ilkie Collins's Library
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ilkie Collins's Library
Recent Titles in Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature The Juvenile Novels of World War II: An Annotated Bibliography Desmond Taylor The Spanish Civil War in Literature, Film, and Art: An International Bibliography of Secondary Literature Peter Monteath, compiler Africa in Literature for Children and Young Adults: An Annotated Bibliography of EnglishLanguage Books Meena Khorana Indigenous Literature of Oceania: A Survey of Criticism and Interpretation Nicholas J. Goetzfridt Boccaccio in English: A Bibliography of Editions, Adaptations, and Criticism E S. Stych Cloak and Dagger Fiction: An Annotated Guide to Spy Thrillers Myron J. Smith, Jr. and Terry White Literature for Children and Young Adults about Oceania: Analysis and Annotated Bibliography with Additional Readings for Adults Mary C. Austin and Esther C. Jenkins The Contemporary Spanish Novel: An Annotated, Critical Bibliography, 1936-1994 Samuel Amell An Annotated Bibliography of Jazz Fiction and Jazz Fiction Criticism Richard N. Albert, compiler Recent Work in Critical Theory, 1989-1995: An Annotated Bibliography William Baker and Kenneth Womack The English Novel, 1660-1700: An Annotated Bibliography Robert Ignatius Letellier Thomas More: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism, 1935-1997 Albert J. Geritz
ilkie Collins's Library A Reconstruction William Baker
Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature, Number 55
Greenwood Press Westport, Connecticut • London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Baker, William, 1944Wilkie Collins's library : a reconstruction / William Baker. p. cm.—(Bibliographies and indexes in world literature, ISSN 0742-6801 ; no. 55) Includes bibliographical refrences and index. ISBN 0-313-31394-6 (alk. paper) 1. Collins Wilkie, 1824-1889—Library—Catalogs. 2. Collins, Wilkie, 1824-1889—Books and reading. 3. Private libraries—England—Catalogs. I. Title. II. Series. Z997.C705 B35 2002 [PR4498.B6] 016.823'8—dc21 2001058619 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2002 by William Baker All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001058619 ISBN: 0-313-31394-6 ISSN: 0742-6801 First published in 2002 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984). 10
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Copyright Acknowledgment The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to quote extracts from published and unpublished letters of Wilkie Collins and to cite from the marked-up copy of the Puttick and Simpson auction catalogue of the sale of Wilkie Collins's library, dated January 20, 1890. With permission of Faith Clarke, great-granddaughter of Wilkie Collins.
For Faith and William M. Clarke with affection and thanks
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Contents PREFACE
IX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xi
ABBREVIATIONS
xiii
INTRODUCTION Wilkie Collins and His Books
1
The 1890 Dispersion of Wilkie Collins's Library
5
The Composition of Wilkie Collins's Library Presentation/Association Copies Imprint Analysis Place of Publication Analysis Language Analysis Subject Analysis Conclusion
15 32 36 42 43 65
RECONSTRUCTION OF WILKIE COLLINS'S LIBRARY The Present Catalogue: Rationale and Form
70
Reconstruction
73
Contents
Vlll
Addenda APPENDIX
164 165
Paintings and Art Work in Collins's Possession at the Time of His Death INDEX
177
Preface Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) is a major British Victorian novelist, dramatist, short story writer and journalist. T. S. Eliot writing in the Times Literary Supplement 4 August 1927 described Collins's The Moonstone as "the first and greatest of English detective novels." Collins has been the subject of two recent biographies, William M. Clarke's The Secret Life of Wilkie Collins (1991; revised edition 1996) and Catherine Peters' s, The King of Inventors: A Life of Wilkie Collins (1993). A revival of interest in his work is now underway. Collins's earliest novel, thought lost for nearly a hundred years, Ioldni was published in 1999. In the same year The Letters of Wilkie Collins appeared, and provided new insight into his creative processes, friendships, attitudes and unconventional private life. Subsequently new critical editions of The Moonstone, and The Woman in White, and other Collins novels have been published in widely available well-edited paperbacks. The present work is the first reconstruction of his library. It is an attempt — to paraphrase the words from the "Preface" to Frederick G. Ribble and Anne G. Ribble's Fielding's Library: An Annotated Catalogue (1996) — to understand Collins as a reader through an analysis of the books he owned and his response to them. Such a reconstruction would not have been possible without Faith Clarke, Wilkie Collins's sole surviving descendant, granting access to hitherto restricted archives and publication permission to use unpublished materials. Her husband, William M. Clarke, the author of an acclaimed biography of Collins, and a former financial editor of The Times of London, co-edited with me The Letters of Wilkie Collins (1999). The Clarkes have given me access to their marked copy of the auction catalogue of the January 20, 1890, sale of Wilkie Collins's Library by the auctioneers Puttick and Simpson of London. Their copy contains annotations giving details of prices realized and the names of
X
Preface
those who purchased lots. Additionally, the catalogue indicates whether or not copies of books owned by Wilkie Collins are association copies. The marked copy of the Puttick and Simpson sale catalogue, and the existence of a catalogue containing books purchased at this auction by the London booksellers M. L. Bennett, produced barely a month after the Puttick and Simpson sale, make it possible to reconstruct Wilkie Collins's library. This reconstruction combines information found in the Puttick and Simpson and M. L. Bennett 1890 catalogues. Such a reconstruction creates the opportunity for a fuller understanding of Collins's source materials. It is useful not only to those interested in Wilkie Collins. Of value to all students of the nineteenth century, the reconstruction provides detailed annotations to the abbreviated and sometimes cryptic entries in the 1890 catalogues, of Collins's unusually rich collection of literature, language, history, biographies, law, and other subjects of general interest. Drawing upon published and unpublished Collins letters, there are detailed listings of Collins's references to authors and editors. His association copies led to fresh biographical revelations concerning his friendships, professional and personal associations. The copious subject-based index provides a key to the purchasers of this work, the late nineteenth-century book trade, the subjects that interested Collins, the previous owners of his books, and a myriad of other details. An appendix, again drawing upon hitherto unavailable materials, provides a listing of artwork in Wilkie Collins's possession at the time of his death. This book is then one for students of nineteenth-century literature, history, art, the booktrade, and culture. The "Introduction" discusses in some detail Wilkie Collins and his relationships to books, including the use of books in his writing. There is an extensive discussion of "the 1890 dispersion of his library" and of the two catalogues: Puttick and Simpson's and M. L. Bennett's. This is followed by extensive analysis, places of book publication, languages and subjects. Next is a description of the organization, alphabetical arrangement, entry numbering and information provided in each entry in the reconstruction of Wilkie Collins's library. Such information includes, if a book or an author is mentioned, citation from the pertinent published or unpublished Wilkie Collins letter. Such data in the reconstruction of Wilkie Collins's library enriches its overall object: to gain a fuller understanding of Wilkie Collins as a reader and of the sources he transformed in his magnificent creative fictional worlds. William Baker Northern Illinois University
Acknowledgments This work could not have been undertaken without help and assistance from various sources and individuals. William Clarke, Andrew Gasson, Professor Donald Hawes, Professor Kenneth Womack, and Henry Terwedow went through the manuscript of this book with critical acumen and a fine eye for detail, looking for inconsistencies and errors. The faults that remain are mine alone. Paul Lewis, of the Wilkie Collins Society, kindly shared his extensive knowledge of Victorian art, and Wilkie Collins, with me. Others who have helped and to whom thanks are due include: John Collins of Maggs Bros. Ltd., London; Sara Dodgson, Librarian of The Athenaeum, London; Mark Irvine; Alan Jutzi, Rare Book Curator, Huntington Library, San Marino, California; Professor Graham Law of Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan; Dr. K. A. Manley of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; David Quentin of Bernard Quaritch, Ltd., London; Petra Soderlund, Department of Literature, University of Uppsala, Sweden; Sue Usher, Librarian, English Faculty Library, Oxford University; the late Alexander Wainwright, of the Parrish Collection, Princeton University Library; Ian Willson of the Centre for English Studies, University London; Adriaan van der Weel, Chairman, Leiden Centre for the Book, University of Leiden, Netherlands. Thanks are due to the dedicatees of the book Faith and William Clarke (author of The Secret Life of Wilkie Collins [1988, 1996] and co-editor of The Letters of Wilkie Collins [1999]) for help in all kinds of ways, and for sending me their marked-up copy of the Puttick and Simpson auction catalogue of the sale of Wilkie Collins's library dated January 20, 1890. Thanks are also due to Faith Clarke for permission to quote extracts from the published and unpublished
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Acknowledgments
letters of her great-grandfather, Wilkie Collins, and to cite from her copy of the Puttick and Simpson auction catalogue. Similarly thanks must go to Andrew Gasson of the Wilkie Collins Society, author of the richly informative Wilkie Collins: An Illustrated Guide (1998), for his generosity and many kindnesses. Catherine Peters, author of The King of Inventors: A Life of Wilkie Collins (1991, 1993), generously sent me a copy of M. L. Bennett's "Caxton Head Catalogue 198: Books from the Library of the late Wilkie Collins, London February 1890" and answered many questions. Special thanks must go to Gina Unger, Daniel McMahon, and Henry Terwedow for their assistance in preparing and typesetting portions of the book during its various stages of production. Thanks also go to George Butler, Senior Editor of Academic and Trade Publishing, the volume's production editor, and the editorial staff of Greenwood Press, for their guidance and encouragement. At Northern Illinois University, thanks are due to Ron Burshinger and his colleagues in the Information Delivery Services Department of the University Libraries, Arthur P. Young, Dean of the University Libraries, Mary Munroe, Associate Dean, University Libraries, Heather Hardy, Chair, English Department. Other colleagues in the University Libraries and English Department are to be thanked for their encouragement and for granting the author release time from teaching and other duties.
Abbreviations { } - indicates a number in Puttick and Simpson's catalogue [ ] - indicates a number in Bennett's catalogue 4 to. - quarto 8 vo. - octavo 12 mo. -duodecimo bd./bds. - board/boards Bennett - entry in Bennett's catalogue Boase - Frederic Boase, Modern English Biography: Containing Many Thousand Concise Memoirs of Persons Who Have Died between the Years 1851-1900. 6 vols. Truro: Netherton, 1892-1921 British Library Catalogue - The British Library General Catalogue of Printed Books to 1975 (BLC). Managing Ed. Jim Emmett. London: Clive Bingley and K. G. Saur, 1979-1987 cf. - calf cl. - cloth Clarke - William M. Clarke, The Secret Life of Wilkie Collins. Far Thrupp, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1996 cr. - crown Dickens, Letters - The Letters of Charles Dickens. [The Pilgrim Edition]. Ed. Madeline House, Graham Storey, Kathleen Tillotson, and others. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965DNB - The Dictionary of National Biography (DNB). Ed. Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 1885-1900, rpt. 21 vols., London: Oxford UP, 1967-1968 Dolbow - Sandra W. Dolbow, Dictionary of Modern French Literature from the Age of Reason through Realism. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986 ex. - extra fl.-floruit fol. - folio
XIV
Abbreviations
France - The New Oxford Companion to French Literature. Ed. Peter France. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995 front/fronts - frontispiece Gasson - Andrew Gasson, Wilkie Collins - An Illustrated Guide. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1997 g. e. - gilt edges gt. - gilt Hart - James D. Hart, with revisions by Phillip W. Leininger, The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 6th ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1995 Harvey - The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 3 rd ed. Ed. Paul Harvey. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958 Harvey and Heseltine - The Oxford Companion to French Literature. Ed. Paul Harvey and J. E. Heseltine. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959 hf.-half illus. - illustration imp. - imprint impft. - imperfect impl. - imperial item - entry in present catalogue (unless "Bennett's item" or "Puttick and Simpson's item") Letters - The Letters of Wilkie Collins. Ed. William Baker and William M. Clarke. 2 vols. London: Macmillan, 1999 lot - entry in Puttick and Simpson's catalogue mor. - morocco Nadel - Ioldni; or Tahiti as It Was. A Romance. Ed. Ira B. Nadel. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1999 n. d. - no date Peters - Catherine Peters, The King of Inventors: A Life of Wilkie Collins. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993 port./ports. - portrait/portraits post - large Raimes - Ann Raimes, Keys for Writers. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999 Robinson - Kenneth Robinson, Wilkie Collins: A Biography. New York: Macmillan, 1952 roy. - royal sm. - small Smith and Terry - N. Smith, R. C. Terry, eds., Wilkie Collins to the Forefront: Some Reassessments. New York: AMS Press, 1995 Stephens - John Russell Stephens, The Profession of the Playwright: British Theatre 1800-1900. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992 Sutherland - John Sutherland, The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1989 swd. - sewed t. e. g. - top edge gilt
Abbreviations
xv
Todd and Bowden - Tauchnitz International Editions in English, 1841-1955. A Bibliographical History. New York: Bibliographical Society of America, 1988 vig. - vignette(s) v. y. - various years WC - Wilkie Collins Wing - precedes entry number of the item as it is listed in Donald Wing, ShortTitle Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Wales, and British America And of English Books Printed in Other Countries 1641-1700, 2nd ed., rev. and enl. 4 vols. New York: MLA, 1982-98. Wolff - Robert Lee Wolff, Nineteenth-Century Fiction: A Bibliographical Catalogue Based on the Collection Formed by Robert Lee Wolff 5 vols. in 2. New York: Garland Publishing, 1981
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Introduction WILKIE COLLINS AND HIS BOOKS References to books and libraries are scattered throughout WC's copious writings. For instance, in his longest novel, Armadale, which ran in The Cornhill, from November 1864 to June 1866, the hero Allan Armadale inherits Thorpe Ambrose, an estate in Norfolk. The house has a library with bookshelves. "The books, few in number, did not detain him long" when he first steps into the Library. The narrator tells his reader, "a glance at their backs was enough, without taking them down. The Waverley Novels, Tales by Miss Edgeworth, and by Miss Edgeworth's many followers, the Poems of Miss Hemans, with a few odd volumes of the illustrated gift-books of the period, composed the bulk of the little library."1 Books and Libraries play a crucial role in WC's early novel Basil; A Story of Modern Life. First published in 1852, the novel expresses its author's sense of class and family conflict played out amongst the tapestry of a contemporary midVictorian setting. Autobiographical, the novel draws upon its author's differences with his father's attitudes to politics, religion, and his son's choice of the career of a professional writer. The main plot of Basil focuses upon a younger son who makes a secret marriage, which isn't consummated for a year. The delay is in order that the son can reveal to his father his marriage to the daughter of a wealthy but vulgar linen draper. In the third section of the third part of the novel, Basil travels to his family home to tell his father, from whom he is estranged, of the marriage. The lack of communication between son and father is depicted through setting. Basil, the narrator of the story, describes how, to avoid human contact, his father retreated into his library and his books. At the point of revealing his marriage to his father, Basil describes how his father "was
2
Wilkie Collins's Library
sitting at his table, cutting the leaves of some new books that lay on it." The father's library is a place of retreat, of escape from family commitments. Basil reflects: "As children, how often" he and his brother Ralph "had peeped curiously through that very door, to see what my father was about in his study, to wonder why he has so many books to write, and so many books to read. How frightened we both were, when he discovered us one day, and reproved us severely!" The father's sanctuary contains a "high, old-fashioned, mahogany press before the window, with [a] large illustrated folio about Jewish antiquities lying on it."2 After Basil has made his confession, his father, physically transformed with emotional shock, uses his bookshelves as a physical prop. He prefers to lean upon the inanimate bookcases rather than upon his animate son. WC reveals the deep associations and meanings books as objects, and books as contents, have for humans. The fictional father reacts to his son's revelation by choosing "a biographical history of his family, from the time of his earliest ancestors down to the date of the births of his own children. The thick quarto pages were beautifully illuminated in the manner of the ancient manuscripts." Basil describes how "Slowly and in silence, my father turned over the leaves of the book which, next to the Bible, I believe he most reverenced in the world, until he came to the last-written page but one - the page which I knew . . . to be occupied by my name." His father tears the page from the sacred family object and disinherits the son (201). The crucial psychological reverberations of books, specific books, libraries and their connections to families are by no means confined to WC's earlier fiction. Some other instances from WC's work are worthy of isolation in order to demonstrate the importance of books and libraries to him personally, and to his writing. The immediate background for Man and Wife, serialized in Cassell's Magazine, November 1869 to July 1870, is the Parliamentary debates over what became the first Married Woman's Property Act in August 1870. In the novel WC uses large houses with libraries as the symbols of male-dominated property and the possession of wives and servants. Man and Wife has a complicated plot consisting of legal intricacies, Scottish inheritance laws, deception, blackmail, and other elements of the sensational novel. The Library in the successful lawyer's home is a place where newspapers are found, law reports consulted, and important business meetings held. It is also a place of escape where Sir Patrick Lundie, a retired lawyer "deep in an old Venetian edition of the Decameron found himself suddenly recalled from medieval Italy to modern England" by another person wanting his attention.3 Multi-functional, it is a place of retreat, of peace and quiet: "The Library was a perfect solitude" (100). It is a place where letters can be written after lunch: "The company had collected in the library waiting for the luncheon-bell" (95). It is the setting where a wronged heroine, an abandoned wife, Anne Silvester, collapses and experiences a miscarriage.
Introduction
3
The Library is then in WC's fictional world a place for retreat and collapse, a place where human action, reaction, or lack of action, are part of a chain of revelations and consequences. In The Law and the Lady, serialized in the Graphic, September 1874 through March 1875, the plot revolves around the slow emergence of a series of secrets, each of which leads to additional problems and questions. Valeria, the heroine of the novel, discovers the crucial secret, which has haunted her, and influenced her life, and that of others, through searching through the Library of her husband Eustace's close friend, Major FitzDavid. Her Library search is not an easy one: "I saw Voltaire in red morocco; Shakespeare in blue; Walter Scott in green; the History of England in brown; the Annual Register in yellow calf. There I paused, wearied and discouraged already by the long rows of volumes. How (I thought to myself) am I to examine all these books? And what am I to look for, even if I do examine them all?" On the top shelves are smaller volumes "not so careftilly arranged as on the lower shelves. Some were bound in cloth; some were only protected by paper covers."4 Her attention is drawn by "a gorgeously-bound book" standing "in solitary grandeur" on an upper shelf. In this book Valeria finds a dated inscription in French and a "lock of red hair." Falling out of the book is "a small photograph" (87-88). The position of books on shelves, and their bindings, lead to the volumes inside, which provide clues to provenance, to past human associations, and possibly significant revelations. However, Valeria doesn't herself find what she is searching for. WC presents Valeria as middle-class: the voyeuristic element implied by her library search doesn't accord with her class. The revelation comes through her counterpart, the working-class Miss Hoighty acting as a detective. The major's mistress interrupts Valeria's library searching with "coarse questions" and "uncultivated manners." Miss Hoighty is for Valeria a "welcome intruder on my solitude: she offered me a refuge from myself " (91). Valeria "waited without moving a muscle, without uttering a word . . . helpless as a baby" as Miss Hoighty finds and opens volumes of trials. Valeria has already gone "twice over" the volumes (93). Valeria's reaction to the contents is "the black blank of a swoon" (94). Miss Hoighty keeps her composure and shoulders "the blame for procuring this forbidden knowledge. "Not one of the fainting sort", she connects her powers of detection with her situation as the Major's kept-woman: "Didn't you tell me that you were looking for a book?" she asks Valeria: "And didn't I present it to you promiscuously with the best intentions?" (97). Libraries, books, evoke past deeds and memories. They are used by WC for plot revelations, to depict class differences, human difference, and as sexual props. WC drew upon his own experiences in his fiction. In The Law and the Lady, the major's mistress Miss Hoighty goes to volumes of Trials which she likes reading. WC, a trained lawyer, too was fascinated by old trials. Jenny Bourne
4
Wilkie Collins's Library
Taylor writes in her "Introduction" to the World's Classics edition of The Law of the Lady that WC "exploits widely in his work both this fascination and his own knowledge of the law; here he may well have drawn in part on a case in J. H. Burton's Narratives from Criminal Trials in Scotland (1852) (he owned a copy of this, and other accounts of trials)" (xix). In The Woman in White WC draws upon Maurice Mejan's compilation of eighteenth-century trials, Recueil des Causes Celebres (1807-1814). Copies of Burton and Mejan are both found in WC's Library (see items 60 and 349). Volumes by Voltaire, Shakespeare, Walter Scott and the Annual Register, in Major Fitz-David's Library, are found in WC's, too (see for instance items 505, 441, 432-435, 165). Books are not the only objects in Libraries. In Major Fitz-David's Library there are, on top of bookcases, "vases, candelabra and statuettes" and "fragments" of broken vases (81). Reaching for the volume of trials, Miss Hoighty destroys yet another vase. WC's anti-Jesuit novel, The Black Robe, was serialized in The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent Supplement, October 1880 through March 1881 and published in 1881 in three volumes. In this novel, the Library of Lord Loring's spacious residence is a place where attempted religious conversions occur. It is a place where Father Benwell, the Jesuit spiritual advisor to the Loring family, can be employed. Status, position, and ownership are closely linked in WC's fiction and life. Adjoining the fictional aristocratic Loring Library is a picture gallery. Noticeable among the paintings is a Linnell. John Linnell (1792-1882), a landscape and portrait painter, was a close friend of WC's father. Clearly his work has sentimental associations for the novelist, whose own library was adorned with paintings, especially those by his father. In a letter to his mother, Harriet Collins, dated 11 May 1867, WC tells his mother how he and his brother Charles "tossed for" his father's pictures. A listing of paintings left by his father to the family is included as an appendix in the present volume. WC's letters contain frequent references to his reading, to his search for books, and in his later years, reminiscences of his favorite authors. Books are clearly important for WC when writing his fictions. For instance, his notes for The Moonstone, now at the Parrish Collection at Princeton University, contain lists of books to consult on India, on Indian customs, and on gems and their mystical properties. Characters in his novels have similar tastes to those of their creator. The hero Amelius Goldenheart of The Fallen Leaves, serialized in The World, January to July 1879, and published in three volumes in the same year, has the works of Sir Walter Scott in his library: "the writings of the one supreme genius who soars above all other novelists as Shakespeare soars above all other dramatists - the writings of Walter Scott - had their place of honour in his library"5 as in WC's own library. His letters attest to his great admiration for Sir Walter Scott as a person and as a writer (see items 432-35).
Introduction
5
A facet of WC's life which has been relatively neglected is his intellectualism. Biographies have tended to focus upon his mysterious relationships with women. He never married and had two common law wives. By one he had children. He brought up the other's daughter as his own. In 1885, when he was over sixty, WC began a correspondence with an eleven-year-old girl, Nannie Wynne. Using Nannie's mother as an intermediary, he wrote in most intimate detail enacting a fantasy marriage with the young girl. As fascinating as this element of WC's life may be, an emphasis on his complicated relationships with women of all ages tends to downplay his life as a professional writer, as an intellectual, and as a person who needed books to exist. WC wrote for a living: he also depended upon books as a basic resource for his creativity.
THE 1890 DISPERSION OF WILKIE COLLINS'S LIBRARY The existence of two catalogues of books in WC's Library makes it possible to reconstruct its contents. WC died on 23 September 1889. His executors instructed that his Library be sold at auction.6 The first catalogue consists of an auction catalogue of books sold at the Puttick and Simpson, 47 Leicester Square, London W.C., auction rooms on Monday January 20, 1890. Puttick and Simpson were an old London auction house established in 1794, who dealt in "Literary Property and Works of Art." The catalogue consists of books grouped together and itemized numerically as lots one to two hundred forty-six. The lots are grouped together by size. "Octavo et Infra" volumes are listed first. These consist of the bulk of the catalogue, running from the first lot through lot two hundred thirty-one. Seven "Quarto" lots are then listed, followed by eight lots described as folio volumes. The Puttick and Simpson "Conditions of Sale" printed at the beginning of the auction catalogue contain nothing that was not standard London auction house practice. Seven conditions are specified. Firstly, "The highest Bidder to be the Buyer." If there is a dispute "the Lot so disputed to be immediately put up again and resold." Secondly, in monetary terms, no bidder is "to advance less than" one shilling. If bidding goes above pounds no bidder is to advance less than two shillings and sixpence "and so on in proportion." Thirdly "The Purchasers to give in their Names and Places of Abode, and to pay down 10 s in the Pound, if required, in Part Payment of the Purchase-money; in Default of which the Lot or Lots so purchased shall be immediately put up again and resold." In actual fact few lots attracted prices above three pounds, and a large number went for below a pound. Of the volumes commanding higher prices, George Henry Borrow's [Craik's] six-volume Celebrated Trials (item 43) realized £8 -7 s- 6 d (eight pounds seven shillings and sixpence). The London booksellers Francis Edwards paid nineteen pounds for lot twenty-seven. This consists of
6
Wilkie Collins's Library
three items by John Forster, the friend of WC, Dickens and other Victorian writers. The lot includes a presentation copy to WC of his Debates on the Grand Remonstrance (item 204). There is Forster's biography of Sir John Eliot (item 207), and a copy of his two-volume biography of Walter Savage Landor (item 208). No single lot fetched the sum of twenty pounds. Indeed nineteen pounds appears to be the highest price recorded at the auction. Maggs Brothers, the London booksellers, paid that amount for lot 90. This consists of two unspecified presentation copies, and two presentation copies. Of these specified presentation copies, Joseph Ritson's Robin Hood: A Collection of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads, Now Extant, Relative to That Celebrated English Outlaw, published in 1820, is described in the auction catalogue as having a "woodcut on title painted, with signature 'William Collins aged 8 years 1832'" (item 420). It is one of the earliest books of WC to have survived. The other lot item was an inscribed copy from the translator, Sir John Kingston James (1815-1893), to WC dated 1865, of his translation of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (item 475). The existence of a second catalogue of books from WC's Library produced by M. L. Bennett, Booksellers of 232 High Holborn in London, not more than a month after the Puttick and Simpson auction sale, is instructive. Bennett purchased at least forty-seven lots, recorded by the auctioneers Puttick and Simpson as being purchased in Bennett's name, at the January 20, 1890 auction. Within a month, Bennett was able to offer for sale a one hundred thirty-three lot catalogue of WC's volumes from his Library, all of which had been purchased at the Puttick and Simpson auction. Other buyers at the auction were mainly booksellers from the London trade such as Maggs, whom the marked auctioneers' catalogue identifies as purchasing thirteen lots. Francis Edwards, a well established London firm, came away with nine lots including John Forster's presentation copies of his books to WC (items 204, 208), William Ellis's Polynesian Researches, 4 vols., (1831) and Basil Hall's Fragments of Voyages and Travels (1831,1833). Both these volumes {lot 39}(items 187, 244) were used by WC during the writing of his first novel Ioldni; or, Tahiti as It Was. Edwards also purchased WC's copy of Captain Frederick Marryat's Works {lot 44} (item 341). The other lots purchased by Edwards include presentation copies to WC from the novelist George MacDonald {lot 143}(items 329-333), and two of his scrapbooks including newspaper cuttings with his notes {lot 188}(item 367). Puttick and Simpson's auction catalogue of 20 January 1890, annotated with prices realized and buyers' names, is now owned by Faith Clarke, the greatgranddaughter of WC. The catalogue lists fifty-eight purchasers of the two hundred forty-six lots from WC's library. Of the other decipherable named buyers from the London trade, Bertram Dobell came away with seven lots. These were mainly literary items, the area in which Dobell specialized {lots 33, 107, 109, 184, 213, 215, 236}. Bernard Quaritch, the "Napoleon of Booksellers"
Introduction
7
amongst the London dealers7, buying under his own name, is surprisingly the purchaser of only two lots: Forster's Life of Dickens, with WC's marginalia {lot 63}(item 206), and a twenty-three-volume new edition of WC's Works with two letters inserted {lot 219}(item 123).The Dickens item, lot 63, was bought by Quaritch on commission for William Barclay Squire of 14 Albert Place, Victoria Road, Kensington. Lot 219 was bought by Quaritch for a great WC admirer and associate, Harry Quilter (1851-1907).8 Other lots from the Puttick and Simpson sale were well distributed amongst the buyers in the auction room. "Nugent" and "Withers" purchased fourteen lots each: "Nugent" acquired lots three through six at the opening of the auction and then picking up various items as the auction proceeded {lots 3, 4, 5, 6, 73, 115, 132, 164, 165, 171, 199, 200, 211, 233}. "Withers," on the other hand, seems to have been looking for books with prints in them. This would associate the name with the provincial firm of Withers of Leicester who specialized in prints {lots 7, 13, 19, 28, 31, 42, 43, 53, 90, 91, 93, 108, 150, 232}. The names of "Hartley" and "Suckling" appear by twelve lots. The pattern of "Hartley's" acquisition seems to be that of miscellaneous literary items {lots 16, 21, 76, 85, 99, 114, 117, 124, 139, 141, 147, 172}. The other buyer is probably identified with "George Suckling, then of Garrick Street, W C 2 and subsequently of Cecil Court . . . a firm known to many latter-day visitors for their enormous stock of engraved portraits, but the George Sucklings, father and son, ranged about pretty freely in books."9 They also acted for Quaritch, purchasing lot 161. This consists of eleven volumes including two by Jean Baptiste Louvet de Couvray (17601797), a revolutionary and member of the Convention nationale (see item 320). Another identifiable item in the lot is the memoirs of Jean-Henri Masers de Latude (1725-1805), imprisoned in the Bastille for thirty-five years for apparently plotting against Mme de Pompadour (item 299). These volumes were also bought on commission for William Barclay Squire.10 Others active at the auction, who acquired more than five lots, range from the names of "Oliver," "Parsons," and "Roche" to that of "Smith." "Oliver" demonstrates a clear interest in illustrated materials including newspapers, serial runs and popular novels in bulk. Amongst the items knocked down to "Oliver" are a run of Dickens's Household Words, with one missing number, bound in ten volumes {lot 62}, an eighteen-volume run of "popular novels" {lot 157}, thirtyeight volumes of miscellaneous French plays and comedies {lot 174}, twentyseven volumes of French novels {lot 179}, and a parcel of magazines including an unbound Notes & Queries for 1872 {lot 186}. The final acquisition knocked down to "Oliver" {lot 189}, includes various numbers of the illustrated LArt and the American Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. This New York periodical serialized Collins's The Fallen Leaves (1879), The Black Robe (18801881) and Heart and Science (1882-1883).n
8
Wilkie Collins's Library
Another purchaser is "Parsons." Lots knocked down to this name include the writings of Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall) {lot 26}, a broken run of the Theatrical Observer {lot 105}, a copy of the theatrical manager and dramatist Alfred Bunn's three-volume work on The Stage {lot 116}, a parcel of illustrated works in Italian {lot 181}, William Collins's Memoir of the painter George Morland {lot 218}, and a parcel of WC's scrap books containing press reviews of his books {lot 231}. "Parsons" also acquired some Folio volumes, a copy of Edward Young's Night Thoughts with William Blake's designs {lot 239}, and the lavishly illustrated John Frederick Lewis's Alhambra Sketches and Drawings {lot 242}. The presence of so much illustrative material suggests that "Parsons" refers to Edwin Parsons & Sons, booksellers, of 45 Brompton Road, London, S. W. 3. They were "specialises] in illustration . . . whose 'beautifully produced' catalogue of engravings was enthusiastically reviewed in the The Bookman's Journal for 24 December 1920."12 Less readily identifiable is "Roche" to whom eight lots were knocked down. These items include a six-volume Aldine Poets {lot 29}, a presentation copy of William Ketchum's History of Buffalo {lot 38}, William Hazlitt's four-volume Life of Napoleon {lot 74}, a thirty-one-volume set of one of WC's favorite novelists, James Fenimore Cooper {lot 83}, a twenty-eight-volume copy of another favorite of WC, Sir Walter Scott's Prose Works with Turner's frontispiece and vignettes {lot 87}, a twenty-six-volume record of French crimes compiled by Maurice Mejan {lot 192}, a forty-five-volume Balzac {lot 194}, and WC's signed copy of Jacques Peuchet's Parisian police memoirs {lot 209}. The last two lots were bought by Roche acting for Quaritch who in turn were acting for the book collector William Barclay Squire.13 On the other hand, more recognizable are the names of two well-known London dealers, Walter T. Spencer and Sotheran. It is surprising that they didn't purchase more. Spencer's name may be found by three lots: Dickens's Plays and Poems and the three-volume Dickens Letters {lots 59, 60} and a presentation copy from the prolific dramatist Edward Ball, later Fitzball, to Charles Dickens of a copy of his own book of poems {lot 121}. Such purchases reflect the interest of the firm of Walter T. Spencer, "a deliberately literary dealer, with a strong line in nineteenth-century English fiction, poetry, book-illustration, and separate plates" (Freeman, 93). Somewhat surprising in the listing of successful bidders is that the name of the bookselling firm of Henry Sotheran appears only once. Sotheran specialized in areas similar to those dealt in by Spencer. Their name may be found by a presentation copy of Harry Quilter's criticism, Sentential Artis, to WC {lot 45}. With notable exceptions it is difficult to trace the late subsequent movement of WC's volumes following the 1890 auction and Bennett's listing. Lot 111, the second-edition two-volume copy of Michael Kelly's Reminiscences of. . . the
Introduction
9
King's Theatre and Theatre Royal Drury Lane, published in 1826, was acquired by Bain, a London bookseller at Puttick and Simpson's auction. According to the minutes of the Library Committee of the Athenaeum, WC's old London club, of which he had been a member since 1861, the volumes were a suggestion for purchase made to the committee in January 1890. The two volumes of Kelly were ordered after the meeting of 24 January 1890, just four days after they were purchased by Bain at auction. They are now at the Athenaeum. Three lots {191, 197, 206} were purchased by St. Martin's Public Library. These lots consist of a twenty-two-volume set of Diderot's Oeuvres avec Memoires (Paris, 1821), a six-volume set of Casanova's Memoires (Bruxelles, 1860), and a seventy-volume set of Voltaire's Oeuvres Completes ([Kehl], 1784). St. Martin's Public Library was the local rate-supported public library in St. Martin's Lane, a stone's throw away from Puttick and Simpson's auction rooms in Leicester Square. In the late twentieth century, St. Martin's Public Library became part of the Westminster City Libraries, which in the last decade of the nineteenth century had, according to Keith Manley, the historian of the Library, "ambitions to be really serious and comprehensive libraries, and probably those items were not too expensive, considering. That sort of thing obviously looks good in annual reports."14 Unfortunately these purchased volumes are no longer traceable at St. Martin's Public Library or in other Westminster City Libraries in London. Easier to identify today is lot 173, described in the Puttick and Simpson auction catalogue as a "beautifully clean copy," with a presentation on the fly leaf from the editor and translator Robert du Pontavice de Heussey (1850-1893), of his L'Inimitable Boz: Sur la Vie et VOeuvre de C Dickens (Paris, 1889). Given to WC by de Heussey on 17 January 1889, the copy is today at the Parrish Collection, Princeton University. Two other items from WC's library are, in the last year of the twentieth century, not in institutional collections, such as Princeton University Libraries, but in the possession of his descendants. Faith Clarke, WC's great-granddaughter, and her husband William M. Clarke, WC's biographer, own WC's copy of Edward Holmes's The Life of Mozart (1845). On the fly-leaf of the volume, which is in its original brown cloth, is the note in pencil, "Purchased at the Sale of Wilkie Collins Library at Puttick & Simpson" and the auction date "Jany. 20th 1890" with the note "Lot 7." Purchased by Withers (probably of Leicester), this lot consists of books relating to music. After the catalogue describes three titles - '''Beethoven's Life," "Bass' Street Music in the Metropolis, " and uCallcott's Musical Grammar" - it has an "etc." This probably refers to Holmes's biography of Mozart. In 1999, also in the possession of Faith and William Clarke, is WC's four-volume copy of a translation from the French, The Works of Francis Rabelais (1844). The first two volumes contain WC's signature and the date "June 1844." The first volume has the note in pencil on the fly-leaf "Lot 93. Purchased at the Sale of the Library...
