1834.
(ii) The above observations were made from a rebound copy,
wherefore the style of binding is an assumption, and I suspect
that two or more flyleaves—maybe printed with advertisements—should
be added to the reckoning here set down.
VINDICATION OF THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION
IN A LETTER TO A NOBLE AND
LEARNED LORD. By Disraeli the Younger.
London: Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street.
1835. 1 vol. Tall Demy 8vo (5½ × 9). Pp. ix +
(i) + 210 + (2). Publishers' advertisements occupy
118pp. (211) and (212). A four-page leaflet of publishers'
advertisements should be found inserted
between the front end-papers, and an erratum slip
at p. (v). Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in January, 1835.
THE LETTERS OF RUNNYMEDE. “Neither for
shame nor fear this mask he wore That, like a vizor
in the battle-field But shrouds a manly and a daring
brow.” London: John Macrone, St. James's Square.
MDCCCXXXVI. 1 vol. Slim Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 8¼).
Pp. (xxiv) [paged as ii + (v) + vi-xx + (ii)] + 234
+ (6). Publishers' advertisements, 2 pp., dated
August 1, 1836, occupy pp. i and ii. The half-title
is inset on different paper between p. ii.
and title-page. Paper boards, paper label. White
end-papers. Also in dark blue embossed cloth, gilt,
yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July or August, 1836.
HENRIETTA TEMPLE: A Love Story. By the
author of Vivian Grey. “Quoth Sancho, Read it
out by all means; for I mightily delight in hearing
of love stories.” London: Henry Colburn, 13 Great
Marlborough Street, MDCCCXXXVII. 3 vols. Ex.
Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅝).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 299 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 309 + (3). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (311) and (312).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 331 + (1).
Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. White
end-papers.
Note—Although dated 1837, this book was actually published in
December, 1836.
119
VENETIA. By the author of Vivian Grey and Henrietta
Temple. “Is thy face like thy mother's my
fair child?” “The child of love, though born in
bitterness and nurtured in convulsion.” London:
Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13 Great Marlborough
Street. MDCCCXXXVII. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅝).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 346.
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 377 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 324. Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (i) and (ii).
No half-titles. Paper boards, half cloth, paper
label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1837.
THE TRAGEDY OF COUNT ALARCOS. By the
author of Vivian Grey. London: Henry Colburn,
Great Marlborough Street. 1839. 1 vol. Demy
8vo (5½ × 8½). Pp. vi + (ii) + 108. Errata slip facing
p. 1. Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1839.
CONINGSBY: Or The New Generation. By B.
Disraeli Esq., M.P., author of Contarini Fleming.
London: Henry Colburn, Publisher, Great Marlborough
Street. 1844. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. iv + 319 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 314.
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 354. Advertisements occupy
pp. (351) to (354).
No half-titles. Paper boards, half cloth, paper
label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1844.
120
SYBIL: Or, The Two Nations. By B. Disraeli,
M.P., author of Coningsby. (Quotation from
Latimer.) London: Henry Colburn. Publisher.
Great Marlborough Street. 1845. 3 vols. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. p. viii + 315 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 324.
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 326 + (2). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (327) and (328).
Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. White
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1845.
TANCRED: Or The New Crusade. By B. Disraeli,
M.P., author of Coningsby, Sybil etc. London:
Henry Colburn, Publisher, Great Marlborough
Street, 1847. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. (ii) + 338.
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 340.
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 298 + (12). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (299) to (310).
No half-titles. Paper boards, half cloth, paper
label. White end-papers.
Note—This book was published in March, 1847.
LORD GEORGE BENTINCK: A Political Biography.
By B. Disraeli, Member of Parliament
for the County of Buckingham. “He left us the
legacy of heroes; the memory of his great name
and the inspiration of his great example.” London:
Colburn and Co., Publishers, Great Marlborough
Street. 1852. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5¾ × 8¾).
121Pp. viii + 588. Publishers' catalogue, 8 pp., and
measuring 5 × 8, bound in after p. 588. This catalogue
is followed by a further single sheet (2 pp.)
advertisement, measuring 5 × 8½. Dark olive-brown
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Note—Although dated 1852, this book was actually published in
December, 1851.
*IXION IN HEAVEN. THE INFERNAL MARRIAGE.
THE VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN
POPANILLA. THE TRAGEDY OF COUNT
ALARCOS. By Benjamin Disraeli. London:
David Bryce, 48 Paternoster Row. 1853. 1 vol.
Cloth.
This little book—a volume in a cheap reissue of
the novels and romances of Disraeli—is the first
book edition of Ixion in Heaven and The Infernal
Marriage, which first appeared in the “New
Monthly” in 1829 and 1830, and had not been reprinted
in the interval.
THE REVOLUTIONARY EPICK. By the Right
Honorable Benjamin Disraeli. London: Longman,
Green, Longman, Roberts and Green. 1864.
1 vol. Small Cr. 8vo (4½ × 7⅛). Pp. (xiv) [paged as
(ii) + x + (ii)] + 176 + (2). Preface (in dedication), dated
Easter, 1864, occupies pp. (vii) and (viii). Preface
reprinted from the original edition occupies pp. (ix)
to (xii). Brown cloth, gilt. Chocolate end-papers.
Note—The text of this edition differs extensively both in wording
and length from that of 1834. In his preface the author states
that the work was completed in 1837, but, through press of
political duties, he made no arrangement for its issue before the
present date. He also avers that only fifty copies of the edition
of 1834 were printed.
122
LOTHAIR. By the Right Honorable B. Disraeli.
(Quotation from Terentius.) London: Longmans,
Green and Co., 1870. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 328. Publishers' advertisements,
32 pp., dated January, 1870, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 321 + (3).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 333 + (7). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (337) to (340).
Green cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Chocolate
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1870.
ENDYMION. By the author of Lothair. “Quicquid
agunt Homines.” London: Longmans, Green and
Co. 1880. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅝).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 331 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 337 + (3).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 346 + (2). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (347) and (348).
Scarlet cloth lettered in silver. Grey and white
decorated end-papers.
Note—There are two styles of blocking for the binding of this
book; that most worked and bearing publishers' imprint at foot
of spine is the earlier.
123
THE LIFE OF PAUL JONES. From original documents
in the possession of John Henry Sherburne
Esq., Register of the Navy of the United States.
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. MDCCCXXV.
1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾). Pp. xii + 320. Paper
boards, paper label. White end-papers.
Notes—(i) With reference to this book Monypenny says: “The
exact relationship of the English book to the American original is
not clear; but the former seems also to have been written by an
American, and the original MS., which has been preserved, shows
that Disraeli's share in it was limited to the introduction here
and there of a word or phrase where the excision of a passage rendered
such amendment necessary.” In addition to the corrections
thus described Disraeli contributed an anonymous preface to the
book.
(ii) It is interesting to record here that in 1844 Captain Marryat
was asked to write a life of Paul Jones. He was interested in the
project, but it never materialized.
THE STAR CHAMBER. A Weekly Magazine published
by William Marsh, 145 Oxford Street. 9/8
numbers Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¾) were published:
No. 1, April 19, pp. 1 to 20; Nos. 2 and 3 (double
number), April 26, pp. 21 to 58; No. 4, May 3,
pp. 59 to 74; No. 5, May 10, pp. 75 to 90; No. 6,
May 17, pp. 91 to 110; No. 7, May 24, pp. 111 to
126; No. 8, May 31, pp. 127 to 142; No. 9, June 7,
pp. 143 to 154.
124After the completion of the 9/8 numbers, a four-page
sheet of preliminary matter was issued, of which p. (i)
reads:
THE STAR CHAMBER. Vol. I. Part 1. April 19
to June 7, 1826. (Quotation from Cavendish,
“Wolsey.”) London: William Marsh, 145 Oxford
Street. Pp. (iii) and (iv) are occupied by contents
list.
Notes—(i) At one time the responsibility for the whole contents
as well as for the editorship of the “Star Chamber” was fathered
upon Disraeli. Monypenny, however, combats this theory. He
says: “The 'Star Chamber' was founded by a certain Peter Hall,
a friend of Meredith's at Brasenose, who, through Meredith, had
become acquainted with Disraeli. Disraeli contributed some
fables with a political application under the title of The Modern
Aesop, and perhaps other matter. But in later life he expressly
denied ('The Times,' November 3, 1871; the 'Leisure Hour,'
November 4, 1871) having been editor, if indeed there ever was an
editor.” This represents, of course, the most recent and authoritative
opinion on the matter; but it is interesting, on p. 150 of the
catalogue of the Hope collection of newspapers, etc., in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford (1865), to find reasons given for the
suppression by Disraeli of all copies of the “Star Chamber” upon
which he could lay his hands. The Peter Hall referred to above
was the Reverend Peter Hall, B.A., editor of “The Crypt.”
(ii) It is because the “Star Chamber” has come to be looked
upon as a Disraeli item that I have included it here, despite the
fact that in so doing I exceed the limit of these bibliographies,
which take no account of magazine contributions of the authors
concerned.
THE WORKS OF ISAAC DISRAELI. Edited with
Introductions by Benjamin Disraeli.
Disraeli started work on a new edition of his father's
books in 1847, but the actual publication was, for various
reasons, spread over a period of ten years. The following
are the dates and details in outline of the first issues
of the various titles:
1849. CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. London:
Edward Moxon. 3 vols. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¾).
Dark green cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers. Vol. I.
125contains “A View of the Life and Writings” of
Isaac Disraeli written by his son and extending to
over thirty pages.
1851. COMMENTARIES ON THE LIFE AND
REIGN OF CHARLES THE FIRST, KING OF
ENGLAND. London: Henry Colburn. 2 vols.
Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¾). Dark green cloth, gilt. Yellow
end-papers. Vol. I. contains a brief preface by
Benjamin Disraeli.
1859. THE LITERARY CHARACTER Or The
History of Men of Genius; and LITERARY
MISCELLANIES and AN ENQUIRY INTO
THE CHARACTER OF JAMES THE FIRST.
1 vol. Cr. 8vo.
1859. THE CALAMITIES AND QUARRELS OF
AUTHORS. 1 Vol. Cr. 8vo.
1859. AMENITIES OF LITERATURE. 2 vols.
Cr. 8vo.
These last three items were all published in London
by Routledge, Warnes and Routledge, and bound in
dark green cloth, with yellow end-papers. They contain
no prefaces by Benjamin Disraeli, who contented himself
with care for the text of his father's work.
To a collected edition of his novels issued in 1870
Disraeli wrote an important preface, characterising the
work of his youth from the viewpoint of a man in his
sixties and indicating the considerable revisions carried
out in nearly all the books.
No attempt has been made to include in the foregoing
bibliography the reports of and selections from the
speeches of Disraeli, which—not surprisingly—were
issued in large numbers during his later life. Also are
omitted two volumes of his early letters, published after
his death.
Few novelists have enjoyed greater glory than did
Wilkie Collins at the height of his fame; to few did loss
of popularity in later years come more bitterly. For
fame at one time undeniably was his. Not only had he
a large and enthusiastic public; not only were his works
translated into half a dozen languages within a month
of their original publication; not only was he pestered
by the editors of two hemispheres for stories and serials;
but also he figured prominently in the professional
literary life of the time, was the intimate friend of
Dickens, and a member of the innermost ring of artistic
and intellectual society. Probably to his intimacy with
the chief literary personalities of his time is due the considerable
survival of his reputation. Despite the fact
that during the last period of his life he suffered severe
eclipse, and although, beyond The Moonstone and The
Woman in White, none of his books are regularly read
to-day, he is a name more familiar to the world than
Trollope, a name more notably literary than Marryat.
In the sixties, no less than in the nineteen-twenties, to
belong to the writing set was two-thirds of reputation.
There is no log-rolling so expert, no admiration so
mutual as that existing among members of the various
groups that practise the arts. Whence it has come about
that the name of Wilkie Collins—who as an artist may
not be mentioned in the same chapter as Trollope
or Marryat, or even Mrs. Gaskell—is a household word,
while those of his greater fellows sound strangely, as the
notes of some old-fashioned melody.
I do not seek to imply that Collins' survival is in no
way due to the quality of his work. He won the admiration
of his own age and may claim that of posterity as
a superb teller of stories and, in his latter days, as a
130pathetic and courageous figure. But apart from his
dexterity in the contriving of plot, apart from a great (if
intermittent) talent for the portrayal of abnormal character,
he is inferior as a painter of life to many writers
of his time whose very existence is nowadays forgotten.
And yet he would, perhaps, himself be content to have
it so. That it was the novelist's primary duty to tell a
story was his own creed, and faithfully he abode by it.
He does not reveal to us human nature as does Trollope;
nor, like Disraeli, pique our interest with satiric brilliance
on topics of follies of the day; he has none of
Marryat's gay familiarity with the winds that blow and
the sun that shines on the crossroads of life's pilgrimage;
he has no fund of rough but genial humanity like Reade;
he is not tender like Mrs. Gaskell, nor mystic visionary
like Herman Melville; even Whyte Melville, with his
stilted rhetoric and clumsy naïveté, has at times an attractive
freshness that Collins lacks. But if we rid our
minds of all thought of him as seeking to throw on the
dark places of existence the light of interpretation, looking
to him rather for entertainment and for excitement,
for deft mystery and for extraordinary coincidence, he
will not disappoint us.
Of his novels the largest category, and that including
all the books (save perhaps two) that bear re-reading
nowadays, is that of the dramatic and mystery stories.
The first to appear was After Dark, published in 1856.
To the modern reader, the unmistakable first appearance
of the real Collins in these excellent tales comes with a
pleasurable shock after the mild bohemianism of the
preceding novel, Hide and Seek. After Dark consists
of six narratives of varying length and subject, ingeniously
woven together into the pattern of a single story.
At their best they are as good as anything the author
ever wrote; even at their worst they are free from the
perfunctory carelessness that mars so much of his later
work.
The Dead Secret (1857) and The Queen of Hearts
(1859) show the novelist carrying farther his talent for
131dramatic construction and his experiments in technique.
Both books contain descriptive passages of sombre
power.
There follow successively the four best books of Collins'
career. The Woman in White (1860), No Name
(1862), Armadale (1866), and The Moonstone (1868) are
story-telling as fine as the nineteenth century can show.
But they make evident that, even at his zenith, Collins
was no reader of other men's hearts. He could fashion
ingenious puppets to his will, entangling them in the
meshes of his intricate and faultlessly constructed plots;
but neither Count Fosco nor Captain Wragge, neither
Miss Gwilt nor Sergeant Cuff, remains with the reader
as a new friend or as a new enemy. Each is remembered,
rather, as a striking and skilfully designed
marionette, jerking through a Collins drama at the
bidding of a delicate mechanism of strings.
After The Moonstone the decadence began, and, to a
point, accountably enough. In the first place, the
author threw himself into the production of propaganda
fiction, with results (as may be seen) praiseworthy but a
little ridiculous. Secondly, he paid the usual price of
success and began to over-write. Whereas between
1850 and 1868 he published eleven novels and books of
tales, between 1870 and his death in 1889 he published
eighteen, in addition to a mass of short stories for magazines,
plays, and other incidental work. Thirdly—although
not until late in the seventies—his health began
to fail. With reasons as good as these for a falling off
in Collins' work, it were ungracious to inquire whether,
had he eschewed reform, controlled his pen, and retained
his strength and eyesight, his fiction would have
advanced from strength to strength. Perhaps; perhaps
not. Let us return from hypothetical dilemma to
melancholy fact. After The Moonstone the decadence
unmistakably began.
When next he came before the public with a novel of
plot, and left for a moment the righting of public wrongs,
his offering was mechanical enough. The Two Destinies
132(1876) is built on a series of coincidences so incredible,
that even Collins' candid claim to search the very
border-line of impossibility for material of which to make
a story cannot reconcile us to their unlikelihood.
The Haunted Hotel (1879), Jezebel's Daughter (1880),
and I Say No (1884) mark a slight improvement, and
can be read with pleasure for the unfailing ingenuity of
their design. The Evil Genius (1886) is in the nature
of a bad relapse, from which the dramatic tales never
wholly recover, although, of the three remaining, Little
Novels (1887) and The Legacy of Cain (1889) are not
without flashes of the old skill and invention. Blind
Love, finished by Sir Walter Besant and published posthumously,
may perhaps claim immunity from criticism.
As a novelist of indignation Collins is pathetic rather
than blameworthy. He had the usual fanaticisms of the
invalid intellectual—hatred of athleticism, of sport, of
legal injustice, of religious intrigue, of social insincerity;
and his propaganda novels give expression to his passionate
dislikes with a petulant but rather impressive
sincerity. Fortunately for the modern reader of books
which by their very nature are now out of date, Collins
did not fail, even in his tilting at windmills, to regulate
his movements with practised skill. Wherefore all but
one of the propaganda novels have well-contrived plots
and continuity of interest, which those will enjoy who
can disentangle the fictional from the instructional in
the stories' purpose. These “indignation novels” are
six in number:
Man and Wife (1870),
The New Magdalen (1873),
The Law and the Lady (1875),
The Fallen Leaves (1879),
The Black Robe (1871), and
Heart and Science (1883).
That in other books are present elements of reforming
zeal I am aware—for example, the abuse of private
asylums figures in The Woman in White and, as mentioned
133below, there is a propaganda aspect to Basil; but
the six above named have their origin wholly in the
author's loathing of some injustice or some social evil.