10
Wilkie Collins's Library
of the late Wilkie Collins Esq at Puttick and Simpson's. Jany. 20th 1890." The buyer was also Withers. The descriptions in the auctioneers Puttick and Simpson's catalogue and details in Bennett's catalogue reveal the provenance of books in WC's library. Many are presentation copies either from authors or from publishers. Some have very close personal associations. For instance, lot 90, purchased by Withers at the Puttick and Simpson auction, is a two-volume copy of Robert Southey's Essays, Moral and Political (1832). The volume is a presentation copy to "Master Collins 1st Prize Maida Hill Academy Xmas 1835." WC was just eleven years old. Another book, the six-volume Jacques Peuchet's Memoires Tirees des Archives de la Police de Paris (Paris, 1838), is fortunate to remain amongst its owner's books. It was borrowed by a friend and then returned to WC. The lender wrote to Frederick Lehmann that his friend and fellow author Charles "Reade has been here, and has carried off my book about the French Police (Memoires tirees des Archives, &c &c)" (25 October 1869: Letters, II, 326). Evidently, Charles Reade returned the volumes to WC. The relatively low prices paid overall and the dominance of one purchaser, Bennett, or his representatives bidding in other names on his behalf, suggests the operation at the auction of the classic "ring." In other words, an agreement amongst established dealers and booksellers to allow the prices to be kept down, and most of the lots to realize a small amount. Of the two hundred forty-six lots only thirty-three reached a hammer price above one pound sterling. Only one lot fetched over ten pounds. This was a twenty-two-volume library edition of Dickens's Works, a presentation copy from the author with "interesting autograph letter inserted." Lot 55 was bought by someone using the name of "Stirling". The only other price to come close to that was also for a Dickens item. A three-volume first edition of Great Expectations in the original blue cloth was knocked down to "Robson" {lot 57} for nine pounds and five shillings. The "Conditions of Sale" laid down by William Simpson and printed at the front of Puttick and Simpson's catalogue appear to be standard for book auctions at the time. The first three are straightforward. The fourth condition stipulates: The Lots to be taken away at the Buyers' Expense and Risk within one week from the conclusion of the Sale, and the remainder of the Purchase-money to be absolutely paid, or otherwise settled for to the satisfaction of the Venders, on or before delivery: in default of which Messrs. PUTTICK AND SIMPSON will not hold themselves responsible, if the Lots be lost, stolen, or damaged, or destroyed, but they will be left at the sole risk of the Purchaser.
Introduction
11
This may explain why certain books known to be part of WC's Library do not appear in the Puttick and Simpson Catalogue, or reappear in Bennett's subsequent Catalogue of the Library. Of course their absence, as in the case of Holmes's Life of Mozart, may fall under what in Puttick and Simpson's catalogue is referred to as the "etc" category. Barry Cornwall's English Songs and Other Small Poems does not appear in their 20 January 1890 listing or in Bennett. It is not found, either, under Bryan Waller Procter, the real name of "Barry Cornwall." WC's copy, inscribed on the front fly-leaf "Wilkie Collins Esq with the Authors' [sic] Kind regards," and marginal lining throughout, was in the year 2000 owned by the eminent WC collector and bibliographer, Andrew Gasson. There are items purchased by Bennett at the Puttick and Simpson auction which do not reappear in the Bennett Catalogue. Puttick and Simpson lot 12 consists of at least three items constituting six volumes in all. The first two, copies of Henry Joseph Ruggles's The Method ofShakspeare as an Artist (New York: 1870), and the second edition, published in 1840, of Sir George Stephen's Adventures of an Attorney in Search of Practice, are marked down to Bennett as the purchaser. Both of these volumes appear in Bennett's Catalogue [Bennett 119, 122]. The third item in Puttick and Simpson's lot 12, a copy of James Miller's single volume, Alcohol; Its Place and Power (Glasgow: 1860), also purchased by Bennett at auction, disappears from view. It is not in his Catalogue. There are three other volumes in the Puttick and Simpson Catalogue lot 12, purchased by Bennett. These other volumes are in the "etc" category in the auction Catalogue. They too have vanished. The fifth sale condition states that "The Books are presumed to be perfect, unless otherwise expressed in the Catalogue, or at the time of the Sale; but if upon collating within one week of the Sale they should prove defective, the Purchaser will be at liberty to take or reject them." Puttick and Simpson's catalogue descriptions appear to be fairly thorough in order to cover themselves. Lot 124 consists of the plays of the Restoration dramatists Vanbrugh, Farquhar and Otway. Of these, the second volume of the 1712 copy of Sir Thomas Otway's Works lacks its cover. Lot 127, a twenty-one-volume Jonathan Swift Works with Life and Notes by Hawkesworth, has a "small hole in title of vol.17," and the final two leaves of the last volume are damaged. The penultimate sale condition essentially amplifies at some length the fifth condition, and covers the auctioneers for legal claims against them. "The sale of any Book or Books is not to be set aside on account of any Stained or Short leaves of text or Plates, want of List of Plates, or on account of the Publication of any subsequent Volume, Supplement, Appendix, or Plates. All the Manuscripts, all Magazines, and Reviews, all Books in Lots, and all Tracts in Lots, or Volumes will be sold with all Faults, Imperfections, and Errors of Description."
12
Wilkie Collins's Library
Furthermore: "The sale of any Lot of Prints or Drawings, or Illustrated Books, or other otherwise, is not to be set aside on account of any error in the enumeration." The final sale condition relates to payment, settlement and the wish of the auctioneers Puttick and Simpson, to clear their rooms of materials from a specific sale - in this instance, the auction of WC's books - and to move onto their next auction. The seventh and final sale condition reads: "Upon failure of complying with the above Conditions, the money deposited in part payment shall be forfeited; and all Lots left uncleared in conformity with these Conditions may be resold by public or private Sale without further notice; and the Deficiency (if any) arising from such re-sale shall be made good by the defaulters at this sale, together with all charges attending the same." They add that "This Condition is without prejudice to the right of the Auctioneers to enforce the contract made at this sale, without such re-sale, if they think fit." The main purchaser at the Puttick and Simpson auction of WC was M. L. Bennett of the "Caxton Head" bookshop. Information on M. L. Bennett is sparse. A copy of his February 1890 Catalogue, No. 198, is found at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The book seller's catalogue "Offers the following Books &c from the Library of the Late WILKIE COLLINS, some with his Autograph Signature and many are Presentation Copies from the respective Authors." There are one hundred thirty-three items in the catalogue. Some items consists of various volumes loosely grouped together under subject headings such as "America" or "Amatory." Under the latter, Bennett's items four and five are the writings of M. Bernard (Paris: 1794), and Prevost's Manon Lescaut (Paris: 1844). Three separate titles, two by the same author, Alexander Begg, are placed under the category of "America." The third title is Nell Gwynne's Acorn Leaves [Bennett 7, 8 and 6]. The first two items in Bennett's Catalogue are not books at all but two household decorative items. These, it may be assumed, came from an auction of WC's effects. The first consists of a "Candelabra" described by Bennett as "A Pair of metal, for four lights each - namely, one in the centre and three around - \VA inches high; a circular base, with three branches, supporting an amphora-shaped shaft (on which are three medallions), above which are the before named triple branches, price £2 10s. the pair." The second item in the Bennett catalogue consists of "Indian Bronze Vases standing 11 inches high, 20 inches circumference in the widest part, with covers having a grotesque animal on the top, the whole of very fine antique workmanship, deeply engraved, and with elephants' heads in high relief at the four corners, price £5 10s." The books themselves begin with the third item in the "Caxton Head" catalogue of M. L. Bennett. This is a copy of George Thomas Keppel, the Earl of
Introduction
13
Albemarle's two-volume autobiographical reminiscences, Fifty Years of My Life (1876). The final item, one hundred thirty-three in the catalogue, is a copy of Sir Nathaniel William Wraxall's two-volume Historical Memoirs of My Own Time (1815) containing "notes in pencil on fly-leaf by" WC. Each item in Bennett's Catalogue is individually priced. Bennett's prices often reflect a hundred-percent mark-up, or even more, from the hammer price paid by him at the Puttick and Simpson auction. Bennett paid five shillings for Lot 67 at Puttick and Simpson's. Bennett's Catalogue asked just over twice that amount, ten shillings and sixpence for the lot - the two-volume copy of Albemarle's Fifty Years of My Life. Sir N. W. Wraxall's Historical Memoirs were part of an auction lot consisting of nine volumes. Bennett paid three shillings for the nine volumes {lot 133}. Bennett then broke up this lot into separate lots. These were then offered individually in their sale Catalogue. The Wraxall volumes were priced at six shillings. The other volumes in lot 133 included Thomas Digby Brooke's translation from the French, published in Bristol 1806, and Henry Hallam's twovolume Europe during the Middle Ages (1891). The Puttick and Simpson auction lot consisted of nine volumes, so there were another four volumes acquired by Bennett, which are unidentified. Thomas Digby Brooke's translation of Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte Guyon's The Exemplary Life of the Pious Lady Guion is item twenty-five in Bennett's Catalogue. Bound in half old calf, it is offered for sale at two shillings. Although not described as a signed or association copy in the Puttick and Simpson auction catalogue, Henry Hallam's work, bound in "half grey calf," has, according to Bennett's Catalogue description, WC's signature in the first volume. This two-volume copy of Hallam becomes Bennett item eighty-one. It is offered for sale at six shillings. So, for one lot, 133, purchased at Puttick and Simpson's for three shillings, Bennett offers five of the nine volumes (Wraxall, Hallam and Guyon) for fourteen shillings, clearly more than a 400% mark-up. There seems to be a realism at times about Bennett's pricing, reflecting what he felt he could sell, couldn't sell, and certainly didn't wish to be left with. Two items by the travel writer and frontier historian, Alexander Begg (1839-1897) find their way into his Catalogue. Only one of the titles is clearly identified as such in the Puttick and Simpson auction. Part of lot 30 is Begg's work On the Creation of Manitoba. There are four other titles in the lot, purchased by Bennett for five shillings. Three of the titles are specified, the other not. Perhaps the unnamed title is Alexander Begg's "Dot it Down": A Story of Life in the North West. This too appears in Bennett's Catalogue. The Begg items were published in Toronto by WC's publishers Hunter, Rose: perhaps they both were gifts from a publisher who knew of WC's interest in exploration and travel. Bennett separately catalogues the volumes. He offers the Creation of Manitoba [Bennett
14
Wilkie Collins's Library
6] for two shillings and six pence. His item seven, "Dot it Down," has the same price. However, there is a note in Bennett's catalogue to the effect that with Begg's Creation of Manitoba it may be purchased for four shillings. In other words, by acquiring both Begg titles the purchaser obtains them at half their total price, four shillings rather than eight shillings. A five-volume Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, seventh edition of 1811, has in pencil the signature of "W. Collins" on its fly-leaf. Bennett purchased the volumes as part of Puttick and Simpson lot 168.This lot includes Macaulay's three-volume Critical and Historical Essays (1854), and a Life of Napoleon, also in three volumes, by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, published in 1831. Bennett paid eleven shillings for the eleven volumes. He offers the Boswell for seven shillings and sixpence, the Macaulay for six shillings, and the biography of Napoleon for seven shillings and six pence. The relatively low mark-up of just under one hundred percent doesn't necessarily appear to reflect their physical condition. The Boswell item is described by Bennett as "half old calf," whereas the Macaulay is "whole calf gilt, marbled edges, substantial copy," and the translation of Napoleon's Life is "half morocco" with "gilt edges." Two other illustrations will be sufficient to illustrate the nature of the mark-up Bennett thought that he could command. He purchased at auction three foliosized items. These were the final two lots in the Puttick and Simpson auction of WC's Library. Lot 245 consists of a copy of J. J. Johns's (not "J. W. Johns" as printed in the Puttick and Simpson Catalogue) Anglican Cathedral Church of Saint James, Mount Zion, Jerusalem, and Claude Warren's Celebrated Hands: The Life-Size Outlines of the Hands of Twenty-Two Celebrated Hands. Published in 1882, Warren's volume contains an illustration, amongst those of other celebrities, of WC's hands. Bennett paid six shillings at auction for the copies of Johns and Warren. He subsequently prices the former at seven shillings and sixpence. Warren's Celebrated Hands is offered at ten shillings and sixpence. The final lot {246} in the Puttick and Simpson auction of WC's Library held on Monday 20 January 1890, knocked down to Bennett, also appears in their February 1890 Catalogue. The lot is described in their Catalogue as an "Atlas Black's General. 61 Maps by Hall Hughes &c, and Index of 57, 500 names, folio, half morocco." Bennett item 18 a, published in Edinburgh in 1847, was purchased at the auction for one shilling. It is offered in their catalogue for four shillings.
Introduction
15
THE COMPOSITION OF WILKIE COLLINS'S LIBRARY Presentation/Association Copies Volumes in the Puttick and Simpson auction, and in the M. L. Bennett Catalogue, represent an impressive working collection covering a wide range of subjects and time periods. There are many inscribed and presentation copies. These reveal WC's capacity for friendship, his sociability, and the influence his writings had upon so many of his contemporaries, many of whom were probably unknown to him. Of the five hundred thirty-seven items in WC's Library, fiftyseven can be definitely identified as association copies, copies presented to WC. Both the Puttick and Simpson and Bennett Catalogues indicate the presence of presentation copies. Evidence found in WC's letters also helps to identify association copies and their provenance. For instance, there is no indication in either Puttick and Simpson's auction Catalogue, or in Bennett's Catalogue, that William Winter's Thistle-down: A Book of Lyrics (1878) is a presentation copy. A letter from WC to William Winter dated 5 August 1878 thanks him for his "last volume of poems." So it is probable that the copy sold at the Puttick and Simpson auction is the same copy. Bennett's Catalogue identifies Forbes Winslow's Lettsomian Lectures on Insanity (1854)[Bennett 103] as a "presentation copy to the 'Editor of The Leader,'" WC's friend Edward Pigott. Pigott, who edited The Leader, probably passed the copy on to WC, who reviewed for The Leader. In a letter of 14 March 1876 WC thanked Jesup, Paton & Co., for a copy of Henry Joseph Ruggles's study The Method of Shakespeare published in New York six years earlier. No indication is given either in the Puttick and Simpson or Bennett descriptions of the volume that it is a presentation copy. There follows an alphabetically arranged tabular listing of presentation copies to WC, or to others, of volumes in his library. These are listed in the first column in numerical order. The second column contains the item number in my Catalogue reconstruction of WC's library. The third column contains the author of the volume, then in the fourth column its short-title. The fifth column contains the date of publication, followed in the next column by the name of the inscriber. The final column contains, if available, brief details of the inscriber, or other pertinent details.
16
Wilkie Collins's Library Table I. ITEM
AUTHOR
Presentation/Association Copies SHORT-
DATE
INSCRIBER
1849
Bohn or
DETAIL
TITLE 1
5
Aeschylus
Tragedies
translator
translated T.W.A. Buckley (1825-1856), worked for publishers and Household Words
2
8
Unknown
Aide burgh
1861
Author
source for No Name
3
10
H.C. Anderson
To Be, or
[1857]
Author
(1805-1875) stayed with
Not to Be?
Dickens, 11 June-15 July 1857. WC at Gad's Hill same time 4
24
M.T. Bass
Street Music
1864
Author
(1799-1884), M.P.
5
52
T.
Mutual
1871
Author
(1809-1881)
Brigstocke
6
7
54
69
O.M. Brown
Hall Caine
Scourges
Dwale Bluth
portrait-painter, friend of WC's father 1876
Author's Father
The Deemster
1887
Electro-
1868
Author
1868
Author
Author
F.M. Brown (1821-1893), painter whose son died in 1874 (1853-1931) novelist, friend ofWC
8
74
J.F.I. Caplin
French physician
Chemical Bath 9
10
82
83
R. Chambers
A. Von Chamisso
Traditi
(1802-1871)
ons of
publisher, father
Edinb urgh
ofNina Lehmann
Faust, tr.
1881
Translator
Henry Phillips (1838-1895), WC met during American tour
Introduction
17
11
132
J.B. Cooke
Wanderings
1874
Poet
provincial poet
12
137
B. Cornwall
English Songs
1856
Poet
[pseud]
B.W.Procter (1787-1874), dedicatee of The Women in White
V. Cousin
Philosophy,
1849
Translator
Daniel Bixby, New York publisher, WC met during American Tour
1882
Poet
R.D. Adams
13
139
tr.
14
144
A. Crucis
Song of the
[pseud]
Stars
(1829-1912), Australian
15
160
G. Hogarth,
Letters of
M. Dickens
Charles
(1827-1917),
eds.
Dickens
Dickens's sister-
1882
Editors
G. Hogarth
in-law: Mary Dickens(18361896), Dickens's eldest daughter 16
162
C. Dickens
Works
18581859
Author
(1812-1870)
17
173
S.A.
History
1833
Author
(1795/6-1858) historian
Dunham 18
192
E. Fawcett
Fantasy
1878
Author
(1847-1904) American writer
19
196
K. Field
Fechter
1882
Author
(1838-1896) American actress
20
198
E. Fitzball
Poems
1857
Author see detail
[presentation copy to C. Dickens], (17921873) author
21
201
G. Flaubert
Salammbo
1886
Translator
M.F. Sheldon (1847-1936) American translator
22
204
J. Forster
Debates
1860
Author
(1812-1876)
Land and Labour
n.d.
Author
Ibid.
biographer 23
205
J. Forster
18
Wilkie Collins's Library 24
210
B. Franklin
Autobiography
1868
Editor
25
226
W.S. Gibson
Lectures
1858
Author
J. Bigelow (1817-1911) American editor, diplomat (1814-1871) antiquarian
26
228
W.F. Gill
Martyred
1874
Author
Church
1844-1917) American journalist
27
250
P.H. Hayne
Poems
1882
Author
(1830-1886) South Carolina poet
28
253
Rdu
Boz
1889
Author
(1850-1893)
Pontavice
WC's French translator
de Heussey 29
258
J. Holden
Poetic
1866
Author
1863
Author
Zephyrs 30
259
H. Holl
King's Mail
[inscribed 1874] poet (1811-1884) novelist
31
260
G.W. Holley
Niagra
1872
Author
(1810-1897) American natural historian
32
263
O.W.
Songs
1875
Author
(1809-1894)
Author
(1832-1902)
Author
Journalist (1798-1876)
American poet
Holmes 33
284
C. Kent
Catholica
1880
34
287
W. Ketchum
History of
1864
Buffalo
American historian
35
301
A.H. Layard
Nineveh
1848/ 1849
Author
[inscribed 1852] (1817-1894) archaeologist, diplomat
36
305
E. De Leon
Askaros
1870
Author
(1828-1891) American diplomat, journalist
37
329 to 333
G. MacDonald
[Novels]
[1876]
[Author or
G. MacDonald
Publisher]
(1824-1905), novelist Kegan, Paul, & Trench, Publisher
Introduction
19 [5 volumes., presented 18831887]
38
344
S.C. Massett
Drifting
1863
Author
(1820-1898) American lyricist
39
353
E. Meryon
Huguenot
1876
Author
(1809-1880) medical author
40
356
N.C. Moak
Billings
1879
Author
[trial]
(1833-1892) American attorney
41
365
E. Nesbit
Legends
1887
Publisher
Longmans
42
398
Sir Gilbert Scott
Well Walk Hampstead
1878
Author
(1811-1878) architect
43
401
H. Quilter
Sententiae
1886
Author
(1851-1907) editor
1886
Author
Art is 44
411
G. Redford
Ancient Sculpture
(1816-1895) surgeon, art critic
45
414
K. F.von
Magnetism
1850
Unknown
Abolitionist
1875
Author
Reichenbach
46
424
A.M. Ross
[presentation copy from either author, editor and translator W. Gregory (1803-1858), or publisher Taylor, Walton, & Maberly] von Reichenbach (1788-1869), WC probably used for Leader 1852 letters (1832-1897) American abolitionist
47 48
454 476
R. Southey T. Tasso
Essays Jerusalem
1832 1865
[Head-
school prize to
master?]
WC,Xmas 1835
Translator
J.K. James (1815-1893) translated from Italian
20
Wilkie Collins's Library 49
482
J. Taylor
Holy Living
1824
Unknown
To Mrs. Harriet Collins, 1825
50
493
W. Thornbury
British
1861
Author
Artists
(1828-1876) journalist
C.H.
Three Gates
1859
Author
(1798-1868) clergyman, author, friend of Dickens, WC
J.T.
Coupon
1873
Author
Trowbridge
Bonds
(1827-1916) Boston writer
51
496
Townshend
52
497
53
507
G. Walch
Tin Plate
1881
Author
(1843-1913) Australian poet
54
519
F. Winslow
Lectures
1854
Author
(1810-1874) presentation copy to the "Editor of The Leader" Edward Pigott
55
520
F. Winslow
Diseases of
1861
Author
Physician
the Brain
Of these fifty-six presentation copies a number are not to WC personally. For instance a copy of Edward Fitzball's The House to Let, with Other Poems (1857) is a "presentation copy to Charles Dickens from the Author" (item 198). An uninscribed copy of Fitzball's revealing reminiscences Thirty-Five Years of a Dramatic Author's Life is in WC's library (item 199). Fitzball (1792-1873), the author of more than one hundred fifty plays, four novels, six volumes of verse, stage adaptations, songs and lyrics, was acquainted with many literary and dramatic personalities of his time (Stephens, 237). The copy of his poems in WC's library, with its 1857 publication date, links Dickens and WC, and their active theatrical activities when they acted together and co-operated in joint dramatic writing ventures. Given the closeness of WC to his mother Harriet it is hardly surprising that books belonging to her should be in his Library. She was probably less pious than her husband, WC's father for whom Jeremy Taylor's sermonizing Holy Living and Holy Dying would have had a special significance. Certainly the work appealed to WC's brother Charles who insisted that WC take a copy with him to Italy in 1853. WC found it slow reading, writing to his Mother "I have read a little of Jeremy Taylor - in accordance with my promise: a little because my present course of life is not favourable to theological studies, and Jeremy is rather involved and hard to understand after a day's rolling over rough high roads in a travelling carriage" {Letters, I, 100:16 October 1853). A two-volume
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21
copy dated 1824 is in his Library: the copy was presented to his mother a year later (item 482). The presence of WC's father, William Collins (1788-1847), the distinguished landscape and figure painter and member of the Royal Academy, is evident in at least one inscribed copy in his son's library. There is a copy of WC's grandfather's three-volume Memoirs of a Picture (1805) (item 97). This is a memoir of George Morland (1763-1804) the painter of rustic, sporting, and decorative subjects. William Collins's "very strange three-volume work so intrigued Wilkie Collins," his biographer Catherine Peters writes, "that he interrupted the narrative of his life of his father to devote nine pages to unravelling the complicated plot of a book which he compared, not absurdly, to Smollett, Sterne and even Fielding" (Peters, 11). There is no record that the library copy of Memoirs of a Picture contains an inscription. An interesting illustration of WC's father's legacy is reflected in the presentation copy of a drama by Thomas Brigstocke (1809-1881). The dramatist is better known as a portrait painter than for his dramatic efforts. According to the Dictionary of National Biography, "he spent eight years in Paris and Italy, and made some copies from pictures by the old masters, among them one of Raphael's 'Transfiguration' in the Vatican, which on the recommendation of W. Collins, R.A., was purchased for Christ Church, Albany Street, Regent's Park." As a dramatist his efforts are not listed in the third edition of the Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, Volume 4, 1800-1900 (1999). His drama The Mutual Scourges; or France and Her Neighbours. An Historical Drama in Four Acts (1871) (item 52) has a presentation inscription dated 1871, and pencilled manuscript corrections by WC. No letters have emerged between Brigstocke and WC. The presence of Mutual Scourges amongst WC's books reflects his father's legacy, and a perception of WC's apparent influence in the London theatrical world of the late 1860s and early 1870s. It is natural for a friend of a father to wish to send to a son, who has something of a dramatic reputation, a dramatic effort. Books with inscriptions to other people rather than to WC are revealing. To take one instance, Forbes Winslow (1810-1874) was a physician and member of the Royal College of Surgeons. The Dictionary of National Biography notes that in 1847 he "opened two private lunatic asylums in Hammersmith, where he employed the humane method of treating lunatics. . . . The frequent establishment of the plea of insanity in criminal cases was largely due to his influence." Winslow presented a copy of his 1854 Lettsomian Lectures on Insanity (item 519) to the Editor of The Leader, WC's close friend Edward Pigott. The 1861 second edition of Winslow's On Obscure Diseases of the Brain (item 520) has a presentation inscription to WC. Certainly both works relate to WC's own fictional exploration of the world of insanity and lunatic asylums in
22
Wilkie Collins's Library
The Woman in White, serialized in All the Year Round from 23 November 1859 until 22 August 1860. There are some surprising omissions from the inscribed copies in the Library. There are copies which probably are presentation copies but lack inscriptions. For instance in a letter dated 17 June 1869 WC writes to Joseph Ellis, "Pray accept my best thanks for the copy of your poems which you have kindly sent me." He comments upon the poems, demonstrating that he has actually read some of them: "I may instance 'The dirge of man' as being, to my mind, one of the most successful among your more ambitious efforts - and 'Try Again' as offering a lively and pleasant essay in poetry of the more homely and practical sort" (Ms: Bodleian). There is no indication that the copy of Joseph Ellis's Meletic: Poems (1869) sold at Puttick and Simpson's auction, bought by Bennett, and recorded in his catalogue, is an inscribed or presentation copy {lot 92}[Bennett 62]. Its presence is another illustration of WC's influence and the high esteem in which he was held by many of his now largely forgotten contemporaries. According to Frederic Boase in his Modern English Biography: Containing Many Thousand Concise Memoirs of Persons Who Have Died between the Years 1851-1900, Joseph Ellis (1815-1891) was the son of the landlord and builder of a famous south London landmark, the Star and Garter Hotel in Richmond. The son lived in Balcombe nestling near Cuckfield in the Sussex south Downs, and not too close from Brighton. He was "a leading spirit of Brighton literary" society. There is no evidence that has come to light that WC addressed Brighton literary society: as a seaside haunt, he preferred the Kent coast. There is no evidence either that WC ever met Ellis. Curious omissions from the record of WC's Library include works dedicated to him. There are no works by James Payn (1830-1898), a prolific writer close to WC who worked with him on Household Words. Payn dedicated his Gwendoline's Harvest (1870) to WC. Blanche Roosevelt's (1853-1898) The Copper Queen: A Romance of To-day and Yesterday (1886) was in WC's collection at the time of his death (item 421). No copy of her Verdi, Milan and Othello, published a year later, is present. Her account of the Italian opera is dedicated to WC, and in her preface dated "Paris, June 1887", she writes, "My dear Friend, | When I left England for Italy, you said 'Do write me all about Verdi, Milan, and the new opera Othello'. . . . I hope also that it [the book] may recall to your mind not alone a composer, a country, and a people whom you have long so professedly admired." Her dedication reads "To Wilkie Collins. My dear friend . . . knowing that the work never would have been written without you, I dedicate it to you."
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23
On the other hand, J. G. Holmes's Ghost Gloom, published in 1889, is in the collection (item 262). Holmes writes, "To Wilkie Collins, Esq., This novel is gratefully dedicated by an admirer of his genius and a recipient of his kindness" (quoted Gasson 48). Examples of poets whom WC probably never met are revealed in other inscribed copies. Joseph B. Cooke of Loughborough, Leicestershire sent WC a copy of his Wanderings with the Muse (1874)(item 132). Another provincial poet, James Holden, inscribed a copy of his Poetic Zephyrs, published in Bury, Lancashire, in 1866 to WC (item 258). The Australian lawyer and poet Robert Dudley Adams (1829-1912), writing under the pseudonym "Alpha Crucis," inscribed a copy of his Song of the Stars and Other Poems, published in Sydney in 1882 (item 144), to WC. These presentation copies may be viewed as evidence of the esteem in which WC was held in the English provinces and in Australia — in the later half of the nineteenth century, a far-away colonial possession. WC's agent and confidant during his last years, Alexander Pollock Watt (18341914), was in the habit of sending him books. Fine examples may be found in two of the copies of Rider Haggard in WC's Library (items 242, 243). The books elicited lengthy verbal and epistolary responses from the recipient. Of She, WC wrote to Watt: "I must talk to you about 'She' the next time you give me a look-in . . . 'She' is better written than 'Mines' - but it has not got the movement of the story and the variety of situations . . . And I doubt the effect on the stupid reader (a most important person, unhappily, to please) of the lady who is 2000 years old" {Letters, II, 531:25 January 1887). A few weeks earlier he had written a lengthy letter to Watt concerning the strengths and weaknesses of King Solomon's Mines {Letters, II, 529-530: 4 January 1887). Published in 1885, Haggard's novel was frequently re-printed. The copy in WC's Library is the red cloth "28th Thousand" impression published in 1889. This suggests that an earlier copy of the novel WC may have had disappeared. There is no evidence, either in Puttick and Simpson's Auction Catalogue, or in Bennett's Catalogue, that any of the copies of Rider Haggard's novels in WC's Library are presentation copies from Watt. Another copy, which more than likely is inscribed, but no association is recorded in the Puttick and Simpson or Bennett sources, is that of the French dramatic translation by Robert du Pontavice de Heussey of WC's The New Magdalen. This was the stage version of his novel first published in 1873. The play was successful in London and the provinces, and also was performed in Paris, Rome, Berlin and Vienna. Produced by Augustin Daly on Broadway in November 1873, it was revived in London as late as 1906 (Gasson 113). De Heussey (18501893), Breton author, translated WC's work into French and represented his interests in France. He was the recipient of long intimate letters from WC (see for instance Letters, II, 449-50; 482-83; 484-85; 559-60). Three of de Heussey's books are found in WC's Library. A copy of de Heussey's biography of Dickens
24
Wilkie Collins's Library
contains an affectionate and effusive inscription to WC (item 253). Curiously the other two copies of works by de Heussey appear not to be inscribed. One is the translation of WC's play (item 254). The other is a copy of de Heussey's CEuvre Completes (item 255). WC wrote to de Heussey on 4 February 1887: "You are the only French Man of Letters - mind, I say this seriously - who understands England and the English. And, because I mean this, you will find on the next morsel of paper, some corrections of trifling slips" {Letters, II, 532). Four copies of works by Victor Hugo are noted in WC's Library (items 267270). None give an indication of their provenance. One of these is a threevolume Hugo's [Le Theatre] published in Paris in 1850. In an undated letter written to the publisher Richard Bentley, WC thanks him for a copy of a Hugo play and adds that he doesn't mind waiting for "Charpentier's edition of Victor Hugo's Plays" (MS: University of Illinois, Urbana). According to Kenneth Robinson's Wilkie Collins, A Biography (New York: Macmillan, 1952) Edward Lear was "a lifelong friend" of WC. Robinson adds, "It is however a friendship of which hardly a trace remains" (93).15 WC's Library contains one Lear item, a copy of his Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica (1870) (item 302), but no inscription is recorded. During the writing of Man and Wife (1868-1869), WC sought the advice of the journalist, civil servant and social reformer, Joseph Charles Parkinson (1833-1908). A copy of Parkinson's Places and People (1869) is in WC's Library (item 382). It again is an example of a volume which might well have contained an inscription but apparently does not. On the other hand, there are presentation copies in his Library with no inscriber recorded. There is a "presentation copy" of a pamphlet agitating against the Proposed Destruction of the Well Walk Hampstead. This is a pamphlet by Sir Gilbert Scott. There is no evidence that Scott presented it personally to WC (item 398). A copy of The Public Ledger Building, Philadelphia: With an Account of the Proceedings Connected with Its Opening June 20, 1867, published a year later, is however more revealing as to its provenance. It was published by George W. Childs (1829-1894), whom WC had met and formed a friendship with during his 1873-1874 American visit. The copy contains a "Dedication of Printer's Cemetery, Woodlands." The uninscribed copy (item 399) is probably a gift from its publisher, Childs. There are, as we have seen, inscriptions which reveal the extent of the esteem in which WC was held as a man of letters. There are inscriptions which reveal friendships and hitherto ignored biographical, literary and social connections. Theodore William Alois Buckley's (1825-1856) presentation copy of his translation of Aeschylus's Tragedies (item 5), was published by Bohn in their classics series in 1849. The presence of the presentation inscription reveals a previously neglected connection between WC and the classical scholar who contributed to Household Words and died in tragic circumstances, a victim of
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25
"opium, and subsequently alcohol" {DNB). Another inscription revealing an acquaintance, if not friendship, is revealed in the presence of a "presentation copy from" Hans Christian Andersen to WC (item 10). The two met at Gad's Hill the home of Charles Dickens, where the Danish writer stayed between 11 June-15 July 1857. The presence of a presentation copy of Michael Thomas Bass's (1799-1884) Street Music in the Metropolis (1864) (item 24) indicates an unknown connection with the Liberal M.P., philanthropist, and grandson of the founder of the brewers Burton. The subject of the volume reveals a preoccupation of WC. In a letter to A. P. Watt written from Ramsgate on the Kent Coast, more than twenty years after receiving the book, WC rails against noise. His departure from the resort "is hastened by the infernal noises which make this delightful place a hell on earth. Organs - brass bands - howling costermongers selling fish, make day hideous - and night too, up to 10 o'clock. Nobody complains but me" {Letters, II, 480: 24 June 1885). Clearly Bass's "Bill for the Suppression of Street Music," which received the Royal Assent in July 1864, was not implemented by the Local Authorities in Ramsgate Kent (Dickens, Letters, X, 388). Some annotated copies are a guide to WC's sources used whilst writing his novels. In some cases they illuminate the presence of other non-inscribed volumes in WC's collection. There is for instance a presentation copy from the author of the 1861 edition of [A Guide to] Aldeburgh and Adjacent Places (item 8). The Suffolk coastal town is used in No Name, which WC was writing in 1861-1862. He visited the resort with Caroline Graves in 1861 and the novel contains powerfully evocative descriptions of the coastland. WC "admired Crabbe's poetry, and he reminded his readers that Aldeburgh was the poet's birthplace. His description of the town, gradually being reclaimed by the sea, and the surrounding country are deliberately modelled on Crabbe's evocative backgrounds to his tales of rural violence and poverty" (Peters 238). There is the eight-volume 1834 edition of Crabbe's Poetical Works . . . With His Letters and Journals, and His Life amongst WC books (item 141). There is also a copy of Edward Forbes's Quiggin's Illustrated Guide and Visitor's Companion through the Isle of Man (item 202), first published in 1839, and frequently reprinted. The copy doesn't provide evidence of its being an association copy, having neither WC's signature nor other evidence that it was presented to him. In August 1863 he visited the Isle of Man with Caroline to gain materials for Armadale. It is highly unlikely that he wouldn't have consulted Edward Forbes's guide during this visit. It is surprising that there are not more presentation copies or works by WC's friend Charles Kent (1832-1902) (Dickens, Letters, II, 609). Kent, author and
26
Wilkie Collins's Library
journalist, had extensive knowledge of English Catholicism and of Catholic families. His mother Ellen was the sister of a Roman Catholic bishop. Both his parents were Catholics. Kent was educated at a Catholic School, Prior Park, Bath and then at St. Mary's College, Oscott. He was the author of, amongst other works, Catholicity in the Dark Ages by an Oscotian (1847). His "literary curiosity called Corona Catholica. De Leonis XIII Assumptione, Epigramma in 50 Linguis . . . (1880), supplied translations of an English epigram into fifty languages" {DNB). A presentation copy from Kent to WC (item 284) is one of two Kent items in WC's Library. There is little doubt that Kent provided background material for The Black Robe, published the following year, 1881, with its Catholic Jesuit setting. Kent, a leading Catholic journalist, edited The Sun from 1853-1871 and the Weekly Register from 1874-1881. He also worked on Household Words. The other Kent work is his edition of Charles Lamb's Works, published in 1889 (item 293). Other volumes extant in WC's Library were probably drawn upon whilst writing novels such as The Black Robe, which develops themes used in his "Yellow Mask." This earlier tale, published in Household Words 7-28 July 1855, contains a plot in which "a high-ranking Catholic priest schemes to recover property he considers to belong rightfully to the Church" (Gasson 19). Volumes in WC's library providing him with background information for such a plot include Leopold von Ranke's History of the Popes. WC possessed the three-volume translation by E. Foster published in 1847 (item 407). Also in the library is a copy of Andrew Steinmetz's three-volume History of the Jesuits, published a year later. The volumes contain "numerous pencil marks by Wilkie Collins" (item 458). There is in addition a copy of Cardinal Wiseman's Recollections of the Last Four Popes and of Rome in Their Times, published in 1858 (item 530). The copy of the second edition, published in Paris in twenty-six volumes in 1808, of Maurice Mejan's Recueil des Causes Celebres, et des Arrets qui les Ont Decidees (item 349) is probably the copy WC bought in a Paris bookstall in 1856. The actor Wybert Reeve (1831-1906), in his "Recollections of Wilkie Collins", quotes WC as recalling, "I was in Paris wandering about the streets with Charles Dickens." They were "amusing ourselves by looking into the shops. We came to an old bookstall - half shop and half store and I found some dilapidated volumes of records of French crimes, a sort of French Newgate Calendar. I said to Dickens 'Here is a prize.' So it turned out to be. In them I found some of my best plots. 'The Woman in White was one.'" The copy in WC's Library has his signature in the first volume: it is not a presentation copy. Clearly the volumes are an important source for his novel which, as Clyde K. Hyder and others have demonstrated, has as its genesis a celebrated French lawsuit of fifty years previously.16
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27
Mejan is not the only volume of criminal trials found in the library providing its owner with materials for his fiction. There is present the six-volume 1825 [Craik's] Celebrated Trials and Remarkable Cases of Criminal Jurisprudence edited by the young George Borrow (item 43). Unfortunately there is no record of how or when WC obtained the volumes. There is no record either of how a copy of David Jardine's Celebrated Criminal Trials, published in two volumes by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in 1825 (item 277), came into its owner's possession. Neither is there a record of how Francois Richer's eighteen-volume record of French criminal trials, Causes Celebres, published in Amsterdam between 1772 and 1881 (item 418), came into WC's hands. WC drew upon French police records and criminal trials for many of his finest plots. In addition to Mejan he would have used Louis Canler's Memoirs . . . Ancien Chef du Service de Surete, published in Brussels in 1862. An edition in French is in WC's Library (item 73). Ward and Lock, the London publishers, published in the same year an English translation. The 1881 two-volume Memoires de Mr. Claude, Chef de la Police de Surete sous le Second Empire amongst WC's books (item 89) reveals WC's continuing interest in French detective work and criminal investigations. The other eight volumes of this tenvolume work published between 1881 and 1883 are not present. A source he would have drawn upon for his short stories, and novels such as The Woman in White and The Moonstone, is Jacques Peuchet's Memoires Tirees des Archives de la Police de Paris pour Servir a I 'Histoire de la Morale et de la Police Louis XIV jusqu' a nos Jours. Six volumes published in Paris in 1838 are in his Library with his signature (item 384). In his "Introduction" to his edition of WC's first novel Ioldni: or, Tahiti As It Was, Ira B. Nadel draws attention to WC's use of "the source text for Ioldni" (xxii). This is the second edition in four volumes of William Ellis's Polynesian Researches: During a Residence of Nearly Eight Years in the Society and Sandwich Islands. Published in 1831, a copy is in WC's Library (item 187). No annotations or marginalia are recorded in the work from which WC "borrowed the names of the four principal characters Iolani, Aimati, Idia and Mahine, citing Tahitian pronunciation, marriage customs, scenic descriptions and the practice of infanticide which provides a key issue for the novel" (Gasson 85). The Fallen Leaves (1879) is a relatively late novel by WC. Dedicated to Caroline Graves, the title refers to those "people who have drawn blanks in the lottery of life . . . the friendless and the lonely, the wounded and the lost" (Gasson 59). The novel centers around four women, all of whom are linked by their association with Amelius Goldenheart, the hero. Important concerns of the novel are illegitimacy, prostitution, and the contrast between capitalism and an ideal Christian Socialist society. Amelius is an exile from such a community. WC "took the details of the community from a description of the Oneida
28
Wilkie Collins's Library
communities in a book he owned, The Communistic Societies of the United States by Charles Nordhoff (Peters 386). A copy of this work is amongst the books in his Library (item 371). No indications of annotations or marginalia are recorded in either Puttick and Simpson's auction catalogue, or in Bennett's subsequent bookseller's catalogue. The presence of presentation copies provides the key to unexplored epistolary friendships. Paul Hamilton Hayne (1830-1886) was, in the words of the editor of his selected letters, Daniel Morley McKeithan, "the most conspicuous Southern professional man of letters in the first twenty-one years following the Civil War." He and WC had much in common: both wrote for a living; both during the period of their correspondence — the 1880s — had experienced better times; both were close to their mothers. Also Hayne, like WC, "was ill much of the time." McKeithan writes, "no poet is in the mood for composition every day even when well, and he [Hayne] could find no market for much that he wrote."17 A common bond of sympathy is revealed in WC's lengthy letters to Hayne (see Letters, II, 608), which seem to have started on a receipt of Hayne's 1882 Boston published Poems. This is a presentation copy from Hayne to WC (item 250). WC's detailed response in a letter to Hayne dated 16 July 1884 goes far beyond WC's usual conviviality and politeness. There is no evidence that Hayne and WC met. In one of the many lengthy personal letters to Hayne, whom WC clearly recognized as a kindred spirit, WC opens with an acknowledgment of personal problems, yet "I was utterly unworthy of your poems, until my mind had rested a little." WC has "only at the beginning of this week .. . begun to read [Hayne] confining myself at first to the shorter poems." He then picks out his favourites so far in his reading. Three poems are named which "represent many others in which I find true poetical feeling, expressed delightfully in truly poetical language" which "is a very rare quality in the present time." Amongst his contemporaries WC finds "affectation of language, and obscurity of meaning." he formulates what he desires in poetry: "what I insist on is, a favourable impression at starting. Excepting Tennyson (in his shorter poems),181 read hardly any modern poetry with pleasure." Hayne's work is an exception: "What I like in your poetry (so far as I yet know it) is - that it makes me feel, and that it has not stopped me" (Letters, II, 469-470). The presence of an inscribed copy from a relatively obscure South Carolina poet reveals the extent of WC's influence. The recipient's extensive response to the poems tells us much about WC's poetic values, and the impact the book of poetry had upon him. Another response to what may have been an unsolicited presentation copy shows WC going beyond mere civility and politeness. In what must have been a difficult letter to write, WC, in a letter date 15 January 1876, responds to a copy he has received of the two-volume William Michael Rossetti and Philip Bourke
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Marston edition of Oliver Madox Brown's The Dwale Bluth, Hebditch 's Legacy, and Other Remains (1876) (item 54). The volume contains "the literary remains o f the son of Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893), the painter, whose connections with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood must have reminded WC of his own brother Charles Allston Collins, and his sad and disappointing connections with the Brotherhood. Charles died in 1873, three years before his brother received the volumes from Ford Madox Brown. The young Oliver Madox Brown died at the age of 19 on 5 November 1874. His death produced a sonnet of remembrance from Dante Gabriel Rossetti, published in The Athenaeum, 14 November 1874. In his letter to Ford Madox Brown, the recipient of the volumes is not uncritical of them. In the story "The Black Swan," WC sees "the inevitable defects of youth and inexperience." Yet he agrees that "the untimely death o f Ford Madox Brown's "son is a loss to literature which all friends of Art have true reason to regret" (Ms: John Rylands, Manchester). WC toured North America and Canada between 25 September 1873 and 7 March 1874. He arrived in New York on 25 September 1873 for his reading tour and managed to also visit, in New York State, Albany, Rochester, Troy, and Syracuse. On 17 October 1873 he was in Philadelphia. He returned to New York on 22 October, then to Boston, to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Returning to New York for readings and the performance of his drama The New Magdalen, he then traveled to Baltimore and Washington and back to Boston. Christmas and Boxing Day saw him in Montreal, Toronto, Niagara Falls and then to Buffalo, Cleveland, Sandusky, and thence to Chicago. His discomforting experience in the lengthy train ride from Sandusky was used as the reason why he canceled a planned trip to the West Coast and to San Francisco to visit a cousin. He returned eastward via Detroit and Rochester to be lionized yet again. This time it was Boston, where he met Mark Twain, H. W. Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and others. He returned to New York where he sat for the photographer Napoleon Sarony (1821-1896). WC returned to England from Boston on 7 March. WC formed many lasting friendships during the visit. For instance he first met Sebastian Benzon Schlesinger, the employer of his godson Frank Ward, in Boston during his reading tour. Schlesinger and his wife were the dedicatees of WC's novella The Haunted Hotel (1879). A record of their relationship and other friendships made in America survives in WC's correspondence {Letters, II, 613). There are no books with Schlesinger's inscription, however the legacy of his American tour is found in the many inscribed presentation copies from Americans from all walks of life in his library. There is, for instance, a translation of Adelbert von Chamisso's (1781-1838) Faust: A Dramatic Sketch. The translation, published in Philadelphia in 1881 in a limited edition of one hundred copies only for private circulation, is by Henry Phillips Jr. (1838-1895) (item 83). A translator and numismatist, Phillips devoted his time to learned
30
Wilkie Collins's Library
societies. A scion of a prominent wealthy Sephardic Jewish Philadelphia family, he was very prominent in the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia and the American Philosophical Society. In 1892 he was appointed U.S. vice consul of Belgium.19 WC met many publishers during his tour. A testimony to these meetings is seen in a presentation copy of the French philosopher Victor Cousin's The Philosophy of the Beautiful from its New York publisher Daniel Bixby (item 139). A translator, who also presented her efforts to WC, was Mary French Sheldon (1847-1936). A presentation copy of her translation of Gustav Flaubert's Salammbo, published in 1886 (item 201), elicited an interesting response from WC in a letter dated 11 April 1886 {Letters, II, 520-521). WC assisted the American actress, journalist, lecturer and feminist, Kate Field (1838-1896) with her Charles Albert Fechter, published in Boston in 1882. It is hardly surprising that Field, who had corresponded with WC and met him, should present him with a copy of the memoir of a mutual friend (item 196). It was Fechter (1824-1879) who greeted WC when he disembarked in America. WC stayed with him in Pennsylvania and saw him again in New York, for what was to be the last time, before leaving for England. WC's "Recollections of Charles Fechter" are candid and found in Kate Field's 1882 volume. Other inscribed copies testify to WC's meetings with or the impact he had upon Americans, such as Henry Phillips, now largely forgotten. These range from presentation copies from the author Edgar Fawcett (1847-1904) (item 192), the journalist William Fearing Gill (1844-1917) (item 228), the American natural historian George W. Holley (1810-1897) (item 260), the historian of Buffalo, New York, William Ketchum (1798-1876) (item 287), the diplomat and journalist Edward De Leon (1828-1891) (item 305), the lyricist Stephen C. Massert (1820-1898) (item 344), the Attorney Nathaniel Cleveland Moak (18331892) (item 356), the abolitionist Alexander Milton Ross (1832-1897) (item 424) and the Boston-based novelist and short story writer John Townsend Trowbridge (1827-1916) (item 497). Copies from more well known figures include John Bigelow (1817-1911), Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894), and William Winter (1836-1917). John Bigelow was the associate editor and owner from 1848 to 1861 of the leading New York Republican evening newspaper, the New York Evening Post. "As consul general at Paris (1861-65) and minister to France (1865-66), he helped swing sympathy away from the Confederacy." An inscribed copy of his edition "based on the manuscript he discovered in France" (Hart 67) of the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, published in Philadelphia in 1868, is amongst WC's books (item 210). A testimony also to the friendship formed between Bigelow, his wife and WC is seen in the intimate letter WC wrote to Mrs. Bigelow on the final day
Introduction
31
of the year he had returned from America. WC observes to Mrs. Bigelow: "In your country, I felt five and twenty years old. In my country I (not infrequently) feel five and ninety" {Letters, II, 388: 31 December 1874). Another of the friendships formed by WC on his American tour was with Oliver Wendell Holmes. A man of diverse talents, Holmes was a leading contributor to the influential Atlantic Monthly, which he helped found in 1857. A lecturer and medical doctor, he was Parkman Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at Harvard, and Dean of the Harvard Medical School. An accomplished poet, he composed a "verse tribute" entitled "A Toast to Wilkie Collins," read at a 22 October 1873 breakfast party to honor WC. Upon his return to England, WC wrote Holmes "I shall prize as long as I live the charming little poem which speaks to me of your genius and your kindness whenever I look at it. Farewell, dear Doctor Holmes, for the present. I have few dearer hopes than the hope of my return to America" (Ms: Library of Congress: 7 March 1874). Oliver Wendell Holmes sent his friend WC a presentation copy of his Songs of Many Seasons: 1862-1874, published in Boston in 1875 (item 263). In a lengthy reply to Holmes, WC comments in detail upon the poems: "Your last Poems have been - in bed and out of bed - my always welcome companions," He instances several poems including "the Organ Blower," "At the Pantomime," the "War Songs," "Never or Now," "Class Meeting" and naturally Holmes's "A Toast to Wilkie Collins" for commendation. He concludes his 17 May 1875 letter, "I am still looking forward to my return to the States, and to a renewal of our brief intercourse at Boston - and still unable to fix a date for my departure" {Letters, II, 394). William Winter became a regular correspondent of WC. Nine of his works are found in WC's library (items 521-529). One of them, a copy of Winter's English Rambles and Other Fugitive Pieces, in Prose and Verse, published in Boston in 1884 (item 522), is a presentation copy. For more than forty years, from 1865 until 1909, Winter was the influential dramatic critic of the New York Tribune. "Although during the first twenty five years he was respected as the Great Cham of the New York theater, he was later considered a relic of the Victorian era because of his romanticism, sentimentalism, insistence upon morality, and hatred of the rising realism." Also, he wrote "a great many occasional poems . . . funeral verse on the deaths of actors, which, because of his longevity, were so frequent, that he came to be known as 'Weeping Willie'" (Hart 730). WC's library contains Winter's travel books, his recollections of theatrical personalities, and his poetry. In his Old Friends Being Literary Recollections of Other Days (1909), Winter quotes extensively from his correspondence with WC. He writes movingly of his old friend. "He was a great writer: as a storyteller, specifically, he stands alone, ~ transcendent and incomparable: but his
32
Wilkie Collins's Library
personality was even more interesting than his authorship. To be in his company was to be charmed, delighted stimulated and refreshed." Winters adds that WC's "intellectual energy communicated itself to all around him, but his manner was so exquisitely refined and gentle that, while he prompted extreme mental activity, he also diffused a lovely influence of repose. The hours that I passed in the company of Collins are remembered as among the happiest of my life" (20304). WC reciprocated such sentiments. His letters to Winter are affectionate, personal, detailed, and look back with affection upon his visit to New York. They are especially revealing concerning WC's views on literature and his fellow authors, living and dead. Particularly noteworthy is his letter of 14 January 1883 with its views on "glorious Walter Scott (King, Emperor, President, and God Almighty of. . . novelists)" {Letters, II, 453). WC met Longfellow and Mark Twain in America. A copy of Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, published in Toronto in 1882, is amongst WC's books (item 499). Surprisingly, no correspondence between Twain (1835-1910) and WC has emerged. Absent from WC's Library are works by Longfellow (1807-1882), with whom WC corresponded. In fact, whilst he was waiting at Boston to sail to Liverpool, WC wrote to the great poet regretting that he was unable "to get to Cambridge and to take your hand at parting." He hopes to return to America and then visit Longfellow and his family at Harvard {Letters, II, 382: 6 March 1874). Amongst the most poignant of the inscribed copies in the Library is that recalling WC's old friendship with Charles Dickens. This is an inscribed copy of The Letters of Charles Dickens, edited by his sister-in-law, Georgina Hogarth (18271917) and Dickens's eldest daughter Mary Dickens (1836-1896). The copy, published in two volumes in 1882, is inscribed on the fly-leaf, "with love from the editors" (item 160). Both Georgina and Mary knew WC from the years when WC and Dickens were close professionally and personally. In the aftermath of Charles Collins's marriage to Dickens's daughter Kate, Georgina's friendship with WC cooled. They "continued to be friends, if not intimates, and she and Mamie [Mary Dickens] were very grateful for his help and professional advice when they were preparing their edition of Dickens's letters" (Peters 347). WC's letters to Georginia concerning the preparation of the edition are detailed and practical. They also reflects past emotions. WC writes to her concerning a forgery: "It is an outrage offered to Dickens's reputation to associate his great name with rubbish which is utterly unworthy of if {Letters, II, 421: 18 March 1879). Imprint Analysis Both the Puttick and Simpson auction and the Bennett catalogues indicate publication dates in addition to author's names, the title and the number of volumes, in some instances places of publication, and the edition of a work. It is
33
Introduction
therefore possible, in most instances, to analyze the composition of the books in WC's library by date and place of publication. Publication dates are divided into centuries, and then into smaller yearly divisions. As there are two books with pre-1700 publication date imprints, tabulation starts with the seventeenth century, then moves to the years 1700-1799. The nineteenth century is divided into ten- and nine-year divisions. Imprint Analysis
Table II.
TOTAL ITEMS
PUBLICATION
%
DATE
1600-1699
2(61,453)
0.37
1700-1799
33 (26, 32, 36,44, 78, 86, 87, 130, 143, 151, 152, 165*, 191, 197, 232,280*, 286, 308, 339, 381, 395, 397, 403,417, 418, 443,448, 464, 474, 489, 500, 505, 537) 13 (79, 97, 147, 233, 238,272, 275, 281, 303,349,361,404,492) 19 (14, 18, 42, 45, 46, 71, 90, 94, 190, 225, 257, 307, 387, 400, 415, 420,433, 476, 535) 29(4, 11,41,43,85,96,131, 163,229, 236, 251, 252, 265, 283, 318, 320, 347, 357, 379, 386, 406, 412, 416,465,482, 488*, 509, 532, 534) 34 (2, 30, 49, 56, 62, 66, 68, 80, 141, 156, 167, 168, 173, 186, 221, 231, 244, 245, 269, 273, 277, 292, 299, 314, 340, 384, 419, 432,437 *, 449 *, [451], [452], 454, 459) 51 (5, [6]*, 25, 39, 50, 55, [65], 93, 99, 139, 145, 161*, 193,246,261,266,270, 279, 298,300, 301, 313, 317, 351, 358, 372, 390, 396, 402, 407,414, 422,426, [427], [428], 431, [449], [450], 458,460, 461,462, 463,466, 472,478, 490*, 491*, 498,512,514) 53 (1*, [10], 13, 19*, 20*, 21, 34, 40,47, 51, 53, [57], 60, 67, 76, 95, [98], 104, 120, 136, 137, 161*, 162*, 194, 198, 199,203, 204, 220, 226, 249, 256, 267,274, 295, [322], 326, 369, 370, 405,435, 441, 442, 445, 446,447, 471, 479,484,
6.15
1800-1810 1811-1820
1821-1830
1831-1840
1841-1850
1851-1860
2.42 3.54
5.40
6.33
9.50
9.87
34
Wilkie Collins's Library 496, [516], 517, 530) 1861-1870
1871-1880
1881-1889
Unestablished Dates
71 (3, 8, 17, 24, 33, 72, 73, [74], 82, 84, 100, 114, 117, 119, 135, 148, 153*, 155, 157, [164], 169*, 185, 195, 207, 204, 208, 210, [216], [217], [218], [219], 223, 230, 258, 259, 285, 287, 289,294, 302, 304, 305, 316, 335, 344, 346, 355, 378, 382, 389, 393, 399, 408, 409,425, 440, 456, 467*, 468*, 469*, 470*, 475, 481, 486, 493, [501], [503], [504], 508, 520, 536) 95 (7, 12*, 28, 29, 31, 48, 52, 54, 58, 63, [64], 81, 88, 103, 105, 107, 108, 109, 111, 115, 116, 118, 121, 122, 125*, 126*, 127*, 128*, 129, 132, 133, 134, 138, 140, 146, 149, 150*, 159*, 166, 171, 177, 178, 182, 183, 192, 206, 211, 224, 227, 228, 234, 235, 239, 260, 263, 264, 268, 282*, 284, 288, 291, 310, 312, 321, 323, 325, 327, [331], [332], [333], 336, [341], 353, 354*, 356, 366, 371, 373, 385, [392], 398,423, 424, 430, 444, 480, 485, 486, 487,497, [502],506,518,527,528) 84 (27, 35, 37, 69, 70, 83, 89, 91, 92, 101, 106, 110, 112, 113, 124, 134, 142, 144, 154, 158, 160, 179, 180, 181, 184, 189, 196, 201, 222, 240, 241, [242], 243, 248, 250, 253, 254, 255, 262, 271, 276, 278, 293, [319], 328, [329], 330, 342, 343, 352, 359, 362, 365, 374, 375*, 376*, 377*, 380, 383, 388, 401, 410, 411, 421, 434,473, 477, 483, [494], 499, 507, 510, 511, 513, 515, 521, 522, 523, 524, 525, 526, 529, 531,533) 53 (9**, 15, 16, 22, 23, 38, 59, 75, 77, 102**, 123, 170, 172, 174, 175, 176, 178, 187, 188, 205, 209**, 212, 213, 214, 215, 237, 247**, 290, 296, 297**, 309**, 311, 315, 324, 338**, 345, 348, 350, 360, 363, 364, 367 **, 368**, 391, 394, 413, 429, 436, 438**, 439, 455, 457, 495) TOTAL 537
13.22
17.69
15.64
9.87
100.00
Introduction
35
[ ] items with approximate dating; * items published in more than one year; ** items not in book format: item 102 consists of Criticisms of the Press "in three scrap books"; item 367 consists of two "scrap-books and [a] small parcel" of "Newspaper Cuttings"; item 368 consists of a parcel of "Newspapers." The collection contains no manuscripts or incunabula, and fails in terms of imprint date to demonstrate that WC was a collector of antiquarian or rare books. Fifty-seven items in the Library are presentation copies. WC died in 1889. The years 1871-1880 reveal the highest percentage of publication dates in the library: 17.69%, or ninety-five items. The last nine years of WC's life produce 15.64%, or eighty-four items. There are 13.22%, or seventy-one items, with publication dates ranging from 1861-1870. There are fewer books with publication dates from previous decades. Perhaps surprising is the number of books in the Library with eighteenth-century imprints: 6.15 % or thirty-three items. Not all the books then are from the later period of WC's life. Some, for instance his school prize from 1835 (item 454), and his mother's copy of Jeremy Taylor's Holy Living with her 1825 dating (item 482), survived the two major moves of his late years. WC moved to 90 Gloucester Place in September 1867. Owing to high rent demands he was then forced to move to 82 Wimpole Street in February 1888. As his letters reveal, the move was traumatic. He seems to have lost a number of books in the process. He writes to Harry Quilter, the art critic, on 11 April 1888, imitating the pleas of his movers who are attempting to set up his new home: "I am sorry to trouble you, but I miss three books out of the library catalogue - Forster's Life of Goldsmith, and Lamb's Essays and Leigh Hunt's Essays. Do you think they have been stolen?" . . . "I say, Wilkie! when you told Marian and Harriet that they might help to put the books in their places, did you know that Faublas and Casanova's Memoirs were left out on the drawing-room table?" {Letters, II, 555). Neither John Forster's biography of Goldsmith, published in 1848, nor any Leigh Hunt, are found in Puttick and Simpson's auction, or Bennett's Catalogue. The copy of Lamb is one edited by Charles Kent in 1889 (item 293). There is a six-volume Memoires de Jacques Casanova published in Bruxelles in 1860 (item 76).
Wilkie Collins's Library
3.6
Place of Publication Analysis Table III.
Place of Publication Analysis LOCATION
1. Britain & Ireland London, (329): (London & Dublin 1; London & Edinburgh 1) Elsewhere (32): Aldeburgh (1); Bath (1); Bristol (1); Bury (1); Cambridge (1); Douglas, Isle of Man (1); Dublin (2); Edinburgh (11); Edinburgh & London (6); Glasgow (1); Leicester (1); Louth (1); Northampton (1); Oxford (2); Wakefield (1) 2. France: Paris (95) 3. United States: Albany, N.Y. (1); Boston (19); Boston & New York (1); Brooklyn, N.Y. (1); Buffalo, N.Y. (1); Cambridge, Mass. (1); Hartford, Conn. (1); New York, (20); Philadelphia (6) 4. Canada: Brockville, Ontario (1); Quebec (1); Toronto (6) 5. Australia: Melbourne (2); Sydney (1) 6. Belgium: Brussels (2) 7. Germany: Berlin (2); Leipzig (2); [Kehl] (1) 8. Italy: Milan (2); Venezia (1); Rome (3) 9. Netherlands: Amsterdam (1); Gravenhage (1) 10. Russia: St. Petersbourg(l) 11. Sweden: Goteborg(l) TOTAL
TITLES
%
363
68.12
95
17.93
51
9.62
8
1.51
3
0.57
2
0.38
5
0.94
6
1.13
2
0.38
1
0.19
1
0.19
537
100%*
*In fact due to "rounding up" the percentage comes to 100.39%.