Man and Wife illustrates the cruel working of the
marriage laws of the United Kingdom and, incidentally,
voices the author's conviction that athleticism was at the
time rapidly brutalizing the youth of England. The
Law and the Lady ventilates another grievance against
legal injustice in matters sexual. The New Magdalen
and The Fallen Leaves are protests against the outlawry
of the prostitute and of the girl who gives herself, unhallowed
by the religious rite, to love. It is strange
that, of two books on the same subject, one (The New
Magdalen) should be the best novel of its class and not
far below the highest level ever attained by the author,
while the other (The Fallen Leaves) should hold the last
place among everything that Collins wrote. The New
Magdalen is a moving and dignified treatment of a very
difficult theme; The Fallen Leaves, from its aggressive
preface to its sugary, unreal end, is tragic proof that
high motive and technical efficiency may yet come
together and produce only imbecile hysteria.
The Black Robe is anti-Jesuit; Heart and Science
anti-vivisection. Both are readable, and the latter something
more. It may be noted that Collins himself called
Heart and Science his best novel since Man and Wife.
Probably opinion to-day would set it above that humourless
and over-appendixed story, but it must rank below
The New Magdalen and, possibly, also below The
Haunted Hotel.
The novels that remain may hardly be classified.
Antonina, the story of Ancient Rome, with which in 1850,
and following a fashion of the day, he began his
novelist's career, is essentially a first book—painstaking,
over-elaborate, and dull.
It was succeeded by Mr. Wray's Cash Box (1852), a
brief and sentimental tale, mainly interesting for the
evidence it provides of Dickens's influence over the
young Collins at the very beginning of their long friendship.
134Those who enjoy hearty Christmas jollity, lovable
if ludicrous old age, uncouth fidelity, incompetent villainy,
and sweet simple maidenhood will find Mr. Wray's
Cash Box pleasant enough.
Basil (1852) and Hide and Seek (1854) are novels of
contemporary life, a little sombre, emotionally a little
exaggerated. There is a hint of crusading fervour in
Basil (against drunken nurses and hospital routine), but
the motif is not strong enough to class the book as a
propaganda novel. The young author (as many both
before and since have done) found stimulus for these
books in the pathetic figure of the debauched girl; but
she receives at his hands treatment little different from
that usually given her by serious neophytes, eager to
paint her tragic isolation for the improvement of the
novel-reading public.
There is in Hide and Seek an element of interest apart
from that of the story itself. Much of the action takes
place in a painter's studio, and Collins has full scope
for showing his fondness for art, an enthusiasm suitable
enough in the son and biographer of a distinguished
painter, but somewhat uncommon among novelists of
his age. Throughout his work he makes play with
knowledge of contemporary painting, displaying decided
and on the whole admirable taste, often well in advance
of his time.
Poor Miss Finch (1872) is more a story of contemporary
social life than either a novel of mystery or one of propaganda.
It may therefore appear here as pendant to the
two early books just described. The central figure is a
blind girl. In Hide and Seek the author took credit to
himself for introducing a deaf mute, but as the affliction
plays no part in the story one must refrain from joining
in the applause. The blindness of Miss Finch, on the
other hand, is the pivot of her tale, and a very elaborate,
improbable, and overcrowded tale it is. The fact is
regrettable. Neatly contrived, related in a series of
narratives from different sources and from different points
of view, based largely on the antagonism of two brothers,
135and pervaded by the wise spirit of an elderly governess-companion,
this novel is so nearly an epitome of the
methods and tricks of Wilkie Collins, that one could
wish it more thoroughly a success.
And here, save for scattered volumes of short stories
and one or two brief and unimportant novels, ends the
tale of Collins's books. He is a writer for tired minds,
capable—thanks to his perfect control of the mechanism
of incident—of holding the interest without calling on the
emotional reserves of his reader. His influence on the
novel of sensation has been enormous. It is the least
of his due that a generation brought up on the mystery
stories of his disciples should find time to turn over the
principal works of the master himself.
The only biography of Wilkie Collins which has yet
been published is an insignificant German book issued
in 1885.
136
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF WILLIAM
COLLINS, R.A.: With Selections from his
Journals and Correspondence. By his son, W.
Wilkie Collins. London: Longman, Brown,
Green and Longmans. MDCCCXLVIII. 2 vols. Ex.
Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. xii + 348. Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated April 29, 1848, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. vi + 354.
No half-titles. Brown-purple (or grey-blue)
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Vol. I. contains engraved portrait after Linnell and
engraved title-page after Collins, immediately preceding
printed title. Vol. II. contains engraved
title-page after Collins, immediately preceding
printed title.
Note—This book was published in November, 1848.
ANTONINA: Or The Fall of Rome. A Romance of
the Fifth Century. By W. Wilkie Collins,
author of The Life of William Collins, R.A.
(Quotation from Scuderi.) London: Richard
Bentley, New Burlington Street. MDCCCL. 3 vols.
Tall Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 8).
Vol. I. pp. xiv + (ii) + 295 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (viii) + 338 + (2). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (323) and (324).
137Vol. III. pp. (viii) + 338 + (2). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (339) and (340).
Cream embossed cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers,
printed with publisher's advertisements.
Notes—(i) This book was published on February 27, 1850.
(ii) Copies in paper boards, half cloth and with paper label, were
probably also issued.
RAMBLES BEYOND RAILWAYS: Or Notes in
Cornwall Taken A-Foot. By W. Wilkie
Collins, author of The Life of William Collins,
R.A., Antonina etc. With Illustrations by Henry
C. Brandling. (Quotation from A Winter's Tale.)
London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street,
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. 1851.
1 vol. Sq. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¼) pp. (viii) + 304. No
half-title. Twelve full-page illustrations in tinted
lithograph, printed separately. Cream-brown cloth,
gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers, printed
with publisher's advertisements.
Notes—(i) This book was published on January 30, 1851.
(ii) The second edition (January 9, 1852) contained a frontispiece
differently tinted.
MR. WRAY'S CASH BOX: Or The Mask and the
Mystery: A Christmas Sketch. By W. Wilkie
Collins, author of Antonina etc. London: Richard
Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1852. 1 vol.
Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. viii + 171 + (5). Publisher's
advertisements occupy pp. (173) to (176).
Grey-blue cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers. Etched
frontispiece by J. E. Millais, dated 1852, and printed
separately.
Note—This book was published in January, 1852.
138
BASIL: A Story of Modern Life. By W. Wilkie
Collins, author of Antonina, Rambles Beyond
Railways etc. London: Richard Bentley, New
Burlington Street. 1852. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. 300 pp. (6) to (21) are paged in roman
numerals. Half-title to this volume.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 303 + (1). No half-title.
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 301 + (1). No half-title.
Paper boards, half cloth, paper label, white end-papers.
Also in bright blue embossed cloth, blocked
in gold and blind. Brick-red end-papers.
Note—This book was published on November 16, 1852. An one-volume
edition (1862, magenta cloth, blocked in gold and blind)
contains a dedicatory letter not elsewhere published.
HIDE AND SEEK. By W. Wilkie Collins, author
of Antonina, Basil etc. London: Richard Bentley,
New Burlington Street. 1854. 3 vols. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 297 + (3). Publisher's advertisements,
dated June, 1854, occupy pp. (299) and (300).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 322 + (2). Publisher's advertisements,
dated June, 1854, occupy pp. (323) and
(324).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 332.
Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White
end-papers. Also in pale maroon cloth, gilt, blocked
in blind, pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published on June 6, 1854.
139
AFTER DARK. By Wilkie Collins, author of
Basil, Hide and Seek etc. London: Smith, Elder
and Co., 65 Cornhill. 1856. 2 vols. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 315 + (1). Publishers' catalogue,
16 pp., dated January, 1856, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 322 + (2). Publishers' advertisement
occupies p. (323).
Boards, half cloth, paper label. White end-papers.
Also in dark grey-green cloth, gilt, blocked
in blind, yellow end-papers.
Contents: Vol. I., A Terribly Strange Bed—A Stolen Letter—Sister
Rose. Vol. II., The Lady of Glenwith Grange—Gabriel's
Marriage—The Yellow Mask.
Note—This book was published in February, 1856.
THE DEAD SECRET. By Wilkie Collins.
London: Bradbury and Evans, 11 Bouverie Street.
1857. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 303 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 331 + (1). No half-title.
Grey-purple cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Pale
yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in June, 1857.
(ii) Copies in brown cloth, with yellow end-papers, printed with
Chapman and Hall advertisements, are of later issue.
A PLOT IN PRIVATE LIFE AND OTHER TALES.
By Wilkie Collins, author of After Dark, Hide
and Seek etc. Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz. 1859.
1401 vol. (4½ × 6¼). Pp. (viii) + 294 + (2). Paper
wrappers of usual Tauchnitz style.
Contents: A Plot in Private Life—Mad Monkton—The Black
Cottage—The Family Secret—The Biter Bit.
THE QUEEN OF HEARTS. By Wilkie Collins,
author of The Dead Secret, After Dark, etc. etc.
London: Hurst and Blackett, Publishers, Successors
to Henry Colburn, 13 Great Marlborough
Street. 1859. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. iii + (i) + 314. Publishers' catalogue,
16 pp., undated, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 359 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 307 + (1).
No half-titles. Dark grey-green cloth, gilt, blocked
in blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1859.
THE WOMAN IN WHITE. By Wilkie Collins.
Author of The Dead Secret, After Dark etc. etc.
London: Sampson Low, Son and Co., 47 Ludgate
Hill. 1860. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 316.
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 360.
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 368.
No half-titles. Preface to Vol. I., dated August 3,
1860. Violet embossed cloth, blocked in gold and
blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in September, 1860. The
first one-volume edition (1861, magenta cloth blocked in gold and
blind) contains a special preface.
(ii) I am uncertain whether or not the earliest copies of this
novel contained in any one of the three volumes a publishers'
catalogue. The first editions I have seen show a 16 pp. catalogue
at the end of Vol. III., but dated November, 1860, so that they
141belong clearly to a subsequent issue. The Woman in White is a
case over which the buyer should take great care. A so-called
“New Edition” was issued in the year of publication and with
binding identical to that of the first edition, for which reason only
the right advertisement matter can show that a copy is untampered
with. I should welcome information tending to establish whether
a catalogue (and if so where and of what date) should properly
figure in a “right” copy of the novel.
NO NAME. By Wilkie Collins, author of The
Woman in White, The Dead Secret, etc. etc. etc.
London: Sampson Low, Son and Co., 47 Ludgate
Hill. 1862. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. ix + (1) + 339 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 363 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 408.
Scarlet embossed cloth, blocked in gold and blind.
Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—Although this book is dated 1862, it was not actually
published until January, 1863.
MY MISCELLANIES. By Wilkie Collins, author
of The Woman in White, No Name, The Dead
Secret etc. etc. etc. London: Sampson Low, Son
and Co., Ludgate Hill. 1863. 2 vols. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. vi + (ii) + 291 + (1). Publishers' catalogue,
16 pp., printed on text paper, and dated
November, 1863, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 300. Publishers' catalogue,
16 pp., printed on text paper and dated November,
1863, bound in at end.
Green embossed cloth, gilt. Green-ochre end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in November, 1863.
(ii) Copies in brown cloth gilt are of later issue.
142
ARMADALE. By Wilkie Collins. With Twenty
Illustrations by George H. Thomas. London:
Smith, Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill. 1866. 2 vols.
Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¾).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 304.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 372.
No half-titles. Vol. I. contains nine illustrations,
Vol. II. eleven. Red-brown cloth, blocked in gold.
Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1866. The story appeared
serially in the “Cornhill.”
THE MOONSTONE: A Romance. By Wilkie
Collins, author of The Woman in White, No
Name, Armadale, etc. etc. London: Tinsley Brothers,
18 Catherine Street, Strand. 1868. 3 vols.
Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 315 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 297 + (1). Publishers' advertisements
(2 pp.) inserted before half-title.
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 309 + (1). Publishers' advertisements
(2 pp.) inserted before half-title.
Violet cloth, blocked in gold and blind. Cream
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1868.
MAN AND WIFE: A Novel. By Wilkie Collins.
(Quotation from Bunyan.) London: F. S. Ellis,
33 King Street, Covent Garden. 1870. 3 vols.
Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. xiv + 356. Publisher's advertisements,
8 pp., bound in at end.
143Vol. II. pp. vi + 359 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. vi + 348.
Maroon cloth, gilt. Black end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1870.
POOR MISS FINCH: A Novel. By Wilkie Collins,
author of The Woman in White, No Name, Man
and Wife, etc. London: Richard Bentley and
Son. 1872. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. ix + (iii) + 314 + (2). Publishers' advertisements
occupy p. (315).
Vol. II. pp. iv + 316.
Vol. III. pp. iv + 320.
No half-titles. Purple-brown cloth, blocked in
black. Cream end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published on January 26, 1872. The
story appeared serially in “Cassell's Magazine.”
(ii) Copies in bright blue embossed cloth, gilt, without imprint
on spine, are of a later issue.
THE NEW MAGDALEN: A Novel. By Wilkie
Collins. “Lead us not into temptation.” London:
Richard Bentley and Son. 1873. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo
(5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. vi + 297 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. iv + 298 + (2). Publishers' advertisement
occupies p. (299).
No half-titles. Red-brown cloth, blocked in gold
and black. Cream end-papers.
Note—This book was published on May 17, 1873. The story
appeared serially in the “Temple Bar Magazine.”
144
MISS OR MRS.? And Other Stories in Outline. By
Wilkie Collins. London: Richard Bentley and
Son, New Burlington Street, 1873. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo
(4⅝ × 7⅛). Pp. viii + 325 + (3). Publishers' advertisement
occupies p. (327).
No half-title. Brown cloth, gilt, blocked in black.
Pale yellow end-papers.
Contents: Miss or Mrs.?—Blow up the Brig!—The Fatal Cradle.
Note—This book was published on January 17, 1873. The
stories first appeared in “The Graphic” and in “All the Year
Round.”
THE FROZEN DEEP: And Other Stories. (Readings
and Writings in America.) By Wilkie
Collins. London: Richard Bentley and Son, New
Burlington Street. 1874. 2 vols. Small Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 7).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 248.
Vol. II. pp. vi + 282 + (2). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (283) and (284).
Blue cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Pale yellow
end-papers.
Contents: Vol. I., The Frozen Deep—The Dream Woman.
Vol. II., John Jago's Ghost; or The Dead Alive.
Notes—(i) This book was published on November 2, 1874. The
title story appeared serially in the “Temple Bar Magazine”; the
remainder were first published in “Household Words” and in the
“Home Journal.”
(ii) Copies in brown cloth, with yellow end-papers, printed with
Chapman and Hall advertisements, are of later issue.
THE LAW AND THE LADY: A Novel. By
Wilkie Collins. London: Chatto and Windus,
Piccadilly. 1875. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜).
145Vol. I. pp. vi + (ii) + 246 + (2). Publishers' catalogue,
40 pp., dated December, 1874, bound in at
end.
Vol. II. pp. iv + 269 + (3). Advertisement of
author's previous works occupies p. (271).
Vol. III. pp. iv + 341 + (3). Advertisement of
author's previous works occupies p. (343).
No half-titles. Dark green cloth, gilt, blocked
in blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in February, 1875.
THE TWO DESTINIES: A Romance. By Wilkie
Collins. London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly.
1876. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 311 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. iv + 301 + (3). No half-title. Publishers'
catalogue, 32 pp., dated April, 1876, bound
in at end.
Bright green cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Cream
end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in September, 1876.
(ii) I have seen a copy bound in brown cloth, blocked and lettered
identically to those in bright green, and containing a publishers'
catalogue dated September, 1876. Whether the brown binding is
necessarily later than the green, or whether one variety is a trial
binding and the other that finally adopted, I do not know.
A SHOCKING STORY. By Wilkie Collins.
Author of Man and Wife, Woman in White etc.
New York: A. J. Barnes and Company, 111 and 113
William Street. 1 vol. (4½ × 6½). Pp. (ii) plus 57 + (3).
This pamphlet is not wrappered, but pp. (i) and (60)
form outside covers. Both are plain without printing
of any sort.
Notes—(i) The date 1878 appears under the note of copyright on
verso of title.
146(ii) This story was issued in the November number of the
“International Review,” an American periodical published by
Barnes and Co., who brought out the pamphlet described above.
In Great Britain the tale appeared in the “Belgravia Annual”
(December, 1878), published by Chatto and Windus, but was not
reissued in other than periodical form.
THE HAUNTED HOTEL: A Mystery of Modern
Venice, to which is added My Lady's Money. By
Wilkie Collins. With six illustrations by Arthur
Hopkins. London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly.
1879. 2 vols. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¼).
Vol. I. pp. viii + (ii) + 230 + (2). Publishers' catalogue,
40 pp., dated October, 1878, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (viii) + 259 + (1).
Vol. I. contains five illustrations and Vol. II. one
illustration, line engraved and printed separately.
Dark brown cloth, gilt, blocked in white. Blue-black
end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book, although dated 1879, was actually
published in November, 1878.
(ii) My Lady's Money was issued by Tauchnitz in 1879, together
with The Ghost's Touch, a story I cannot trace to have appeared
in book form in Great Britain.