Introduction
37
Approximately 62% of the books in WC's Library were published in London. Many of these were publishers with whom WC had connections, such as George and Richard Bentley, and Andrew Chatto. Many copies inevitably came into WC's hands in his role as a publisher's reader. Others were sent to him by his literary agent Alexander Pollack Watt20 who had extensive contacts with the London and international publishing trade. Given WC's close business and personal relationship with Hunter Rose, his Toronto-based Canadian publishers, it is perhaps something of a surprise that only six Toronto imprints, and two from elsewhere in Canada, are found in his Library after his death (Gasson 82). A further approximate 6% of the imprints in the Library were published elsewhere in the British Isles or in Ireland. Of the seventeen published in Edinburgh, six have Edinburgh and London imprints. Four of these are multivolume editions (items 432, 433, 434, 435) of the writer he considered "to be the greatest of all novelists", Walter Scott {Letters, II, 552). The fifth (item 518) is a copy of The Dramatic Works of John Wilson, published by William Patterson in Edinburgh and Henry Sotheran in London in 1874. John Wilson (1626-1696) was a Restoration dramatist who wrote comedies on the Jonsonian model: his tragedy Andronicus Comnenius (1664) is "based on the adventurous career of the Roman emperor Andronicus Comnenius (1183-5)" (Harvey 853). Its presence reveals WC's collection of Restoration Drama, also demonstrated by other titles in his Library (see for instance items 130, 150, 191). The other volume (item 146), published in Edinburgh and London, by William Paterson and Henry Sotheran, too is related to Restoration Drama. This is a copy of the first volume of The Dramatic Works of John Crowne (1873). The first volume contains three plays by Crowne (1640?-1703?): Juliana; The History of Charles the Eighth of France; and Calisto. Paterson of Edinburgh also published The Dramatic Works of Sir William DAvenant (1872-1874). Four of the five volumes only are recorded in the Library (item 150). The Edinburgh publishers Adam and Charles Black produced a sixteen-volume set of Thomas De Quincey who, in his Recollections of the Lakes and Lake Poets, referred to WC's father as "that admirable man" (Peters 15). Part of Lot 142 in Puttick and Simpson's auction of WC's books consists of "De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-eater, Coleridge and Opium-Eating and Suspiria de Profundis 3 vols." followed by the dates "1862-1871". These dates accord with the publication of Black's The Works of Thomas De Quincey (18621871). Of this set, the first, the eleventh, and final volumes conform to what was sold at auction (item 153). In The Moonstone, WC's Ezra Jennings refers to "the far famed Confessions of an English Opium Eater." He also cites John Elliotson's Principles of Human Physiology, the 1840 edition. It is surprising that there is so little De Quincey in the Library and no Dr. Elliotson.21
38
Wilkie Collins's Library
Another writer, Henry Fielding, whose comic satire might have appealed to WC, receives rather short shrift in his letters. In a letter to his friend Edward Pigott written in 1855, WC quipped, "one of the most tedious books (to me) that I ever read in my life was Tom Jones. This is wrong, I know, but all men have their 'cracked' points - and these are some of mine" {Letters, I, 146). One of the few non-nineteenth-century works published in Edinburgh found amongst WC's books is the twelve-volume fourth edition of The Works of Henry Fielding printed by Martin and Wotherspoon in 1767 (item 197). There are surprisingly few imprints from Oxford or Cambridge. From Oxford there are two imprints: a four-volume Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Addison, published in 1830 (item 4), and Pusey's edition of the Meditations and Prayers of Saint Anselm, published by Parker's in 1865 (item 13). From the Cambridge publisher, Deighton Bell, there is the Verses and Translations of Charles Stuart Calverley (1831-1884) (item 72). WC may have been acquainted with the minor poet and parodist, who also became a barrister of the Inner Temple but settled at Christ's College, Cambridge. These imprints are not editions of the ancient classical authors. Indeed there is a dearth of such editions and classical work in WC's library. Of the editions printed elsewhere in the United Kingdom and Ireland, there are presentation copies from provincial writers (see for instance items 132, 258), and guide books which WC used on his travels whilst gathering fictional materials (items 8, 202). Even though editions published on the European Continent make up just under 20% of all the imprints found in the Library, nearly 18% of these, or ninety-five items, have a Parisian imprint. Paris was WC's favorite city, which he first visited with his parents in September 1836. He returned to the city frequently and "developed a lifelong taste for French art, theatre and food" (Gasson 120). Book hunting and buying were amongst his activities in Paris. There is, perhaps not unexpectedly, a copy in WC's Library, of Horace Raison's classic Le Manuel du Gastronomie, published in Paris in 1830. WC's copy has its "cover loose" (item 406). Collins purchased in Paris his twenty-six volumes of Maurice Mejan's Recueil des Causes Celebres, published in 1808 (item 349). His enthusiasm for French Literature, and especially French drama and fiction, is reflected in the volumes in his library, which teems with the works of oftenobscure eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French dramatists, novelists and poets. Neither the auctioneers Puttick and Simpson nor the booksellers, M. L. Bennett, in their descriptions of WC's collection, did much service to his books published in Paris. These tend to be lumped togther in multi-volume lots. Puttick and Simpson lot 180 consists of "French Plays, original editions . . . a parcel" (item 214): these are assumed to have been published in Paris. The description of auction lot 165 is more helpful: "Repertoire du Theatre Fran9ais 67 vols. cf 12
Introduction
39
mo. Paris 1813." This lot seems to be the sixty-seven-volume set of seventeenthand eighteenth-century French drama published in Paris in 1813 (item 415). In spite of identification difficulties, the Parisian imprints present in the Library reveal at least four pre-nineteenth-century books. There is a copy of the complete works of the pornographer Pierre- Joseph Bernard (1710-1775), published in Paris in 1794 (item 36). The compiler of Bennett's Catalogue places these under the "Amatory" and somewhat euphemistically refers to them as "several extremely pretty etchings" [Bennett 4]. There is a two-volume copy of AlainRene Lesage's Le Bachelier de Salamanque published in Paris in 1767 (item 306). A difficult-to-identify title of which only the first volume in "(broken) calf is present, is Les Nuits Anglaises with the 1770 Paris imprint (item 308). Another eighteenth-century Parisian imprint is an incomplete copy of the friend and disciple of Voltaire, Jean-Francis MarmontePs (1723-1799) "slight tales with a moral intention, agreeably told" (Harvey and Heseltine, 456), Contes Moraux, published in 1766 (item 339). There is also an undated copy of the classic work of physiology by Xavier Bichat (1771-1802): his frequently reprinted Recherches Physiologiques (item 38), first published in Paris in 1800. Of the ninety-five Parisian imprints in the collection there are a high number of novels and dramas. Forty are novels and twenty-nine plays. The vast majority of these are nineteenth-century imprints. Of the major writers, Beaumarchais's dramas are found in a 1846 edition (item 25). There is a twenty-two-volume Paris edition, published in 1821, of Denis Diderot's works (item 163). There are collections of the Dumas' (items 169-172), and a copy of Gustav Flaubert's Madame Bovary (item 200). There are four separate Victor Hugo titles including a copy of his three-volume [Le Theatre] published in 1850 (items 267-270). In a letter written to Pigott, WC observes: "Excepting Falstaff and Dogberry, I think Moliere a greater humourist than Shakespeare" {Letters, I, 146). A seven-volume edition of Moliere's CEuvres Completes, published in Paris in 1824, is in the Library (item 357). There are two George Sand novels (items 427-428), and four Jules Verne (items 501-504). There are volumes of French novelists and dramatists who have in the early twenty-first century fallen into neglect. Some no doubt provided WC and his contemporaries with creative fodder: "the works of dramatists such as Augier [(item 15)], Sardou [(item 429)] and Scribe [(items 436-437)] could be picked off at will by British adapters at no cost to themselves, because for most of the time theatre managers had their spies out in Paris with instructions to send home texts of all the latest novelties for instant translation" (Stephens 130). This may explain the presence of so many popular French best-selling novelists and theatrical successes in the collection. There are for instance in the collection, the Scenes et Comedies, published in Paris in 1854 (item 194), of the very popular Octave Feuillet (1821-1890) whose "blend of gentility and sentimentality secured for him a large public under the Second Empire" (France 311-12). WC
40
Wilkie Collins's Library
owned an eight-volume edition of Eugene Labiche's (1815-1888) Theatre Complet with a preface by Emile Augier, published in Paris in 1879 (item 291). Labiche wrote more than one hundred sixty farcical comedies and has been "considered the most important comic author of the nineteenth century" (Dolbow 161). Other works by popular writers include the drama of Henri Meilhac (1831-1897) (item 348), who collaborated with the librettist and comic dramatist Ludovic Halevy in smash hits such as Frou-frou (1869). Meilhac and Halevy wrote the libretto for Bizet's Carmen. There are also copies of the dramas of Anne Honore Joseph Melesville (1787-1865) (item 350), whose work was adapted for the London stage by Planche and other dramatists. WC's collection of theatrical plays published in Paris includes the theatrical pieces of the librettist for the Comedie Fransais, Pierre Julien Nargeot (b.l799)(item 363). There are four volumes (item 390) of the plays of the prolific popular dramatist Rene-Charles Guilbert de Pixerecourt (1773-1844). Less forgotten today is the work of the prolific dramatist, author of vaudeville, comedies of intrigue and opera libretti, Eugene Scribe (1791-1861). Two editions of his work are found in WC's collection. There are his plays, part of six volumes bound up with no titles (item 436), and the second edition, in twenty-four volumes, of his Theatre Completes, published in Paris between 1834 and 1842 (item 437). According to a 15 March 1886 letter WC wrote to his French collaborator and translator de Heussey: "Some of my earlier stories had been translated into French . . . and some illustrious French authors had read them - notably Scribe who charmed me by his kind encouragement" {Letters, II, 520). WC's collection of nineteenth-century French fiction with Parisian imprints encompasses the serious and the popular. There are forty-five volumes of Balzac (item 19), whom WC regarded, as one of "the three Kings of Fiction," James Fenimore Cooper and Sir Walter Scott being the others {Letters, II, 467). The highly influential romantic novel by the Vicomte de Francois-Rene Chateaubriand (1768-1848), Atala, is present with Rene in the 1830 edition (item 85). The very successful collaboration of the Alsatian historical novelist Pierre Alexandre Chatrian (1826-1890) and Emile Erckmann (1822-1899) is represented by a volume of unspecified novels probably published in Paris (item 188). There is a copy of Paul Feval's La Tontine Infernale published in Paris in 1868. During the Second Empire Feval dominated the serial fiction market (item 195). There is an extensive collection of the novels of Emile Gaboriau, including a ten-volume Vie Infernal (items 216-219). According to The Oxford Companion to French Literature, Gaboriau (1832-1873) was the "father of the roman policier, or detective novel, in France, sometimes called the Edgar Allan Poe of French literature. . . . His famous detective Monsieur Lecoq . . . is the precursor of Sherlock Holmes" (296). Gaboriau's detective probably reinforced WC's interest in detectives seen in various writings including his "A Terribly
Introduction
41
Strange Bed" (1852), and "The Diary of Anne Rodway" (1856), finding its most famous expression in his Sergeant Richard Cuff of The Moonstone (1868) (Gasson 48, 44). Amongst the non-fictional and dramatic volumes with Parisian imprints are two items containing police memoirs, which WC no doubt drew upon for fictional use. These consist of two volumes of the ten-volume Memoires de Mr. Claude, Chef de la Police de Surete sous le Second Empire published 1881-1883 (item 89). There are also six volumes of Jacques Peuchet's Memoires Tirees des Archives de la Police de Paris pour Servir a I 'Historie de la Morale et de la Police, depuis Louis XIVjusqu'a nos Jours published in 1838 (item 384). The volumes were considered so useful for fictional source material that, as WC wrote to his friend Frederick Lehmann on 25 October 1869 {Letters, II, 326) "Reade has been here, and has carried off my book about the French Police." Other works of a similar nature with Parisian imprints, include J. B. B. Eyries exploration into parapsychology in his two-volume Fantasmagoriana (1812) (item 190). Also present is a copy (item 203) of the critical writings of Emile Forgues (1813-1883), the French critic and translator to whom WC dedicated his Queen of Hearts (1859). This was WC's way of acknowledging his gratitude for Forgues's sympathetic defense of WC's work published in the La Revue des Deux Mondes of 1859 (Gasson 62). French editions and translations of WC are also found amongst Parisian imprints (items 126, 254). Dutch, German, Italian, and Swedish translations of WC are present in his Library. There are fourteen volumes of translation with imprints from Gravenhage in the Netherlands (item 125) and six volumes of translations into German with Leipzig and Berlin imprints (item 127). Italian translations of his works include six volumes with imprints from Milan and Rome (item 128). Incorrectly described in Bennett's Catalogue [Bennett 53] as "Danish" translations are three volumes of his writings translated into Swedish, published in Goteburg by T. Hedlund (item 124). In terms of places of publication, languages are no respecters of place. A Paris, Amsterdam, Milan or St. Peterbourg imprint, for example, doesn't necessarily mean that a volume published there is in French, Dutch, Italian or even Russian. An eighteen-volume account of French criminal trials, Francois Richer's Causes Celebres et Inter ess antes is in the collection. WC's copy was published in Amsterdam between 1772 and 1781 (item 418). A work on cremation, also in French, by G. Pini published in 1885 has a Milan imprint (item 388). A travel memoir by the pseudonymous [Topchi] with a St. Petersbourg [1888] imprint is in fact in French (item 494). Not all of the Parisian imprints are in French. There is an 1842 copy published in Paris in English of the Irish poet Tom Moore's Poetical Works (item 358). On the other hand, there is in WC's collection six volumes, bound in three in French, of the Charles Honore Laverdiere's (1826-
42
Wilkie Collins's Library
1873) edition of Samuel de Champlain's (1567-1635) account of the French discovery and exploration of Canada and North America. The edition was published in Quebec (item 84). Language Analysis Table IV.
Language Analysis
English
424
80.00%
French
106
20.00%
Other languages
7
.13%
TOTAL
537
100%*
* Cf. Table III. In fact due to "rounding up" the percentage comes to 100.13%). Eighty percent of the items in the collection are in English. Of those items in other languages, two are in German (items 127, 531), and two in Italian (items 42, 128). One each are in Dutch (item 125) and Swedish (item 124). Both German items, one of the Italian volumes (item 128), and the Dutch and Swedish imprints are translations of WC's works or a book in German about him (item 531). The other item in Italian is a five-volume edition of Boccaccio's // Decameron published in Venezia in 1813 (item 42). Another item (item 284) is in many languages. The presentation copy of Charles Kent's Corona Catholica "supplied translations of an English epigram into fifty languages; among the many eminent scholars who supplied the translations were Max Mtiller, who turned the translation into Sanskrit, Prof. Sayce, who turned it into Assyrian, and Prince Lucien Bonaparte who rendered it in Basque" {DNB). WC tells his friend Sebastian Schlesinger in a letter dated 29 December 1883: "My novels are so popular among the native races of India (who can read English) that they are to be translated into the Bengali language for the native inhabitants who want to read me. The Series is to begin with The Woman in White'" {Letters, II, 464). WC was "always extremely popular" in Russia "and almost all of his works were translated" (Gasson 149). None of these translations are to be found in the collection. In addition to translations into Dutch, French, German, Italian and Swedish of WC's own works, there are a number of translations into English of other works in the Library. There are eight translations from the French, including a presentation copy from the translator Mary French Sheldon of Gustave Flaubert's Salammbo (item 201). There is a four-volume translation of The Works of. . . Rabelais, published in 1844, with WC's signature on the fly-leaf dated "June 1844" (item 402). Amongst the eight translations from the German
Introduction
43
are a presentation copy of Goethe's Faust (item 83), and a translation of Lessing published by Bohn in 1878 (item 310). There are three translations from the Spanish into English. Two of these are translations of Cervantes's Don Quixote (items 78,79). The third is William Walton's two-volume translation from the Spanish documents of Antonio Puigblanch's The Inquisition Unmasked: Being a Historical Account of that Tremendous Tribunal Founded on Authentic Documents published in 1816 (item 400). Translations from classical languages include a presentation copy from the translator, the classical scholar Theodore William Alois Buckley (1825-1856), of Aeschylus's Tragedies published by Bohn in 1849 (item 5). There is a two-volume translation in English verse by A. Hawkins of Claudian (item 90) published in 1817. Sir John Kingston James (1815-1893), who lived in Tunbridge Wells, the same town as Harriet Collins, WC's mother, presented him with a copy of his translation of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered published in 1865 (item 475). Subject Analysis Subject analysis of books in WC's library is a complicated matter. Subject categories are by no means exclusive and duplication will arise. For instance, although forty-three items are identified as biography, autobiography and memoirs, they additionally contain material on history as well as literature and the theater. Specifically, for instance, John Geneste's ten-volume Some Account of the English Stage from the Restoration in 1660 to 1830, published in Bath in 1832 (item 221), is a history of the English theater encompassing a period of over and a century. It is also a work of English Literature dealing with one of its aspects: the English stage. Arthur Murphy's two-volume Life of David Garrick, the great eighteenth-century actor and theatrical manager, is a biography, concerned with English Literature, and specifically with the theater (item 361). Another illustration of the difficulty of narrowing an item down to one subject category is seen in the case of Walter Farquhar Hook's Church Dictionary published in 1843 (item 266). This is both a Reference work and one fitting into the subject category of "Religion": in my analysis it is included under the "Religion" category. The table which follows consists numerically of more items than are actually recorded in the catalogue. Given the extent of duplication it is hardly surprising that the percentages exceed one hundred percent. The percentages have been rounded up.
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Wilkie Collins's Library Subject Analysis
Table V. SUBJECT
TITLES
%
1. English Literature (including Drama)
263
35.0
2. French Literature
146
19.0
3. History
75
10.0
4. Biography/Autobiography/Memoirs
43
6.0
5. Adventures/Travel
42
6.0
6. American Literature
39
5.0
7. Art/Artists/Architecture/Sculpture
25
3.0
8. Religion
18
2.4
9. Music
11
1.5
10. Dictionaries and Reference
10
1.5
11. German Literature
10
1.5
12. Politics
10
1.5
13. Trials
10
1.5
14. All other subjects*
60
8.0
TOTAL
762
101.9%
* This includes: Guides (6); Laws, Medicine, Superstition (5 each); Australian Literature, Italian Literature, Psychology/ Psychiatry, Magazines (4 each); Philosophy, Protest, Spanish Literature (3 each); Archaeology, Newspaper cuttings (2 each); Anecdotes, Animal Magnetism, Apparitions (Ghosts), Arabian Nights (translation), Canadian Literature, Cremation, Gastronomy, Physiology, Palmistry (1 each). English Literature (including Drama) Two hundred sixty-three items, 35 percent, belong to this subject categorization - the largest single subject area amongst the recorded items. Forty-six of these are related to the theater. They range from histories of drama, collections of plays, biography, and memoirs, to copies of individual dramatists' works. There is a curious lack of the work of WC's dramatic contemporaries, and other nineteenth-century British dramatic writers. One looks in vain for plays by Dion Boucicault, Douglas Jerrold whose Black-Eyed Susan; or, All in the Downs (1829) was a most successful long-running play, Henry Jones, James Sheridan
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Knowles, or to take but one other example, James Robinson Planche. Edward Fitzball (1792-1873) is present through his two-volume theatrical memoirs published in 1859 and a presentation copy to Charles Dickens of his poetry published in 1857 (items 199,198). None of his over one hundred fifty dramas, are in the Library (see Stephens). WC's theatrical contemporaries are represented by Bulwer-Lytton's Dramatic Works (items 323-324). There is a personally inscribed association copy of a drama by Thomas Brigstocke, who was primarily an artist (item 52). There are three dramatic histories. These include the 1812 edition of David Erskine Baker's classic Biographica Dramatica (item 18). The dramatist and manager Alfred Bunn's three-volume The Stage, published in 1840, is a record of the early- and mid-nineteenth-century theater (item 56). There is also the poet Robert Southey's copy of John Geneste's Some Account of the English Stage . . . (item 221). Collections of plays range from Elizabeth Inchbald's two-volume compendium of British theatrical dramas (item 272), a four-volume London Stage; A Collection of the Most Reputed Tragedies, Comedies, Operas, Melodramas, Farces, and Interludes, published in 1824 (item 318), to Isaac Reed's six-volume 1825 A Select Collection of Old Plays (item 412). There is also Sir Walter Scott's five-volume selection of tragic, farcical and comic drama published in 1811, The Modern British Drama (item 433). WC possessed two basic theatrical reference works. He had The Theatrical Observer, and Daily Bills of the Play covering the years 1821 to 1832 (item 488), and a copy of Thesaurus Dramaticus. Published in two volumes in 1724 (item 489), its subtitle explains that the volume contains "all the celebrated passages, soliloquies, similies, descriptions, and other poetical beauties in the body of English plays, antient and modern, digested under proper topics; with the names of the plays, and their authors, referr'd to in the margin." The presence of at least nine biographies, and individual memoirs of theatrical people further attests to WC's fascination with the stage. These recollections mainly consist of the lives of eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century actors and actresses. They range from a three-volume life of George Anne Bellamy (17311788), the actress, published in Dublin in 1785 (item 32), the two-volume memoirs of Sarah Siddons (1755-1831), widely regarded as one of the great actresses of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth-century British theater (item 41), to WC's annotated copy (item 283) of the reminiscences of the theatrical manager Michael Kelly (1762-1826). There is Arthur Murphy's two-volume biography of the life of the great eighteenth-century actor and producer David Garrick (1717-1779), published in 1801 (item 361). WC's more immediate contemporaries are represented by a copy of the reminiscences of another great actor-manager, William Charles Macready (1793-1873), published in 1876 (item 336), and by the autobiographical reflections of the professional dramatist Frederick Reynolds (1764-1841) with whom WC had much in common. Both
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depended on income from their writings. In his autobiography (item 416) Reynolds describes how "he was for long periods totally dependent upon his income from dramatic authorship and was forced into producing plays at regular intervals in order to satisfy immediate financial demands" (Stephens 19). By far the largest number of theatrical works in WC's library are primary works. Copies of English dramatists reveal considerable interest in the drama of the Restoration and post-Restoration theater. The presence of volumes by women dramatists complements memoirs and recollections of great actresses. In 18721874 the Edinburgh publishing firm of William Paterson, in collaboration with the well known London publishing house of H. Sotheran, produced the Dramatists of the Restoration. Such a publication is indicative of an interest in the late-seventeenth-century theater in late Victorian England. Volumes in WC's library from this series include the first (item 146) of four volumes of plays by John Crowne (1640-1712). There are four of the five volumes of the dramatic works of Sir William D'Avenant (item 150). Also published by Patterson and Sotheran, and present in the collection (item 518), are the dramatic works of John Wilson (1626-1696). Some of the earliest dated copies in the collection are those of dramatists. These include two eighteenth-century editions of the works of George Farquhar (1678-1707), one dated 1728 and the other dated 1760 (item 191). A two-volume Works of Mr. Thomas Otway, the Restoration dramatist (1652-1685) is dated 1712 (item 381). Thomas Southerne's comedy Sir Antony Love or, The Rambling Lady is present in its first edition, published in 1698 (item 453). A similar pattern of the presence of primary texts is evident in the non-dramatic English literary volumes in WC's collection. Two hundred seventeen items belong to this category. Pre-eminent amongst them are an extensive run of WC's own writing (items 98-128) containing first British editions of his fiction, and translations of his work into Danish, Dutch, French, German, and Italian. There are scrapbooks including "criticisms of the press" (item 102). Perhaps there are fewer items by WC's collaborator and friend, Charles Dickens, than expected. The eight items include a run of Household Words (item 161) and copies of three novels {Great Expectations, Pickwick, and the uncompleted posthumous Edwin Drood) (items 155-157). These are supplemented by copies of The Letters of Charles Dickens (items 159-160), edited by Georgina Hogarth and Mary Dickens. As a letter he wrote to her on 18 March 1879 bears witness, WC advised Georgina on the publication of these volumes {Letters, II, 420-21). There is, in addition, a twenty-two-volume Library edition of Charles Dickens's Works (item 162). Of other Victorian novelists there is no Anthony Trollope. Thackeray, upon whom hearing of his death WC wrote so movingly (see his letter to Mrs. Harriet Collins, 8 January 1864: Letters, I, 242), is represented by only four items.
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These include copies of four novels: The Book of Snobs, The History of Pendennis, The Newcomes, and Vanity Fair (items 484-487). Another surprising absence are copies of the novels of Bulwer-Lytton, who was not adverse from writing to WC for advice.22 There is one George Eliot work present, an undated copy of her first published fiction, Scenes of Clerical Life, published by Blackwood's in two volumes in 1858 (item 179). There is also a copy of WC's old friend George Henry Lewes's first venture into fictional form, Ranthorpe, published in 1847 (item 313). On the other hand, there are fourteen volumes of the works of William Harrison Ainsworth (item 6), an unspecified run of the novels of Charles Lever (item 311), and sixteen volumes of the works of Frederick Marryat (item 341). This is accompanied by a copy of his The Pirate and the Three Cutters (1836) containing Clarkson Stanfield's plates (item 340). Perhaps a surprising presence in the collection is that of five presentation copies to WC by the Scottish clergyman, editor and writer George MacDonald (18241905). There are copies of his three-volume Castle Warlock (item 329), Marquis of Lossie (item 331), Sir Gibbie (item 332), and St. George and St. Michael (333), and another novel, Home Again (item 330). All were published by Kegan, Paul and Trench between 1876 and 1887. This was a period when WC was acting as a publisher's reader and advisor. All the copies were purchased as one lot {lot 143} at the Puttick and Simpson auction by the London dealers Francis Edwards. It is unclear from the auction catalogue description whether they are presentation copies from the author, or the publisher, or somebody else. Both MacDonald and WC used the same literary agent and advisor, A. P. Watt. The presence in the collection of two novels by the Manx novelist Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine (1853-1931) (items 69-70), reflect his friendship with WC. This is a product of the last years of WC's life, and is reflected in a lengthy letter WC wrote Caine upon reading Caine's three-volume The Shadow of a Crime {Letters, II, 553-554) (item 68). Another contemporary and friend of WC, the prolific novelist Walter Besant (1836-1901), is represented in the collection by a single novel, the three-volume Herr Paulus, published in 1888 (item 37). Both Besant and WC were active in protecting authors' rights, and both had connections with A. P. Watt. It was at WC's suggestion that Watt approached Besant with the suggestion that Besant should complete the novel WC was too ill to complete, the posthumously published Blind Love (1889-1890) (Gasson 18). The presence of six novels (items 180-185) by Frances Vickress Dickinson, Frances Elliot (1820-1898) is somewhat less surprising than the presence of only one by WC's collaborator Walter Besant. WC dedicated Poor Miss Finch (1872) to Mrs. Elliot. A popular Victorian writer, she wrote in various genres: journalism, travel works, histories, and fiction. WC drew upon his friend's unhappy marriage and "ten-year-long matrimonial wrangle, finally decided in her favour on appeal to the House of Lords" and subsequent "protracted, public, and
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messy" proceedings. An 1859 story "A New Mind" published in Household Words is "clearly based on her experiences" He also used Frances Elliot's experiences in depicting the marital brutality suffered by Laura Fairlie and the legal complications in The Woman in White (Peters 173; Gasson 54). Already noted is the remarkable run of the works of the author WC revered above all others, Sir Walter Scott. The four Scott items encompass his Miscellaneous Prose Works (item 432), Scott's five-volume edition of The Modern British Drama (item 433), twelve volumes of his poetry (item 434), and the forty-eight-volume 1859 edition of the Waverley Novels (item 435). There are ten volumes of Lockhart's life of his father-in-law, published in 1848 (item 317). Of other nineteenth-century poets and non-fiction prose writers, there is a single work by Tennyson, a copy of Locksley Hall Sixty Years After (item 483). There are no Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, William Morris, or Dante Gabriel Rossetti volumes in the collection. There are three volumes only of the sixteenvolume works of Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859), published in Edinburgh from 1862-1871 (item 153). Thomas Babington Macaulay is found in a copy of his Critical and Historical Essays (item 326). William Hazlitt is present in a four-volume edition of his biography of Napoleon (item 251). There is, however, an eight-volume edition of one of WC's favorite poets, George Crabbe (item 141). In a 5 August 1878 letter to William Winter, Collins writes of his "delight in Byron and Scott - and more extraordinarily still, that I am a frequent reader even of Crabbe!" {Letters, II, 413). There are three Byron items in his collection. There is an [1842] Complete Works with Life, a single-volume Life, Letters and Journals published in 1838 and an eight-volume Poetical Works published in 1857 (items 65-67). In addition, WC possessed a copy of Thomas Medwin's memoirs of Byron published in 1824, his Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron Noted during a Residence with His Lordship at Pisa, in the Years 1821 and 1822 (item 347). Under-represented in the collection are works of pre-nineteenth-century literature. There are two editions of Shakespeare: a copy of Robert Bell's edition of The Poems published in 1855 (item 441) and Charles Knight's six-volume "Stratford Shakspeare" published in 1860 (item 442). Eighteenth-century novelists fare better than poets. There is a four-volume 1767 Edinburgh edition of The Works of Henry Fielding (item 197) and, disappointingly, only one Smollett, a four-volume 1784 Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (item 448). Another early exploiter of the fictional form, Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) is found in an eight-volume third edition of Clarissa (417). Daniel Defoe is represented by two items. A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, published in 1724 (item 151), is attributed to Defoe. WC possessed the two-volume 1790 edition of Robinson Crusoe (item 152). The edition is particularly noteworthy for its large paper proof plates by the illustrator Thomas Stothard (1755-1834).
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A greater presence in WC's Library is work by Samuel Johnson and Boswell. In addition to John Croker's two-volume Johnsoniana (item 145), and two volumes of what may be a first edition of Lives of the Poets (item 280), there is a twelve-volume 1806 Works of Samuel Johnson (item 281). In a letter of 27 December 1885 to the American poet Paul Hamilton Hayne, WC called Johnson "one of my heroes", and he "persists] in thinking his 'Vanity of Human Wishes' and his 'lines on the death of Robert Levett' two of the grandest poems ever written" {Letters, II, 490). Boswell is present in four items. There are his 1768 An Account of Corsica, and the sixth edition of his Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides (items 44-45). There are two copies of Bowell's Life of Samuel Johnson, called by WC in a letter of 14 February 1887 to de Heussey, "Boswell's wonderful book" {Letters, II, 533): the five-volume seventh edition, published in 1811; and the ten-volume mid-Victorian edition of 1859 published by Bohn (items 46-47). No volumes of Marvell are present, but there is Dryden. He is found in the fourvolume Poetical Works, with Life of the Author, published in 1832-1833 as part of the Aldine edition of the British poets by Pickering (item 168). There is a copy of a three-volume undated Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, and the nine-volume Warton edition of Pope's Works published in 1797 (items 394395). The Pickering fifty-volume Aldine edition of the British poets is further represented by its first volume, a copy of the poetry of WC's namesake, the eighteenth-century poet William Collins (1721-1759) (item 96). Thomas Gray is present in an 1821 edition of his poetry with plates by Richard Westall (17651836), the historical and genre painter, etcher and mezzotint engraver (item 236). There are three Goldsmith items: a four-volume Miscellaneous Works published in 1837, edited by Sir James Prior (item 231); a two-volume 1786 copy of his Poetical and Dramatic Works (item 232); and an 1803 copy of The Vicar ofWakefield (item 233). Perhaps a surprising presence in the collection is that of the ballad writer and satirist, Matthew Prior (1664-1721). A copy of his two-volume Poems on Several Occasions, published in 1766, is found in the collection (item 397). Prior imitated Samuel Butler's satirical Hudibras, found in WC's library in an 1836 edition (item 62). There is also the eighth edition published in 1676 of Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy (item 61). Somewhat less of a surprise is the presence of the twenty-one-volume 1766-1767 edition of The Works of Jonathan Swift, with Life and Notes by John Hawkesworth (item 474). In a 16 October 1853 letter to his mother, WC shows his familiarity with Swift by commenting on the St. Peters mechanical cock in Rome and its "Brobdingnag" propensities {Letters, I, 99).
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French Literature One hundred forty-six titles, 19% of the titles, belong to this subject categorization. Sixty-three of these titles are associated with the French theater. Most of these are primary texts of plays from the nineteenth-century French theater or earlier. Publication place and date analysis reveal that most of these are Parisian nineteenth-century imprints. They range from the dramas and comedies of Alexandre Dumas fils (items 169-170) and the dramas of Victor Hugo (item 270) to the prolific dramatic output of Eugene Scribe (1791-1861) producer of vaudeville comedies, opera libretti and comedies of intrigue (items 436-437). Less well-known dramatists are represented, for instance, by the presence of the works of the Guilbert de Pixerecourt (1773-1844). Known as the "Corneille of the Boulevards", he was prolific, producing more than a hundred dramas "where genres were mixed and violence and the romanesque abounded." Most of his plays (item 390) "were produced in the theatres des boulevards (the secondary theatres) in Paris" (Dolbow 248; Harvey and Heseltine 558). These were the theatres attended by WC during his frequent visits to Paris. Classics of French theatrical literature are represented by the presence of Moliere. WC's library contains a seven-volume CEuvres Completes de Moliere published in Paris in 1824 (item 357). A curious absence from the collection are separate collections of the work of the great French classic dramatists Racine (1639-1699), and Corneille (1606-1684). There is, however, recorded a sixtyseven-volume set of Repertoire de Theatre Francais published in Paris in 1813 (item 415). Dramatic works found in these volumes include Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Regnard, Crebillon, and Voltaire amongst other writers considered to represent the cornerstones of the French classical theater. The lack of individual copies of the great founders of the French classical theater serves to highlight the emphasis in WC's surviving collection of French nineteenth-century theater, and writers of farces and reviews from the popular theater. To take but two instances from many, there are the drawing-room comedies of Henri Meilhac (1831-1897) (item 348), who write the libretti of some of Offenbach's operettas, and part of a twenty-six-volume set, published in Paris, consisting of Pieces de Theatre by Pierre Julien Nargeot (b. 1799), the librettist for the Comedie Frangais (item 363). The range of French fiction, and to a lesser extent poetry, in the Library reveals an interest in popular as opposed to classic and high-brow literature. There are, as has been observed, very thorough runs of Balzac (item 19), Victor Hugo (items 267-270), and Jules Verne (items 501-504). There are also writers who, at the start of the twenty-first century, are no longer fashionable. The majority are nineteenth-century writers. To take but two instances, WC has three novels in his collection (items 375-377) by Georges Ohnet (1848-1918). His novels are described in The Oxford Companion to French Literature "as snobbishly
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sentimental . . . which made him the best seller of the 19 century and aroused the disgusted wit of critics" (527). Charles Pigault-Lebrun (1753-1835) was the author of popular and fashionable "lively, licentious novels." He was "the favourite reading of old Miss Crawley in Thackeray's Vanity Fair" {Oxford Companion, 557). WC's collection has a copy of his two-volume fictional L 'Enfant du Carnival, published in Paris in 1815 (item 387). French verse is less evident than theatrical and fictional work. There are a greater number of popular low-brow works rather than serious poetry. An example is the CEuvres Completes, published in two volumes in Paris in 1858 (item 34), of Pierre-Jean de Beranger (1780-1857). A "popular and national songwriter who sang the praises of Napoleon and the common man," he "has been called the greatest French songwriter ever" (Dolbow 26). It is hardly surprising for a hedonist such as WC that his collection should contain erotic and pornographic etchings and verse, found for instance in the works of PierreJoseph Bernard (1710-1775) (item 36). However, there is not extant in his collection poetry by Gerard de Nerval (1808-1855), Charles Nodier (17801844), Alfred de Vigny (1797-1863) or, to take one other instance, Paul Verlaine (1844-1896). American Literature Thirty-nine titles, five percent of the total collection, are represented by this category. Many of the books are a legacy of WC's 1873-1874 North American tour. The contacts he made during the tour are reflected, as has been noted, in the presence of inscribed copies from, for instance, the diplomat John Bigelow (item 210), the poet, physician and humourist, Oliver Wendell Holmes (item 263), the theater critic William Winter (item 522), and the South Carolina poet Paul Hamilton Hayne (item 250). Other items of interest are a thirty-one-volume set of the New York Household edition of the novels of James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) (item 133). The American novelist is included in a 3 May 1884 letter to Paul Hamilton Hayne, with Scott and Balzac, as amongst WC's "three Kings of Fiction" {Letters, II, 467). According to Gasson, "Cooper is a likely influence on the character of Old Mat" in WC's early novel Hide and Seek (Gasson, 42). Mat Marksman is an eccentric wandering character scalped by the native Americans. The copy of Washington Irving's (1783-1859) burlesque History of New York (item 273) has WC's 1844 dating on the fly-leaf. Curiously missing from the collection is a copy of Irving's nineteen stories and sketches included in his Chronicles of Wolfert's Roost and Other Papers, reviewed by WC in The Leader in its 24 February 1855 issue. There is, however, a ten-volume Complete Works of the American humourist published by Bohn in 1854 (item 274). Also largely absent are copies of the writings of Richard Henry Dana (1815-1882).