A ROGUE'S LIFE: From his Birth to his Marriage.
By Wilkie Collins. London: Richard
Bentley and Son, Publishers in Ordinary to Her
Majesty the Queen. 1879. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 6⅞). Pp. iv + 188. No half-title. Red cloth
gilt, blocked in black. Black end-papers.
Note—This book was published on April 7, 1879. It is the first
edition in book form of a tale issued periodically in the early fifties
in “Household Words.” The text was slightly revised by the
author before publication.
147
THE FALLEN LEAVES. By Wilkie Collins.
First Series. London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly.
1879. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 275 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 269 + (3). Publishers' advertisements,
40 pp., dated May, 1879, bound in at end.
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 295 + (1).
Olive-brown cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Black
and grey-blue decorated end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1879.
JEZEBEL'S DAUGHTER. By Wilkie Collins.
London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. 1880.
3 vols. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 282 + (2). Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated February, 1880, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 281 + (3).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 296.
Pale buff cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Dark
green and white decorated end-papers.
Note—This book was published in March, 1880.
CONSIDERATIONS ON THE COPYRIGHT
QUESTION ADDRESSED TO AN AMERICAN
FRIEND. By Wilkie Collins. London: Trübner
and Co., Ludgate Hill. 1880. 1 vol. Cr. 4to
(6¾ × 9¼). Pp. 12 + (4). This pamphlet is not wrappered,
pp. (1) and (16) forming outside covers. P. (1)
is lettered as above, and serves both as front wrapper
and title-page.
148
THE BLACK ROBE. By Wilkie Collins. London:
Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. 1881. 3 vols.
Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. vi + 320.
Vol. II. pp. vi + 296.
Vol. III. pp. vi + 266 + (6). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (267) to (272). Publishers'
catalogue, 32 pp., dated March, 1881, bound in at
end.
Black cloth, gilt, blocked in white. Blue and
white decorated end-papers.
Note—This book was published in April, 1881.
HEART AND SCIENCE: A Story of the Present
Time. By Wilkie Collins. London: Chatto
and Windus, Piccadilly. 1883. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo
(4⅞ × 7¼).
Vol. I. pp. xvi + 294 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 293 + (3).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 302 + (2). Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated March, 1883, bound in at end.
Grey-blue cloth, gilt, blocked in chocolate. Pale
green and white decorated end-papers.
Note—This book was published in April, 1883.
I SAY NO. By Wilkie Collins. London: Chatto
and Windus, Piccadilly. 1884. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo
(4⅞ × 7¼).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 295 + (1). Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated March, 1884, bound in at end.
149Vol. II. pp. (viii) + 296.
Vol. III. pp. (viii) + 324.
Slate-blue cloth, gilt, blocked in magenta. Pale
green and white decorated end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1884.
THE EVIL GENIUS: A Domestic Story. By Wilkie
Collins. London. Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly.
1886. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¼).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 284.
Vol. II. pp. vi + 304.
Vol. III. pp. vi + 265 + (1). Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated May, 1886, bound in at end.
Dark grey-green cloth, gilt, blocked in black.
Grey and white decorated end-papers.
Note—This book was published in September, 1886.
THE GUILTY RIVER. By Wilkie Collins, author
of The Woman in White, Armadale, The Evil
Genius etc. Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual, 1886.
Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, 11 Quay Street.
London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co., 4 Stationers'
Hall Court. Price 1s. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4½ × 6½).
Pp. (viii) + 188 + (12). No half-title. Advertisements
occupy pp. (i) to (vi), p. (vii) is title-page,
p. (viii) is occupied by advertisements, as also
pp. (189) to (200). Buff paper wrappers, printed in
dark blue, black and yellow. Advertisements
occupy back outside wrapper and spine, which is
not printed with title of story.
Note—The wording given above is that of wrapper, not of
title-page, because there exist several varieties of the book (all
of later date), which can most easily be identified by the discrepancies
between their wrappers and that of the first issue.
150
LITTLE NOVELS. By Wilkie Collins. London:
Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. 1887. 3 vols.
Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅛).
Vol. I. pp. (vi) + 319 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (vi) + 331 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (viii) + 303 + (1). Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated April, 1887, bound in at end.
Bright blue cloth, gilt, blocked in red. Grey and
white decorated end-papers.
Contents: Vol. I., Mrs. Zant and the Ghost—Miss Morris and
the Stranger—Mr. Cosway and the Landlady—Mr. Medhurst and
the Princess—Mr. Lismore and the Widow.
Vol. II., Miss Jeromette and the Clergyman—Miss Minor and
the Groom—Mr. Lepel and the Housekeeper—Mr. Captain and
the Nymph—Mr. Marmaduke and the Minister.
Vol. III., Mr. Percy and the Prophet—Miss Bertha and the
Yankee—Miss Dulane and My Lord—Mr. Policeman and the
Cook.
Note—This book was published in May, 1887.
THE LEGACY OF CAIN. By Wilkie Collins.
London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. 1889.
3 vols. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 289 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. vi + 263 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. vi + 281 + (1). Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated October, 1888, bound in at end.
Blue cloth, gilt, blocked in red and black. Pale
grey and white decorated end-papers.
Note—Although dated 1889, this book was actually published in
November, 1888.
151
BLIND LOVE. By Wilkie Collins. With a Preface
by Walter Besant, and Illustrations by A.
Forestier. London: Chatto and Windus. Piccadilly.
1890. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅛).
Vol. I. pp. x + (ii) + 302 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. vi + (ii) + 303 + (i). Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated October, 1889, bound in at end.
Vol. III. pp. vi + (ii) + 316.
Blue cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Pale grey and
white decorated end-papers.
Note—This book was published in January, 1890.
THE LAZY TOUR OF TWO IDLE APPRENTICES.
NO THOROUGHFARE. THE PERILS
OF CERTAIN ENGLISH PRISONERS. By
Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. With
Illustrations. London: Chapman and Hall,
Limited. 1890. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (5¼ × 7⅞). Pp. vi +
(ii) + 327 + (1). Dark green cloth, gilt, blocked in
black. Black end-papers. Eight full-page illustrations
in line, printed separately.
Note—Of the stories here published in book form for the first
time No Thoroughfare first appeared as the Extra Christmas
Number to “All the Year Round” for 1867 (1 vol. 6⅝ × 9¾, pp. 48,
bright blue paper wrappers, printed in black) and The Perils of
Certain English Prisoners as the “Christmas Story for 1857” in
“Household Words” (1 vol., 5⅝ × 8⅞, pp. 36, buff paper wrappers
printed in violet, red and green).
152
A MESSAGE FROM THE SEA: A Drama in Three
Acts. By Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins.
London: Published by G. Halsworth, at the office
of “All the Year Round,” Wellington Street,
Strand. 1861. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4½ × 7¼). Pp. 68.
Buff paper wrappers, printed in black.
Note—The story upon which this play is based appeared as the
Extra Christmas Number to “All the Year Round” for 1860
(1 vol., 6½ × 9¾, pp. 48, bright blue paper wrappers, printed in
black).
NO NAME: A Drama in Five Acts. Founded on, and
adapted from, the story so entitled. By Wilkie
Collins Esq. London: Published by G. Halsworth,
at the office of “All the Year Round.” 1863.
1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4½ × 7¼). 60 pp. Pink paper
wrappers, printed in black.
Note—This play was also issued in De Witt's Acting Series
(No. 104), published by Robert M. de Witt, New York, in pale
yellow wrappers printed in black. The pamphlet is undated.
ARMADALE: A Drama in Three Acts. (Altered from
the novel of Armadale for performance on the stage.)
By Wilkie Collins. London: Published for the
author by Smith, Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill. 1866.
1 vol. Cr. 8vo. Pp. 76. Pink paper wrappers,
printed in black.
153
THE FROZEN DEEP: A Drama in Three Acts. By
Wilkie Collins. (Not published.) 1866. 1 vol.
Fcap. 8vo (4 × 6½). Pp. 46 + (2). Buff paper
wrappers, printed in black.
NO THOROUGHFARE: A Drama in Five Acts.
(Altered from the Christmas story, for performance
on the stage.) By Charles Dickens and Wilkie
Collins. London: Published at the Office of “All
the Year Round,” 26 Wellington Street. 1867.
1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¼). Pp. 89 + (1). Buff paper
wrappers, printed in black.
Notes—(i) Another issue was made of this play under the same
date and with identical format and title-page, except for the addition,
beneath the imprint, of the words: Entered at Stationers'
Hall. This issue consists, however, only of pp. 78 + (2), and the
text of the play is different from Act IV., Scene III., to the end.
(ii) The story upon which this play is based appeared as the
Extra Christmas Number to “All the Year Round” for 1867 (see
above, The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices, 1890, note).
(iii) Collectors will be interested to note, as an item in Collinsiana,
an American dramatic version of No Thoroughfare which appeared
as No. 348 in French's Library of Standard Drama. This version
is entitled:
Identity or No Thoroughfare by Louis Lequel. Dramatized
from the Christmas Story of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins.
New York: Samuel French, Publisher, 122 Nassau Street.
1 vol. (4½ × 7½). Pp. 44. Yellow paper wrappers, printed in black.
The booklet is undated, save for the statement that the play was
entered in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United
States for the Southern District of New York in 1867. The
wrapper bears French's London as well as his New York imprint.
BLACK AND WHITE: A Love Story in Three Acts.
By Wilkie Collins and Charles Fletcher.
London: Printed by C. Whiting, Beaufort House,
Strand. 1869. 1 vol. Slim Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7½).
Pp. 56. White paper wrappers, the first page of
which serves as title and is printed as above.
154
NO NAME: A Drama in Four Acts. (Altered from
the novel for performance on the stage.) By Wilkie
Collins. London: Published by the author, 90
Gloucester Place, Portman Square. 1870. 1 vol.
Sm. Cr. 8vo (4½ × 7¼). Pp. 160, of which pp. (1) to
(4) are unnumbered. The rest of the book, being
printed on one side of the paper only, is paged (5)
to 82. Buff paper wrappers, printed in black.
Note—This is a different text from that published in 1863.
THE WOMAN IN WHITE: A Drama in Prologue
and Four Acts. (Altered from the novel for performance
on the stage.) By Wilkie Collins.
London. Published by the author, 90 Gloucester
Place, Portman Square. 1871. 1 vol. Sm. Cr.
8vo (4½ × 7¼). Pp. (172), of which pp. (1) to (4) are
unnumbered. The rest of the book, being printed
on one side of the paper only, is paged (5) to 88.
Buff paper wrappers, printed in black, uniform with
No Name.
THE DREAM WOMAN: A Mystery in Four Narratives
and Two Parts. By Wilkie Collins. Altered
and enlarged for reading in public from the original
story published in the collection called The Queen
of Hearts. Boston: Privately printed for the author.
1873. 1 vol. Short Med. 4to (9 × 11⅛). Pp. 110,
of which pp. (1) to (3) are unnumbered. The rest
of the book, being printed on one side of the paper
only, is paged 5 to 55. No half-title. Grey paper
wrappers; quarter grey-purple cloth. The wrappers
are plain, without printing of any sort.
155
THE NEW MAGDALEN: A Dramatic Story in a Prologue
and Three Acts. By Wilkie Collins.
(Represented for the first time in London at the
Olympic Theatre, May 19, 1873.) London: Published
by the author, 90 Gloucester Place, Portman
Square. 1873. 1 vol. Sm. Cr. 8vo (4⅜ × 7⅛).
Pp. 158, of which pp. (1) to (4) are unnumbered.
The rest of the book, being printed on one side of
the paper only, is paged 5 to 81. Buff paper
wrappers, printed in black, uniform with No Name.
MISS GWILT: A Drama in Five Acts. (Altered from
the novel Armadale.) By Wilkie Collins, printed
for performance at the Theatre only, not published.
1 vol. Demy 8vo (5¼ × 8½). Pp. 104. Pp. 1 and
104 act as outside wrappers.
THE MOONSTONE: A Dramatic Story in Three Acts.
(Altered from the novel for performance on the
stage.) By Wilkie Collins. (This play is not published.
It is privately printed for the convenience
of the author.) Charles Dickens and Evans, Crystal
Palace Press. 1877. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅛).
Pp. 176, of which (1) to (4) are unnumbered. The
rest of the book, being printed on one side of the
paper only, is paged (5) to 88. Paper wrappers,
printed in black.
CHARLES READE 1814-1884 — I.—EDITIONES PRINCIPES A.—FICTION, ESSAYS, ETC. — 1853 — 1853 — 1856 — 1857 — 1857 — 1857 — 1858 — 1859 — 1860 — 1861 — 1863 — 1867 — 1868 — 1870 — 1871 — 1873 — 1874 — 1875 — 1877 — 1877 — 1883 — 1884 — 1884 — 1884 — 1884 — 1888 — 1910 — EDITIONES PRINCIPES ( Continued ) B.—PLAYS: ORIGINAL, TRANSLATED, AND WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION — [1834 or 1835] — [1851] — [1851] — [1852] — [1853] — [1854] — 1854 — 1854 — 1854 — 1857 — 1857 — 1859 — [?1867] — [?1867] — [?1869] — [?1872 or 1873] — [1860-July] — [1877] — 1878 — 1883 — 1883 — 1883 — 1883 — NOTE — A. Early Unacted Plays, written before 1851. — B. Acted Plays, with Dates of First Production and other Available Details.
157
159
CHARLES READE
If no judgment is here attempted of the work of Charles
Reade, it is because he refuses to be “placed,” in the
opinion of the present writer. At times he is so fine, so
resilient, so impressive; at others, the dullest of pamphleteers,
a cramped Meredith in style, a very waxwork
among sensationalists. Fortunately certain aspects of
his powerful but clumsy mind have of late been admirably
presented. The “London Mercury” for June,
1921 (Vol. IV., No. 20), contained an article by E. W.
Hornung which all interested would do well to read. In
the matter of biography proper students may be referred
(but without confidence) to:
CHARLES READE: DRAMATIST, NOVELIST,
JOURNALIST. A memoir compiled chiefly from
his literary remains by Charles L. Reade and the
Rev. Compton Reade. 2 vols. London: Chapman
and Hall Ltd., 1887.
This pious work is too rhapsodical to possess more
than personal interest.
CHARLES READE AS I KNEW HIM. By John
Coleman. London: Treherne and Co. 1903.
Reference is made below to the useful list of plays
which concludes this otherwise rather chaotic book.
160
PEG WOFFINGTON: A Novel. By Charles Reade.
London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street.
1853. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾). Pp. (iv) +
331 + (1). No half-title. Paper boards (half cloth),
paper label. White end-papers. Also maroon
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book, although dated 1853, was actually published
on December 17, 1852. The first edition was of 500 copies.
CHRISTIE JOHNSTONE: A Novel. By Charles
Reade Esq., author of Peg Woffington. London:
Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1853.
1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾). Pp. (iv) + 334 + (2).
A note occupies p. (335). Paper boards (half cloth),
paper label. White end-papers. Also in maroon
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published on August 25, 1853. The first
edition was of 500 copies.
IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND: A Matter of
Fact Romance. By Charles Reade, author of
Christie Johnstone, Peg Woffington etc. London:
Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1856.
3 vols. Slim Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
161Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 395 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 349 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 344.
Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. White
end-papers. Also pale maroon cloth, gilt, blocked
in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published on August 1, 1856. The
story is based on the play Gold (see below, p. 171).
(ii) Reade replied to certain charges brought against the novel
in a pamphlet, but I cannot determine the details of its title and
appearance.
THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE NEVER DID
RUN SMOOTH. By Charles Reade, author of
It Is Never Too Late to Mend, Peg Woffington and
Christie Johnstone. London: Richard Bentley,
New Burlington Street. 1857. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo
(5 × 7½). Pp. (ii) + 269 + (3). No half-title. Blue
cloth, blocked in gold. Yellow end-papers. Also
in pink picture boards.
Note—This book was published on September 28, 1857. The
cloth and boards editions were simultaneous.
WHITE LIES: A Story. By Charles Reade. London:
Trübner and Co., 60 Paternoster Row. 1857.
3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. v + (i) + 300.
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 237 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 231 + (1).
No half-titles. Dark green cloth, gilt, blocked in
blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in December, 1857. The story,
which appeared serially in the “London Journal,” was based on
Reade's play The Double Marriage, itself an adaptation from the
French (see below, p. 174).
Note—This short story, published in “Bentley's Miscellany”
in November, 1853, was only issued in book form in America.
CREAM. By Charles Reade, author of White Lies
etc. Contains Jack of All Trades: A Matter of
Fact Romance and The Autobiography of a
Thief. London: Trübner and Co., 60 Paternoster
Row. 1858. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅝). Pp. 270.
Bright blue embossed cloth, gilt. Red-chocolate
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in March, 1858.
LOVE ME LITTLE LOVE ME LONG. By Charles
Reade, author of It is Never Too Late To Mend,
White Lies etc. London: Trübner and Co., 60
Paternoster Row. 1859. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 390 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. 358 + (2).
Green embossed cloth, gilt. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in April, 1859.
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. By Charles
Reade. London: Trübner and Co., 60 Paternoster
Row. 1860. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5⅝ × 8¾).