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There is an 1877 copy of his best selling novel Two Years before the Mast (item 149), first published in 1840. WC, in the last of three known surviving lengthy letters of his to Dana, a friend of his father, dated 17 June 1850, observes: "I have read 'Two Years before the Mast', and read it with great delight - it is a most entertaining and most original book; and is deservedly popular in England, among all classes of readers" {Letters, I, 62). Affinities between WC's works and the stories of Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849) have not gone unnoticed. Catherine Peters observes that in the fourth tale in the extra Christmas number of Charles Dickens's Household Words, supplied by WC, '"The Lawyer's story of A Stolen Letter' was perhaps suggested by Poe's story 'The Purloined Letter.' The stories have similar titles, and both have a selfsatisfied narrator, an obvious hiding place and a clever boy" (145). Only one Poe title has survived in WC's library, a copy of Baudelaire's [1872] edition of Poe's Works (item 392). A note in the copy in WC's hand - "Stories by Poe not included in the 'Complete collection'" - suggests that he possessed other editions of Poe. A surprise in the collection is the presence of a copy of Walt Whitman's great collection of poems, Leaves of Grass. This has a complicated publication history. The first edition appeared anonymously in 1855. From the record in Puttick and Simpson's January 20, 1890 sale catalogue of WC's Library, lot 81, "Leaves of Grass port, cl Boston 1860-1," it seems as if a copy of the enlarged third edition of 1860 is in his collection (item 516). No correspondence appears to have survived between WC and Whitman (1819-1892), and no connection between the two has been established. German and Other Literatures With the exception of foreign language translations into Danish, Dutch, French, German, and Italian of WC's own works (items 124-128), and his collection of French fiction and drama, there is a lack of materials not in English. This is in contrast with items in the libraries of contemporaries of WC, such as George Eliot and George Henry Lewes. In their collection, now at Dr. Williams's Library, London, 24.5% of the titles are in German, nearly 5% in French, just under 5% in Latin, and nearly 4% in Italian. There are also items in Greek, Spanish, and Hebrew.23 This is not the pattern in WC's Library. There are only ten titles representing German literature in the collection. None are in German. All are translations into English. The one item in German is a copy of Ernst von Wolzogen's study of WC's life and critical assessment of his writings, Wilkie Collins, ein Biographisch-Kritischer Versuch, published in Leipzig in 1885 (item 531). There is no evidence that this is a presentation copy from the author to the
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subject of his biographical explorations. Two translations are presentation copies. Henry Phillips Jr's translation of Adelbert von Chamisso's Faust: A Dramatic Sketch (item 83) is probably a legacy of WC's American visit. Another probable legacy is the copy of Henry Phillips's translations of German and Spanish poetry published in Philadelphia in 1878 (item 385). Hardly a literary work, but written originally in German, the presentation copy of Karl Freiherr von Reichenbach's Researches on Magnetism, published in 1850 (item 414), owes its presence to WC's January to April 1852 Leader series of letters on "experiments in hypnotism and clairvoyance" (Peters 109-110). Friendship may well explain the copy of George Henry Lewes's acclaimed biography of Goethe: the 1875 edition published by Smith, Elder is present (item 312) (Gasson 95). No individual volumes of Goethe are recorded in either Puttick and Simpson's auction catalogue, or in M. L. Bennett's subsequent catalogue of books from WC's library. German classical literature is thinly represented. There is a twovolume 1878 Bell edition of Lessing's Dramatic Works (item 310), and Benjamin Thompson's (17767-1816) six-volume translation of plays from the German theater published in 1801 (item 492). These volumes contain six dramas by Baron Augustus von Kotzebiie (1761-1819). Found also are plays by Joseph Marius Babo (1756-1822), August Wilhelm Iffland (1759-1814), Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805), Friedrich Ludwig Schroeder (1744-1816), Karl von Reitzenstein (1749-1832), Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's Emilia Galotti, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Stella. A five-volume Italian edition of Giovanni Boccaccio's // Decameron, published in Venezia in 1813 (item 42), is the highlight of the four items of Italian Literature. It is hardly surprising, given WC's hedonism, that he should possess a copy of Giacomo Casanova's Memoires. His copy is a six-volume one published in French in Bruxelles in 1860 (item 76). The other two items are both translations of Torquato Tasso's epic poem of a Crusade, Jerusalem Delivered. There is a presentation copy of a translation by the Anglo-Irish baronet Sir John Kingston James, published in 1865 (item 475). The other copy is a two-volume translation published in 1818 (item 476) by the Reverend J. H. Hunt with his prefatory sketch of Tasso's life. Three items represent Spanish Literature. WC owned two English translations of Cervantes. He has a four-volume translation by Thomas Shelton, published in 1725, with plates (item 78). WC also has a four-volume translation by Charles Jarvis, published in 1801, with plates (item 79). A 6 August 1846 letter to his mother reveals that the volumes are not in the library merely because of their plates. WC uses Don Quixote's words to describe a crowd which "smelt of anything rather than amber" {Letters, I, 38). The third volume is Phillips's Poems Translatedfrom the Spanish and German (item 385).
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The riches of classical literature are scantily represented in the collection. The presence of a translation of Aeschylus's Tragedies, published by Bohn in 1849 (item 5), is probably due to the fact that it is a presentation copy. The translator, the classical scholar Theodore William Alois Buckley (1825-1856), was also a contributor to Household Words and other journals. A. Hawkins's translation of the political satirical poems of Claudian, published in 1817 (item 90), is likely to have been drawn upon by WC for background material for his first published novel, Antonina; or The Fall of Rome. A Romance of the Fifth Century, published in 1850. WC met the great Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen at Gad's Hill during his 11 June to 15 July 1857 stay with Charles Dickens (Dickens, Letters, VIII, 426 and n. 2). Anna S. Bushby's translation of Anderson's To Be, Or Not to Bel was published by the firm of Bentley in early June 1857 and dedicated to Dickens. A copy is now in the collection (item 10). From Puttick and Simpson's Catalogue description - "trans, by Bushby presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins" - it is not entirely clear whether the book (lot 149), is from the translator Bushby or its Danish author. Literature written in English, published in what were then colonies, receive some representation. There is a copy of the first book edition published in Melbourne in 1874 of Marcus Clarke's (1846-1881) novel concerning transportation, inheritance, convict life and murder. His Natural Life (item 88) was subsequently published in London in three volumes by Bentley in 1875. WC owned an author's presentation copy of Robert Dudley Adams (1829-1912), the Australian lawyer and poet's, Song of the Stars and Other Poems, published in Sydney in 1882 under the pseudonym of "Alpha Crucis" (item 144). There are two other Melbourne imprints. Both are by Garnet Walch (1843-1913). One is a copy of his Head over Heels. A Christmas Book of Fun and Fancy, published in 1874. The other is a presentation copy to WC from Walch of his A Little Tin Plate, published in Melbourne in 1881 (items 506, 507). Another emerging literature in English is represented by the presence of Nell Gwynne's Acorn Leaves: A Series of Canadian Tales, published in Toronto in 1873 (item 239). History, Biography, Autobiography and Memoirs Seventy-five titles, 10 percent in this category, belong to the broad "History" subject categorization. Forty-three titles, or 6% of the total, belong to the biography, autobiography and memoirs categorization. WC began work on the memoirs of his father shortly after William Collins's 1847 death, putting to one side work on Antonina, his own historical novel. The presence of biography, autobiography and memoirs in the auction catalogue of books from WC's library suggests that he would agree with sentiments in Henry Fielding's Jonathan Wild, that biography is the "quintessence of history," its value residing in "the true
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beauty of virtue and deformity of vice" and in its depiction of the complexity of human psychology in its "mixture . . . of good and evil in the same character", except in extreme instances.24 Titles in WC's collection range in period, subject and national focus. There are books on French history, Irish life, Scottish history, English political and court history, and works recounting North American frontier history. French history focuses upon Napoleon and the French Revolutionary period. Translations into English are prominent. They range from Laure Junot duchesse d'Abrantes's Memoirs of [Napoleon] and His Court and Family, published by Bentley in 1836 (item 2), to William Hazlitt's detailed four-volume biography of Napoleon published in 1830 (item 251). Hazlitt's Life of Napoleon praises Napoleon, and condemns England's role in destroying liberty in France. Hazlitt is critical of the national hero - Wellington. There are two other biographies of Napoleon in WC's collection. One is a translation into English of Louis Antoine Fauvelet Bourrienne's three-volume Life, published in 1831 (item 49). The other is the four-volume French Pierre Lanfrey biography, published in Paris in 1869 (item 294). Two Napoleonic items of interest are the French memoirs by Las Cases, focusing upon Napoleon's imprisonment on St. Helena (item 298), and an English translation of Laurent's History of Napoleon (item 300). Both items are replete with illustrations. Especially interesting is Laurent's volume, described in M.L. Bennett's Catalogue as "from the French of l'Ardeche with 500 illustrations after Horace Vernet and original portraits" (Bennett 107). In a lengthy letter to his mother dated 6 October 1845, WC praised Horace Vernet's work {Letters, I, 35). Also present in the collection is a copy of the seventh edition of the two-volume account of Napoleon's life in exile, published in 1827 (item 379), by Barry Edward O' Meara (1786-1836), who was close to the fallen Emperor on St. Helena. In addition, there is a copy of the frequently reprinted Sir William Francis Patrick Napier's (1785-1860), History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France, from the Year 1807 to the Year 1814. The collection has the three-volume 1882 edition (item 362) of this classic account of the Peninsula wars, first published in six volumes between 1828 and 1840. The great nineteenth-century French historian of the Revolution and postRevolutionary France, Adolphe Thiers (1797-1877), is represented by his two classic works in French (items 490-491). The presence of the memoirs in French (item 320) of Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray (1760-1797) reveals two interests of its owner WC: the history of the French revolutionary period and erotica. Louvet was a revolutionary member of the Convention nationale. He was also the author of the erotic fiction Les Amours du Chevalier de Faublas (17891790), not extant in WC's library.25 Pre-revolutionary France finds its place amongst the books with a copy of Latude's French memoirs of his thirty-five year incarceration (1749-1784) for
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inventing a plot against Mme de Pompadour (item 299). There is a copy of WC's close friend Frances Elliot's two volumes on Old Court Life in France, published in 1873 (item 184). Also in English, published in 1878, is a copy of the memoirs of Philippe de Commynes, who documented life during the long reign of Louis XI from 1423 to 1483 (item 129). English historical memoirs, biography and autobiography are not confined to one historical period or historical personality. There is little on Cromwell or the period of the English Civil Wars. The exceptions are copies of John Forster's The Debates on the Grand Remonstrance, November and December, 1641. With an Introductory Essay on English Freedom under Plantagenet and Tudor Sovereigns (item 204), and his two-volume biography of Sir John Eliot (item 207). The former is a presentation copy from the author to WC. The latter is a biography of the Parliamentarian Sir John Eliot (1592-1632), who defied Charles I, and opposed Royal excesses against Parliamentary privileges. There are three basic historical reference tools present. The first of these is the ninth revised edition of Haydn's A Dictionary of Dates Relating to All Ages and Nations (item 249), which is not confined to British history. The second is a copy of Hatherly's A New Genealogical Scale of the Sovereigns of England with Copious Tables and Explanatory Remarks (item 248). Its 1889 publication date suggests that WC's copy was received from the publishers or the author, and was not a reference book he used over a period of time. The third reference work consists of ninety-five volumes of Dodsley's Annual Register (item 165). This is a run from the first volume published in 1758 through to 1851, and was useful for basic factual information on politics, literature, biography, statistics and commerce. Other materials range from books on social life and customs, poor laws, labor history and local history. There are copies of William Grant Sewell's analysis of labor in the West Indies, published in 1862 (item 440), and the account by Thomas Wright, a journeyman engineer, of working-class habits and customs, published in 1867 (item 536). Wright's work was praised by Dickens's All the Year Round, which observed that "the working man remains a study - in some respects, too, a problem - in great part a difficulty - in much a contradiction but, on the whole, a national hope and a national pride."26 There are studies of the poor laws and their operation (item 383), and the autobiography of the Chartist working-class leader William Lovett (1800-1877) (item 321). In his great Progress and Poverty (item 222), first published in 1884, Henry George (1839-1897) attributes poverty to rent and puts forward a land tax as the solution to social ills. George's strictures on rent and its ills might well have struck a sympathetic chord with WC. In the autumn of his life, in February 1888, he was forced to move house owing to a rapacious landlord, "an enormously rich
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nobleman named Lord Portman" (WC to de Heussey, 12 July 1888: Letters, II, 559). The presence of a two-volume autobiography of a companion to Princess Charlotte, published in its 1861 second edition (item 289), and Langdale's Memoirs of Mrs. Fitzherbert (item 295), reveal an interest in the activities of George IV before he ascended to the throne. Perhaps surprisingly, especially in the light of WC's extensive comments in a 12 January 1849 letter to the American novelist R. H. Dana concerning the reception of Macaulay's History of England (Letters, 1,'54), there is only one macaulay title recorded in the collection. There is no copy of his history, the first two volumes of which were published in 1848, the third and fourth volumes in 1855, and the final volume posthumously in 1861. There is a copy of his essays contributed to the Edinburgh Review, contained in his three-volume Critical and Historical Essays, published in 1854 (item 326). Colonial adventurism, so prevalent during the period in which WC lived, is related in Sir William Francis Butler's (1838-1910) account of Sir Garnet Wolseley's 1873 Ashanti campaign. In his Akim-Foo: The History of a Failure, published in 1875 (item 63), Butler relates how he was sent by Wolseley to Accra, and then instructed to make his way inland to Western Akim, and to gather a fighting force in order to cut off a retreating Ashanti army. His attempts to raise an army were unsuccessful, and he was forced to retreat. However, he had succeeded in creating an important diversion, which held down the forces of an important Ashanti chief. WC's collection of historical, biographical and memoir material is by no means confined to French or British perspectives. A copy of the memoirs of Baron Valentine Cloncurry (1773-1853) reveals an interest in early-nineteenth-century Irish politics and government (item 93). The diverse aspects of American history are present in frontier history, frontier exploration and searches for the northwest passage, a concern with slavery, constitutional history, the history of Wall Street, and local history. Moses Foster Sweetser's King's Handbook of Boston Harbor, published in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1882, is both a guide book and a history (item 473). James Knowles Medbury's Men and Mysteries of Wall Street, published in Boston in 1870, combines biographical accounts of financial speculators with historical and financial explanations (item 346). George W. Holley (1870-1897), the American natural historian, presented WC with a copy of his history and geology of Niagara (item 260). WC owned seven volumes of George Bancroft's ten-volume A History of the United States, published in Boston between 1851-1875. He attempted unsuccessfully to draw upon Bancroft 27 (item 20) for a drama "in American history - not connected with wars." There are two copies of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. One is a presentation copy from its editor John Bigelow (1817-1911) to WC (item 210). The other is a three-volume edition published in Philadelphia in 1874 (item 211).
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Works which have taken on a status as historical classics are not underrepresented. There is a twelve-volume Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published in 1813. This is probably a re-issue of the twelve-volume edition published by Strahan in London, 1791-1792 (item 225). Henry Hallam's account of the middle ages, View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, published in 1841, is present (item 246). There is an undated single-volume edition of the American historian John Lothrop Motley's (1814-1877) The Rise of the Dutch Republic (item 360). Another American historian, William Hickling Prescott (1796-1859), is found in a three-volume 1849 edition of his classic History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic (item 396). Other classic nineteenth-century histories are E. Foster's English translation in three volumes of Leopold von Ranke's History of the Popes, published in 1847 (item 407), and Andrew Steinmetz's three-volume History of the Jesuits, published a year later (item 458). Adventures and Travel Forty-two titles, 6.0% of the titles, belong to this subject categorization. In September 1836, when he was only twelve years of age, WC traveled with his parents and brother to France and Italy, where they remained until August 1838. His fascination with travel began early and remained with him. It is reflected in the travel and volumes recording adventures in his collection. In his writing, his early attempt at fiction, Ioldni; or, Tahiti as It Was. A Romance, remained unpublished until 1999. Set in the South Pacific Islands, in Polynesia, WC drew upon the four-volume second edition, published in 183, of William Ellis's Polynesian Researches: During a Residence of Nearly Eight Years in the Society and Sandwich Islands (item 187). Ellis (1794-1872) left England in 1816 to serve for six years as a missionary for the evangelical London Missionary Society. His account of Polynesian life, its ethnography, and religious practices, is, in the words of Ira Nadel, the editor of the first published edition of the novel, "the origin of the plot as well as the characters of Ioldni." Also present in the collection is a copy of Basil Hall's (1788-1844) three-volume Fragments of Voyages and Travels Including Anecdotes of a Naval Life: Chiefly for the Use of Young Persons (item 244), published 1831-1833. WC possibly drew upon this work of a former naval officer when composing Ioldni (Nadel xxii, xxxi). In addition, WC owned a copy of Hall's account of Schloss Hainfeld: or A Winter in Lower Styria, which was published in 1836 (item 245). Other volumes in the collection attest to a fascination with adventure and travel ranging from the Americas to the Orient. There are three works on Mexico. Two of these focus on the Yucatan region. Both are written by John Lloyd Stephens (1805-1852), born in New Jersey, who left his legal practice to travel. He was sent by President Van Buren on intelligence missions to Central America. These missions formed the foundation for his accounts of the jungle, and the remnants
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of ancient civilizations, in his two-volume Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, published in 1843, and its sequel, also published in two volumes, in the following year, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapus and Yucatan (items 462, 463) (Hart 636). The volumes are illustrated by his co-traveler, the English artist Frederick Catherwood (1799-1854). He accompanied Stephens on both his Mexican trips. According to Esther Acevedo's entry on Catherwood in The Dictionary of Art, he "employed both the camera lucida and daguerrotypes in the production of drawings, from which more than 200 engravings were made."28 The other work on Mexico is by George [Augustus] Frederick Ruxton (1820-1848). Following a Sandhurst education, Ruxton served in a Spanish civil war, in the British army in Canada and in the far west of America. His adventures are recorded in his Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains (item 426) published five years after Stephens's Chiapus and Yucatan adventures (Hart 579). WC's interest in other areas of the vast American continent is reflected in various volumes. He owned a copy of John Byron's (1723-1786) ten-volume account of deprivation and distress in harsh terrain, recounted in his Narrative of the Loss of the Wager: With an Account of the Great Distresses Suffered by Himself and His Companions on the Coast of Patagonia from the Year 1740 till Their Arrival in England 1746 (item 68). A different geographical perspective and timeframe is seen in the work of the landscape architect and conservationist Frederick Law Olmstead (1822-1903). Three of his books focusing on his travels in the south of the North American content, A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1856), A Journey Through Texas (1857), and A Journey in the Back Country (1860), were condensed and reissued as two volumes in his Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom. A copy of the second edition, published in 1862 (item 378), is found in the collection. Other copies attest to WC's interest in the opening up of the Northern Canadian territories. There is a copy, replete with illustrations and maps, of Sir William Francis Butler's account, published by Sampson Low, Marston, Low and Searle - the publishers of WC's The Woman in White - in [1872], of his adventures and travels in the American North West, under the title The Great Lone Land (item 64). In this work, published in 1872 and reaching a fourth edition but a year later, Butler relates his special mission. This was, in the words of the DNB obituary of Butler, "to investigate the situation in Saskatchewan and report on the need for troops, the Indians, and the fur trade. Striking the north Saskatchewan at Carlton, he followed it up to the base of the Rocky Mountains, and then descended it, reaching Fort Garry on 20 Feb. 1871, after a winter journey of 2,700 miles."29 To take but one other example of their owner's interests, WC possessed the six-volume-in-three facsimile reprint, published in Quebec in 1870, of Charles Honore Laverdiere's (1826-1873) edition, published under the title CEuvres de Champlain, of the Jesuit explorer Samuel de
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Champlain's (1567-1635) account of his discovery and exploration of Canada (item 84). Exploration and adventures in other parts of the world are reflected in books on the Antipodes and the Orient. Present is the account by John Lort Stokes (18121885) of his discovery and exploration of the Australian hinterland and coast, found in his two-volume, Discoveries in Australia, with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During the Voyage of the Beagle, 1837-1843, published in 1846 and illustrated with maps and plates (item 466). Stokes sailed with the Beagle during the period Darwin was on board. He served on the ship for a period of eighteen years and commanded it from March 1841. His two volumes are a record of his Beagle voyages {DNB, 28. 1287). Darwin's writings are not found in WC's library. There is a copy of the pseudonymous volume published under the name "Topchi" in St. Petersbourg in the year before WC's death, A Trovers L'Orient et L'Occident. The title page has the subtitle "Recit de Huit Annees de Voyages en Espagne, Portugal, Grece, Montenegro, Turquie," and other areas (item 494). Art, Artists, Architecture, Sculpture Given WC's family connections with art and artists, it is perhaps surprising that only twenty-five titles, 3% of his collection, represent these subject areas. Perhaps there were more books relating to art and artists, architecture and sculpture in his collection. It is tempting to speculate that his mother retained books which had personal associations with WC's father, William Collins (17881847), member of the Royal Academy and friend of many fellow artists. Further, WC's brother, the painter Charles Allston Collins (1818-1873), would have had as equal a claim as his brother to possess books once owned by their father. Indeed, in an 11 May 1867 letter to his mother, WC related how he and his brother Charles "have tossed" for his father's pictures {Letters, II, 285). Of the books remaining in his collection at the time of his death, there are biographies, plate books, and lithographs. There are two prominent biographies of artists known to WC's father. There is Anna Elizabeth Bray's Life of Thomas Stothard: With Personal Reminiscences, published in 1851 (item 51). Thomas Stothard, R.A. (1755-1834), was a popular illustrator, historical and portrait painter.30 The other biography is by his grandfather William Collins Senior (1740-1812), his three-volume Memoirs of a Picture (item 97). This semifictional, partly-biographical depiction of his friend George Morland (17631804) became the source for WC's early novel A Rogue's Life. According to Gasson, William Collins's Memoirs of a Painter gives an "account of faking and shady dealings in the art world together with the improvident and scandalous life of Morland" (32).31 In his two-volume The Life of William Collins, Esq. RA. By His Son, published in 1848, WC refers to his grandfather's Poem on the Slave
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Trade, "illustrated by two of Morland's most successful pictures, subsequently engraved by J. R. Smith" (I, 6). WC's biography focuses upon his father's professionalism, and concludes with a listing of the pictures painted annually by his father, a listing of exhibition sites, buyers and prices, plus a listing of the engravings produced from his father's paintings. WC's biography and his grandfather's poem are not found in his book collection. In the collection is a copy of Walter Thornbury's two-volume account of British Artists from Hogarth to Turner, published in 1861 (item 493). Thornbury (18281876) was a colleague of WC on Household Words and All the Year Round?2 Other items of artistic interest are also by associates of WC, such as Harry Quilter and George Redford (1816-1895). Quilter's 1886 Sentential Artis is subtitled "First Principles of Art for painters and picture lovers" (item 401). George Redford's two-volume 1888 Art Sales. A History of Sales of Pictures and Other Works of Art (item 412), and his A Manual of Ancient Sculpture, published two years earlier (item 411), reflect an increasing professionalism and respectability found in biographies of artists and works about art in "late Victorian Britain."33 It is difficult to suggest why WC possessed a copy of William Sharp Ogden's 1885 folio, Studies in Mercantile Architecture Comprising Fifty Suggestive Designs for Warehouse, Shop, and Office Buildings (item 374). Possibly inherited from his father is a copy of Edward William Cooke, R.A's (1811-1880) sixty-five etchings of Shipping and Craft, published in 1829 (item 131). Cooke sketched boats for Clarkson Stanfield (1793-1867), whose etchings are found in a 1836 copy of Frederick Marryat's The Pirate and the Three Cutters (item 340).34 Perhaps a remnant from WC's father's religious obsession is a folio consisting of six pages of colored plates with eleven illustrations, distributed only to subscribers, of J. J. Johns's Anglican Cathedral Church of Saint James, Mount Zion, Jerusalem, produced in 1842 (item 279). Another folio of interest is that by John Frederick Lewis, R.A. (1805-1876), the orientalist painter, draughtsman, etcher and mezzotint painter. His 1835 Sketches and Drawings of the Alhambra, Made during a Residence in Granada, in the Years 1833-4 is present (item 314).35 Other plate books of note are those by Turner and William Blake. WC makes a passing reference to "walls . . . covered with choice engravings from Wilkie Turner" in a letter to his Mother dated 2 August 1847, describing a visit to a French art collector {Letters, I, 47). A copy of Turner's Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour round the Southern Coast of England, published in 1849 (item 498), and Leitch Ritchie's Wanderings by the Loire, containing twenty-one of Turner's plates, published in 1833 (item 419), are found in the collection. There is also a copy of the poet Edward Young's Night Thoughts, published in 1797 (item 537), as a folio with designs by William Blake. At the Puttick and Simpson auction of WC's books the book was purchased for ten shillings {lot 239}.
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Other Subjects One hundred twenty-eight items, 17.9% of WC's library, constitute a multitude of areas of which there are from one to eighteen titles. These are: Religion (18 titles); Music (11 titles); Dictionaries and Works of Reference, German Literature, Politics, Religion, Trials (10 titles each); Guides (6 titles); Law, Medicine, Superstition (5 titles each); Australian and Italian Literature, Psychology and Psychiatry, magazines (4 titles each); Philosophy, Protest, Spanish Literature (3 titles each); Archaeology, newspaper cuttings (2 titles each). Subjects having a single title include: Anecdotes, Animal Magnetism, Apparitions (Ghosts), Arabian Nights (translation), Canadian Literature, Cremation, Gastronomy, Physiology, and Palmistry. Mary H. P. Cunliffe, a contemporary of WC, in her unpublished "A Record of Pleasant Memories," records WC, in the company of Robert Browning and Charles Reade, being fascinated by music: "I was astonished at the capacity for enjoyment that. . . Collins seemed to have . . . . He seemed to absorb the music . . . . He told me afterwards that it . . . made him feel ten years younger."36 WC had strong musical likes and dislikes. Following attendance with his close friend Elizabeth Benzon, the sister of Frederick and Rudolph Lehmann, at a concert, he wrote to her in a letter dated 26 February 1869: "I hope you were not the worse for the concert. As for me, Herr Schumann's music, Madame Schumann's playing and the atmosphere of St. James's Hall, are three such afflictions as I never desire to feel again" {Letters, II, 319). There are two biographies of Mozart in his collection: Edward Holmes's 1845 biography, now in the possession of Faith and William Clarke (item 261), and Pauline D. Townsend's three-volume translation, published in 1882, of Otto Jahn's biography (item 276). There is also an English two-volume 1841 edition of Ignace Moscheles's edition of Anton Felix Schindler's classic Life of Beethoven (item 431). There is a copy of George Hogarth's two-volume Memoirs of the Opera in Italy, France, Germany and England, published in 1851 (item 256). Perhaps more of a surprise is the presence of a copy in French of the second edition of Hector Berlioz's two-volume Memoires, published in Paris in 1881 (item 35). WC's interest in French music is demonstrated by the presence in his Library of the music score of French hymns, choruses and sacred music for mixed voices in the form of Henri Lutteroth's Chants Chretiens, published in Paris in [1851] (item 322). WC also possessed a copy of John Wall Calcott's musical manual, A Musical Grammar in Four Parts. With a publication date of 1817, this manual possibly belonged to WC's family (item 71). There is also a presentation copy of Michael Thomas Bass's protest, published in 1864, against the noise and racket made by street musicians - Street Music in the Metropolis (item 24). An interest in theatrical and popular music and friendship is reflected in the presence of the recollections, in the form of a presentation copy from the author, of Stephen C.
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Massett (1820-1898), the American lyricist and composer of popular songs (item 344). Amongst WC's childhood books may have been the two-volume Wonders of the Universe with its subtitle Curiosities of Nature and Art: Including Memoirs and Anecdotes of Wonderful and Eccentric Characters of Every Age and Nation, published in 1827 (item 532). Other encyclopedias, dictionaries and reference works he probably obtained for writing purposes. There is a ten-volume Chambers' Encyclopedia, published in 1876 (item 81), the 1860 ninth revised edition by Benjamin Vincent of Haydn's classic Dictionary of Dates (item 249), and an 1849 Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language (item 512). Other volumes containing material WC consulted whilst writing may be found in the works relating to legal trials in France, Germany, Scotland and the United States, as well as in England. There are ten books focusing on legal trials and five books focusing on the law. As Barbara Leckie remarks in her Culture and Adultery. The Novel, the Newspaper, and the Law 1857-1914 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999): "It is well known . . . that Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens read legal trials with real interest and a keen eye for literary insights." In particular they read divorce court proceedings and murder cases (104). For instance, in WC's Library is a presentation copy of the closing argument of the attorney Nathaniel C. Moak at the October 1878 Jessie Billings Jr. murder case of his wife in which medical testimony played a crucial role (item 356). Two of his novels written during the 1880s, Heart and Science (1883) and The Evil Genius (1885-1886), focus on vivisection and medical testimony in the first instance, and in the second treat the themes of adultery and divorce. There is, as noted, the twenty-six-volume Maurice Mejan's Recueil des Causes Celebres, purchased by WC in a Parisian bookstore in 1856, and drawn upon for The Woman in White (item 349). For this novel WC probably also drew upon Alfred Swain Taylor's 1859 work, On Poisons (item 479). The six guide books in the Library focus upon areas of the United Kingdom and were used by WC whilst writing his novels. For instance, he visited, with his companion Caroline Graves, in August 1863, the Isle of Man in order to gain material for his novel Armadale. This visit explains the presence in his Library of a copy of Edward Forbes's Illustrated Guide and Visitor's Companion through the Isle of Wight (item 202). Crucial passages of No Name (1862) are set around Aldborough on the East Anglia coast. This probably explains the presence in WC's Library of a copy of Mackenzie Edward Charles Walcott's The East Coast of England from the Thames to the Tweed, Descriptive of Natural Scenery, Historical, Archaeological, and Legendary (1861) (item 508). In WC's Library there are eighteen religious titles. In a series of letters to Pigott, stimulated by a controversy in The Leader, WC defended the declaration of the
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Immaculate Conception made by Pope Pius IX on 8 December 1854. 37 Two years earlier, in the The Leader, he took issue with his friend over the mixing of politics and religion. His late novel The Black Robe (1881) develops a theme used in a short story published in Household Words in July 1855. In "The Yellow Mask" and the later novel, a Jesuit priest is involved in the restitution of property which he considers rightfully belongs to the church. Both explore the theme of inheritance and personal love versus institutional proprietary claim. Some of the religious books are associated with Catholicism. They range from a presentation copy from his friend Charles Kent (item 284), to papal histories by Ranke (item 407), and Steinmetz's History of the Jesuits (item 458). Harriet Collins's copy of Jeremy Taylor's Holy Living and Dying, in an 1824 edition (item 482), reflects his parents' Protestant Tractarianism. There is a copy of James Kershaw's The Grand Extensive Plan of Human Redemption published in Louth in Scotland in 1797 (item 286). There is a curious absence of the family Bible and books indicating that they belonged to WC's religious father William Collins. Devotional works include a copy of Edward Bouverie Pusey's edition of the eleventh-century Saint Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury's Meditations and Prayers to the Trinity, published in Oxford in 1856 (item 13). There is a third edition of James A. Begg's Scriptural Evidence of the Redeemer's Speedy Personal Return, 1831, with Harriet Collins's signature on the fly-leaf (item 30). A copy of Walter Farquhar Hook's Church Dictionary, 1843, also contains Harriet Collins's signature, this time on the title page (item 266). There are copies, too, of Thomas Nolan's six-penny The Vicarious Sacrifice of Christ, published in 1860 (item 370), and of the late-sixteenth- and early-seventeenthcentury Christian divine Christopher Sutton's Disce Vivere: Learn to Live with Memoir of the Author in an 1847 edition (item 472). Perhaps the lack of temperance literature in the collection of a personality who enjoyed fine wines and spirits is hardly a surprise. There is a copy of James Miller's Alcohol; Its Place and Power, published in Glasgow in 1861 (item 355). WC's interest in superstition is demonstrated by the presence in his library of five items. These range from a two-volume work on Fantasmagoriana, published in Paris in 1812 (item 190), to Thomas Digby Brooke's translation of The Exemplary Life of the Pious Lady Guion, published in Bristol in 1806 (item 238). There is a work on the superstitions of old Cornwall (item 271), and Edward Smedley's account, published in 1855, of The Occult Sciences: Sketches of the Traditions and Superstitions of Past Times, and the Marvels of the Present Day (item 446). The owner's pencil linings in the copy of Henry Spicer's Strange Things among Us, published in 1863, serve to demonstrate that the unexplained was not without interest to WC. He marks a passage describing a "deaf and dumb child conscious of the passing of a ghost which expresses its presence by sound" (item 456). His copy of von Reichenbach's Researches on
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Magnetism (item 414) was probably used for his letters on "experiments in hypnotism and clairvoyance" published in The Leader (Peters 109-110). There is a singular lack of philosophical work in the collection. There is no Aristotle or Plato from the ancient classic philosophers. There are few modern classics of philosophy - no Spinoza, Descartes, Hobbes, Hegel, Kant or John Stuart Mill, to mention a few. The only philosophers present are French. There is a seventy-volume set of Voltaire (item 505). Also present is a twenty-twovolume edition of Denis Diderot, published in Paris in 1821 (item 163), and a translation of Victor Cousin's The Philosophy of the Beautiful. Published in New York in 1849, this is a presentation copy from its publisher, Daniel Bixby, to WC (item 139). Further representation of subjects marginally found amongst WC's books are those dealing with psychology or psychiatry. There is a copy of the first edition of Sir Benjamin Brodie's Psychological Inquiries. Given the 1855 publication date, the book may well have been a copy acquired by WC during his Leader reviewing days (item 53). Two works on insanity, which he may have consulted whilst writing The Woman in White, both by the physician Forbes Winslow (1810-1874) {DNB, XXI, 674-75), are presentation copies (items 519, 520).