Pp. (iv) + 379 + (1). Dark purple-brown embossed
cloth, gilt. Chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1860, at the author's
own expense. Written in assault of those who had infringed
Reade's rights in Poverty and Pride (see below, p. 172), it proved
too contentious for publishers' tastes.
163
THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH: A Tale of
the Middle Ages. By Charles Reade, author of
It Is Never Too Late To Mend, Christie Johnstone,
Peg Woffington etc. London: Trübner and Co.,
60 Paternoster Row. 1861. 4 vols. Small Cr.
8vo (4½ × 7¼).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 360.
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 384.
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 328.
Vol. IV. pp. (ii) + 435 + (1).
No half-titles. Grey-green cloth, gilt. Pale yellow
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1861.
HARD CASH: A Matter of Fact Romance. By
Charles Reade. London: Sampson Low, Son
and Marston, 14 Ludgate Hill. 1863. 3 vols.
Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 356.
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 365 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 369 + (5). Publishers' announcements,
dated December 10, 1863, occupy
pages (371) to (374).
No half-titles. Grey-green cloth, blocked in gold.
Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published on December 15, 1863. The
story appeared serially in “All the Year Round,” for which magazine
it had been commissioned by Dickens.
GRIFFITH GAUNT: Or Jealousy. By Charles
Reade. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly.
1867. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 302.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 318.
164Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 328. Publishers' catalogue,
16 pp., dated October, 1866, bound in at end.
Violet cloth, gilt, blocked in gold and blind.
Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—Although dated 1867, this book was actually published
in October, 1866. The story appeared serially in the “Argosy.”
FOUL PLAY. By Charles Reade and Dion
Boucicault. London: Bradbury Evans and Co.,
11 Bouverie Street. 1868. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. (vi) + 277 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 278.
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 261 + (1).
Red cloth, gilt. Cream end-papers.
Note—This book was published in November or December, 1868.
The story ran serially in “Once a Week” from January of the
same year. In 1881 F. C. Burnand published a parody of the
novel under the title: Chikkin Hazard: A Novel by Charles Readit
and Dion Bounceycore. This parody appeared in “Our Novel
Shilling Series,” published by Bradbury, Agnew and Co., of which
the other volumes are pastiches of novels by Ouida, Victor Hugo,
Hawley Smart, and Rhoda Broughton.
PUT YOURSELF IN HIS PLACE. By Charles
Reade, author of It Is Never Too Late to Mend,
Hard Cash, Foul Play, etc. etc. (Quotation from
Horace.) London: Smith Elder and Co., 15
Waterloo Place. 1870. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 317 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 318 + (2).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 332.
Green cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Chocolate
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1870. The story
appeared serially in the “Cornhill.”
165
A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION: A Story of the Day.
By Charles Reade. London: Chapman and Hall,
193 Piccadilly. 1871. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 303 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 310 + (2).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 300.
Purple cloth, gilt, blocked in gold and blind.
Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in August, 1871. The story
appeared serially in “Cassell's Magazine.”
A SIMPLETON: A Story of the Day. By Charles
Reade. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly.
1873. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. ix + (i) + 272.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 267 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 305 + (1).
Maroon cloth, blocked in gold and blind. Yellow
end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in August, 1873. The story
appeared serially in “London Society.”
(ii) Copies in blue cloth, gilt, are of later issue.
A HERO AND A MARTYR: A True and Accurate
Account of the Heroic feats and sad Calamity of
James Lambert. By Charles Reade (2 Albert
Terrace, Knightsbridge). London: Samuel French,
89 Strand, Publisher. 1874. 1 vol. Royal 8vo
(6¼ × 9⅝). Pp. (viii) + 40. Orange or green paper
wrappers, printed in black. Publisher's advertisements
occupy inside front, and inside and outside
back wrappers. Wood-engraved frontispiece printed
on text paper.
166
TRADE MALICE: A Personal Narrative, and THE
WANDERING HEIR: A Matter of Fact Romance.
By Charles Reade. London: Samuel
French, 89 Strand, 1875. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Pp. (viii) + 279 + (1). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (vi) to (viii). Green cloth, gilt. Yellow
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in April, 1875. The Wandering
Heir was first printed in the “Graphic.”
A WOMAN HATER. By Charles Reade, D.C.L.
William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London,
MDCCCLXXVII. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 280.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 285 + (3). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (287) and (288).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 282 + (2). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (283) and (284).
The words “Originally published in 'Blackwood's
Magazine'” occupy verso of half-title in
each volume. Bright blue cloth, gilt, blocked in
black. Dark brown end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1877. When serialized
the story was anonymous.
*GOLDEN CROWNS: Sunday Stories. By Charles
Reade, D.C.L. Manchester: Tubbs and Brooke.
1 vol. 18mo.
Note—This publication was of a kind known as an “18mo
packet.” It consisted of a number of loose sheets enclosed in a
paper wrapper, designed either to gum or to tuck in, but wholly
detached from its contents. Never having seen a copy of the
packet in question, I cannot do more than conjecture that the
loose sheets bore each a brief moral tale, which a devout parent
could administer Sunday by Sunday to the deserving young.
167
READIANA: Comments on Current Events. By
Charles Reade, D.C.L. with a steel-plate portrait.
London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. 1883.
1 vol. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½). Pp. vi + 329 + (1). Frontispiece
and title-page, printed together but not on text
paper, are inset between pp. (ii) and (iii). Publishers'
catalogue, 32 pp., dated July, 1882, bound
in at end. Publishers' advertisement occupies
p. (ii). Red cloth, gilt, blocked in black, uniform
with the cheap edition of Reade's novels published
just previously to this book's appearance. Brown-purple
and white decorated end-papers. Engraved
portrait frontispiece printed on same paper as title.
Line engraving on title-page.
Note—Although this book is dated 1883, it was actually published
in October, 1882.
SINGLE HEART AND DOUBLE FACE: A Matter
of Fact Romance: By Charles Reade, D.C.L.
London. Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. 1884.
1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜). Pp. (iv) + 240. Publishers'
catalogue, 32 pp., dated December, 1883, bound in
at end. Fawn cloth gilt, blocked in red and blue.
Pale green and white decorated end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1884. The story appeared
serially in “Harper's Magazine.”
GOOD STORIES OF MAN AND OTHER
ANIMALS. By Charles Reade, D.C.L. Illustrations
by E. A. Abbey, Percy Macquoid and
Joseph Nash. London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly.
1884. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½). Pp. (ii) +
287 + (1). Frontispiece and title-page, printed together
but not on text paper, are inset before p. (i),
pp. (i) and (ii) forming a single leaf pasted to back
168of title. No half-title. Publishers' catalogue,
32 pp., dated October, 1884, bound in at end. Four
illustrations in line, of which one is the frontispiece;
all printed separately. Red cloth, gilt, blocked in
black. Uniform with Readiana. Green and white
decorated end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1884.
THE JILT: And Other Stories. By Charles Reade,
D.C.L. Four Illustrations by Joseph Nash. London:
Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. 1884. 1 vol.
Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½). Pp. (ii) + 282 + (2). Frontispiece
and title-page, printed together but not on text
paper, are inset before p. (i), pp. (i) and (ii) forming
a single leaf pasted to back of title. No half-title.
Publishers' catalogue, 32 pp., dated September,
1884, bound in at end. Four full-page illustrations
in line, of which one is the frontispiece; all printed
separately. Line engraving on title. Red cloth,
gilt, blocked in black. Uniform with Readiana.
Green and white decorated end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1884.
A PERILOUS SECRET. By Charles Reade, author
of Hard Cash, Put Yourself in His Place, It Is
Never Too Late To Mend, Griffith Gaunt etc. London:
Richard Bentley and Son, New Burlington
Street, Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the
Queen. 1884. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 296.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 312.
Red flowered cloth, gilt. Green and white
decorated end-papers.
Note—Although this book is dated 1884, it was not actually
published until March 10, 1885. The story appeared serially in
the “Temple Bar Magazine.”
169
BIBLE CHARACTERS: By Charles Reade, D.C.L.,
author of It Is Never Too Late To Mend etc. London:
Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly. 1888. 1 vol.
Fcap. 8vo (4⅛ × 6½). Pp. (vi) + 106. Publishers'
catalogue, 32 pp., dated September, 1888, bound in
at end. Dark red paper wrappers, gilt. Black end-papers.
Note—This book was published in September, 1888.
A GOOD FIGHT. By Charles Reade. Original
version of The Cloister and The Hearth, with an
introduction by Andrew Lang. London: Henry
Frowde. 1910. Fcap. 8vo (4½ × 6¾). Pp. (xii) + 208.
Fifteen illustrations after Charles Keene printed on
text paper. Dark olive-green cloth, blocked in gold.
White end-papers.
Note—This is the first edition in book form of a story which
appeared in 1859 in “Once a Week.” Reade afterwards expanded
his idea into The Cloister and the Hearth.
Note—Reade has himself left a statement that while at Oxford
he printed at his own cost a few copies of this dramatic version of
Smollett's famous novel.
THE LADIES' BATTLE: Or Un Duel en Amour.
A Comedy in Three Acts. Hailes Lacy, Wellington
Street, Strand, London. 1 vol. Fcap.
8vo (4¼ × 7¼). Pp. 35 + (1). Note on p. (3) initialled
“C.R.” Salmon-pink paper wrappers printed in
black, uniform with the other volumes in Lacy's
Acting Edition, of which this is No. 47.
ANGELO: A Tragedy in Four Acts. Adapted to the
English Stage by the author of The Ladies' Battle,
Peregrine Pickle etc. London: Hailes Lacy,
Wellington Street, Strand. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo
(4¼ × 7¼). Pp. 24. Salmon-pink paper wrappers,
printed in black, uniform with the other volumes in
Lacy's Acting Editions, of which this is No. 57.
THE LOST HUSBAND: A Drama in Four Acts.
Written and Adapted from the French by the author
of The Ladies' Battle. London: Thomas Hailes
171Lacy, Wellington Street, Strand. 1 vol. Fcap.
8vo (4¼ × 7¼). Pp. 36. Salmon-pink paper wrappers,
printed in black, uniform with the other
volumes in Lacy's Acting Editions, of which this is
No. 86.
Note—This play is based on a French drama, Les Dames de la
Halle.
GOLD: A Drama in Five Acts. By Charles Reade,
one of the authors of Masks and Faces etc. Thomas
Hailes Lacy, Wellington Street, Strand, London.
1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 7¼). Pp. 48. Salmon-pink
paper wrappers, printed in black, uniform with the
other volumes in Lacy's Acting Edition, of which
this is No. 152.
THE COURIER OF LYONS: Or The Attack upon
the Mail: A Drama in Four Acts. Translated
from the French of MM. Moreau, Siraudin and
Delacourt. Thomas Hailes Lacy, Wellington
Street, Strand. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 7¼).
Pp. 43 + (1). Advertisements occupy p. (44). Salmon-pink
paper wrappers, printed in black, uniform
with the other volumes in Lacy's Acting Edition, of
which this is No. 220.
MASKS AND FACES: Or Before and Behind the
Curtain: A Comedy in Two Acts. By Tom
Taylor and Charles Reade. London: Richard
Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1854. 1 vol.
Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. (viii) + 71 + (1). Mustard-yellow
paper wrappers, printed in black as title-page.
172
TWO LOVES AND A LIFE: A Drama in Four Acts.
By Tom Taylor and Charles Reade. Produced at
the Theatre Royal, Adelphi, April 1854. London:
Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1854.
1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. (viii) + 85 + (3).
Mustard-yellow paper wrappers, printed in black as
title-page.
THE KING'S RIVAL: A Drama in Five Acts. By
Tom Taylor and Charles Reade, authors of Masks
and Faces, Two Loves and a Life etc. etc. First
produced at the Theatre Royal, St. James's, October
4, 1854. London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington
Street. 1854. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾).
Pp. (viii) + 72. Mustard-yellow paper wrappers,
printed in black as title-page.
Notes—(i) The three preceding items were also issued as one
volume bound in maroon cloth, blocked in gold and blind, and
lettered on the spine “Dramas by Tom Taylor and Charles
Reade,” and with pale yellow end-papers. The sheets used were
those of the original pamphlet issue, the separate title-pages and
half-titles being preserved, but the sheets being cut to measure
4⅛ × 6⅝.
(ii) In their original separate form Masks and Faces and Two
Loves and a Life were published on July 1, and The King's Rival
on October 17, 1854.
POVERTY AND PRIDE: A Drama in Five Acts
By Charles Reade. Being the authorised English
version of Les Pauvres de Paris, drama by Messrs.
Edouard Brisebarre and Eugène Nus. London:
Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1856.
1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 7¼). Pp. 64. Paper
wrappers.
Note—This book was published on August 12, 1857.
173
THE HYPOCHONDRIAC. Adapted to the English
stage from the Malade Imaginaire of Molière. By
Charles Reade. London: William Clowes and
Sons, 14 Charing Cross. And Ticknor and Fields,
Boston, U.S. 1857. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 7⅛).
Pp. 59 + (1). Light brown paper wrappers, printed
in black; wording as title-page.
Note—This play was later acted under the title The Robust
Invalid (June, 1870). I do not know whether a printed text exists
with this title.
LE FAUBOURG SAINT-GERMAIN. Pièce en deux
Actes. Ecrite en Français parCharles Reade.
Paris. Typographie: Morris et Comp. Rue
Amelot 64. 1859. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (5⅛ × 7⅜).
Pp. 69 + (3). Pale blue paper wrappers, printed in
black; wording as title-page.
DORA: A Pastoral Poem in Three Acts. With New
Scenic Effect and Appropriate Music. Founded on
Mr. Tennyson's poem and written by Charles
Reade. London: Printed by W. Clowes and Sons,
Stamford Street and Charing Cross. 1 vol. Cr.
8vo (4¾ × 7⅜). Pp. 53 + (3). Yellow paper wrappers,
printed in black with the single word “Dora”
enclosed in decorative frame.
Notes—(i) This play was reissued about 1872 or 1873 by Williams
and Strahan, 7 Lawrence Lane, Cheapside, in a fifty-page
pamphlet measuring 4⅛ × 7⅛ and wrappered in buff paper, printed
merely with the word “Dora” in black. The text shows slight
variations from that of the first issue.
(ii) The date of the first of the above issues is doubtful. Dora
was written in 1863 or 1864, but evidence is wanting to show
whether it was then printed, or not until its first production in
1867. It was revived in the early nineties.
174
THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE: A Drama in Five Acts.
By Auguste Maquet and Charles Reade. London:
Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford
Street and Charing Cross, 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7½).
Pp. (iv) + 80. Yellow paper wrappers, printed in
black, with play title only enclosed in decorative
frame. This pamphlet is uniform in style with
Dora.
Note—This play is based on Le Château Grantier by Maquet.
The date of printing is conjectural, being that of its first production.
Reade's novel White Lies (see above, p. 161) is a fictional
version of the same plot.
KATE PEYTON: Or Jealousy. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo
(4¼ × 7⅛). Pp. 84. Pink paper wrappers, printed
with play title only.
Notes—(i) This booklet bears no printer's name, date, or other
mark of identification. The text differs slightly from that issued
in 1883 and described below.
(ii) The date is purely conjectural. Coleman mentions no play
of this title, but speaks of Griffith Gaunt as having been produced
in 1868 or 1869. The above item being a dramatic version of
Griffith Gaunt, I am inclined to think that this is the play referred
to, and have accordingly dated it as having been printed about the
time of the first production.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND. Drama in
Five Acts. By Charles Reade. Author of Gold;
Rachel the Reaper; Ladies' Battle; Nobs and
Snobs; The Lost Husband; The Double Marriage;
Kate Peyton; Foul Play; Put Yourself in His
Place; The Wandering Heir; Shilly Shally; The
Courier of Lyons; etc. etc. And one of the authors
of Masks and Faces; Two Loves and a Life; The
First Printer; The King's Rival. London: Printed
175by Williams and Strahan, 7 Lawrence Lane, Cheapside.
1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 7) Pp. 97 + (1).
Buff paper wrappers, printed in black with the play
title only.
Notes—(i) This play was reissued in 1890 in a pamphlet printed
for private circulation by W. Spearing, 1, Great Queen Street,
W.C. The booklet measures 5½ × 8½; contains pp. 148—of which
(1) to (4) are regular prelims., (5) to (146) are printed alternately
and paged (5) to 76, and (147) and (148) are blank—and is bound in
grey paper wrappers, printed in black. The text of this second
version shows considerable variation from that of the first, and
the play is in four acts instead of five.
(ii) The date at the head of this item is conjectural. Reade's
first original dramatization of It's Never Too Late to Mend was
written by 1864 and produced in 1865. Coleman speaks in that
year of receiving from Laura Seymour a “yellow covered book”
of the text of the play, and this book, if printed, was the real first
edition. But I cannot prove the existence of a printed text at
that date, and prefer to give first place to the pamphlet here
described, although, because of the other plays mentioned on the
title-page, it cannot be of earlier date than 1872.
(iii) In July, 1860, a dramatization of Reade's novel had been
issued in Lacy's Acting Edition. Reade was rightly furious at the
unauthorized issue of this version, and hastened to prepare one
of his own. For the benefit of those interested I append details
of the pirate booklet.
NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND. A Drama of Real Life in Four
Acts, founded on Mr. Charles Reade's Popular Novel. By
Colin Hazlewood, author of The Return of the Wanderer,
Jenny Foster, Trials of Poverty, Going to Chobham, etc. etc.
Thomas Hailes Lacy, 89 Strand (opposite Southampton Street,
Covent Garden Market), London. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 7¼).
Pp. 65 + (1). List of plays occupies p. (66). Salmon-pink paper
wrappers, printed in black, uniform with the other volumes in
Lacy's Acting Editions. This volume is unnumbered.
THE LADIES' BATTLE: Or Un Duel en Amour:
A Comedy in Three Acts. By Charles Reade
Esq., author of Gold, Art, The Lost Husband, The
Foster Sisters, and one of the authors of Masks and
176Faces, Two Loves and a Life, King's Rival etc. etc.
London: Samuel French, Publisher, 89 Strand.
New York: Samuel French and Son, Publishers,
122 Nassau Street. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 7¼).
Pp. 41 + (3). Advertisements occupy pp. (43) and
(44). Salmon-pink paper wrappers, printed in
black, uniform with the other volumes in French's
(late Lacy's) Acting Editions, of which this is
No. 1609.
Note—This is a revised version of the play originally published
in 1851 (see above, p. 170).
THE WELL BORN WORKMAN: Or A Man of the
Day. By Charles Reade, author of Never Too
Late to Mend, Foul Play etc. London: Printed for
Williams and Strahan, 74 New Cut, Lambeth.
1878. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6⅞). Pp. 82 + (2).
Buff paper wrappers, printed in black, with the title
and sub-title of the play.
FOUL PLAY. Drama in a Prologue and Five Acts.
By Charles Reade. London. 1883. Printed by
J. C. Durant, Clement's House, Clement's Inn Passage,
Strand, W.C. But not published. 1 vol.
Demy 8vo (5½ × 8½). Pp. 72. Grey paper wrappers,
printed in black as title-page.
Note—This play was written in collaboration with Boucicault
and produced early in 1868. It was attacked on the ground
that it was pirated from a French drama: La Portefeuille Rouge.
Reade hotly denied that he had read or even heard of this French
play, and Coleman considers the denial to have been genuine
enough. He is, however, less certain that Boucicault was not
familiar with the supposed French original. Foul Play, as first
acted, was later revived under different titles—The Scuttled Ship
and Our Seaman. Perhaps the text described above and bearing
Reade's name only is a different version from that produced with
Boucicault. Of the text in collaboration I can trace no printed
issue.
177
KATE PEYTON: Or Jealousy: A Drama, in a prologue
and Four Acts. By Charles Reade. London:
1883. Printed by J. C. Durant, Clement's
House, Clement's Inn Passage, Strand, W.C.
1 vol. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8½). Pp. 76. Grey paper
wrappers, printed as title-page.
LOVE AND MONEY: An Original Drama in a Prologue
and Four Acts. By Charles Reade and
Henry Pettitt. London. 1883. Printed by J. C.
Durant, Clement's House, Clement's Inn Passage,
Strand, W.C. But not published. 1 vol. Small
Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7). Pp. 53 + (3). Grey paper wrappers
printed in black.
Note—There being no title-page to this pamphlet, the lettering
given above is that of the wrapper.
THE COUNTESS AND THE DANCER: Or High
Life in Vienna. A Comedy Drama in Four Acts.
Altered from a masterpiece of Victorien Sardou by
Charles Reade. London: 1883. 1 vol. Demy
8vo (5½ × 8⅜). Pp. vi + 60. Grey paper wrappers,
printed in black; wording as title-page.
The bibliography of Reade's plays is obscure and confusing.
I have listed in the foregoing pages only those of
the printed issue of which I have found certain evidence.
He is known, however, to have written many more,
some at least of which were probably printed privately.
178Wherefore it seems desirable here to supply such particulars
as can be found of the writing and acting of
Reade's other plays. The facts are taken mainly from
Coleman's book, which contains as an appendix a good
list of titles and dates of production. Unfortunately the
book itself is so confusingly put together that text and
appendix are far from complementary and at times even
in conflict.
The Way Things Turn.
The Dangerous Path.
The Lost Sisters.
Marguerite.
Lucrezia Borgia.
A Lady's Oath.
Christie Johnstone
(The novel of the same name was built, long after,
on the ruins of this unacceptable play).
The Village Tale (produced 1852)
(Based on Claudie, by George Sand. Revived in
1872 under the title Rachel the Reaper).
Art (produced 1852)
(An adaptation of Tiridate and later christened
Nance Oldfield).
Nobs and Snobs (produced 1854)
(Revived in 1865 under the title Honour before
Titles).
The First Printer (produced 1854).
Free Labour (produced 1870)
(A dramatic version of the novel Put Yourself in his
Place).
179Shilly Shally (produced 1872)
(An unauthorized dramatization of Anthony Trollope's
novel Ralph the Heir. Reade's action in
appropriating the story was deeply resented by
Trollope).
The Wandering Heir (produced 1872 or 1873)
(A dramatic version of the story of the same name).
Jealousy (produced 1875)
(An adaptation of Sardou's comedy Andrée, and
not to be confused with Reade's dramatizations of
his own novel Griffith Gaunt).
Rachel the Reaper (produced 1876)
(See above: A Village Tale).
Joan (produced 1876)
(Dramatized, without permission, from That Lass o'
Lowries, by Mrs. Hodgson Burnett).
Drink (produced 1879)
(Adapted from L'Assommoir by Emile Zola).
Single Heart and Double Face (produced 1882)
(A dramatic version of the story of the same name).
Although as an authority on matters sporting Whyte-Melville
stands alone, it is yet impossible, with the best
will in the world and with all the respect due to his personal
chivalry and courage, to regard him in the rôle of
novelist as anything but absurd.
His books, where they deal with the science and the
joys of hunting, have the vivid appeal that only delighted
conviction can give; but as fiction, as readings
of life adequately expressed in English prose, they are
negligible and often ludicrous.
Whyte-Melville, the sportsman, is a figure of dignity
and inspiration; Whyte-Melville, the social novelist, is
Ouida in breeches. That the breeches are of perfect cut
may not disguise the conventional swagger of the legs
they cover. The ways trodden by this author in his
search for character and incident are the exclusive ways
of Victorian landlordism. Their pavements are thronged
with fair ladies and brave gentlemen, while in the roadway
crowd the lower orders—some mildly criminal, some
a little comic, but the majority joyous in their privilege
to serve the brilliant purpose of their betters. The
antics of these humble creatures are watched with kindly
patronage by those to whom wealth and pleasure are a
normal birthright. Conversing among themselves,
heartily but with elegance, the Guardsmen and squirelings
of the fashionable clubs find time to exchange
gracious greeting with their poorer neighbours, whose
uncouth speech strikes quaintly pleasant on their cultured
ears. An instruction is given; half a sovereign changes
hands; a cap is dutifully touched. God willed that of
His creatures some be rich and others poor; let the
former bear themselves honourably and remember (when
not otherwise engaged) the duties of their station; let
184the latter be happy in the lot to which Providence has
called them.
But genial condescension to his dependants is not the
only or even the main business of the Whyte-Melville
gentleman. His life has two absorbing interests—horses
and ladies. To a point these interests merge. With
identical expertise he takes the points of a fine girl and
of a blood mare. The former in her drawing-room, the
latter in her stable, await in gleaming beauty his appreciative
caress. At their point of ultimate usefulness,
however, femininity and horseflesh part company. The
latter is the hero's ally, the former his quarry in the
chase; and while his adventures on horseback are told
with the zest and knowledge of real authority, his exploits
in lady-killing have the tedious unreality of a tale
only half imagined and not a quarter lived.
It is for the falseness of his emotional writing that
Whyte-Melville challenges comparison with Ouida.
And, the comparison made, one is bound to concede victory
to the latter. Both deal in the passions of the nobly
born; but while the woman has at least the courage of
bad taste, the man, fettered by good form, achieves no
taste at all. Whyte-Melville's novels, like Hamlet, are
full of quotations. He is the father of novelette; the
wellspring of cliché. His lovely ladies are not women
nor his gallants men: they are the dummies of suburban
melodrama, exquisitely gowned, faultlessly tailored,
mouthing the phrases of drawing-room passionates,
but, even as dummies, failing to achieve that semblance
of gilded sin that is their only purpose.
Nevertheless, despite their ineptitude, the books of
Whyte-Melville compel a curious and obscure respect.
Respect for what it were hard to say, for his written word
is his own deadliest accuser. Sentences might be chosen
almost at random from the novels of social life that would
prove his possession of every fault possible to a novelist
and to a writer of prose. And yet, through the screen of
their fatuity, one has glimpses of the personality of the
author himself—a personality at which one may make
185mock, but only with affection. This country gentleman
turned novelist was an upright, guileless creature, hard
riding, generous hearted, as unconscious of his innate
snobbery as of his natural modesty, conventional because
unaware of any world or school of thought beyond
the narrow limits of his own. His pictures of England
are as dull and as unreal as the pretty garden scenes in
water-colour produced by county ladies to this day; but
both the painter of these lifeless pictures and the comfortable
amateurs responsible for horrid views of moorland
and herbaceous border command a sort of wistful
admiration. There is something so clean and easy and
contented in the mentality from which these books and
drawings spring that, if only it were not so stupid, so
impenetrable to variety of idea, its passing might well
be looked on with regret. Whyte-Melville's qualities,
like those of the type he represents, are more obscure
than his defects. The class of country gentleman to
which he personally belonged is rapidly disappearing;
when it is gone we shall wonder a little perplexedly why
we miss it. It was so easy to ridicule, so pathetically a
target for mockery and persecution. In our greater
wisdom we have shot it to pieces, riddling its obtuse
selfishness, its bland complacency, with the bullets of
reforming zeal. But something fine will have perished
with it, something indefinable but leaving a sense of gap,
to remind us that destruction is never quite the discriminating
triumph that iconoclasts claim for it in
advance.
This, then, is one contemporary view of Whyte-Melville's
novels, whose only demonstrable virtue is
their sportsmanship. One may quote from Market
Harborough, from Riding Recollections, even from the
social stories, passages of speed and exhilaration, passages
of unaffected wisdom and perception, descriptive
of the hunting that, next to honour, he loved best of all
that life could offer. In opposition may be printed page
after page of stilted rhetoric, mawkish humour, the
falsest of sentiment, the most wanton elaboration of noun
186and adjective. But after all quotation is done and a
balance struck, there will still remain the elusive quality
that gave character to the class from which the author
came, an essence of breeding and tradition that no phrasing
can crystallize, that vanishes in the moment of its
expression. For this spiritual quality Whyte-Melville
is admirable; for his literary faults he is unreadable.
Such, in a nutshell, is the judgment of one reader who
cannot excuse a book stupidity and pretentiousness for
the sake of isolated passages of hunting lore, but seeks
to appreciate in the character of a social generation that
is fading fast, a distinction that to all seeming will fade
with it.
There are, however, readers of other kinds, and for
their sake and because among our grandmothers and
our aunts the stories of Whyte-Melville were avidly
admired, a summary classification of his books shall be
attempted.
He began as a writer of autobiographies, of the part-fashionable,
part-sporting, part-knockabout kind, the
tradition of which came down from the eighteenth century,
through Frederick Marryat, to a dozen writers of
the hard-drinking, riotous forties. Digby Grand (1853)
and Tilbury Nogo (1854) are essentially novels of this
type, while in Kate Coventry (1856) the author merely
adapts the recipe to the needs of a girl heroine. The
Interpreter (1858) strikes a note of its own, for the scenes
in the Crimea and in Turkey were drawn from the
writer's experience and give a convincing picture of the
period and its happenings. Apart from them, however,
the book is an ordinary first-person record of the social
wanderings of a young Englishman of family.
Between the second and the third of the books above
mentioned had appeared General Bounce (1855), a
transitional novel, not wholly apart from those that preceded
it, but halfway to a place among the stories of
contemporary love-making and sport, of which the
author was to produce a lengthy list. These novels of
English society contain much of the most repellent of
187Whyte-Melville's work, although many have refreshing
interludes of hunting and scenes on the racecourse or in
the stable that will endear them to specialists in the
genre, if they cannot reconcile others to the artificial
tedium of the love stories and the clumsy contriving of
the plots. Here are the titles of the social novels:
General Bounce (1855),
Good for Nothing (1861),
The Brookes of Bridlemere (1864),
The White Rose (1868),
M or N (1869),
Contraband (1871),
Satanella (1872),
Uncle John (1874),
Roy's Wife (1878),
Black but Comely (1879).
Next in numerical importance are the costume novels,
beloved of an earlier generation, but to the critical
modern reader the poorest of poor stuff, so compact of
Wardour Street, of hollow sentiment, and of forced,
démodé attitude as to be intolerable.
Holmby House (1860)
(A tale of the Civil War with a strong bias in favour
of the Cavalier party),
The Queen's Maries (1862)
(A romantic tribute to Mary, Queen of Scots),
The Gladiators (1863)
(A novel of Rome and Judæa at the time of Christ),
Cerise (1866)
(An eighteenth-century tale),
Sarchedon (1871)
(A novel centring round the figure of Semiramis),
Sister Louise (1876)
(A novel of seventeenth-century France),
Rosine (1877)
(A novel of the French Revolution).
188There remain two books of purely sporting significance,
and Katerfelto.
Market Harborough (1861), the pride of the Pytchley,
is hardly a novel. It is a string of hunting and horse-dealing
episodes into which Whyte-Melville threw all
that he had of science and of enthusiasm. Riding
Recollections (1878) are what their name implies. It is
not for any but the expert to criticize these books, which
are held in some quarters to be essential textbooks to a
hunting education. Katerfelto (1875) will also escape
comment here, but for a different reason. Among my
childhood memories this Exmoor tale glows adored,
uncriticized. How will it read to-day? To put it to
the test frightens me. I dare not open it.
189
HORACE: Odes, Epodes and Carmen Sæculare
Translated into English verse by G. J. Whyte
Melville Esq., late Coldstream Guards. London:
Simpkin, Marshall and Co., Stationers Hall Court.
1850. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8½). Pp. (viii) + 120.
Dark green cloth, blocked in gold and blind. Yellow
end-papers.
DIGBY GRAND: An Autobiography. By G. J.
Whyte Melville. London: John W. Parker and
Son, West Strand. 1853. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo
(4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 303 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. iv + 312 + (4). No half-title. Publishers'
advertisements, paged 1-4, occupy pp. (313) to (316).
Red cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in February, 1853. The story
appeared serially in “Fraser's Magazine.”
TILBURY NOGO: Or Passages in the Life of an
Unsuccessful Man. By the author of Digby
Grand. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly.
1854. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 8¾).
190Vol. I. pp. iv + 310 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 348.
No half-titles. Brown cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1854. The story appeared
serially in “The Sporting Magazine.”
GENERAL BOUNCE: Or The Lady and The
Locusts. By G. J. Whyte Melville. London:
John W. Parker and Son, West Strand. 1855.
2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 296 + (4). Advertisement of
Digby Grand occupies verso of half-title. Publishers'
advertisements, numbered 1 to 4, occupy
pp. (297) to (300).
Vol. II. pp. iv + 278 + (2). No half-title. Publishers'
advertisements occupy pp. (279) to (280).
Pale brown cloth, gilt. Pale brick end-papers.
Note—Although dated 1855 this book was actually published
in December, 1854. The story appeared serially in “Fraser's
Magazine.”
KATE COVENTRY: An Autobiography. Edited by
G. J. Whyte Melville, author of Digby Grand.
Originally published in “Fraser's Magazine.”
London: John W. Parker and Son, West Strand.
1856. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾). Advertisement
of books by the same author occupies p. (323)
and publishers' list p. (324). Scarlet ribbed cloth,
gilt, blocked in black. Chalk-blue end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1856.
191
THE ARAB'S RIDE TO CAIRO: A Legend of the
Desert. By G. J. Whyte Melville. Illustrated
and Illuminated by Mrs. Wolfe Murray. Seton &
Mackenzie, Edinburgh. Houlston & Stoneman,
London. 1 vol. Fcap. 4to (6⅞ × 8¼). Pp. 14. Red
cloth, full gilt, blocked in gold, or green morocco,
full gilt, tooled in gold and black. Yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This volume was published in January, 1857.
(ii) It is hardly a book in the ordinary sense, consisting, as it
does, of 14 pp. of stout card printed on one side only. Each page
is printed in three or more colours, vaguely after the style of an
illuminated MS. Pseudo-gothic lettering is used throughout, and
the whole volume is typical of the Victorian table book at its most
ornate.
THE INTERPRETER: A Tale of the War. By
G. J. Whyte Melville, Author of Digby Grand,
General Bounce etc. etc. Originally published in
“Fraser's Magazine.” London: John Parker and
Son, West Strand. 1858. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 7⅝). Pp. iv + 431 + (1). No half-title. Publishers'
catalogue, 8 pp., bound in at end. Red
cloth, gilt, blocked in black, uniform with Kate
Coventry. Chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published in January, 1858.
HOLMBY HOUSE: A Tale of Old Northants. By
G. J. Whyte Melville. Author of Digby Grand,
The Interpreter etc. Originally published in
“Fraser's Magazine.” London: John Parker and
Son, West Strand, 1860. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 325 + (3). Pp. (i) and (ii) precede
frontispiece and form technically a half-title, but
p. (i) is not printed as such. Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (327) and (328).
192Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 344 + (4). No half-title. Publishers'
advertisements, numbered 1 to 4, occupy
pp. (345) to (348).
Frontispiece in coloured lithograph to Vol. I.,
printed separately. Red-brown cloth, gilt. Chocolate
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in March, 1860.
MARKET HARBOROUGH: Or How Mr. Sawyer
went to the Shires. London: Chapman and
Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1861. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7½).
Pp. viii + 312. Olive-green cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in April, 1861.
GOOD FOR NOTHING: Or All Down Hill. By
G. J. Whyte Melville. Author of Digby Grand,
The Interpreter, Holmby House etc. Originally
published in “Fraser's Magazine.” London:
Parker, Son and Bourn, West Strand. 1861.
2 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 298 + (2). Publishers' advertisements
occupy p. (299).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 265 + (3). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (267) and (268).
No half-titles. Maroon cloth, gilt. Chocolate
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in December, 1861.
MARKET HARBOROUGH: Or How Mr. Sawyer
Went to the Shires. 4th Edition. INSIDE
THE BAR: Or Sketches at Soakington. By
the author of Digby Grand etc. London: Chapman
and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1862. 1 vol. Cr.
1938vo (4¾ × 7½). Pp. iv + 393 + (3). Buff cloth, printed,
in red and black. White end-papers, of which the
first inside front is printed with publishers' advertisements.
Note—This volume is the first edition of Inside the Bar. It was
published in April, 1862.
THE QUEEN'S MARIES: A Romance of Holyrood.
By G. J. Whyte Melville, Author of Digby
Grand, The Interpreter, Holmby House, Good for
Nothing etc. London: Parker, Son and Bourn,
West Strand. 1862. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 304.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 254 + (2). Publishers' advertisements
occupy p. (255), and 8 pp. advertisements,
printed on text paper but numbered 1 to 8, are
bound in at end.
No half-titles, but in Vol. II. 2 pp. blank precede
title. Violet cloth, gilt. Chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1862.
THE GLADIATORS: A Tale of Rome and Judæa.
By G. J. Whyte Melville, author of Digby Grand,
The Interpreter, Holmby House, The Queen's
Maries etc. London: Longman, Green, Longman,
Roberts and Green. 1863. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. iv + 324.
Vol. II. pp. iv + 305 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. iv + 291 + (1).
No half-titles. Red embossed cloth, gilt, blocked
in gold and blind. Pale chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was announced for publication by Parker in
November, 1863. In January, 1864, it appeared over Longmans'
imprint, but dated 1863. Whether any copies are in existence with
a Parker imprint I do not know; if so they are the real first
edition.
194
THE BROOKES OF BRIDLEMERE. By G. J.
Whyte Melville. Author of The Gladiators,
Digby Grant (sic), The Interpreter, Holmby House,
The Queen's Maries etc. London: Chapman and
Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1864. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo
(4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 293 + (3).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 307 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 293 + (3). Publishers' catalogue,
36 pp., and dated October, 1864, bound in
at end.
No half-titles. Red cloth, gilt. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published on October 29, 1864.
CERISE: A Tale of the Last Century. By G. J. Whyte
Melville, author of The Gladiators, Digby Grand,
The Brookes of Bridlemere etc. London: Chapman
and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1866. 3 vols. Ex.
Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. iv + 309 + (3).
Vol. II. pp. iv + 301+ (3).
Vol. III. pp. iv + 318 + (2).
No half-titles. Magenta cloth, gilt, blocked in
blind. Pale cream end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in April, 1866.
(ii) Cerise was rapidly reprinted, and it is curious to report that
copies of the third edition exist with publishers' catalogue at the
end of Vol. III. dated March, 1866—i.e., prior to the book's first
publication. The first edition contained no catalogue.
THE WHITE ROSE. By G. J. Whyte Melville,
author of Cerise, The Gladiators, Brookes of
Bridlemere etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193
Piccadilly. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
195Vol. I. pp. vii + (i) + 262 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 263 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. vii + (i) + 252.
Red-purple cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Pale
yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in February, 1868.
BONES AND I: Or The Skeleton at Home. By
G. J. Whyte Melville. Author of The Gladiators,
Cerise, Digby Grand etc. London: Chapman and
Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1869. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo
(4¾ × 7⅜). Pp. iv + 287 + (1). No half-title. Brown
cloth, gilt. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1869.
SONGS AND VERSES. By G. J. Whyte-Melville.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1869.
1 vol. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½). Pp. vii + (i) + 136. Errata
slip inserted at p. 1. Dark red cloth, gilt, blocked
in black. Pale yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in September, 1869.
(ii) The author revised and added to the poems in this book on
several occasions after its original publication. Strictly speaking,
any new edition which contains even one fresh poem may rank as
a first edition, and collectors of Whyte-Melville, who are also
purists, may therefore be advised not to pass over any one of the
first six or seven editions of Songs and Verses without satisfying
themselves that no fresh matter distinguishes it from its
predecessors.
M. OR N. “Similia Similibus Curantur.” By G. J.
Whyte-Melville. Author of Digby Grand,
Cerise, The Gladiators etc. London: Chapman
and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1869. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo
(5 × 7½).
196Vol. I. pp. vi + 312 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. vi + 313 + (3). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (315) (316).
Light brown (or brown) embossed cloth, gilt,
blocked in blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published on October 15, 1869. I do not
know which shade of binding is the earlier.
CONTRABAND: Or A Losing Hazard. By G. J.
Whyte-Melville. Author of Digby Grand,
Cerise, The White Rose etc. London: Chapman
and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1871. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo
(5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. vi + 307 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. vi + 281 + (1).
Bright blue cloth, blocked in gold and blind.
Yellow end-papers.
Note—Although this book is dated 1871, it was actually
published in December, 1870.
SARCHEDON: A Legend of the Great Queen. By
G. J. Whyte Melville. Author of The Gladiators,
Holmby House, etc. London: Chapman and Hall,
193 Piccadilly. 1871. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 289 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (vi) + 270.
Vol. III. pp. (vi) + 251 + (1).
Bright blue cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Pale
chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1871.
SATANELLA: A Story of Punchestown. By G. J.
Whyte-Melville. London: Chapman and Hall,
193 Piccadilly. 1872. 2 vols. Sm. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7¼).
Vol. I. pp. vii + (i) + 260.
Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 267 + (1).
197Lithographed frontispiece to each volume printed
separately and one other similar illustration in vol. ii.
Red (or maroon) cloth, blocked in black and gold.
Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1872. I do not know
which shade of binding is the earlier.
THE TRUE CROSS: A Legend of the Church. By
G. J. Whyte-Melville. Author of The Gladiators,
Sarchedon etc. London: Chapman and Hall,
193 Piccadilly. 1873. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜).
Pp. (iv) + 241 + (1). Publishers' catalogue, 32 pp.,
dated January, 1873, bound in at end. Green (or
chocolate) cloth, blocked in black and gold. Pale
yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in March, 1873.
(ii) Copies in red-brown cloth, gilt, without decorative blocking,
are of later issue, although they sometimes contain a catalogue of
the original date. Which shade of the original binding is the
earlier, I do not know.
UNCLE JOHN: A Novel. By G. J. Whyte-Melville.
Author of Market Harborough, The Gladiators,
Kate Coventry, Satanella etc. etc. London:
Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1874. 3 vols.
Cr. 8vo (5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 267 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (viii) + 236.
Vol. III. pp. (viii) + 218 + (2).
Green cloth, blocked in black and gold. Pale
yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in August, 1874.
KATERFELTO: A Story of Exmoor. By G. J.
Whyte-Melville, author of Digby Grand, Cerise,
Uncle John etc. With Illustrations by Colonel
198Hope Crealocke, C.B. London: Chapman and
Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1875. 1 vol. Demy 8vo
(5⅝ × 8⅝). Pp. (iv) + 291 + (1). No half-title. Publishers'
catalogue, 34 pp., dated November, 1874,
bound in at end. Twelve illustrations in lithograph,
printed separately. Dark red cloth, blocked
in gold. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—Although dated 1875, this book was actually published
in December, 1874.
SISTER LOUISE: Or The Story of a Woman's
Repentance. By G. J. Whyte-Melville, Author
of Digby Grand, The Gladiators, Katerfelto. With
Illustrations by Miriam Kerns. London: Chapman
and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1876. 1 vol.
Demy 8vo (5⅜ × 8⅝). Pp. xii + 268. Publishers'
catalogue, 32 pp., dated December, 1875, bound in
at end. Eight illustrations, roughly lithographed.
Green cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Chocolate end-papers.
Notes—(i) Although dated 1876, this book was actually published
in December, 1875.
(ii) Copies without catalogue and with yellow end-papers are
probably of a subsequent issue.
ROSINE. By J. G. [sic] Whyte-Melville, Author
of Cerise, Katerfelto etc. etc. With illustrations by
Miriam Kerns. London: Chapman and Hall, 193
Piccadilly, 1877. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5¾ × 8⅝).
Pp. (vi) + 266. Publishers' catalogue, 36 pp., dated
December, 1876, bound in at end. Eight illustrations.
Magenta cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Very
dark green end-papers.
Notes—(i) Although dated 1877, this book was actually published
in December, 1876.
(ii) Copies in maroon cloth, gilt, blocked in black but without
other decoration on side save a simple rectangular frame are of
later issue.
199
RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. By G. J. Whyte-Melville.
With Illustrations by Edgar Giberne.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1878.
1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (5¼ × 7⅞). Pp. xii + 251 + (1).
Publishers' catalogue, 32 pp., dated November,
1877, bound in at end. Eight illustrations, being
photographs from drawings pasted on to thin card.
Dark brickish-red cloth, blocked in black and gold.
Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in April, 1878.
ROY'S WIFE: A Novel. By G. J. Whyte-Melville.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1878.
2 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. vi + 299 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. vi + 310.
Olive-brown cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Cream
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1878.
BLACK BUT COMELY: Or The Adventures of
Jane Lee. By G. J. Whyte-Melville. London:
Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1879. 3 vols.
Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 303 + (i).
Vol. II. pp. viii + 304.
Vol. III. pp. viii + 292 + (4). Publishers' advertisements
occupy pp. (293) to (296). Publishers'
catalogue, 32 pp., dated December, 1878, bound in
at end.
A four-page slip of publishers' advertisements
should be found inserted between the front end-papers
200of Vol. I. This slip predates the catalogue
in Vol. III. Blue-grey cloth, gilt, blocked in black.
Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in January, 1879.
THE BONES AT ROTHWELL: A Lecture delivered
by the late Captain Whyte Melville, being an
account of the remarkable bone cavern beneath
Rothwell Church. Price 1d. Rothwell, printed
by Ed. Chamberlain, 3 Market Place. (Quotation
from Gray's Elegy heads title-page and wrapper.)
1 vol. Cr. 8vo. 16 pp. White paper wrappers,
printed in black. Outside back wrapper occupied
by printer's advertisements.
Note—This is the text of a lecture delivered by Whyte-Melville
on January 3, 1862, to the Moulton Religious and Useful Knowledge
Society, and printed in the “Northampton Mercury” for
January 11 of the same year. When first the pamphlet above
described was issued I cannot be certain, but R. B. Wallis, in a
booklet published in 1888, and entitled All About the Rothwell
Bones, speaks of the lecture as obtainable in pamphlet form from
Chamberlan of Rothwell. Certainly, therefore, the publication
predates 1888, and I have ventured above on the date of the year
following Whyte-Melville's death because it seems possible that the
lecture was first issued in pamphlet form to combine the interest
in the Rothwell Bones with that likely to be created in Whyte-Melville
by his decease. The clumsiness with which Whyte-Melville
is spoken of as “the late,” but at the same time given the
rank of “Captain” instead of that of “Major,” implies a hasty
reprint from the file of the “Northampton Mercury,” by someone
aware of his death but careless of the military rank to which he
finally attained.
The colour of the paper wrapper varies with different issues.
In addition to a white copy, as above described, I have seen one
in a pale yellow cover.
MRS. GASKELL: Haunts, Homes and Stories. By
Esther A. Chadwick. London. 1910.
MRS. GASKELL. By the same. London. 1913.
MRS. GASKELL. By A. E. Bayley. (Women
Novelists of Queen Victoria's Reign.) London.
1897.
MRS. GASKELL AND KNUTSFORD. By G. A.
Payne. London. 1906.
Much valuable bibliographical information is contained
in two little books by Mr. John Albert Green of
the Manchester Reference Library:
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE TO THE GASKELL
COLLECTION IN THE MOSS-SIDE
LIBRARY. Manchester. 1911.
CATALOGUE of an Exhibition of Books and Autographs
illustrating the Life and Work of Mrs. E. C.
Gaskell. Manchester. 1911.
Students may also be referred to:
GASKELL BIBLIOGRAPHY. A list of the writings
of Mrs. E. C. Gaskell and of the Rev. William
Gaskell. By Wm. E. A. and Ernest Axon. Manchester.
1895.
204
MARY BARTON: A Tale of Manchester Life.
(Quotation from Carlyle.) London: Chapman and
Hall, 186 Strand. MDCCCXLVIII. 2 vols. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (x) [paged as viii] + 317 + (3). The
place of half-title and verso is taken by a publishers'
advertisement, 2 pp., listing: “Chapman and Hall's
Series of Original Works in Fiction, Biography,
and General Literature.”
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 312.
No half-titles. Ribbed mulberry cloth, gilt,
blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1848.
LIBBIE MARSH'S THREE ERAS: A Lancashire
Tale. London: Hamilton Adams and Co. 1 vol.
16mo. Pp. 72. Paper wrappers printed with title
of story.
Note—This story first appeared in 1847, in Vol. I. of “Howitt's
Journal,” over the pseudonym “Cotton Mather Mills.” It was
issued by Chapman and Hall over the author's name in 1855 as a
fourpenny pamphlet of twenty-four pages.
*THE SEXTON'S HERO AND CHRISTMAS
STORMS AND SUNSHINE. Contributed by
the authoress of Mary Barton. For the benefit of
205the Macclesfield Public Baths and Washhouses.
Manchester: Johnson, Rawson and Co. 1850.
1 vol. Cr. 8vo. Pp. 28. Paper wrappers.
Note—These stories first appeared in 1847 and 1848 in Vols. II.
and III. of “Howitt's Journal,” over the pseudonym “Cotton
Mather Mills.” They were reissued under one cover by Chapman
and Hall in 1855 over the author's name.
*LIZZIE LEIGH: A Domestic Tale from “Household
Words.” By Charles Dickens. New York.
Dewitt and Davenport. 1850. 1 vol. 12mo. Buff
paper wrappers printed in black with wording as
above.
Note—This pamphlet was a pirated edition of a story published
anonymously in “Household Words” and rashly assumed by the
pirates to have been written by Dickens. It made a further
appearance the next year in The Irving Offering (New York, 1851),
still over Dickens' name.
THE MOORLAND COTTAGE. By the author of
Mary Barton. With illustrations by Birket Foster.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1850.
1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. (viii) + 182 + (2).
Advertisement of Mary Barton occupies p. (183).
Line-engraved frontispiece and picture title-page
precede printed title-page. Other line-engraved
illustrations here and there in the text. Maroon
cloth, full gilt, blocked in gold and blind. Pale
yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in December, 1850.
RUTH: A Novel. By the author of Mary Barton
(Quotation from Phineas Fletcher.) London:
Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1853. 3 vols.
Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅞).
206Vol. I. pp. (ii) + 298. Publishers' advertisements,
36 pp., dated 1853, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 328.
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 311 + (1).
No half-titles. Dull purple cloth, gilt, blocked in
blind. Yellow end-papers, of which those at front
of Vols. I. and II. are printed with publishers'
advertisements.
Note—This book was published in January, 1853.
CRANFORD. By the author of Mary Barton, Ruth
etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly.
1853. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. iv + 324.
No half-title. Olive-green embossed cloth, blocked
in gold and blind. Yellow end-papers.
*TWO LECTURES ON LANCASHIRE DIALECT.
By the author of Mary Barton. London: Chapman
and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾).
Paper wrappers.
LIZZIE LEIGH AND OTHER TALES. By the
Author of Mary Barton, Ruth etc. Cheap Edition.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1855.
1 vol. Sm. Cr. 8vo (4½ × 7). Pp. (viii) + 304.
Yellow paper boards.
Contents: The Well of Pen Morfa—The Heart of John Middleton—Disappearances—The
Old Nurse's Story—Traits and Stories
of the Huguenots—Moreton Hall—My French Master—The
Squire's Story—Company Manners—Mr. Harrison's Confessions—Libbie
Marsh's Three Eras—The Sexton's Hero—Christmas
Storms and Sunshine—Hand and Heart—Bessie's Troubles at
Home.
This is the first edition of all the above stories, with the exception
of Lizzie Leigh, Libbie Marsh's Three Eras, The Sexton's
207Hero, Christmas Storms and Sunshine, Hand and Heart, and
Bessie's Troubles at Home.
Notes—(i) This book was published in September, 1855. It is
a volume in Chapman and Hall's Select Library of Fiction, published
at two shillings.