CONCLUSION The books belonging to WC listed in the Puttick and Simpson January 20, 1890 auction sale catalogue, and in the "Caxton Head" M. L. Bennett Bookseller's catalogue from the same year, reveal eclectic taste. They contain books used for research for WC's creative endeavors, but are by no means the only sources of information for his work. As his notes for The Moonstone, now at Princeton University Library, reveal, he took notes from various books. He noted from, for instance, the amateur gem collector Charles William King's The Natural History of Precious Stones and Gems (1865).38 At his London club, the Athenaeum, WC took notes from the eighth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. He read the two-volume edition of Theodore Hook's The Life of General Sir David Baird, published in 1832, and he read J. Talboys Wheeler's The History of India from the Earliest Ages (1867). None of these items are recorded in either the Puttick and Simpson or Bennett catalogues. WC also consulted articles in Notes and Queries. An unbound volume ten of this journal is recorded as being amongst his books after his death. However the issue (item 373) dates from 1872 - four years after the publication of The Moonstone. WC's library contains a singular lack of antiquarian, rare items, finely printed books or manuscripts. There is an overwhelming preponderance of nineteenthcentury materials, and a good many inscribed presentation copies attesting to
66
Wilkie Collins's Library
their owner's social affability. WC was not, if the evidence presented here is reliable, a bibliomaniac. He did haunt the Parisian bookstalls and used the books he owned for creative purposes. Some books he inherited from his family. Some he received as copies from publishers. He was, after all, a publisher's reader hence the presence of books by Rider Haggard. These were gifts from his agent Watt. His collection of works by Sir Walter Scott, Balzac, and James Fenimore Cooper provide an insight into his tastes and inspiration. WC was a book man. He lived amongst books, and he wrote to maintain himself and more than one family. The surviving volumes in his collection reveal much about the man, the writer, his friendships, his associations, and the sources for his creative inspiration. They also provide an insight into a now-vanished world of bookcollecting and the late Victorian dispersing of the books of a writer regarded amongst the pantheon of nineteenth-century English writers. 1 Armadale, ed. J. Sutherland. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books,
1995. 183. 2
Basil: A Story of Modern Life. New York: Dover Publications, 1980. 194-195.
3
Man and Wife: A Novel. New York: Dover Publications, 1983. 87.
4
The Law and the Lady, ed. J. Bourne Taylor. Oxford U.P., World's Classics, 1992. 82-83.
5
The Fallen Leaves. Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1994. 186.
6
See Clarke, 191.
7
Cited Alexis Weedon, "Bernard Quaritch," in Nineteenth-Century BookCollectors and Bibliographers, ed. William Baker and Kenneth Womack, Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. 366. 8
See Gasson, 128. Information on Quaritch from David Quentin, of Bernard Quaritch, personal communication to William Baker, 26 February 2001. 9
Arthur and Janet Ing Freeman, Anatomy of an Auction. London: The Collector Limited, 1990. 82. 10
Information from David Quentin. For William Barclay Squire, book collector and music librarian at the British Museum, see A. Hyatt King, "William Barclay Squire, 1855-1927," The Library, Fifth Series, 12 (March 1957), 1-10. I have been unable to locate the whereabouts of Squire's library. His books don't appear to be in the British Library collections.
Introduction
67
11
See Gasson, 63, and Graham Law, Serializing Fiction in the Victorian Press. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2000. 104, 260. 12
A. and J. I. Freeman, Anatomy of an Auction, 91.
13
Information from David Quentin of Bernard Quaritch.
14
Personal communication, 5 November 1999.
15
See also S. Lonoff, "Sex, Sense, and Nonsense: The Story of the Collins-Lear Friendship," in Nelson Smith and R. C. Terry, ed. Wilkie Collins to the Forefront: Some Reassessments. New York: AMS Press, 1995. 37-51. 16
See C.K. Hyder, "Wilkie Collins and The Woman in White," PMLA, 54 (1939), 297-303, Appendix C: "The Main Source of The Woman in White," in The Woman in White, ed., H. P. Sucksmith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971. 599-600, and L. Nayder, Wilkie Collins. New York: Twayne, 1997. 74-75. 17
A Collection of Hayne Letters, ed. D. M. McKeithan. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1944: reprinted Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1944. xv-xvi. 18
An 1886 copy of Tennyson's Locksley Hall Sixty Years After is the only Tennyson present amongst WC's books (item 483). 19
See John M. Kleeberg, "Phillips, Henry, Jr." American National Biography. Vol. 17. Ed., John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 446-47. 20
For an account of Wilkie Collins's relationship with Watt see G. Law, Serializing Fiction. 103-09. 21
See The Moonstone, ed. J. Sutherland. Oxford: World's Classics, 1999. 38687. For Collins's reading of De Quincey and Elliotson, see 497-98.
22
See Bulwer's letter of 22 October 1870, now at the Hertfordshire Record Office. 23
See William Baker, The George Eliot-George Henry Lewes Library: An Annotated Catalogue of Their Books at Dr. Williams's Library. London: Garland Publishing, 1977. xxviii.
68
Wilkie Collins's Library
24
Frederick G. Ribble and Anne G. Ribble, Fielding's Library: An Annotated Catalogue. Charlottesville: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia, 1996. xx. 25
For Louvret de Couvray, see Dolbow, 182.
26
8 June 1867: cited Asa Briggs, The Age of Improvement. London: Longmans, 1963. 522.
27
Collins to Mary Anderson, 14 April 1885: Anderson, A Few Memoirs. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1896. 144-45. 28
The Dictionary of Art. Vol 6. London: Macmillan, 1996. 87.
29
DNB Supplement 1901-1911. London: Oxford University Press, 1912. 287.
30
See Dictionary of Art, 29. 732-33.
31
For Morland, see ibid., 22. 122-124; DNB, XIII. 961-64.
32
See DNB, XIX. 769-770, and Dickens, Letters, vol. IX. 61, n. 3.
33
See Julie F. Codell, "Serialized Artists' Biographies: A Culture Industry in Late Victorian Britain," in Book History, 3 (2000), 94-124. For Redford, see The George Eliot Letters. Vol. 3. Ed. Gordon S. Haight. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1954. 178, n. 7. 34
For Cooke, see Ian Mackenzie, British Prints Dictionary and Price Guide. Woodbridge: Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 1998. 126. For Stanfield, see Dictionary of Art, 29. 535-36. 35
For Lewis, see Mackenzie, 233-34.
36
Unpublished manuscript now at the Armstrong Browning Library, Baylor University: cited Allan W. Atlas, "Wilkie Collins on Music and Musicians," Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 124 (1999). 255. 37
See Letters, I, xxix, 130-131, and cf. K. Lawrence, "The Religion of Wilkie Collins: Three Unpublished Documents," Huntington Library Quarterly, 52 (1989). 389-402. 38
See J. Sutherland, "Explanatory Notes" to The Moonstone. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. 468-69, [xxx]-xxxi, and William M. Burgan, "Masonic Symbolism," in Smith Terry, 101-48.
Reconstruction of Wilkie Collins's Library WC died on 23 September 1889. There were four main subsequent auctions of his possessions: 1. Catalogue of the Sale of the Furniture of the Late Wilkie Collins, Walter Holcombe, 24 October 1889. 2. Catalogue of the Interesting Library of Modern Books of the Late Wilkie Collins, Esq., Puttick and Simpson, 20 January 1890. 246 lots which realized £200. 3. Catalogue of the Collection of Modern Pictures, Water-Colour Drawings & Engravings, of Wilkie Collins, Deceased. Christie, Manson & Woods, 22 February 1890. 66 lots which realized £415. Of these, 24 by William Collins, and others by Charles Collins, J. E. Millais, A. Geddes, J. Linnell and Mrs. Carpenter. This Catalogue is the Appendix to the present work. 4. Catalogue of the Original Manuscripts, by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 18 June 1890. Includes 29 manuscripts of WC's novels and short stories. These realized £1310.1
70
Wilkie Collins's Library
THE PRESENT CATALOGUE: RATIONALE AND FORM The present reconstruction is based on a marked-up copy of the Puttick and Simpson 20 January 1890 auction catalogue. Now in the possession of William and Faith Clarke, this contains the names of the purchasers of individual lots. There is also an unmarked copy in private hands, owned by Andrew Gasson. Copies of the unmarked auction catalogue may also be consulted in the Parrish Collection at Princeton University Library, the British Library, and the Bodleian Library, Oxford. In the present work, this information is combined with details from M. L. Bennett's Catalogue. A copy of the catalogue dated "February 1890" is now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and was made available through the kindness of Catherine Peters. It contains 133 items. As explained, M. L. Bennett were the major buyers at the Puttick and Simpson auction. Their sale catalogue adds details excluded from the earlier auction catalogue, and in some instances includes books not mentioned in the Puttick and Simpson auction. The purpose of the present reconstruction is to combine these two catalogues containing information on books in WC's Library, so that identification of them can take place, to give some sense of their nature and contents, and to indicate what their importance may have been for him. Wherever possible, from the evidence available, the exact editions owned by WC, as well as the identification of works themselves, has taken place. In his second Hanes Lecture, delivered at the University of North Carolina in 1981 and published in his The History of Books as a Field of Study, the distinguished bibliographer G. Thomas Tanselle observes: "One cannot satisfactorily discuss the influence of a work . . . without knowing the peculiarities of the texts in which that work was being read . . . . it can make a great deal of difference whether people were reading one translation rather than another of a foreign work . . . or an abridgement or a children's adaptation rather than the full text."2 In the identification of editions owned by WC, where relevant, alternative issues have been identified. However this reconstruction is not a descriptive bibliography in the mode of W. W. Greg, Fredson Bowers or, to take one other instance, David Gilson's descriptive bibliography of the writings of Jane Austen. Rather it is a descriptive reference bibliography in the tradition of my own The Libraries of George Eliot and George Henry Lewes? This study combined two book listings in order to convey the working library of two great Victorian authors. Puttick and Simpson's 20 January 1890 auction of the "Library of the Late Wilkie Collins, Esq." is arranged by lots and sizes. Lots one to two hundred thirty-one are "Octavo et infra." Lots two hundred thirty-two to thirty-eight are "Quarto," and lots two hundred thirty-nine to two hundred forty-six, are "Foli." The lots contain either individual or mixed volumes. Authors, titles, number of
Reconstruction of Wilkie Collins's Library
71
volumes, and dates of publication are given. Sometimes binding details and other details are given. For instance lot one reads: "1 Annual Register from the commencement in 1758 to 1851 including Index 1758 to 1819, together 95 vols. hf cf {some broken) 1758-1851." To give another example, lot 7 reads: " 7 Beethoven's Life, edited by Moscheles port. 2 vols. 1841 - Bass' Street Music in the Metropolis presentation copy from the author 1864 - Callcott's Musical Grammar 1817; 9 vols." The marked-up copy, now in the possession of William and Faith Clarke, also contains the price realized for the item at the auction and the name of the purchaser. The first lot was bought for one shilling and six pence by "Bennett." The seventh lot was purchased by "Withers" for fourteen shillings. M. L. Bennett's "February 1890" catalogue contains one hundred thirty-three alphabetically arranged items. The arrangement is not by author, but by general subject category, such as "America," "Atlas," "Australian Poet," and "Foreign Works Cheap." Puttick and Simpson auction lot one becomes in the M. L. Bennett Catalogue: 17 ANNUAL REGISTER (DODSLEY'S) A COMPLETE SET FROM ITS COMMENCEMENT IN 1759 to 1858 INCLUSIVE, with INDEX from 1758 to 1819, 95 VOLS, %vo, half calf, (some broken) £5 12s 6d 1758-1851 An invaluable set of books for a Public Library, comprising in a concise style well adapted for reference, a detailed view of the Politics, Literature, Biography, Parliamentary History, Commerce, Statistics, &c, of the past century, all the State Papers of any interest are printed at length; the whole thus forming a body of data for the future historian unparalleled either in extent or importance. The above Set requires some of the binding being repaired - a trifling matter - and would then form an excellent Set at a very low price indeed. From writing inside Volume I, they appear to have cost the Eminent Novelist £24. Entries in the reconstruction which follows are arranged alphabetically by the name of the author. The "Annual Register" is found not under its title but under its original publisher, "Dodsley, Robert" (1703-1764)(item 165). It is crossreferenced under "Annual Register" with the note "See under Dodsley, (165)." So, combining the data in Puttick and Simpson and in M. L. Bennett, the entry reads:
72
Wilkie Collins's Library
165. Dodsley's Annual Register: A Complete Set from Its Commencement in 1758 to 1851 Inclusive, with Index from 1758 to 1819. 95 vols. 17581851. "8vo, half calf, (some broken)." {1} [17] Bennett bought for £l-6s and priced in his Catalogue for £5 - 12s - 6d. Bennett describes as: "An invaluable set of books for a Public Library, comprising in a concise style well adapted for reference, a detailed view of the Politics, Literature, Biography, Parliamentary History, Commerce, Statistic, &c, of the past century, all the State Papers of any interest are printed at length; the whole thus forming a body of date for the future historian unparalleled either in extent or importance. The above set requires some of the binding being repaired a trifling matter - and would then form an excellent Set at a very low price indeed. From writing inside Volume I they appear to have cost the Eminent Novelist £24." The entry begins with a serial number (e.g., 165), based on the alphabetical place of entry in the reconstruction. This number is followed by the last name of the author and first name. This is followed by a short-title description, in italics, with capitalization retained where necessary. The number of volumes are followed by the place and date of publication. Where this is not given in either the Puttick and Simpson or Bennett data, or has not been ascertained from available information, the date/s are placed in [ ] brackets. On a separate line following the serial number assigned the entry, the author, title, number of volumes (if more than one), place of publication and date of publication, and information from either the Puttick and Simpson or Bennett sources relating to book size and binding states, such as "8vo half calf, (some broken)", details of the original auction lot number and purchaser, are found. Item 165 was lot one in Puttick and Simpson's auction, so this becomes "{1}". Its purchaser was Bennett. This fact is recorded by "[17]". This indicates that the item "17" in the Bennett Catalogue is the Annual Register. Information underneath such basic data contains information of interest. In this instance the price Bennett purchased the book for, and the price he attempted to sell it for, and a quotation from the Bennett description. In other cases, where deemed relevant, there are dates and information on the author of the item, citation from WC's letters if he refers to the author or title, including whenever possible information on the present location, or subsequent history of the ownership of WC's copy. In instances where the purchaser is not Bennett, the name of the buyer appears in brackets before Puttick and Simpson's auction lot number. Thus, to take one instance, Puttick and Simpson lot 7 contains "Beethoven's Life, edited by Moscheles port. 2 vols. 1841". The purchaser of the nine vols in this lot 7 was
Reconstruction of Wilkie Collins's Library
73
"Withers", who paid fourteen shillings. Bibliographical research identifies these volumes to be by Anton Felix Schindler, under whose name they appear, and the title, "The Life of Beethoven, Including His Correspondence with His Friends . . . Edited by Ignace Moscheles", followed by the number of volumes, in this instance two, and the date of publication, "1841". The original Puttick and Simpson auction description as "Beethoven's Life, edited by Moscheles port." follows on a separate line. This is accompanied on a separate line by "[Withers] {7}." Under each author, titles are arranged alphabetically. Puttick and Simpson and M. L. Bennett list a plethora of works by WC. These are arranged alphabetically by title beginning with "After Dark" (item 98) and concluding with "Works. Translated into Italian" (item 128). Works not in the auction or in Bennett, believed from other evidence to have belonged to WC, are included in the alphabetical ordering. It is indicated that they are not in Puttick and Simpson, or in Bennett. For instance, my serial number 137 refers to a copy of Barry Cornwall's - the pseudonym of Bryan Waller Procter (1787-1874) - English Songs and Other Small Poems. A copy, inscribed on the front fly-leaf "Wilkie Collins Esq | with the Authors' | Kind Regards," is now in the possession of Andrew Gasson. For capitalization, the following procedure has been followed: In titles of published books, journals, magazines, essays, articles, films, poems, and songs, use a capital letter for all words except articles {the, a, an), coordinating conjunctions {and, but, or, nor, so, for, yet), to in an infinitive {to stay), and prepositions unless they begin or end a title or subtitle. (Raimes, 353-54.) For a detailed list of abbreviations used in the Reconstruction see "Abbreviations" chapter. RECONSTRUCTION 1.
About, Edmund. Les Manages de Paris et de Province. 2 vols. Paris, 1857-68. [Olivero] {176} Edmund About (1828-1885), novelist and journalist.
2.
Abrantes, Laure Junot, duchesse d'. Memoirs of [Napoleon] and His Court and Family. 2 vols. London, 1836. Half morocco "gilt edges, 16 fine Portraits on steel" {66} [108]
3.
Achard, Amedee Miseres d'un Millionaire. 2 vols. Paris, 1861.
74
Wilkie Collins's Library Part of 3 5 vol. lot. [Powell] {177} Adams, Robert Dudley. See under [Crucis, Alpha] (item 144).
4.
Addison, Joseph. The Miscellaneous Works of. 4 vols. Oxford, 1830. [Withers] {90}
5.
Aeschylus. Tragedies. Bohn, 1849. "presentation copy to Wilkie Collins" [Farren] {160} Theodore William Alois Buckley (1825-1856), classical scholar, revised for Bohn their classical series. He contributed to Household Words and other journals. According to the DNB, his life was curtailed: "organic disease is supposed to have induced a recourse to opium, and subsequently alcohol."
6.
Ainsworth, William Harrison. [Works with a Memoir by S.L.Blanchard. 14 vols. (1850-1851)]. Part of 20 vol. lot. [Smith] {158} WC writes to his mother from Paris: "I have subscribed to Galignani's Library to keep off ennui. Harrison Ainsworth was there today, sitting, as usual, in the positions of his different portraits" (16 September 1845: Letters, I, 29).
7.
Albemarle, George Thomas Keppel, Earl of. Fifty Years of My Life. 2 vols. 1876. "8 vo., very nicely bound, half navy morocco, marbled sides and edges, portrait and pedigree." {67} [3] George Thomas Keppel, Earl of Albemarle (1799-1891: DNB).
8.
Aldeburgh and Adjacent Places, [A Guide to}. Aldeburgh, 1861. "cloth, presentation copy from the writer" {51} [76] Probably used as a source for No Name (1862), parts of which are set in Aldeburgh and its vicinity. WC visited Aldeburgh with Caroline Graves in late August 1861. Aldine Poets. See under Collins, William (item 96) and Dryden, John (item 168).
9.
American Magazines.
Reconstruction of Wilkie Collins's Library
75
"various nos. a parcel" See also The Forum (item 209), Harper's (item 247), and Scribner 's (item 438). [Bennett] {185} 10.
Andersen, Hans Christian. To Be, Or Not to Be? [ 1857] "trans, by Bushby presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins 1857" [Suckling] {149} Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) stayed with Dickens at Gad's Hill 11 June-15 July 1857. WC was at Gad's Hill at the same time. Mrs. Anna S. Bushby's (1814-1876) translation of To Be, Or Not to Be? was published by Bentley in early June 1857 and dedicated to Dickens. See Dickens, Letters, VIII, 426, n 2. WC "satirized Andersen in 'The Bachelor Bedroom', All the Year Round, 6 August 1859; reprinted in My Miscellanies (1863)" (Gasson 7). Anderson, John Parker. See under Marzials, Frank T. (item 343).
11.
Angelo, Henry Charles William. Reminiscences of Henry Angelo, with Memoirs of His Late Father and Friends. 2 vols. 1830. "port." [Maggs] {24} Theatrical reminiscences of Henry Charles William Angelo (1756-1835) and his family.
12.
Anglo-American International Copyright - Colonial Copyright - Report of the Copyright Association, 1872-3. Part of 5 vol. lot of items on "English and Foreign Copyright" containing "A few notes here and there in Mr. Collins' writing, shewing the intense interest he took in the question" (Bennett). {15} [54] See also items 134, 278, 319, 342. For WC, and his obsession with copyright issues, see Gasson 42. Annual Register. See under Dodsley (item 165).
13.
Anselm, Saint, Archbishop of Canterbury (1033-1109). Meditations and Prayers to the Holy Trinity and Our Lord Jesus Christ, ed. by Edward Bouverie Pusey. Oxford, 1856. [Bennett] {60}. Not recorded in Puttick and Simpson.
14.
Arabian Nights' Entertainments "with signature of W. Wilkie Collins, vols. 2 and 3, 12 mo. 1820." [Woollett] {153}
76
Wilkie Collins's Library For a detailed discussion of WC's use of the Arabian Nights, see Caracciolo in Smith and Terry 169-173.
15.
Augier, Emile. Comedies, Paris, n.d. [Dobell] {204} Emile Augier (1820-1889), writer of social and political satiric comedies. His works were "picked off at will by British adapters at no cost to themselves, because for most of the time theatre managers had their spies out in Paris with instructions to send home texts of all the latest novelties for instant translation" (J. R. Stephens, The Profession of the Playwright: British Theatre 1800-1900, Cambridge, 1992. 103).
16.
Austen, Jane. [Novels]. [Oliver] {157} Aytoun, W. E. See under Gaultier, Bon (item 220).
17.
Bailey, Philip James. Festus, 7th edition, 1861. [May] {94} Philip James Bailey (1816-1902). Festus first published 1839 and added to in various editions. A very popular on-going verse version of Goethe's Faust.
18.
Baker, David Erskine. Biographica Dramatica. Continued by Isaac Reed and again by Stephen Jones. "3 vols. in 4, cf, 1812." [Dobell] {109} David Erskine Baker (d. 1782).
19.
Balzac, Honore de. CEuvres Completes. 45 vols. Paris 1859-1869. "hf bd. 12 mo." [Roche] {194}. Purchased on behalf of Quaritch, who were acting on commission for William Barclay Squire. WC translated Balzac's "Episode sous la Terreur," Bentley's Miscellany, 41 (June 1852), 629-38. WC writes to Paul Hamilton Hayne: "It may be hundreds of years, before another Fenimore Cooper appears in America, or another Walter Scott in England. I call these two and Balzac - the three Kings of Fiction" (3 May 1884: Letters, II, 467). WC paid tribute to Balzac in his "Portrait of an Author Painted by His Publisher," All the Year Round, 18 and 25 June 1859; reprinted in My Miscellanies, 1863 (Gasson 13, 63-65).
20.
Bancroft, George. A History of the United States. 1 vols. Boston 18511861.
Reconstruction of Wilkie Collins's Library
77
"hf. cf. gt." [Nugent] {132} Part of a ten-volume set published in Boston (1851-1875). Mary Anderson, the American actress, suggested that WC write a drama for her. He replied: "[I]f we can together meet the one serious difficulty that I see - finding a good subject. If something could be found in American history - not connected with wars - 1 should like it best, because the dramatic writers of the United States have left that field free, and I could let my imagination go at a full gallop without the fear of unintentionally trespassing on the literary ground which the dramatists of Europe have so largely occupied. Some suggestive book to consult must be our first discovery, and we must look back nearly 100 years or we shall be defeated by the hideous costume of the beginning of this century" (Cited M. Anderson, A Few Memories [New York, 1896, 144-45]: 14 April 1885). "Not even a perusal of Bancroft's long History of the United States could produce a suitable theme, and the idea was ultimately dropped" (Robinson, 308). 21.
Bard, Samuel A. Waikna; Or Adventures on the Mosquito Shore. New York, 1855. "60 illustrations." [Edwards] {103} Samuel A. Bard, pseud., i.e., Ephraim George Squier.
22.
Barriere, Theodore. Comedies. Paris, n.d. [Dobell] {204} Theodore Barriere (1823-1877). His Comedies were frequently translated and performed on the English and American stage.
23.
Barriere, Theodore. Dramas. Paris, n.d. [Jones] {205}
24.
Bass, Michael Thomas. Street Music in the Metropolis. 1864. "presentation copy from the author." [Withers] {7} Bass (1799-1884: DNB), liberal MP, philanthropist and grandson of the founder of the Burton Breweries, introduced into the House of Commons "a Bill for the Suppression of Street Music" (Dickens, Letters, X, 388 and n.l). WC writes from Ramsgate, in a letter to A.P. Watt: "departure is hastened by the infernal noises which make this delightful place a hell on earth. Organs - brass bands - howling costermongers selling fish, make day
78
Wilkie Collins's Library hideous - and night too, up to 10 o'clock. Nobody complains but me" (24 June \SS5: Letters, 11, 4S0).
25.
Beaumarchais, Pierre-Augustine Caron de. [Le Theatre]. Paris, 1846. "port. hf. cf." [deCoverley] {198} Pierre-Augustine Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799), great French classical dramatist whose works were frequently pirated on the London stage.
26.
Beaumont, Francis and John Fletcher. Tragedy ofValentinian. 1717. [Money] {238} Cataloged under quarto size vols. WC may have consulted this as part of the background for his first published novel, Antonina; or The Fall of Rome, A Romance of the Fifth Century, 1850. Beaumont and Fletcher's tragedy - produced between 1610 and 1614 - focuses upon "the vengeance of Maximus, a general under Valentinian III, for the dishonour of his wife Lucina by the emperor, and her self-inflicted death" (Harvey, 815).
27.
Bede, Cuthbert. Fotheringhay and Mary, Queen of Scots. 1886. "illustrated." [Withers] {150} WC requested a copy from Alfred King, 8 February 1886 (MS: Princeton). Published by Simpkin and Marshall. Cuthbert Bede pseud., i.e., Edward Bradley (1827-1891), best known for The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, An Oxford Freshman and its sequels.
28.
Begg, Alexander. Creation of Manitoba; or, A History of the Red River Troubles. Toronto, 1871. "ports." {30} [7]
29.
Begg, Alexander. i(Dot It Down ": A Story of Life in the North West. Toronto, 1871. "cr. 8 vo, cl." [Bennett] [8] Bennett offered [7] and [8] separately for "2/6 or with preceding 4/-". Both works published by Hunter Rose, WC's Toronto publishers. See Gasson 82.
30.
Begg, James A. A Connected View of Some of the Scriptural Evidence of the Redeemer's Speedy Personal Return . . . Israel's Restoration to Palestine. 1831.
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79
"bds. H. Collins on fly-leaf." [Bennett] {59} Not recorded in Puttick and Simpson. 31.
Behn, Aphra (Mrs.). The Plays, Histories, and Novels of the Ingenious Mrs. Aphra Behn with Life and Memoirs. Edited by R. H. Shepherd. 6 vols. 1871. "Large Paper, bd uncut. Pearson." Reprinted from the plays of 1724 and the novels of 1725. [Maggs] {106}. Mrs. Aphra Behn (1640-1689), regarded as the first professionally writing English woman. She produced at least eighteen plays and fifteen "novels." Forced to write for bread to survive, her themes are those of unwilling marriages, "financial malpractice, and women (either victimized or triumphantly reversing the sexual balance of power)" (V. Blain, P. Clements, I. Grundy, The Feminist Companion to Literature in English, 1990,78).
32.
Bellamy, George Anne. An Apology for the Life of George Anne Bellamy, Late ofCovent-Garden Theatre. 3 vols. Dublin, 1785. "Bellamy's Life vols. 1-3 (stained)" [F. Hurt] {123} George Anne Bellamy (1731-1788), actress: "her later years were burdened with suffering and debt" {DNB).
33.
Bentley Ballads: Containing the Choice Ballads, Songs & Poems Contributed to "Bentley's Miscellany." 1861. "engraved title by G. Cruikshank, signature of Wilkie Collins 1861, on title cl." [Woolley] {100}
34.
Beranger, Pierre Jean de. CEuvres Completes. 2 vols. Paris, 1858. "port. 2 vols. hf. cf." [deCoverley] {198} Pierre Jean de Beranger (1780-1857), songwriter who celebrated Napoleon Bonaparte.
35.
Berlioz, Hector. Memoires de Hector Berlioz: Comprenant Ses Voyages en Italie, en Allemagne, en Russie et en Angleterre, 1803-1865. 2nd ed. 2 vols. Paris, 1881. "hf. mor." [Pullen] {212} Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), composer.
80
Wilkie Collins's Library
36.
Bernard, Pierre-Joseph. CEuvres Completes. Paris, 1794 "L'Art d'Aimer. 12 mo. calf gilt, several extremely pretty etchings." Under "Amatory" in Bennett Catalogue [4]. Pierre-Joseph Bernard (1710-1775), writer of vers de societe, and of L'Art d'Aimer on the Ovidian model.
37.
Besant, Walter. Herr Paulus. 3 vols. 1888. [Money] {138} Sir Walter Besant (1836-1901), friend of WC who completed his Blind Love. A consummate professional writer concerned with author's rights. WC wrote to Walter Besant: "You are our leading spirit and our director in this matter - and yours is the pen to represent us a t ' 10 Downing Street'" (MS: Texas: 25 April 1889). Besant was instrumental in founding the Society of Authors in 1883. See Gasson 18.
38.
Bichat, Xavier. Recherches Physiologiques sur la Vie et la Mort. Paris, n.d. "cr. 8 vo., half calf, front." [Bennett] [64] Xavier Bichat (1771-1802). His Recherches Physiologiques, a classic work in physiology, first published in 1800, and frequently reprinted with subsequent editions.
39.
Black's General Atlas. Edinburgh, 1847. Folio "maps hf. mor." {246} [18 a] Bennett describes this as "Black's General. 61 Maps by Hall Hughes, &c, and Index of 57,500 names." Bennett purchased this item for one shilling and offered it for four shillings.
40.
Blenkinsop, Adam. Memoirs of Dr. Blenkinsop. 2 vols. 1852. [Maggs] {22} Novel published by Bentley.
41.
Boaden, James. Memoirs of Mrs. Siddons Interspersed with Anecdotes of Authors and Actors. 2 vols. 1827. "port, (spotted).. . hf. cf." [Suckling] {112} Sarah Siddons, nee Kemble (1755-1831: DNB), one of the great actresses of the late 18th century and early 19th century British theatre.
42.
Boccaccio, Giovanni. II Decameron. 5 vols. Venezia, 1813. "port." [Cogswell] {162}
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81
43.
Borrow, George Henry. [Craik's] Celebrated Trials and Remarkable Cases of Criminal Jurisprudence from the Earliest Records to the Year 1825. 6 vols., 1825. "ports, and plates cf." [Nugent] {4} "Much, if not all, of preface by Sir R. Phillips, who directed the compilation" {The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, vol. Ill, ed. J Shattock, 1999; 1107).
44.
Boswell, James. An Account of Corsica: The Journal of a Tour to That Island: And Memoirs of Pascal Paoli. 1768. "map" [F. Hurt] {134}
45.
Boswell, James. Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. 6th ed. 1813. "enlarged, 8vo, half calf, gilt Portrait of Boswell after Reynolds and vig." {51} [22]
46.
Boswell, James. The Life of Samuel Johnson. 7th ed. 5 vols. 1811. "sm. 8vo, hf. old calf. 'W. Collins' on fly leaf in pencil." {168} [90] In a letter to Robert du Pontavice de Heussey, WC writes: "I most sincerely envy you a first reading of Boswell's wonderful book - the greatest biographical work that has ever been written. I am constantly dipping into it, to this day" (14 February 1887: Letters, II, 533).
47.
Boswell, James. The Life of Samuel Johnson. 10 vols. 1859. "port, fronts, and vignettes . . . hf. cf. . . . 12 mo, Bohn." [Withers] {42} See also under Croker, John Wilson (item 145), Johnson, Samuel (items 280-281).
48.
Bouilhet, Louis Hyacinthe. [CEuvres].Paris, 1880. "Drames par . . . Bouilhet. .. hf. mor. . . . Paris v. y." [Jones] {205} Louis Hyacinthe Bouilhet (1822-1869), minor poet, dramatist, friend of Flaubert, author of historical dramas.
49.
Bourrienne, Louis Antoine Fauvelet de. Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. 3 vols. 1831. "thick post 8 vo, hf. morocco, gilt edges, portraits and plates." {168} [112]
82
Wilkie Collins's Library Bradley, Edward. See under Bede, Cuthbert (item 27).
50.
Brandling, Henry Charles. Views in the North of France. 1848. "lithograph plates atlas fol." [Cogswell] {244} Henry Charles Brandling, artist friend of WC, who contributed 12 lithographs for Rambles Beyond Railways (1851). See Gasson 23-4.
51.
Bray, Anna Elizabeth. Life of Thomas Stothard: With Personal Reminiscences. 1851. Quarto "numerous illustrations" [Dobell] {236}
52.
Brigstocke, Thomas. The Mutual Scourges; or, France and Her Neighbours. An Historical Drama in Four Acts. 1871. "Thin cr. 8vo., cloth, Present, copy with Author's Inscription 1871, and MS corrections by Collins, on back of title in pencil." {98} [23] Thomas Brigstocke (1809-1881), portrait painter. "He spent eight years in Paris and Italy, and made some copies from pictures by the old masters, among them one of Raphael's 'Transfiguration' in the Vatican, which, on the recommendation of W. Collins, R.A., was purchased for Christ Church, Albany Street, Regent's Park" {DNB).
53.
Brodie, Benjamin, Sir. Psychological Inquiries: In a Series of Essays, Intended to Illustrate the Mutual Relations of the Physical Organization and the Mental Faculties. 1855. "8vo., cloth." [Bennett] [24] First edition 1854.