(ii) It may be of interest to enthusiasts to know that Lizzie Leigh
was adapted for the stage by W. R. Waldron and published in
May, 1872, as No. 1393 in Lacy's Acting Editions of British Plays.
Mrs. Gaskell must be absolved from all responsibility for this
dramatization.
NORTH AND SOUTH. By the author of Mary
Barton, Ruth, Cranford etc. London: Chapman
and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1855. 2 vols. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 320. Advertisement of previous
works by the same author occupies p. (i), preceding
half-title. Publishers' advertisements, 4 pp., bound
in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 361 + (1).
Dark brown cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in March, 1855.
*HAND AND HEART and BESSIE'S TROUBLES
AT HOME. By the author of Mary Barton.
London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1855.
Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Paper wrappers.
THE LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË, Author of
Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette ETC. By E. C. Gaskell,
author of Mary Barton, Ruth etc. (Quotation from
Aurora Leigh.) London: Smith Elder and Co.,
65 Cornhill. 1857. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 8).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 352.
Vol. II. pp. viii + 327 + (1). Publishers' catalogue,
16 pp., dated March, 1857, bound in at end.
208Three illustrations in steel engraving—two in
Vol. I., one in Vol. II.—all printed separately.
Dark brown cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in April, 1857.
ROUND THE SOFA. By the author of Mary Barton,
Life of Charlotte Brontë etc. etc. London: Sampson
Low Son and Co., 47 Ludgate Hill. 1859.
2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 340. Publishers' advertisement
slip, printed on yellow paper, should be found inserted
between the front end-papers.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 297 + (1). Publishers' catalogue,
12 pp., printed on text paper and dated
March, 1859, bound in at end.
No half-titles. Scarlet embossed cloth, gilt,
blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Contents: Vol. I., Round the Sofa—My Lady Ludlow. Vol. II.,
The Accursed Race—The Doom of the Griffiths—Half a Life-time
Ago—The Poor Clare—The Half-Brothers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in March, 1859.
(ii) It should be observed that only Vol. II. contains a list of
contents, the corresponding page (iv) in Vol. I. being occupied by
an author's note.
RIGHT AT LAST: And Other Tales. By the author
of Mary Barton, Life of Charlotte Brontë, Round
the Sofa etc. etc. London: Sampson Low Son and
Co., 47 Ludgate Hill. 1860. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo
(4⅞ × 7¾). Pp. (vi) + 318. No half-title. Scarlet
embossed cloth, gilt, uniform with Round the Sofa.
Yellow end-papers.
Contents: Right at Last—The Manchester Marriage—Lois the
Witch—The Crooked Branch.
Note—This book was published on May 10, 1860.
209
LOIS THE WITCH AND OTHER TALES. By
E. C. Gaskell, author of Mary Barton, The Life
of Charlotte Brontë. Copyright edition. Leipzig:
Bernhard Tauchnitz. 1 vol. (4½ × 6¼). Pp. (viii) +
338 + (2). Usual Tauchnitz paper wrappers.
Contents: Lois the Witch, The Grey Woman, The Doom of the
Griffiths, The Half-Brothers, The Crooked Branch.
Note—This is a first edition of The Grey Woman.
SYLVIA'S LOVERS. By Mrs. Gaskell, author of
The Life of Charlotte Brontë, Mary Barton, Ruth,
North and South etc. (Quotation from Tennyson.)
London: Smith, Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill.
MDCCCLXIII. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅝).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 310 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 294. No half-title.
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 284 + (4). No half-title. Advertisement
of The Life of Charlotte Brontë occupies
pp. (285) to (288).
Magenta cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Greenish-buff
end-papers.
Note—This book was published in March, 1863.
A DARK NIGHT'S WORK. By Mrs. Gaskell,
author of Sylvia's Lovers, Life of Charlotte Brontë,
Mary Barton, Ruth etc. etc. London: Smith
Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill. MDCCCLXIII. 1 vol.
Slim Cr. 8vo (4½ × 7⅝). Pp. (iv) + 299 + (1). Brown
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Cream end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1863.
210
THE GREY WOMAN: And Other Tales. By Mrs.
Gaskell, Author of Mary Barton, North and South,
Sylvia's Lovers, Cousin Phillis, Cranford etc. Illustrated
Edition. London: Smith, Elder and Co.,
65 Cornhill. MDCCCLXV. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Pp. (iv) + 280. No half-title. Wood-engraved frontispiece
and picture title-page precede printed title.
Two illustrations in course of the text, wood engraved
and printed separately. Red embossed cloth,
gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Contents: The Grey Woman—Curious if True—Six Weeks at
Heppenheim—Libbie Marsh's Three Eras—Christmas Storms and
Sunshine—Hand and Heart—Bessie's Troubles at Home—Disappearances.
Note—This book was published in October, 1865. It is a first
edition of Curious if True and Six Weeks at Heppenheim.
COUSIN PHILLIS: And Other Tales. By Mrs.
Gaskell, author of Mary Barton, North and
South, Sylvia's Lovers, Cranford etc. London:
Smith, Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill.
MDCCCLXV. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½). Pp. (iv) +
286 + (2). Publishers' advertisements occupy pp.
(287) and (288). No half-title. Wood-engraved
frontispiece and picture title-page, printed separately,
precede printed title. Two illustrations in
the course of the text, wood engraved and printed
separately. Red embossed cloth, blocked in gold
and blind. Uniform with The Grey Woman.
Cream end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in December, 1865.
(ii) It is a first edition of Cousin Phillis, which story appeared
serially in the “Cornhill.”
211
WIVES AND DAUGHTERS: An Everyday Story.
By Mrs. Gaskell. With 18 illustrations by George
du Maurier. London: Smith, Elder and Co.,
65 Cornhill. 1866. 2 vols. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8⅝).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 336.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 332.
No half-titles. Ten illustrations in Vol. I. and
eight in Vol. II., all wood engraved and printed
separately. Maroon cloth, blocked in gold. Pale
yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in February, 1866. The story
appeared serially in the “Cornhill.”
The Knutsford edition of Mrs. Gaskell's works
(Smith, Elder and Co., 1906, 8 vols.), edited by A. W.
Ward, contained in Vols. I., III., VI., and VII.
material not previously issued in book form. Further
additional matter (notably a chapter of Cranford) was
published by Clement Shorter in the edition of Mrs.
Gaskell's works edited by him for The World's
Classics. The same authority published an edition of
The Life of Charlotte Brontë in 1900 (Smith, Elder) with
many valuable notes. He has also issued a privately
printed edition of Mrs. Gaskell's Letters on Charlotte
Brontë, but this booklet, in accordance with the plan of
the present volume, is not herein specifically listed.
Full details of the various appearances of Gaskell miscellanea
(with the exception of that last mentioned above)
will be found in J. A. Green's Bibliographical Guide to
the Gaskell Collection, referred to on p. 203.
212
VISITS TO REMARKABLE PLACES: Old Halls,
Battle Fields, and Scenes illustrative of striking
passages in English History and Poetry. By William
Howitt, author of The Rural Life of England,
Boy's Country-Book etc. Illustrated by Samuel
Williams. London: Longman, Orme, Brown,
Green and Longmans. MDCCCXL. 1 vol. Med. 8vo
(5¾ × 9). Pp. vii + (i) + 526. No half-title. Wood-engraved
vignette on title-page and numerous other
illustrations. Pp. 130 to 146 are occupied by an
account of Clopton Hall, written by Mrs. Gaskell.
Fawn cloth, blocked in gold.
*THE SICKNESS AND HEALTH OF THE
PEOPLE OF BLAEBURN. By the author of
Mary Barton. Boston. 1853. 1 vol. 12mo. Paper
wrappers.
Note—This is a reprint (unauthorized) of a story that appeared
anonymously in Vol. I. of “Household Words.” The attribution
to Mrs. Gaskell is a mistake, Harriet Martineau being the real
author of the tale.
MABEL VAUGHAN. By the author of The Lamplighter.
Edited, by arrangement with the author,
by Mrs. Gaskell, author of Mary Barton. London:
213Sampson Low, Son and Co., 47 Ludgate Hill.
1857. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. viii + 459 + (1).
Publishers' catalogue, 12 pp., paged but undated,
bound in at end. Line-engraved frontispiece,
printed separately. Dark green cloth, blocked in
gold and blind. Pale yellow end-papers. Also
issued simultaneously in boards.
Note—This book was published in September, 1857.
GARIBALDI AT CAPRERA. By Colonel Vecchi.
Translated from the Italian. With Preface by Mrs.
Gaskell. Cambridge: Macmillan and Co., and
23 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. London.
1862. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6⅝). Pp. xi + (i) +
130 + (2). Publishers' advertisement occupies p. (131).
Publishers' catalogue, 16 pp., undated, bound in at
end. Frontispiece in tinted lithograph, showing
Garibaldi's house. Scarlet cloth, blocked in gold.
Chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published in February or March, 1862.
At intervals during the last forty years, Herman Melville
has been discovered by intellectuals, belauded, a
little read, and once more forgotten. It is typical of the
man and of his perverse withdrawal from the lettered
world, that even before his death he was the subject of
spasmodic battues by appreciative readers, who sought
to startle into activity their idol's reputation by methods
suited to the enlivenment of an author long dead and
hidden by the undergrowth of time.
The latest and the most thorough stimulation to which
the repute of Melville has been subjected is now at full
stretch. Whatever its critical shortcomings, this concerted
attempt to write a new name on the roll of nineteenth-century
genius bids fair to achieve one important
triumph—the immortalization of Moby Dick and, consequentially,
of the man who wrote it.
A very minor result of the same Melville boom is his
inclusion in this book. Save in the matter of date, he
has little in common with the other writers here treated.
They are of Victorianism Victorian; he, if he belongs to
any period or to any genealogy, is of the ageless, race-less
family of the lonely giants. That his fellows between
these covers are all lesser novelists than he, I am unprepared
to admit. Trollope excels him in humour, wisdom
and depth of understanding; he must rank, as master of
technique, below all save Whyte-Melville and perhaps
Disraeli. But he has a quality of grandeur, a majesty
of isolation that they lack, and his very inchoate bitterness
of spirit transcends by its datelessness their well-rounded
friendliness and their complacent wit.
If that were not enough, he differs from them also in
the very texture and subject of his work. His mysticism,
for all its yearning and its gloom, is of a spiritual quality
far rarer than that of their materialism, for all its vivacity
218and its aspiration. Between him and Reade is a certain
soul resemblance, but the advantage in this is Melville's.
He directly influenced the Englishman,[4] and beside his
remote immensity Reade, even at his most massive and
his most contentious, seems but a dwarf, roaring disgruntlement
against the walls of Grub Street.
4. There is in existence the copy of Moby Dick in which Reade
made extensive notes and excisions, maybe with the idea of issuing
an abbreviated version. Readers of Love Me Little, Love Me Long
will immediately detect the influence of Melville's great book on the
whaling narrative related by Frank Dodd to Mr. Fountain and to
his lovely niece.
Melville's books are the strange mirror of a strange
life. The young writer, famous at thirty, who yet lives
out a diminuendo of appreciation to an old age of disappointed
poverty, is no unfamiliar figure. One thinks
immediately of William Harrison Ainsworth, from the
foppish eminence of his early twenties to the last sad
years in a Tonbridge villa, when he laboured at the
regular production of three-volume fiction—one novel a
year at seventy-five pounds the time—alone amid the
memories of vanished splendour. But the man who as
a youth wins reputation in letters and passes, of deliberate
purpose, maturity and age in other, non-literary, pursuits
is a scarcer type, of which Melville is an unusual
example.
Born in 1819, he published Typee at the age of
twenty-seven, Moby Dick five years later, and The Piazza
Tales in 1856. From then until his death, in 1891, he
wrote little, and, to the even greater detriment of his
fame, withdrew entirely from the society of writers,
hiding his name and his very existence behind the screen
of an obstinate reserve.
I have no intention here either of summarizing the life
or of passing judgment on the works of Herman Melville.
The former is related in detail by Professor Raymond
Weaver, whose large biography is of so recent date
that any shorter presentment of the facts must merely be
a précis of the information therein contained. The
respective merits of the outstanding books are already
219(and will remain for long enough) the sport of literary
publicists, to whose views and counter-views I refer the
curious. One feature, nevertheless, of contemporary
opinion challenges to protest my amateur temerity. Apart
from Moby Dick, the neo-Melvillian has little beyond
patronizing approval for the books of his hero; Typee
(1846) and Omoo (1847) are interesting records of travel,
remarkable mainly for the early date of their appearance
and as forerunners of the South Sea School in letters and
in painting. Mardi (1849), Redburn (1849), and White
Jacket (1850) claim respect as autobiography and for passages
that reveal their author's genius struggling toward
a more complete expression. These are the rising steps
to the crowning summit of Melville's work. There,
unique and peerless, stands Moby Dick; beyond it the
terraces fall away again, and even more steeply than they
rose.
Is this opinion a just one? I am a little uncertain.
With no desire to denigrate Moby Dick or to deny it the
first place in importance among Melville's books, I would
venture that his genius is more perfectly and skilfully
revealed in a volume of stories belonging to the so-called
decadence. The Piazza Tales are liable to be dismissed
by the critic of to-day with kindly condescension as “the
best of the later work,” a judgment as misleading as it
is easily explained. In some degree the worship of Moby
Dick and the comparative neglect of the other work are
inevitable corollaries to the Melville boom at its present
stage. During the first period of any new æsthetic
wonder, the peculiar transcends the normal in the
imagination of disciples. Let the case of Melville be
paralleled with that of Tintoretto's pupil, Greco. When
first set in the revival of interest in this painter's work,
he was most admired when most bizarre. He won favour
for the contrast he presented to his immediate forerunners
and his contemporaries. The name of Greco stood for
certain mannerisms in colour and composition, and, the
more a Greco picture revealed those mannerisms, the
better a Greco it was judged to be. Already, from the
220hand of time, this formula of appreciation is suffering
adjustment, but Melville is to-day precisely at the point
where yesterday Greco stood. Like the master of Toledo,
he has peculiar and noticeable tricks of matter and of
style. Because Moby Dick is of these tricks more
redolent than the author's other books, it tickles the
palate of contemporary enthusiasm more thoroughly
than do they.
Such preference is by its very nature tenacious.
Moby Dick, for all that it is unmistakably Melville, is far
from flawless. What if Melville recognized its weaknesses?
What if he deplored those very characteristics
that are to-day lauded as his priceless individuality and
chief claim to fame? With all its vastness and its wonder,
the epic story of Ahab and the great white whale displays
the faults of its author as strikingly as it reveals his
talents. In years to come, when the glamour of oddity
has paled a little, it will be admitted that the book labours
under a sad weight of intolerable prolixity. Nor is this
prolixity implicit in the greatness of Melville's writing.
This is proved by the two chief stories in The Piazza
Tales. Benito Cereno and The Encatadas hold in the
small compass of their beauty the essence of their author's
supreme artistry. They are profound and lovely and
tenderly robust, but they are never tedious and never
wilful. Surely it were generous to admit that Melville
sought to improve on Moby Dick and that, in the matter
of technical control, he succeeded? These two stories
cannot as literary achievement compare with their vast
and teeming predecessor. That is natural. But they
may not be ignored as the last glimmer of a dying lamp.
They mark the highest technical level of their author's
work, and, had not within a year or two of their appearance
the darkness of self-distrust descended on him,
might well have proved a revelation of something yet to
come from the brain of Herman Melville, something
destined—but for the treacherous inhibition of human
frailty—to excel in power everything to which that brain
had previously given birth.
221
HERMAN MELVILLE, MARINER AND MYSTIC.
By Raymond M. Weaver. New York. Doran.
1921. London: Humphrey Milford. 1922.
This long and careful book is based on the papers
and information of the Melville family and represents
the sum of present-day knowledge of Melville's
life and ideas.
Collectors should observe the fact that it was the
custom of American publishers in the fifties and sixties
to bind one edition in cloths of various colours for the
purposes of window display. Consequently Melville's
first American editions are met with in a variety of colourings
which, in the matter of date of issue, rank equally.
222
*TYPEE: A Peep at Polynesian Life during a Four
Months Residence in A Valley of the Marquesas
with notices of the French Occupation of Tahiti and
the Provisional Cession of the Sandwich Islands to
Lord Paulet. By Herman Melville. Part One.
(Part Two.) New York. Wiley and Putnam,
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1846.
2 vols. Sm. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7¼).
5. That the pagination of these volumes must be omitted is a
misfortune that was unpreventable. A detailed description of the
books was sent me from America, but the slip on which the
actual pagination was set out did not arrive.
The half-titles to both volumes read: Wiley and
Putnam's Library of American Books: Typee: A
Peep at Polynesian Life. On the verso of half-title
to Vol. I. is a list of books of travel; on that to
Vol. II. the titles in the Library of American Books.
Vol. I. contains a map. Dark green cloth, gilt.
Fawn end-papers.
NARRATIVE OF A FOUR MONTHS RESIDENCE
AMONG THE NATIVES OF A VALLEY OF
THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS: Or A Peep at
Polynesian Life. By Herman Melville. London:
John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1846. 1 vol. Sm.
Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7). Pp. xvi + (ii) + 285 + (1). Publisher's
223advertisements, 16 pp., dated March, 1846,
bound in at end. A sketch map of the Marquesas
Islands on page (xviii) faces page (1). Red cloth,
gilt, blocked in blind. White end-papers.