54.
Brown, Oliver Madox. The Dwale Bluth, Hebditch's Legacy, and Other Literary Remains. Ed. William Michael Rossetti and Philip Bourke Marston. 2 vols. 1876. "ports, presentation copy." [Bennett] {146} William Michael Rossetti and Dante Gabriel Rossetti were greatly attached to the promising artist and writer Oliver Madox Brown who died aged 19 on 5 November 1874. Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "Oliver Madox Brown" - a sonnet in remembrance - was published in The Athenaeum, 14 November 1874. WC wrote to Oliver's father, Ford Madox Brown: "I beg that you will accept my best thanks for the volumes containing the literary remains of your son.
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My time happens to be very closely occupied just now - and I have only, thus far, made myself acquainted with the memoir, and the story called "The Black Swan." I can, with perfect sincerity, assure you that I have been touched and interested by what I have read. I see in "The Black Swan" - through the inevitable defects of youth and inexperience - a real vocation for the difficult art of writing fiction, and I entirely agree with the author of the Memoir that the untimely death of your son is a loss to literature which all friends of Art have true reason to regret. In this sense at least, I may ask you, and do ask you, to accept the expression of my true sympathy" (MS: John Rylands University Library, Manchester: 15 January 1876). 55.
Bullar, Joseph. A Winter in the Azores; And a Summer at the Baths of the Furnas. 2 vols. 1841. "illustrated cl." [Salisbury] {40} Joseph Bullar, M.D., was a close friend of the Collins family.
56.
Bunn, Alfred. The Stage: Both before and behind the Curtain from "Observations Taken on the Spot". 3 vols. 1840. [Parsons] {116} Alfred Bunn (1798-1860), dramatist, manager, and member of the Garrick (Stephens, 11).
57.
Burke, Peter. The Romance of the Forum, or, Narratives, Scenes, and Anecdotes from Courts of Justice. 2 vols. [1852-1853] "fronts." [George] {142} Peter Burke (1811-1881: Boase), alternative title: Narratives, Scenes, and Anecdotes from Courts of Justice: published in 4 vols. 1852-1861.
58.
Burnaby, Fred. A Ride to Khiva: Travels and Adventures in Central Asia. 2nd ed. 1876. "maps." [Edwards] {103}
59.
Burns, Robert. Poetical Works. 3 vols. "cl. n. d." [Hartley] {85} Unable to identify - various 3-vol. editions of Burns.
60.
Burton, John Hill. Narratives from Criminal Trials in Scotland. 2 vols. 1852. "cl"
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Wilkie Collins's Library [Nugent] {3} WC drew upon the conflicts of Scottish and English marital law in "The Parson's Scruple," originally published under the title "A New Mind," Household Words, 1 January 1859, and in his novel Man and Wife, 3 vols. 1870.
61.
Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy. 8th ed. 1676. Folio, "engraved title (margins mended) cf." [Parsons/Hill] {241} Wing B 6184
62.
Butler, Samuel. Hudibras. 1836. "thick 32 mo, cloth, g.e. Port & vig. 'William Wilkie Collins 1842,' on fly-leaf." {98} [26]
63.
Butler, William Francis, Sir. Akim-foo: The History of a Failure. 1875. "map" [F. Hurt] {152} An account of the disastrous Ashanti War 1873-1874.
64.
Butler, William Francis, Sir. The Great Lone Land: A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North-West of America [1873]. "map and illustrations." [Maggs] {37} First edition 1872. There were several editions: 2nd in 1872; 3 rd in 1873. Both Butler titles were published by Sampson Low, Marston, Low & Searle, with whom WC had dealings. Sampson Low published The Woman in White, 1860-1863. See Gasson 136-7.
65.
Byron, George Gordon, 6th Baron. Complete Works with Life. [1842]. "port, cf. gt.. . . roy. 8 vo." [Storre] {128} In a letter to Richard Edgcumbe, WC accepts with pleasure "the honour of becoming a member of the Committee for The Byron Memorial - and . . . will assist to the best of my ability in helping forward this object - the excellent object as I think" (MS: Present whereabouts unknown: 27 March 1875). He writes to William Winter: "You will now not be surprised to hear that I delight in Byron and Scott" (5 August 1878: Letters, II, 413).
66.
Byron, George Gordon, 6th Baron. Life, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: Complete in One Volume. 1838.
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"Complete in 1 vol. but bound in two, imp. 8vo, handsomely bound in half brown polished morocco, marbled sides and edges, front, and vig. fine copy. . . . with Wilkie Collins Autograph dated 1843 on fly-leaf." {49} [27] Bennett purchased this for 11/- and priced it at 21/-. 67.
Byron, George Gordon, 6th Baron. The Poetical Works of Lord Byron. 8 vols., 1857. "(impft.) hf. cf. 12 mo." [Cogswell] {159} See also Medwin, Thomas, item 347.
68.
Byron, John. Byron's Narrative of the Loss of the Wager; With an Account of the Great Distresses Suffered by Himself and His Companions on the Coast of Patagonia from the Year 1740 till Their Arrival in England 1746. 10 vols. 1832. [Thistlewood] {148} The narrative of John Byron (1723-1786).
69.
Caine, Hall. The Deemster. 3 vols. 1887. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins 1888" [Hartley] {139}
70.
Caine, Hall. The Shadow of a Crime. 3 vols. 1885. [Hartley] {139} WC wrote to Hall Caine: "(Let us drop the formality of 'Mr.' and let me set the example because I am the oldest). I have waited to thank you for 'The Deemsters' until I could command time enough to read the book without interruption. Let me add that the chair in which I enjoyed this pleasure is not the chair of the critic. What I am writing conveys the impressions of a brother in the art. You have written a remarkable work of fiction- a great advance on 'The Shadow of a Crime' (to my mind) - a powerful and pathetic story, the characters vividly conceived, and set in action with a master hand. Within the limits of a letter, I cannot quote a tenth part of the passages which have seized on my interest and admiration. As one example, among many others which I should like to quote, let me mention the chapter that describes the fishermen taking the dead body out to sea in the hope of concealing the murder. The motives assigned to the men and the manner in which they express themselves show a knowledge of human nature which places you among the masters of our craft, and a superiority to temptations to conventional treatment that no words of mine can praise too highly. For a long time past, I have read nothing that approaches what you
86
Wilkie Collins's Library have done here. I have read the chapters twice, and, if I know anything of our art, I am sure of what I say. Now let me think of the next book that you will write, and let me own frankly where I see some form for improvement in what the painters call 'treatment of the subject'. When you next take up your pen, will you consider a little whether your tendency to dwell on what is grotesque and violent in human character does not require some discipline? Look again at the 'The Deemster', and at some of the qualities and modes of thought attributed to 'Dan'. Again, your power as a writer sometimes misleads you, as I think, into forgetting the value of contrast. The grand picture which your story presents of terror and grief wants relief. Individually and collectively, there is variety in the human lot. We are no more continuously neglected than we are continuously happy. Next time, I want more of the humour which breaks out so delightfully in old 'Quilleash'. More breaks of sunshine in your splendidly cloudy sky will be a truer picture of nature, and will certainly enlarge the number of your admiring readers. Look at two of the greatest of tragic stories - Hamlet and the Bride of Lammermoor, and see how Shakespeare and Scott take every opportunity of presenting contrasts, and brightening the picture at the right place" (15 March 1888: Letters, II, 553-54). Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine (1853-1931: DNB), Manx novelist and friend of WC. The Deemster and The Shadow of a Crime were published by Chatto and Windus, who from November 1874 had a seven-year lease on WC's available copyrights. See Gasson 27, 25.
71
Calcott, John Wall. A Musical Grammar, in Four Parts. 1817. [Withers] {7} Probably the 3 rd edition of a musical manual.
72
[Calverley, Charles Stuart]. Verses and Translations Cambridge, 1862. "8vo, cloth." [Bennett] [29] First edition, 1862: author given as "C.S.C." i.e., Charles Stuart Calverley (1831-1884: Boase), poet and translator. Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, and barrister of the Inner Temple (1865). Wrote light verse and parodies.
73.
Canler, Louis. Memoires de Canler, Ancien Chefdu Service de Surete. Brussels, 1862. "hf. mor." [Pullen] {212}
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French police criminal investigations: Louis Canler (1797-1865). WC drew upon the Parisian police records for several of his works (see Gasson 48). Canler's work was translated into English and published in London by Ward and Lock, 1862, under the title Autobiography of a French Detective, from 1818 to 1858, Comprising the Curious Revelations of the French Detective Police System. 74.
Caplin, Jean Francis Isidore. The Electro-Chemical Bath: For the Extraction of Mercury, Lead and Other Metallic Poisonous and Extraneous Substances from the Human Body; Which, by Their Presence in the Organism. [1868]. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins 1868" [Hartley] {16} The first edition was published in 1856. In 1868 an edition "revised and much enlarged; with plates, including a portrait" was published. WC wrote to Charles Benham: "I have begun the electric baths. Rating the pores of my skin at only 7 millions - 1 have had 7 million currents of electricity running through me for 45 minutes. The result is great cheerfulness and great disinclination to pay inland revenue" (25 September 1868: Letters, II, 313). Jean Francis Isidore Caplin, French physician.
75.
Carre, Fabrice. Pieces de Theatre. Paris, n.d. "cloth." [Jones] {195} Fabrice Carre, flourished 1855. Author of theatrical comedies such as Ma Bru!
16.
Casanova, Giacomo. Memoires de Jacques Casanova de Seingalt. 6 vols. Bruxelles, 1860. "edition originale, la seule complete .. . hf. cf." [St. Martins] {197}
77.
Causes Celebres. 2 vols. [n.d.]. "illustrated, various nos. bound in . . . hf. mor. (a few pencil notes and scorings in vol. 2 by Wilkie Collins) 8 vo." [Nugent] {200} [Cecil, John] see Hone, William (items 264-265).
78.
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. The History of the Valorous and Witty Knight-Errant Don Quixote of the Mancha. Translated by Thomas Shelton. 4 vols. 1725. "plates from the French of Coypel."
88
Wilkie Collins's Library [Hartley] {172}
79.
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. The Life and Exploits of the Ingenious Gentleman, Don Quixote de la Mancha. Translated by Charles Jarvis. 4 vols. 1801. "port, map and plates . . . cf." [Suckling] {50} Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616). WC writes in a letter to Mrs. Harriet Collins concerning Antwerp: "We mixed with the crowd (who to use the words of Don Quixote - 'smelt of anything rather than amber') and awaited the solitary advent of the sacred box with considerable impatience." (6 August 1846: Letters, I, 38).
80.
Chambers' Edinburgh Journal. 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1837. "impft." [Heald] {237}
81.
Chambers' Encyclopedia: A Dictionary of Useful Knowledge. 10 vols. revised edition, 1876. "maps and woodcuts . . . hf. cf. 8 vo." [Francis] {136}
82.
Chambers, Robert. Traditions of Edinburgh. New edition. 1868. "presentation copy to Wilkie Collins n.d." [Oliver] {14} Robert Chambers (1802-1871: DNB), partner in W. and R. Chambers, publishing house, and father of WC's close friend Nina Lehmann.
83.
Chamisso, Adelbert von. Faust: A Dramatic Sketch. Translated by Henry Phillips, Jr. Philadelphia, 1881. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins." {95} [31] "One hundred copies printed only for private circulation." Adelbert von Chamisso (1781-1838). Henry Phillips (1838-1895). See also item 385.
84.
Champlain, Samuel de. CEuvres de Champlain. 6 vols. in 3, facsimile reprint. Quebec, 1870. "publiees par l'Abbe C.H. Laverdiere port, maps and plates . . . (vol. 6 wants title) panelled calf gilt." [Edwards] {235}
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Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635). Charles Honore Laverdiere (18261873), editor of this account of the French discovery and exploration of North America/Canada. 85.
Chateaubriand, Francis-Rene, Vicomte de. Atala, Rene. Les Aventures de Dernier Abencerage. Paris, 1830. "12 mo., half calf, front." [Bennett] [65] WC's signature on fly-leaf "W. Wilkie Collins." Now at Parrish Collection, Princeton. Chateaubriand (1768-1848), French prose writer. Chatrain, Pierre Alexandre. See item 188.
86.
Cibber, Colley. An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber: Comedian, and Late Patentee of the Theatre-Royal: With an Historical View of the Stage During His Own Time. 2nd edition, 1740. "with signature of W. Wilkie Collins 1845 on fly-leaf [name of buyer illegible] {170} Colley Cibber (1671-1757): description of Restoration theatre. Cibber, actor, theatre manager (Drury Lane), dramatist, adapted Moliere and other French dramatists for the London stage. Ridiculed for snobbery by Pope, Dr. Johnson, and Fielding in Joseph Andrews (Harvey).
87.
Cibber, Colley. Dramatic Works 5 vols. 1777. "first edition, port. . . cf. 12 mo." [Hartley] {114}
88.
Clarke, Marcus Andrew Hislop. His Natural Life. Melbourne, 1874. [Suckling] {149} Marcus Clarke [Andrew Hislop] (1846-1881), "author of the finest Australian novel of the nineteenth century His Natural Life," serialized in the Australian Journal, March 1870-June 1872, published in a single volume in Melbourne, 1874 (Sadleir, 560), first English edition, 3 vols. Bentley, 1875 (Sadleir, 560 A). Complicated plot concerning transportation to Australia, inheritance dispute, convict life, discovery of gold, murder, illegitimacy, with powerful prison scenes and descriptions of the Australian landscape (Sutherland, 128, 297).
89.
[Claude]. Memoires de Mr. Claude, Chefde la Police de Surete sous le Second Empire. 2 vols. Paris, 1881. [Powell] {175} Published in 10 vols. 1881-1883.
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Wilkie Collins's Library
90.
Claudianus, Claudius. The Works of Claudian. Translated into English Verse by A. Hawkins. 2 vols. in 1, 1817. [Edwards] {10} Puttick and Simpson Catalogue gives date for lot 10 as "1847." Claudian (Claudius Claudianus), "the last great Latin poet in the classical tradition. He was born at Alexandria in the late fourth century AD and came to Italy before 395." He wrote political satirical poems, focusing on the politics of the Roman Empire in the period after 395 and before 404. His The Rape of Proserpine, an idyll in which Proserpine is abducted by Pluto in the field of Enna, was translated by Abraham Cowley (see M. C. Howatson, The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, 2nd edition, 1989, 137). WC possibly drew upon Claudianus for the background to his first published novel Antonina; or The Fall of Rome. A Romance of the Fifth Century (1850).
91.
Cleland, Robert. A Rich Man's Relatives. 3 vols. 1885. [Money] {138}
92.
Cleland, Robert. True to a Type. 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1887. [Money] {138}
93.
Cloncurry, Valentine, Baron. Personal Recollections of the Life and Times, with Extracts from the Correspondence of Valentine Lord Cloncurry. Dublin, London, 1849. [Maggs] {24} Valentine Cloncurry, Baron (1773-1853: Boase). Memoirs concerning early-nineteenth-century Irish politics and government.
94.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Christabel, &c. 1816. "3rd edition with signature of Wilkie Collins on fly-leaf." [Suckling] {135}
95.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. The Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 1857. "cf. 12 mo." [Nugent] {171}
96.
Collins, William. Poems with Notes by W. Crowe.1830. "Pickering" [Roche] {29} The Aldine edition of the British poets, published by Pickering. Collins is the first of what became a 50-volume set, published 1830-1853. William Collins (1721-1759: DNB).
97.
Collins, William. Memoirs of a Picture. 3 vols. 1805. "cl. 12 mo."
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[Parsons] {218} William Collins's (1788-1847: DNB) memoir of George Morland the painter. Picture "so intrigued Wilkie Collins that he interrupted the narrative of his life of his father to devote nine pages to unravelling the complicated plot of a book which he compared, not absurdly, to Smollett, Sterne and even Fielding" (Peters 11). 98.
Collins, William Wilkie. After Dark. [1859]. [Bennett] {227} Probably the one-volume edition published by Smith Elder. See Gasson 3. Bennett's Catalogue, under the title "COLLINS (WILKIE) WORKS - 1st Editions," notes that they are "in publisher's cloth, mostly unopened and almost new."
99.
Collins, William Wilkie. Antonina; or The Fall of Rome. 3 vols. 1850. "the Author's own copy with his autograph ' W. Wilkie Collins' on first title." {221} [42] Bennett bought for 18/- and offered at 25/-.
100. Collins, William Wilkie. Antonina; or The Fall of Rome. 1864. {227} [43] The single-volume Sampson Low edition with a new preface and illustrated title by John Gilbert. See Gasson 8. 101. Collins, William Wilkie. The Black Robe. 3 vols. 1881. "cr. 8vo." {224} [36] 102. Collins, William Wilkie. Criticisms of the Press. "in 3 scrap-books" [Parsons] {231} 103. Collins, William Wilkie. The Dead Alive. Boston, 1874. "sm. 8vo., cloth, front." {228} [44] Short story originally published in the Home Journal, 27 December 18734 February 1874, and elsewhere. Reprinted as The Dead Alive in book form, Boston 1874 [1873]. Also titled "John Jago's Ghost; or, The Dead Alive: An American Story." See Gasson 88. 104. Collins, William Wilkie. The Dead Secret. 2 vols. 1857. [Sabin] {222}
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Wilkie Collins's Library
105. Collins, William Wilkie. The Dream Woman: A Mystery in Four Narratives and Two Parts. Boston, 1873. "4 copies." "Privately printed for the author." [Parsons] {231} Originally published as "The Ostler" in the extra Christmas number of Household Words for December 1855. The Boston 1873 privately printed edition is one "altered and enlarged, for reading in public, from the original story published in the collection The Queen of Hearts" [1859]. See Gasson 55. 106. Collins, William Wilkie. The Evil Genius. 1887. {225} {227} [43] Probably the single-volume Chatto & Windus 1887 edition (Gasson 58). 107. Collins, William Wilkie. The Fallen Leaves: First Series. 3 vols. 1879 {224} {229} [40] 108. Collins, William Wilkie. The Frozen Deep and Other Stories. 2 vols. 1874. [Sabin] {222} See Gasson 66. 109. Collins, William Wilkie. The Haunted Hotel: A Mystery of Modern Venice to which is Added My Lady's Money. 2 vols. 1879. "WC has written 'Wilkie Collins, 90 Gloucester PL, Portman Square, April 21 st 1883' on the fly-leaf in pencil." [Sabin] {222}; {228} [38] Author's copy is at the Huntington Library RB 120329. 110. Collins, William Wilkie. Heart and Science. 3 vols. 1883. "cr. 8vo." {223} {226} [41] 111. Collins, William Wilkie. The Law and the Lady. 3 vols. 1875. "cr. 8 vo." {225} [33]; {229} [name of buyer illegible, not Bennett] 112. Collins, William Wilkie. The Legacy of Cain. 3 vols. 1889. "cr. 8 vo." {223} [39] 113. Collins, William Wilkie. Little Novels. 3 vols. 1887. "cr. 8vo."
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{223} [35] 114. Collins, William Wilkie. Man and Wife. 3 vols. 1870. [Bennett] {225} 115. Collins, William Wilkie. Miss or Mrs? and Other Stories in Outline. 1873. "cr. 8vo., cloth." {228} [45] 116. Collins, William Wilkie. The New Magdalen. 2 vols. 1873. [Sabin] {222} 117. Collins, William Wilkie. No Name: A Drama. 1870. "82 pp. on one side only, sm. 8vo. cloth." [Bennett] [47] Not recorded in Puttick and Simpson Auction catalogue. According to Gasson, 'Wo Name was never produced as a play in England although there were two different adaptations. The first version, No Name: A Drama in Five Acts(60 pp. pink paper wrappers), was written by W.B. Bernard in 1863.. . . The second, No Name: A Drama in Four Acts (160 pp., buff paper wrappers), was written and published by Collins himself in 1870" (115). Author's copy with alterations now at the Huntington Library RB 120321: purchased from Maggs April 1924. 118. Collins, William Wilkie. Poor Miss Finch. 3 vols. 1872. "With signature Wilkie Collins February 1872 on title . . . cl." [Swift] {220} Published 26 January 1872 by Richard Bentley, London. 119. Collins, William Wilkie. The Queen of Hearts. 1862. "Front, by Gilbert." {227} [43] Sir John Gilbert, R.A. (1817-1897) "provided vignette frontispieces for Sampson Low's collected edition of Collins's works issued between 1861 and 1865" (Gasson 69). 120. Collins, William Wilkie. Rambles Beyond Railways or Notes in Cornwall Taken A-foot.2nd ed. 1852. Bennett's Catalogue notes: "with 12 fine tinted illustrations by H.C. Brandling. 8vo, cloth, perfectly unopened, IN EXCELLENT STATE, A SCARCE BOOK No book that Wilkie Collins ever wrote is so greatly sought after as this. To secure, therefore, a copy which he himself possessed must be a prize." {227} [32]
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121. Collins, William Wilkie. A Rogue's Life. New York, 1879. "sm. 8 vo. cloth . . . 4 lines of corrections on p. 4 in pencil, are probably Collins'". [Bennett] [46] "The first U.S. edition, part of Appleton's New Handy Volume Series, New York, 1879" (Gasson 133). 122. Collins, William Wilkie. The Two Destinies. 2 vols. 1876. [Bennett] {224} {226} First published two volumes, Chatto & Windus, 1876 in reddish-brown cloth. Gasson notes a variant binding in green cloth. The first U.S. edition published in the same year by Harper (Gasson 151). 123. Collins, William Wilkie. Works. New edition, illustrated, 23 vols. various years. "hf. mor. (a few newspaper cuttings, and 2 letters relating to Works etc. inserted)." [Quaritch] {219} 124. Collins, William Wilkie. Works. 3 vols. Goteborg, 1881. "Translated into Danish 8 vo., sewed." Comprises: 'Jezebel's Dotter, Svartrockarne, Spbkhotellet". {230?} [53] Bennett's description incorrectly describes the translations as "Danish." If they were published in Goteborg, they were translated into Swedish and published by T. Hedlund. Jezebels Dotter is Jezebel's Daughter, Svartrockarne is The Black Robe; Spokhotellet is [The Haunted House], the Christmas number of All the Year Round (1859). 125. Collins, William Wilkie. Works. Translated into Dutch. 14 vols. Gravenhage, 1877-1886. "9 of his chief novels. . . imp. 8vo, sq. size, all sewed" Comprises: Noeni [No Namel] 2 vols. [1863?]; Het Zwarte Kleed, [The Black Robe] 2 vols. 1881; Jezebel's Dochter, [Jezebel's Daughter] 2 vols. 1880; Gevoel en Kennis, [Heart and Science] 2 vols. 1883; Man en Vrouer [Man and Wife] 1876; My Lady's Geld en Percy de Voorspelling [My Lady's Money and Percy and the Prophet] 1878; George en Marie [George and Mary] 1877; Verdorde Bladeren, de Geestverschijning [The Haunted Hotel] 2 vols. 1879. {230?} [52] "Belinfante Brothers became Collins's authorized Dutch publishers and by 1885 had issued twenty-five titles" (Gasson 149). 126. Collins, William Wilkie. Works. Translated into French. 6 vols. Paris, 1875-1888.
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"cr. 8 vo, swd." Comprises: Je dis Non, 1884; La Piste du Crime,\S15; L'Abime, 1879; Les Deux Destinees, 1879. {230} [48] "Beginning in 1858 with 'The Dead Secret', Collins's main authorized French publishers were Hachette, although The Woman in White and No Name were issued in Paris by J. Hetzel. Translators included E.-D. Forgues, Camille de Cendrey and C. Bernard-Derosne against whom Collins took legal action in 1878" (Gasson 149). 127. Collins, William Wilkie. Works. Translated into German. 6 vols. 18711882. Comprises: John J ago's Ghost. Berlin, 1875. "sm., 12 mo., swd." Mann und Weib. 6 vols. in 3. Leipzig, 1871. "cr. 8vo., in hf. mor." Der Schwarze Rock. 2 vol., [Berlin, 1882]. "cr. 8vo, swd. Present copy to Wilkie Collins from the Publisher [Engelmann]. Berlin, 1882" {230} [50] 128. Collins, William Wilkie. Works. Translated into Italian. 6 vols. 18761884. Comprises: Cuore e Scienza. Milan, 1884. Translated by Lida Cerracchini. "sm. 8vo, vellum gilt, red edges, very [nice condition] . . . copy to W.C. with Autofgraph]." / due Destini, 2 vols. Roma, 1876. "cr. 8vo. swd. port." La Vita di un Marinolo[Mariolo]. [Roma] 2 vols. 1880. "12 mo. swd. present copy to W.C. from the translator] Santarelli." Le vesti Nere. [Roma], 1882. "cr. 8 vo, neat leather, red edges." {230} [51] 129. Commynes, Philippe de. Notes on Louis XI: With Some Short Extracts from Commines' "'Memoirs. " 1878. [Dobell] {236} Extracts from Commines's Memoirs, with a short introduction by the editor, "A.E." with his "Notes on Louis XI." privately printed by J. C. Wilkins of London. 130. Congreve, William. Works. Ornamented with Copper-Plates, to which Is Prefixed a Life of the Author. 2 vols. 1788.
Wilkie Collins's Library
96 "port, and copper-plates . . . bds. uncut." [Vesey]{119}
131. Cooke, Edward William. Shipping and Craft. 1829. "65 etchings cl." [Nugent] {233} Possibly a legacy of WC's days from January 1841 until May 1846 spent at Antrobus & Company. Many years later her wrote to Edmund Yates that most of his time was spent at Antrobus attempting to write "tragedies, comedies, epic poems and the usual literary rubbish invariably accumulated about themselves by 'young beginners'" - rather than dealing with "invoices, bills of lading, and the state of Chinese tea markets" (cited by Yates, The Train, [June 1857] reprinted in his Celebrities at Home, 3rd Series [1879], 355). 132. Cooke, Joseph B. Wanderings with the Muse. Leicester, 1874. Presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins. [Hartley] {99} Joseph B. Cooke of Loughborough. 133. Cooper, James Fenimore. Novels. 31 vols. New York, Household Edition, 1872. "fronts, and vignettes . . . cl." [Roche] {83} In a letter to Paul Hamilton Hayne, WC writes: "It may be hundreds of years, before another Fenimore Cooper appears in America, or another Walter Scott in England. I call these two and Balzac - the three Kings of Fiction" (3 May 1884: Letters, II, 467). 134. A. Copyright Question. Bill to Amend the Law 1879. {15} [54] B. Copyright Question. Correspondence on Suggested Convention between Gt. Britain and U.S. 1881. {15} [54] C. Copyright Question. Minutes of the Evidence Report of the Royal Commission 1878. "folio swd." {15} [54] "The question of international copyright became a burning issue in the nineteenth century and Wilkie Collins was at the forefront of demands for reform" (Gasson 42). See also Anglo-American International Copyright (item 12), Jerrold, S., (item 278), Longman, T., (item 319), Marston, E., (item 342).
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135. Cornwall, Barry, pseud, [i.e., Bryan Waller Procter]. Charles Lamb: A Memoir. 1866. "portrait." [Parsons] {26} Bryan Waller Procter (1787-1874: DNB), poet, lawyer, and from 1832, one of the metropolitan Commissioners in Lunacy. WC dedicated The Woman in White"To Bryan Waller Procter; from one of his younger brethren in literature, who sincerely values his friendship, and who gratefully remembers many happy hours spent in his house." See also under Lamb, Charles (item 293). 136. Cornwall, Barry, pseud. Dramatic Scenes: With Other Poems. 1857. "illustrated." [Parsons] {26} 137. Cornwall, Barry, pseud. English Songs and Other Small Poems. 1856. The copy is inscribed on the front fly-leaf "Wilkie Collins Esq | with the Authors' [sic] | Kind Regards". Marginal lining contains pencil markings highlighting certain poems. Not in Puttick and Simpson 20 January 1890 Catalogue or in Bennett. Copy in the possession of Andrew Gasson in 1999. 138. Cornwall, Barry, pseud. Procter: An Autobiographical Fragment. Ed. Coventry Patmore. 1877. "portrait." [Parsons] {26} 139. Cousin, Victor. The Philosophy of the Beautiful. Trans. New York, 1849. "presentation copies from Daniel Bixby to Wilkie Collins." [Suckling] {20} Daniel Bixby, New York publisher who met WC during his American tour. 140. Cozzens, Samuel Woodworth. The Marvellous Country; or, Three Years in Arizona and New Mexico, the Apaches' Home. Boston, 1873. "illustrated cl." [Vernon] {102} 141. Crabbe, George. The Poetical Works of the Rev. George Crabbe: With Hi Letters and Journals, and His Life. 1834. "fronts, and vignettes 8 vols. cl. 12 mo." [Withers] {28} WC writes to William Winter:
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142. Craddock, Charles Egbert. The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains. Boston; New York, 1886. [Thistlewood] {148} Fictional account of social life and customs in the Great Smoky Mountains - North Carolina and Tennessee. 143. Crebillon, Claude-Prosper J. de. Collection Complete des CEuvres de M. de Crebillon. 7 vols. Paris, 1779. [Nugent] {199} Claude-Prosper Jolyot de Crebillon (1707-1777), dramatic censor, author of tales and dialogues. 144. Crucis, Alpha. Song of the Stars and Other Poems. Sydney, 1882. "8vo, bds. Present copy to Wilkie Collins with Author's Inscription." {98} [19] "Alpha Crucis," pseud, of Robert Dudley Adams (1829-1912), Australian lawyer and poet. 145. Croker, John Wilson, [James Boswell], Johnsoniana; A Collection of Miscellaneous Anecdotes and Sayings of Dr. Samuel Johnson, Gathered from Nearly a Hundred Different Publications. 2 vols. 1845. "ports, bds." [Maggs] {22} Published by Bohn. A sequel to Boswell's Life of Johnson. Cf. Boswell, James (items 46, 47). 146. Crowne, John. The Dramatic Works of John Crowne. Vol. I. Edinburgh, 1873. [Dobell] {107} Part of the Dramatists of the Restoration. Only the first volume of John Crowne's (1640-1712) works was in WC's library. Vol. 1 contains Juliana', The History of Charles the Eighth of France', Calisto. 147. Cumberland, Richard. Memoirs of Richard Cumberland. 2 vols. 1807. "port. . . . bds." [Maggs] {24}
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Richard Cumberland (1732-1811), dramatist and novelist: Sheridan's "Sir Fretful Plagiary." 148. Cumming, Joseph George. A Guide to the Isle of Man. 1861. "cl. map, few pencil notes." [{155}] [76] See also Forbes, Edward (item 202). WC probably consulted this during his August 1863 to the Isle of Man to prepare for Armadale. 149. Dana, Richard Henry. Two Years before the Mast. Boston, 1877. [Thistlewood] {148} WC writes to Dana: "I have read 'Two Years before the Mast', and read it with great delight - it is a most entertaining and most original book; and is deservedly popular in England, among all classes of readers" {Letters, I, 62: 17 June 1850). 150. D'Avenant, William, Sir. The Dramatic Works of Sir William D'Avenant. Edinburgh, 1872-74. [Dobell] {107} Four of five volumes only recorded in WC's library. Part of the Dramatists of the Restoration. William D'Avenant (1606-1668). Davesies de Pontes, Lucien. See under Pontes (item 393). 151. [Defoe, Daniel]. A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates . . . by Captain Charles Johnson. 1724. "plates (impft.)." [Nugent] {6} 152. Defoe, Daniel. Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York.2vols. 1790. "Large Paperproof plates by Stothard... . cf." [Lupton] {48} For a discussion of Gabriel Betteredge's use of Robinson Crusoe in The Moonstone, see C. Kent in Smith and Terry 62, 92-96, 99, and also J. Sutherland, ed. The Moonstone, 472. Clarke, in The Secret Life, writes that WC was "an avid reader of Daniel Defoe and a devotee of Robinson Crusoe" (109). 153. De Quincey, Thomas. The Works of Thomas De Quincey. 16 vols. Edinburgh, 1862-71. [George] {142}
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Wilkie Collins's Library WC possessed only 3 vols. of 16 vol. set: probably, vol. 1, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater; vol. 11, Coleridge and Opium-Eating; and vol. 16, Suspiria de Profundis, Being a Sequel to the Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, and Other Miscellaneous Writings.
154. Derby, James Cephas. Fifty Years among Authors, Books, and Publishers. New York, 1884. "ports cl." [Suckling] {20} 155. Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations, first edition. 3 vols. 1861. "in the original blue cloth." [Robson] {56} 156. Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, first edition. 1837. "plates by Seymour and Phiz with the Buss plates (cut down) signature of W. Wilkie Collins on fly-leaf, roan, gilt edged." [Stirling] {57} 157. Dickens, Charles. Mystery of Edwin Drood. 1870. "portrait and plates by Fildes, 6 nos. in original wrappers." [Stirling] {58} 158. Dickens, Charles. Plays and Poems, edited by R.H. Shepherd. 2 vols. 1882. "cl." [Spencer] {59} 159. Dickens, Charles. The Letters of Charles Dickens, edited by Georgina Hogarth and Mary Dickens, first edition. 3 vols. 1880-1882. "cloth." [Spencer] {60} Edited by Georgina Hogarth (1827-1917), Dickens's sister-in-law, and Mary Dickens (1836-1896), Dickens eldest daughter. WC advised Georgina Hogarth on the publication of these volumes: see for instance, WC to her (18 March 1879: Letters, II, 420-21).