Note—A volume in Murray's “Colonial and Home Library”
(No. 15). Subsequently named Typee. The lettering on the spine
reads: Colonial and Home Library Vol XV Melvilles Marquesas
Islands Murray.
*TYPEE: A Peep at Polynesian Life during a Four
Months Residence in A Valley of the Marquesas.
Revised Edition with a Sequel. By Herman Melville.
New York: Wiley and Putnam. London:
John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1847. 1 vol.
Sm. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7¼). Pp[6]. Of this book pp.
291-307 are occupied by the sequel to Typee entitled
The Story of Toby, and not previously published.
Map faces title-page.
TYPEE: Or A Narrative of a Four Months Residence
Among The Natives of a Valley of the
Marquesas Islands: Or A Peep at Polynesian
Life. By Herman Melville. London: John
Murray, Albemarle Street. 1847. 1 vol. Sm. Cr.
8vo (4¾ × 7). Pp. xvi + 301 + (1). Pp. 287-301 are
occupied by The Story of Toby, a sequel to Typee
not previously published. Publisher's advertisement
precedes half-title proper, occupying reverse of
a series half-title of “The Home and Colonial (sic)
Library,” these two pages being inset on other than
text paper. Publisher's catalogue, Fcap. 8vo, 16 pp.,
dated March, 1847, bound in at end. Red cloth,
gilt, uniform with preceding item. Yellow end-papers.
Note—The lettering on the spine is identical with that of the
1846 issue.
224
OMOO: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas.
By Herman Melville, author of Typee. New
York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers. London:
John Murray. 1847. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜).
Pp. (408). The pagination of this volume is very
confusing. Pp. (1)-(16) are paged xv + (i). Pp. 17-389
are so paged, p. (390) is unpaged, pp. (391)-(399)
are paged (xv) to xxiii, p. (400) is unpaged, and
pp. (401)-(408) are paged (1) to 8. Title-page printed
in red and black, half-title in red. Line-engraved
map printed separately facing title. Blue cloth,
blocked in gold and blind. White end-papers.
Note—As an example of the varieties to be met with among
American publications of this date, I append a collation of this
same book, made by a friend from a copy seen in the United
States. The variation of binding and end-papers is unimportant
(see note on p. 220).
*OMOO: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas. By
Herman Melville, author of Typee. New York: Harper and
Brothers, Publishers. London: John Murray, 1847. 1 vol.
Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜). Pp. 398, of which (1)-(9) are unpaged,
(10)-(17) are paged in roman numerals, 18-389 in arabic
numerals, while pp. (390)-(398) are occupied by publishers'
advertisements. Publishers' catalogue, 16 pp., bound in at
end. Title-page printed in red and black, half-title in red.
Line-engraved map facing title-page. Brown cloth, blocked in
gold. Marbled end-papers.
OMOO: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas,
being a sequel to the Residence in the Marquesas
Islands. By Herman Melville, author of Typee.
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1847.
1 vol. Sm. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7). Pp. xiii + (i) + 321 +(1).
Line-engraved map printed on text paper facing
title-page. Red cloth, gilt, uniform with preceding
item. Pale yellow end-papers.
225Notes—(i) The lettering on the spine reads: Adventures in the
South Seas Murray.
(ii) A volume in Murray's “Colonial and Home Library”
(No. 22). The Preface is dated New York, January 28, 1847.
(iii) Contemporary announcements of Murray's “Colonial and
Home Library” speak of an issue of this book in two parts,
“sewed,” and numbered respectively 43 and 44 of the series. I
have never seen such wrappered issues, but, to judge by their
numbering in the Library, they postdate the edition above
described.
MARDI AND A VOYAGE THITHER. By Herman
Melville, author of Typee and Omoo. London:
Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1849.
3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. x + 336 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. x + 335 + (3).
Vol. III. pp. viii + 348.
Titles printed in two colours. Pale apple-green
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Blue and white
decorated end-papers, printed with publisher's advertisements.
Note—This book was published on March 16, 1849. The
English edition predates the American one. 1,000 copies were
printed.
MARDI: AND A VOYAGE THITHER. By Herman
Melville. New York: Harper and Bros. Publishers,
82 Cliff Street. 1849. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo
(4⅞ × 7⅜).
Vol. 1. pp. (376). The paging is very irregular.
Pp. (1) to (6) are blank and unpaged; p. (7) is title-page;
p. (8) bears note of the book's official registration;
p. (9) bears dedication; p. (10) is blank; p. (11)
bears preface dated New York, January, 1849; p. (12)
is blank; p. (13) is half-title; p. (14) is blank; pp. (15)
to (18) are occupied by List of Contents paged (ix)
to xii; pp. (19) to (371) are paged (13) to 365; pp. (372)
226to (376) are blank and unpaged. Pp. (1) (2) and (375)
(376) are pasted down to front and back inside end-papers.
Vol. II. pp. (408), of which pp. (1)-(6) are blank
and unpaged; p. (7) is title-page; p. (8) bears note
of the book's official registration; p. (9) is half-title;
p. (10) is blank; pp. (11)-(14) are occupied by List
of Contents paged (ix) to xii; pp. (15) to (393) are
paged (9) to 387; p. (394) is blank and unpaged;
pp. (395)-(402) are occupied by publishers' advertisements
paged (1) to 8; pp. (403)-(408) are blank
and unpaged. Pp. (1) (2) and (407) (408) are pasted
down to front and back inside end-papers.
It should be noted that in each volume the printed
half-title follows the title-page.
Dark green cloth, blocked in gold and blind.
Yellow end-papers.
REDBURN: His First Voyage. Being the Sailor
boy confessions and reminiscences of the son of a
gentleman in the Merchant Service. By Herman
Melville. Author of Typee, Mardi etc. London:
Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1849.
2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 316. No half-title.
Vol II. pp. viii + 314.
Dark blue cloth, gilt, blocked in blind, white end-papers
patterned in blue and printed with publisher's
advertisements.
Notes—(i) This book was published on September 29, 1849.
The English edition predates the American one. 750 copies were
printed.
(ii) I have seen a copy of this edition bearing on the case the
name of T. C. Newby as publisher, but with the Bentley title-page.
This was probably a “remainder” copy, for Newby frequently
bought sheets of books that had not sold when originally published,
and issued them at a cheaper price wholly or partially over his
imprint.
227
REDBURN: His First Voyage. Being the sailor
boy confessions and reminiscences of the son
of a gentleman in the Merchant Service. By
Herman Melville, Author of Typee, Mardi. New
York: Harper and Bros., Publishers, 82 Cliff
Street. 1849. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7½). Pp. (420).
The numbering of pages is very erratic. Pp. (1)-(6)
are blank and unpaged; p. (7) is title-page;
p. (8) bears note of the book's official registration;
p. (9) bears dedication; p. (10) is blank;
pp. (11)-(17) are occupied by List of Contents paged
(v)-xi; p. (12) is blank; pp. (13) to 390 are so paged;
pp. (391)-(394) are unpaged and occupied by advertisements
of other works by Melville; pp. (395)-(406)
form a publishers' list, dated October, 1849,
and paged (1) to 14; pp. (407) and (408) are occupied
by publishers' advertisements, undated, but paged
(1) and 2; pp. (409)-(412) are blank; pp. (413) and
(414) are pasted down to inside back end-paper. No
printed half-title. Purple-brown cloth, gilt, blocked
in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Note—Copies of the first edition are found with fewer advertisement
pages at the end. These may well, in view of the irregular
nature of American bookmaking at that period, be contemporary
in issue with those more extensively furnished, but the collector
will naturally prefer a copy as complete as possible.
WHITE JACKET: Or The World in a Man of War.
By Herman Melville. London: Richard Bentley,
New Burlington Street, 1850. 2 vols. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. vi + 322.
Vol. II. pp. iv + 315 + (1).
No half-titles. Pale blue cloth, gilt, blocked in
228blind. Yellow end-papers, printed with publisher's
advertisements.
Notes—(i) This book was published on January 23, 1850. The
English edition predates the American one. 1,000 copies were
printed.
(ii) Vol. I. pp. iii and iv contain a preface dated October, 1849,
and different in content from the note on p. iv of the American
edition, dated March, 1850.
WHITE JACKET: Or The World in a Man of War.
By Herman Melville. Author of Typee, Omoo,
Mardi and Redburn. New York: Harper and
Bros., Publishers, 82 Cliff Street. London:
Richard Bentley. 1850. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7½).
Pp. (484). Here again the paging is irregular.
Of the preliminary matter pp. (1)-(6) are blank;
p. (7) is title-page; p. (8) bears note of the book's
official registration; p. (9) bears quotation from
Fuller's Good Sea-Captain; p. (10) bears author's
note, dated New York, March, 1850; pp. (11)-(13)
are occupied by List of Contents and are paged in
roman numerals, (v) to vii; p. (14) is blank; pp. (15)
to (471) are paged (9) to 465; p. (472) is blank;
pp. (473)-(476) are unpaged and occupied by advertisements
of other works by Melville; pp. (477) (478)
are also unpaged and occupied by publishers' advertisements;
pp. (479)-(484) are blank and unpaged.
No printed half-title. Dark brown or blue-grey
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Note—The varieties of binding are of simultaneous date.
THE WHALE. By Herman Melville, author of
Typee, Omoo, Redburn, Mardi, White Jacket.
(Quotation from Paradise Lost.) London: Richard
Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1851. 3 vols.
Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
229Vol. I. pp. viii + 312.
Vol. II. pp. iv + 303 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. iv + 328.
Quarter cream cloth blocked in gold; bright blue
embossed cloth sides, blocked in blind. Pale yellow
end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published on October 18, 1851. The
English edition predates the American one. 500 copies were printed.
(ii) Vol. I. only has half-title, on which the story is described as
The Whale or Moby Dick.
MOBY DICK: Or The Whale. By Herman Melville,
Author of Typee, Omoo, Redburn, Mardi,
White-Jacket. New York: Harper and Bros. Publishers.
London: Richard Bentley. 1851. 1 vol.
Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜). Pp. (xxx) [paged as xxiii + (i)]
+ 634 + (12). Epilogue occupies p. (635). Publishers'
advertisements, 6 pp., occupy pp. (637)-(642).
Pp. (i) (ii) and (647) (648) are pasted down to front
and back inside end-papers. No printed half-title.
Slate-blue or scarlet cloth, gilt. Orange end-papers.
Notes—(i) The varieties of binding are of simultaneous date.
(ii) This book was expurgated for publication in England, the
American text containing thirty-five passages not included in
Bentley's edition (see previous item).
PIERRE: Or The Ambiguities. By Herman Melville.
New York: Harper and Bros., Publishers,
329 and 331 Pearl Street, Franklin Square. 1852.
1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜). Pp. (xii) [paged as viii]
+ 495 + (6). Pp. (i) (ii) and (501) (502) are pasted
down to front and back inside end-papers. No
printed half-title. Dark grey cloth, gilt, blocked in
blind. Dark grey end-papers.
230
PIERRE: Or The Ambiguities. By Herman Melville.
London: Sampson Low Son and Co., 47
Ludgate Hill. 1852. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½). Pp.
viii + 495 + (i). No half-title. Blue embossed cloth,
gilt, blocked in blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in November, 1852.
(ii) This English edition consists of American printed sheets
with cancel title. It is as scarce as, if not scarcer than, the
American edition, the bulk of which was destroyed by fire.
ISRAEL POTTER: His Fifty Years of Exile. By
Herman Melville. Author of Typee, Omoo etc.
New York: G. P. Putnam and Co., 10 Park Place.
1855. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜). Pp. (280) [paged
as (2) + 276 + (2)]. No printed half-title. Purple-brown
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Note—On the case, this book is entitled “Fifty Years Exile.”
A pirated edition, under the title The Refugee, was published in
Philadelphia in [1865].
ISRAEL POTTER: His Fifty Years of Exile. By
Herman Melville, author of Typee, Omoo etc.
London: G. Routledge and Co., Farringdon Street.
1855. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4 × 6½). Pp. 174. Bright
yellow paper wrappers printed in black. The outside
back wrapper is occupied by publishers' advertisements.
Also issued simultaneously in cloth.
Note—This book was published in April, 1855.
231
THE PIAZZA TALES. By Herman Melville,
author of Typee, Omoo, etc. etc. New York: Dix
and Edwards, 321 Broadway. London: Sampson
Low, Son and Co. 1856. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅛).
Pp. (vi) + 431 + (11). No printed half-title. Publishers'
advertisements, unpaged and undated,
occupy pp. (433)-(439). Purple-brown cloth, blocked
in gold and blind. Grey-blue end-papers.
Contents: The Piazza—Bartleby—Benito Cereno—The Lightning-Rod
Man—The Encantadas; or Enchanted Islands—The Bell-Tower.
Notes—(i) This book was published in May or June, 1856.
(ii) It is doubtful whether copies of this book were ever actually
issued in England, despite the fact that Sampson Low and Co.
advertised the book at 9s. in June, 1856. At the most, copies may
exist with an English cancel title, but even this is improbable in
view of the joint imprint on the New York edition. It will be
noted that when previously Low imported Melville sheets (cf.
Pierre, 1852) they inserted their own title-page and bound the book
differently for English issue, but in that case their name was not
printed on the American edition.
(iii) Copies of the first American edition exist, with pale yellow
end-papers. These are thinner in quality than the grey-blue ones
above mentioned, and not chalk surfaced to the extent usual with
American tinted papers of the period. Indeed, they have more the
appearance of English than of American end-papers, but it is
difficult to believe that Sampson Low and Co. could have imported
sheets and cases from America, merely carrying out in this country
the process of binding.
THE CONFIDENCE MAN: His Masquerade. By
Herman Melville, Author of The Piazza Tales,
Omoo etc. etc. New York: Dix Edwards and Co.,
321 Broadway. 1857. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7½).
Pp. (x) [paged as vi] + 394 + (4). No printed half-title.
Purple-brown cloth, gilt, blocked in blind.
Dark green end-papers.
232
THE CONFIDENCE MAN: His Masquerade. By
Herman Melville, author of The Piazza Tales,
Omoo, Typee etc. etc. Authorized edition. London:
Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts.
1857. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. vi + 354.
No half-title. Publishers' catalogue, 24 pp., dated
September, 1855 [sic], bound in at end. Yellow-brown
cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Brick-red end-papers,
partially printed with publishers' advertisements.
Note—This book was published in April, 1857.
BATTLEPIECES AND ASPECTS OF THE WAR.
By Herman Melville. New York: Harper and
Bros., Publishers, Franklin Square. 1866. 1 vol.
Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅜). Pp. (298), of which pp. (i)-(6) are
blank and unpaged; p. (7) is title-page; p. (8) bears
note of the book's official registration; p. (9) bears
dedication; p. (10) is blank; p. (11) bears Author's
Note; p. (12) is blank; pp. (13)-(16) are occupied by
List of Contents paged (vii)-x; pp. (17) to (278) are
paged (11) to 272; pp. (279)-(284) are blank and
unpaged. No printed half-title. Brown or violet
cloth, gilt. Chocolate end-papers.
Note—There was no English edition of this book.
CLAREL: A Poem and a Pilgrimage in the Holy Land.
By Herman Melville. In four parts. I. Jerusalem.
II. The Wilderness. III. Mar Saba.
IV. Bethlehem. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons,
No. 182 Fifth Avenue, 1876. 2 vols. Sq. 16mo
(6⅞ × 5⅛).
233Vol. I. pp. (304), of which pp. (8) and (9) are
paged ii and iii, pp. (10) and (11) unpaged, and
pp. (12)-(304) are paged 8 to 300.
Vol. II. pp. (312). In this volume the paging is
even more erratic; pp. (i)-(5) are unnumbered, p. (6)
is numbered iv, pp. (7), (8), and (9) are unnumbered,
pp. (10) to (309) are numbered 304 to 571, pp. (310)
to (312) are unnumbered.
Bright green cloth, gilt. Chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1876. There was no
English edition.
JOHN MARR AND OTHER SAILORS, WITH
SOME SEA PIECES. New York: De Vinne
Press. 1888. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4½ × 6¾). Pp.
(iv) + 103 + (1). Cream paper wrappers printed in
black.
Note—Only twenty-five copies of this edition were printed.
*TIMOLEON etc. New York: Canton Press. 1891.
1 vol. (4½ × 7). Pp. (72), of which (1)-(5) are unnumbered,
(6) is paged in roman numerals, pp. 7-70
in arabic numerals, and (71) and (72) unnumbered.
Buff paper wrappers, printed in black.
Note—Only twenty-five copies of this edition were printed.
234
There are only two items that it is possible to list under
this heading, and to each one of them Melville's contribution
is so slight as to make unnecessary their detailed collation.
P. 30 of the Memorial to James Fenimore
Cooper, published in one volume by Putnam, New York,
in 1852, bears a letter from Melville in praise of Cooper
addressed to the Committee organizing the Cooper celebration.
Pp. 399 and 400 of The History of Pittsfield,
Massachusetts from 1800 to 1876, by J. E. A. Smith,
and published in Springfield by C. W. Bryan and Co.,
1876, bear an account of Major Thomas Melville written
by Herman Melville, but not nominally attributed to
him.