160. Dickens, Charles. The Letters of Charles Dickens. 2 vols. 1882. "cr. 8vo, red cloth extra. 'Chas. Dickens' edition, presentation copy to Wilkie Collins, 'with love from the editors,' on fly-leaf." {61} [55]
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161. Dickens, Charles. Household Words. Vols. 1-19 (wanting vol. 15) in 10 vols. 1850-9. [Oliver] {62}. For WC's contribution to Household Words, see Gasson 81-82. Volume 15 (1857) contains WC's The Dead Secret. 162. Dickens, Charles. Works, Library edition. 22 vols. 1858-9. "presentation copy from C. Dickens with interesting autograph letter inserted in vol. 1,.. . hf. bd." [Stirling] {55} See also Forster, J. (item 206); Marzials, F. (item 343); and Ward, A.W. (item 510). 163. Diderot, Denis. CEuvres avec Memoires par Naigeon. 22 vols. Paris, 1821. "port, and plates . . . hf. cf." [St. Martin's Public Library] {191}. Denis Diderot (1713-1784). 164. Dixon, William Hepworth. New America. [Philadelphia, 1867]. "port, cl." [Maggs] {37} 165. Dodsley's Annual Register: A Complete Set from Its Commencement in 1758 to 1851 Inclusive, with Index from 1758 to 1819. 95 vols. 17581851. "8vo, half calf, (some broken)." {1} [17] Bennett bought for £1- 6s and priced it in his Catalogue for £5- 12s - 6d. Bennett describes as: "An invaluable set of books for a Public Library, comprising in a concise style well adapted for reference, a detailed view of the Politics, Literature, Biography, Parliamentary History, Commerce, Statistics, &c, of the past century, all the State Papers of any interest are printed at length; the whole thus forming a body of data for the future historian unparalleled either in extent or importance. The above set requires some of the binding being repaired - a trifling matter - and would then form an excellent Set at a very low price indeed. From writing inside Volume I they appear to have cost the Eminent Novelist £24." 166. Doran, John. A Lady of the Last Century: (Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu), 2nd ed.4vols. 1873. [F. Hurt] {152}
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Wilkie Collins's Library Elizabeth Montagu (1720-1800). Her Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespeare (1769) defended Shakespeare against Voltaire's attacks.
167.
Douce, Francis. The Dance of Death. 1833. "facsimile plates, cf. gt." [Smith] {68} Dramatists of the Restoration. See under Crowne, J. (item 146); D'Avenant, W. (item 150); and Wilson, J. (item 518).
168. Dryden, John. Poetical Works, With Life of the Author. 4 vols. 1832-1833. [Roche] {29} Part of Pickering's Aldine edition of the British poets. 169. Dumas pare, Alexandre. La Dame de Monsoreau and other Plays and Comedies. [Paris], v.y. [Oliver] {174} Part of 38-vol. collection. 170. Dumaspere, Alexandre. Le Comte de Monte-Cristo. 6 vols. Paris, 1875. [Edwards] {196} Alexandre Dumas pere (1802-1870). 171. Dumas pere, Alexandre. Vicomte de Bragelonne and other works. [Paris], v.y. [Oliver] {174} Part of 38-vol. collection. 172. Dumas fds, Alexandre. Theatre Complet. 14 vols. Paris, 1863-5. "hf. mor." [Edwards] {196} Alexandre Dumas fds (1824-1895), illegitimate son of Alexandre Dumas pere. 173. [Dunham, Samuel Astley]. History of Spain and Portugal. 1833. "presentation copy to Wilkie Collins" [Edwards] {103} Part of Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia. See also item 296. Samuel Astley Dunham (1795/6-1858), historian, friend of Southey, member of the Royal Spanish Academy. 174. Edgeworth, Maria. [Early Lessons]. 2 vols. n.d. "plates." [Suckling] {149} First published 1801.
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175. Edgeworth, Maria. Moral Tales for Young People, n.d. [Suckling] {149} First published 1801. 176. Edgeworth, Maria. Popular Tales, n.d. [Suckling] {149} First published 1801. 177. Edwards, Annie. Ought We Visit Her? 3 vols. 1871. [Hartley] {139} Novel by Annie Edwards (1830-1896), first published by Bentley. 178. Egan, Pierce. Tom and Jerry, or, Life in London, n.d. "coloured plates by G. Cruikshank." [Oliver] {14} First published in [1821]. 179. [Eliot, George]. Scenes of Clerical Life. n.d. "plates." [Suckling] {140} First published in 2 vols., 1858; one vol. illustrated 1868. 180. Elliot, Frances. Diary of an Idle Woman in Sicily. 2 vols. 1881. [F. Hurt] {151} Frances Vickress Dickinson (1820-1898), close friend of WC. Dedicatte of Poor Miss Finch (1872). See Dickens, Letters, VIII, 361, n.2, and Gasson 54. 181. Elliot, Frances. Diary of an Idle Woman in Sicily. New edition. 1884. [F. Hurt] {151} 182. Elliot, Frances. Ill-Tempered Cousin: A Novel. 3 vols. 1885. [F. Hurt] {151} 183. Elliot, Frances. The Italians. 3 vols. 1875. [F. Hurt] {151} 184. Elliot, Frances. Old Court Life in France. 2 vols. 1873. [F. Hurt] {151} 185. Elliot, Frances. The Red Cardinal: A Romance 2vols. 1884. [F. Hurt] {151} 186. Ellis, Joseph. Meletac: Poems. 1869.
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Wilkie Collins's Library "8vo., cloth. Beautifully Printed." {92} [62] Published by Pickering. WC wrote to Joseph Ellis: "Pray accept my best thanks for the copy of your Poems which you have kindly sent to me. Where my own works are concerned, I am (I hope and believe) a very severe critic while I am in course of producing them. Where the works of others are concerned, I subside to the infinitely pleasanter character of 'the gentle reader'. Speaking in this latter capacity, I may instance 'The dirge of man' as being, to my mind, one of the most successful among your more ambitious efforts - and 'Try Again' as offering a lively and pleasant essay in poetry of the more homely and practical sort. Wishing your volume every success" (MS: Bodleian: 17 June 1869).
187. Ellis, William. Polynesian Researches: During a Residence of Nearly Eight Years in the Society and Sandwich Islands, 2nd edition. 4 vols. 1831. "illustrated" [Edwards] {39} "The main source for Ioldni." WC "borrowed the names of the four principal characters, Iolani, Aimata, Idia and Mahine, citing Tahitian pronunciation, marriage customs, scenic descriptions and the practice of infanticide which provides a key issue for the novel" (Gasson 85). See also Ioldni, ed., Ira B. Nadel, xxiii-xxx. 188. Erckmann, Emile; Chatrian, Pierre Alexandre. "French novels by." [Oliver] {176} Erckmann (1822-1899) and Chatrian (1826-1890) collaborated in writing historical novels focusing on the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. 189. Ewald, Alexander, Charles. Stories from the State Papers. 1882. [Hartley] {141} 190. Eyries, J.B.B. Fantasmagoriana. 2 vols. Paris, 1812. [Powell] {177} 191. Farquhar, George. The Works of the Late Ingenious Mr. George Farquhar. 2 vols. 9th and 5th editions. 1728,1760. [Hartley] {124} George Farquhar (1678-1707), dramatist. WC owned two copies of Farquhar's Works: according to the British Library Catalogue,the 5th edition was published in 1728.
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192. Fawcett, Edgar. Fantasy and Passion. Boston, 1878. "presentation copies from the author to Wilkie Collins." [Sabin] {80} Poems by Edgar Fawcett (1847-1904), American novelist and dramatist. 193. Feuerbach, Paul Johann Anselm, Ritter von. Narratives of Remarkable Criminal Trials. Trans, by Lady Lucie Duff Gordon. 1846. [Nugent] {5} 194. Feuillet, Octave. Scenes et Comedies. Paris, 1854. "hf. mor." [Dobell] {204} Octave Feuillet (1821-1890). According to Peter France, Feuillet was a "highly popular French novelist and dramatist. His blend of gentility and sentimentality secured for him a large public under the Second Empire, when social mobility and uncertain standards made his idealized images of the gentry congenial to the expanding class of novel-readers who looked to fiction for guidance from their 'betters'" (311-12). See also item 348. 195. Feval, Paul. La Tontine Infernale. Paris, 1868. [Powell] {175} Paul Feval (1817-1887). According to France, Feval was a "leading exponent of the roman-feuilleton who, with Les Mysteres de Londres (1844), offered an early challenge to Dumas's supremacy. It was, however, during the Second Empire that Feval came to dominate the market in serialized fiction" (312). 196. Field, Kate. Charles Albert Fechter. Boston, 1882. "illustrated, presentation copy 'with regards of Kate Field' to W. Collins." {32} [12] Kate Field (1838-1896), American journalist, actress, lecturer and feminist. WC wrote to Kate Field: " If you are not in a hurry - a very serious 'if,' in these days - 1 will gladly search my archives for such few letters of poor dear Fechter as autograph-collectors have left to me. And if there is anything I can tell you besides, you shall be welcome to some of the least melancholy recollections associated with my old friend [Fechter]" (14 December 1880: Letters, II, 431). 197. Fielding, Henry. The Works of Henry Fielding. 4th ed. 12 vols. Edinburgh, 1767. "Calf." [Hill] {126}
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Wilkie Collins's Library WC wrote to Charles Ward: "I have only two words to say about that ball dress, and the charming person in it - they are the words of the immortal Fielding: — 'My Arse in a Bandbox!'" (30 January 1861: Letters, I, 192). WC also wrote to Edward Pigott: "one of the most tedious books (to me) that I ever read in my life was Tom Jones. This is wrong, I know, but all men have their 'cracked' points - and these are some of mine" ([OctoberDecember 1855]: Letters, I, 146).
198. Fitzball, Edward. The House to Let, with Other Poems. 1857. "presentation copy to Charles Dickens from the Author, cl." [Spencer] {121} Edward Ball, later Fitzball (1792-1873), author of over 150 plays, four novels, and six volumes of verse, also adapter for the stage of many novels and song writer. See J. R. Stephens The Profession of the Playwright, 1992. 199. [Fitzball, Edward.] Thirty-Five Years of a Dramatic Author's Life. 2 vols. 1859. [Spencer] {121} 200. Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Paris, 1876. "hf. mor." [Pullen] {212} 201. Flaubert, Gustave. Salammbo. Trans, by Mary French Sheldon. 1886. "presentation copy [from Mary French Sheddon] to Wilkie Collins." [Suckling] {140} WC wrote to the translator, Mary French Sheldon (1847-1936), concerning this volume: "My letter must begin with excuses for a long-deferred reply, as well as with thanks. The addition which you have so kindly made to my library reached me at a time when I was very busily occupied, and not very prosperously situated in the matter of health. When 'Salammbo' was first published, I read it - and (I hope it is needless to add) I was deeply impressed by the power and beauty of the work. The one drawback to my enjoyment (as I now remember) was the sense of effort, here and there, which I have found in the writings of all the disciples (English and Foreign) of the unapproachably-great master who wrote 'Old Mortality' and 'Quentin Durward'. Even the admirably easy 'narrative' of the elder Dumas does not, to my mind wholly conceal this defect. It is felt, instinctively, by the average reader - and it will be, as I think, the only obstacle in the way of the success of the English 'Salammbo'.
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Whether I am right or wrong in taking this view, of one thing I feel sure. Your translation has honestly met, and has triumphantly conquered, the innumerable difficulties of transforming the language of France into the language of England. From the beginning of the book to the end, I admire without reserve the profound knowledge of the two languages, the delicacy of handling, and the inflexible integrity of interpretation, which you have brought to your task. Your translation of 'Salammbo' has given an English book to English readers. I say this honestly, and I need say no more" (11 April 1886: Letters, II, 520-21). 202. Forbes, Edward. Quiggin's Illustrated Guide and Visitor's Companion through the Isle of Man. Douglas, Isle of Man, 1839. Frequently reprinted, 1858, 1862, etc. "cloth, map and illustrated." [Black] {155} [76] WC visited the Isle of Man August 1863 with Caroline to gain material for Armadale. In a letter dated 29 August 1863 to his mother, he called it "the one inaccessible place left in the world" (Letters, I, 231). 203. Forgues, Emile-Daurand. Originaux et Beaux Esprits de TAngleterre Contemporaine. 2 vols. 1860. [Powell] {175} WC dedicated his collection often short stories, The Queen of Hearts (1859), to the French critic and translator Emile-D. Forgues (1813-1883) in gratitude for his 1855 La Revue des Deux Mondes essay praising WC's work. 204. Forster, John. Debates on the Grand Remonstrance. 1860. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins." [Edwards] {27} John Forster (1812-1876), biographer of Dickens and others. 205. Forster, John. Land and Labour, n.d. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins." [Osborne]{182} 206. Forster, John. Life of Dickens. 2nd ed. 3 vols. 1872. "ports, and plates. Wilkie Collins' copy with signature on title, and a few pencil notes added here and there by W.C." [Quaritch] (63) WC wrote to Forster: "For three days past I have been trying - and vainly trying - to get to Palace Gate House, and to thank you as heartily (as I thank you now) for the new volume of the Life. I am devouring you at night (the only time
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when I have any 'leisure hours' at my disposal) - and I am more interested than any words of mine can tell in your admirable narrative - to my mind, the most masterly biographical story you have ever told" (16 November 1872: Letters, II, 356). Marginalia, attributed to Collins, in his copy of Forster's Life, is published in the Pall Mall Gazette, 20 January 1890, 3 (see P. Collins, Dickens: The Critical Heritage, 1971, 587-88 and Robinson, 258-59): ". . . discussing Oliver Twist, Mr. Forster remarks, 'Here was the interest of a story simply but well constructed' (Life, 106). 'Nonsense', writes William Collins, 'the one defect of that wonderful book is the helplessly bad construction of the story. The character of "Nancy" is the finest thing he ever did. He never afterwards saw all the sides of a woman's character - saw all round her. That the same man who could create "Nancy" created the second Mrs. Dombey is the most incomprehensible anomaly that I know of in literature.' The next note . . . relates to Barnaby Rudge [Forster notes that Dickens had a 'fancy' to make the leaders of the Gordon riots 'three splendid fellows . . . who should turn out, when all was over, to have broken out of Bedlam'. With some difficulty, Forster made him see 'the unsoundness of this' (Life, 168).] Concerning this Wilkie Collins writes, 'Where is the unsoundness of it? I call it a fine idea. New, powerful, highly dramatic, and well within the limits of truth to nature. It would have greatly improved the weakest book that Dickens ever wrote' .. . In a note in the second volume he describes Martin Chuzzlewit as in some respects Dickens' finest novel, but severely criticises its successor. 'The latter half of Dombey no intelligent person can have read without astonishment of the badness of it, and the disappointment that followed lowered the sale of the next book Copperfield, incomparably superior to Dombey as it certainly is."' According to Robinson "Forster's assertion that there is scarcely a page of Dickens which could not be placed in the hand of a child provokes the explosion we might expect. It is impossible to read such stuff as this without a word of protest. If it is true, which it is not, it would imply the condemnation of Dickens' books as works of art, it would declare him to be guilty of deliberately presenting to his readers a false reflection of human life. If this wretched English claptrap means anything it means that the novelist is forbidden to touch on the sexual relations which literally swarm about him, and influence the lives of millions of his fellow creatures [except] those relations are licensed by the ceremony called marriage. One expects this essentially immoral view of the functions of the novelist from a
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professor of claptrap like the late Bishop of Manchester. But that Forster should quote it with approval is a sad discovery indeed "When Forster writes in his final chapter of his thirty-three years' friendship with Dickens, marked by 'unbroken continuity of kindly impulse,' Wilkie comments: The 'kindly impulse' did unquestionably exist, but not in 'unbroken continuity'. More than once there were fierce quarrels between Dickens and Forster (sometimes at Forster's own table), which took place in my presence. Dickens sense of what he owed to Forster's devotion — rightly and properly a strong sense — was often subjected to severe trial by Forster himself. The assertion (quite sincerely made) that no letters addressed by Dickens to other old friends revealed his character so frankly and completely as his letters to Forster, it is not necessary to contradict. Dickens' letters published by his sister-in-law and his eldest daughter may be left to settle the question. . . . Mr. Forster compares the description in Edwin Drood with the dialogue in Oliver Twist (Life, 809). On which Mr. Wilkie Collins remarks: 'He would have pointed out the contrast more fairly if he had compared dialogue with dialogue or description with description in both cases. A novelist knows what Forster does not know - that dialogue is more easily written than description. To my mind it was cruel to compare Dickens in the radiant prime of his genius with Dickens's last laboured effort, the melancholy work of a worn-out brain.'" 207. Forster, John. Sir John Eliot: A Biography. 2 vols. 1864. "portrait." [Edwards] {27} 208. Forster, John. Walter Savage Landor, a Biography 1821-64. 2 vols. 1869. "port." [Edwards] {27} WC wrote to Forster: "My heartiest congratulations on the completion of 'Landor', and my best thanks for the copy of the book which you have so kindly sent to me. I shall read it with no common interest and attention - first as coming from yow, secondly as saying, what no one else could have said so well, in vindication of Landor's claims to a great place in English literature. You taught me to understand 'Eliot' - and you will find me willing to learn (if I can) to understand 'Landor'" (15 May 1869: Letters, II, 322-23).
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209. The Forum [New York]. Various issues. [Bennett] {185} An American monthly magazine founded in 1886 (it ran until 1950) concerned with contemporary political and social problems. 210. Franklin, Benjamin. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Edited from His Manuscript, with Notes and an Introduction. Philadelphia, 1868. '"Wilkie Collins with the sincere regards of the Author' on the fly-leaf." {32} [11] Edited by John Bigelow (1817-1911), American editor, diplomat, and author. WC met Bigelow during his 1873-74 tour of America. See WC to Mrs. John Bigelow (31 December 1874: Letters, II, 388). 211. Franklin, Benjamin. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Edited from His Manuscript, with Notes and an Introduction. 3 vols. Philadelphia, 1874. "port, cl." [Suckling] {35} 212. French "Dramatique." [Miscellaneous works, Paris, various years] [Jones] {202} See also under Mazeres (item 345), Melesville (item 350), and Scribe (item 436). 213. "French Novels." Miscellaneous. [Olivero] {176} 214. "French Plays, original editions, a parcel." [Jones] {180} 215. "French Works . . . a parcel." [Olivero] {179} 216. Gaboriau, Emile. L'Affaire Lerouge. [Paris, 1868]. [Smith] {217} Emile Gaboriau (1832-1873), chiefly remembered today for "his famous detective Monsieur Lecoq . . . the precursor of Sherlock Holmes" (Harvey and Heseltine, 296). A possible source for Sergeant Richard Cuff in The Moonstone. 217. Gaboriau, Emile. Les Esclaves de Paris. [Paris, 1868]. [Smith] {217} 218. Gaboriau, Emile. Monsieur Lecoq. [Paris, 1868].
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[Smith] {217} 219. Gaboriau, Emile. Vie Infermale[Paris 1870]. "10 vols. sewed and 3 vols. hf. mor." [Smith] {217} 220. Gaultier, Bon [Aytoun, W.E. and Theodore Martin]. The Book of Ballads. Edinburgh, 1859. "illustrated by Doyle, Leech . . . (used copy)" [Woolley] {100} 221. Geneste, John. Some Account of the English Stage from the Restoration in 1660 to 1830. 10 vols. Bath, 1832. "hf. mor. (Robert Southey's copy Keswick 1834 and signature of Wilkie Collins 31 st March 1881 both written on title of vol. 1)." [Withers] {108} 222. George, Henry. Progress and Poverty. 1884. [Hartley] {21} Henry George (1839-1897). American social critic and advocate of single taxation on land. 223. George, Henry. Some Habits and Customs of the Working Classes. 1867. [Hartley] {21} 224. Gibbon, Charles. For Lack of Gold: A Novel. 1st ed. 3 vols. 1871. "cr. 8vo. cloth." {146} [72] Charles Gibbon (1843-1890), novelist. For Lack of Gold, first published by Blackie & Sons in three-volume format in 1871. Reissued in other formats in 1873, 1877, 1878 and in 1881 by Chatto & Windus (see Chester W. Topp, Victorian Yellowbacks, & Paperbacks, 1849-1905, III, Hermitage Antiquarian Bookshop: Denver, Colorado, 1997. 75). 225. Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 12 vols. 1813. "port, and maps . . . cf." [Sabin] {77} Possibly a re-issue of the 12-vol. new edition; London: W. Strahan, etc., 1791-92. A possible source for WC's Antonina; or The Fall of Rome. A Romance of the Fifth Century (1850).
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226. Gibson, William Sidney. Lectures and Essays on Various Subjects, Historical, Topographical and Artistic. 1858. "roy. 8vo., cloth, Large Paper of which only 50 were issued, present, copy to W.C. from the author with his autograph dated from Tynemouth 1858" {9} [73] William Sidney Gibson (1814-1871: DNB), antiquarian. 227. Giles, Chauncey. The Spiritual World and Our Children There. 1875. "cloth," gilt edged. [60]. Not recorded in Puttick and Simpson. 228. Gill, William Fearing. The Martyred Church. Boston, 1874. "sm. 4 to cloth, ex. g.e. Illus. present, copy from the author to W.C. 1874 with inscription." {54} [74] William Fearing Gill (1844-1917), American journalist and poet. 229. Gillies, Robert Pearse. German Stories: Selectedfrom the Works of Hoffman, De La Motte Fouque, Pichler, Kruse, and Others. 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1826. "hf. cf." [Thistlewood] {166} 230. Gilpin, Henry. Miscellaneous Poems. 1863. "roy. 8 vo. .. . presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins." [Sabin] {80} Henry Gilpin, fl.1840, miscellaneous provincial writer. 231. Goldsmith, Oliver. The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith. Ed. Sir James Prior. 4 vols. 1837. "vignettes on titles. . . cf." [Gardner] {75} 232. Goldsmith, Oliver. The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Oliver Goldsmith. 2 vols. 1786. "port." [Cogswell] {169} WC wrote to Robert du Pontavice de Heussey: "Forster told me that 'Northcote' was not to be depended on - and Forster's account of 'She Stoops to Conquer' takes Goldsmith to the Theatre - makes him alarmed by hearing a solitary hiss, and repeats Coleman's abominable insult to Goldsmith: 'Don't be afraid of a squib, Doctor, when we have been sitting these two hours on a barrel of gunpowder!'" (4 February 1887: Letters, II, 533).
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John Forster's The Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith, published in 1848; James Northcote's (1746-1831), anecdotes of Goldsmith published in Memoirs offG.J Joshua Reynolds, 2 vols., 1818. WC also wrote to his mother, Mrs. Harriet Collins: "I walked yesterday to the Serpentine - rested - and walked back again! An amazing achievement for me. If I can keep it up 'Tony Lumpkin [A character in Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer] will soon be his own man again.'" (2 July \863: Letters, I, 227). 233. Goldsmith, Oliver. The Vicar ofWakefield: A Tale. 1803. "signature of W. Collins plates." [Cogswell] {169} 234. Goncourt, Edmond de. La Fille Elisa. Paris, 1877. "2 vols. hf. mor." [Dobell] {215} Edmond de Goncourt (1826-1896), naturalistic novelist, who collaborated with Jules Goncourt (1830-1870). 235. Goncourt, Edmond de. Soeur Philomene. Paris, 1877. [Dobell] {215} 236. Gray, Thomas. The Poems of Thomas Gray. 1821. "plates by Westall with signature William Wilkie Collins January 8th, 1840 cf." [Nugent] {171} 237. Guide Books, various 17 vols. [Black] {155} Cf. Bennett [76]. See also under Aldeburgh (item 8); Cumming, J.G. (item 148); Forbes, E. (item 202); and Wetton, G.N. (item 514). 238. Guyon, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte. The Exemplary Life of the Pious Lady Guion. Trans. Thomas Digby Brooke. Bristol, 1806. "8vo, hf. old cf." {133} [25] 239. Gwynne, Nell. Acorn Leaves: A Series of Canadian Tales. Toronto, 1873. "sm. 4to., cloth." {30} [6] 240. Haggard, Sir Henry Rider. Allan Quatermain. 1887. {144} [78]
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241. Haggard, Sir Henry Rider. Jess. 2nd ed. 1887. {144} [80] 242. Haggard, Sir Henry Rider. King Solomon's Mines. [1885]. "28th Thousand red cloth." {144} [79] WC wrote to A.P. Watt at length concerning this volume: "Let me honestly confess it, my frame of mind was not hopeful when I opened 'King Solomon's Mines'. To my wonder and delight the book seized me at once, and held me fast straight through to the end. I found myself reading the work of a man, possessing imagination, invention, sense of dramatic effect, respect for truth to nature, and - in an inferior degree as yet - an eye for character. Here I find room for improvement in Mr. Haggard, and I will try to explain myself. To my mind, our author is strong in the conception, and weak in the development, of character. 'Allan Quatermaine' is, as the lawyers say, a case in point. He is supposed to be the writer of the story, and he begins in his own character. But as he goes on, he is set aside and replaced by Mr. Haggard himself. If you look again at the earlier pages of the book, you will find Q. writing in harmony with his own character, as described by himself- a sensible man whose native good sense has made use of his opportunities, within his limits. Quaint humour and capacity for observation are in him (again within limits) but, by his own confession, he is without literary cultivation. On that side of him an ignorant man. Now look on to page 72 and you will find this uncultivated elephant hunter exhibiting a highly trained admiration of the beauties of nature and actually expressing admiration in a skilled and eloquent English style. I will copy one sentence, and you will see what I mean. ' . . . we lay down and waited for the moon to rise. At last about nine o'clock up she came in all her chastened glory, flooding the wild country with silver light, and throwing a weird sheen on the vast expanse of rolling desert before us, which looked as solemn and quiet and as alien to man as the star-studded firmament above'. Here - and in dozens of other places to which I might refer if I had no respect for your time - is merely Mr. Haggard's poetical feeling, and Mr. Haggard's skilled handling of English, pouring miraculously from Mr. Quatermaine's pen. I fancy I hear Q. intent on improving himself, asking for explanations: 'Excuse me sir, but when you say "chastened glory", do I understand you to mean it was a fine bright moon? And would you mind telling me whether "weird sheen", is a thing or a person or a place? I am
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with you, sir, heart and soul, when you say "alien to man"! That's a cut at the Hottentots and they richly deserve it'. The defect which I have tried to indicate is the only obstacle that I can now see in Mr. Haggard's way. If he will be on his guard against this and if he will not let publishers tempt him to lead his readers too often over the same ground - 1 believe he has the ball at his foot, and I shall be rejoiced to see him kicking it to good purpose" (4 January 1887: Letters, II, 529-30). 243. Haggard, Sir Henry Rider. She. 1887. 1st ed. "cr. 8vo. cloth, 2 plates." {144} [77] WC wrote to A.P. Watt of this book: "I must talk to you about 'She' the next time you give me a look-in.. . . 'She' is better written than 'Mines' - but it has not got the movement of the story and the variety of situations... . And I doubt the effect on the stupid reader (a most important person, unhappily, to please) of the lady who is 2000 years old" (25 January 1887: Letters, II, 531). 244. Hall, Basil. Fragments of Voyages and Travels Including Anecdotes of a Naval Life: Chiefly for the Use of Young Persons. 3 vols. in 9. Edinburgh, London, 1831, 1833. "cl. 12 mo." [Edwards] {39} Possibly a source for Ioldni (see Gasson 85 and Nadel xxxi). 245. Hall, Basil. Schloss Hainfeld, or, A Winter in Lower Styria. 1836. [name of buyer illegible] {170} 246. Hallam, Henry. View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages. 2 vols. 1841. "8vo. hf. grey calf, W. Collins' Autofgraph] in volume I Good Library Edition." {133} [81] 247. Harper's magazine. Various issues. [Bennett?] {185} WC contributed to Harper's Bazaar, A Repository of Fashion and Instruction', Harper's New Monthly Magazine', and to Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization (Gasson 75). 248. Hatherly, Stephen Georgeson. A New Genealogical Scale of the Sovereigns of England with Copious Tables and Explanatory Remarks. 1889.
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[Withers] {150} Hayward, Abraham. See item 389. 249. Haydn, Joseph. A Dictionary of Dates Relating to All Ages and Nations. 9th ed, revised and greatly enlarged, by Benjamin Vincent. 1860. "(with signature of Wilkie Collins 1860) cf. gt." [Packer] {70} 250. Hayne, Paul Hamiliton. Poems. Boston, 1882. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins." [Suckling] {79} Paul Hamilton Hayne (1830-1886), South Carolina poet. On receiving this volume, WC wrote to Hayne: "I should not have troubled you with this little grievance of mine but for one consideration. It explains the delay that has occurred on my part as one of your readers. I could look at your beautiful volume - 1 could feel sincerely grateful for the kindness which had made this welcome addition to my library - but I was utterly unworthy of your poems, until my mind had rested a little. Only at the beginning of this week have I begun to read you - confining myself at first to the shorter poems. May I pick out my favourites thusfar? They are, 'By the Autumn Sea', 'The Dryad of the Pine', and 'Love's Autumn'. These three represent many others in which I find true poetical feeling, expressed delightfully in truly poetical language. To my mind, this is a very rare quality in the present time. Affectation of language, and obscurity of meaning - no matter what popular names may be attached to them - always, produce the same result, in my case. I close the book, and deny that the writer is a poet. He must please me, he must excite some feeling in me, at a first reading, or I will have nothing to do with him. All good poetry, I know, improves on acquaintance - but what I insist on is, a favourable impression at starting. Excepting Tennyson (in his shorter poems) I read hardly any modern poetry with pleasure. What I like in your poetry (so far as I yet know it) is - that it makes me feel, and that it has not stopped me . . . with detestable doubts whether I do, or do not, understand what you are saying to me" (16 July 1884: Letters, II, 469-70). 251. Hazlitt, William. The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte. 4 vols. 1830. "hf. bd." [Roche] {74} WC wrote to Charles Kent: "I have discovered that Hazlitt was (saving your presence) was one of the damnedest blackguards, as a literary man, that ever lived" (MS: Princeton: 5 April 1885). See also item 257.
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252. Heber, Reginald, ed. Hymns, Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year. 1827. "with signature of H. Collins." [Suckling] {135} 253. Heussey, Robert du Pontavice de. L'Inimitable Boz: Sur la Vie et TOeuvre de C Dickens. 2 vols. Paris, 1889. "thin 8 vo., swd, vig. port, on title and front, by Courboin . . . beautifully clean copy. On fly leaf is written, 'A mon cher Maitre W. Wilkie Collins hommage d'admiration et d'affectueux respect Robert du Pontavice de Heussey 17. Janvier. 1889." {173} [58] Robert du Pontavice de Heussey (1850-1893), Breton author who translated WC's work into French and represented his interests in Paris and elsewhere. Copy now at Princeton, Parrish collection. 254. Heussey, Robert du Pontavice de. Madeline; Piece en Quatre Actes, dont un Prologue d'apres Wilkie Collins par R. du P. de Heussey. Paris, 1887. "cr, 8 vo." {173} [49] WC wrote to de Heussey: "I leave the proof of 'Magdalen' in perfect confidence to you - and I look forward with true interest to receiving a copy of the play when it has received your last correction and has become a published work" (14 February 1887: Letters, II, 533). 255. Heussey, Robert du Pontavice de. CEuvres Completes. 2 vols. Paris, 1887. "2 roy 8vo. vols, swd. 2 finely etched portraits, clean as new." {173} [83] WC wrote to de Heussey: "You are the only French Man of Letters mind, I say this seriously - who understands England and the English. And, because I mean this, you will find on the next morsel of paper, some corrections of trifling slips - to be noted before you republish your contributions to 'Le Livre'" (4 February 1887: Letters, II, 532). 256. Hogarth, George. Memoirs of the Opera in Italy, France, Germany, and England. 2 vols. 1851. "ports cl." [Suckling] {120} For a discussion of WC's operatic interests, see Allan W. Atlas, "Wilkie Collins on Music and Musicians," Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 124 (1999), 264-65. George Hogarth was Charles Dickens's father-in-law.
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257. Holcroft, Thomas. Memoirs of the Late Thomas Holcroft. 3 vols. 1816. "port, bds." [Maggs] {22} Thomas Holcroft (1745-1809), friend of Thomas Paine and William Godwin. His Memoirs, posthumously edited and completed by William Hazlitt. 258. Holden, James. Poetic Zephyrs. Bury, 1866. "presentation [copy] [from the author] to Wilkie Collins, Leicester, 1874." [Hartley] {99} James Holden, provincial poet. 259. Holl, Henry. The King's Mail. 3 vols. 1863. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins." [Money] {138} Henry Holl (1811-1884). His novel was published by Sampson Low. According to the Dedicatory Preface it "was Wilkie Collins who introduced [Holl] to his publishers" (Wolff, 3238). 260. Holley, George W. Niagara: Its History and Geology, Incidents and Poetry, with Illustrations. NewYork, 1872. "presentation copy to W. Collins." [Bennett] {32} Purchased by Bennett but not in his sale. George Washington Holley (1810-1897), American natural historian. WC wrote to G. Maclean Rose of Hunter Rose & Co (Holley's Canadian publishers): "Reverting to personal matters, my Godson and I have to thank you for more than your kindness and Mr. Rose's kindness to us in Toronto. Your friendly consideration followed us to Niagara - Saw us through the Custom House . . . and showed us the Falls under the best possible guidance. No words can tell how these wonderful Falls astonished and impressed me. It is well worth the voyage from England to see Niagara alone" (2 January 1874: Letters, II, 371). 261. Holmes, Edward. The Life of Mozart: Including His Correspondence. 1845. In original brown cloth with damage to the spine. On the fly-leaf in pencil "Purchased at the Sale of Wilkie Collins Library at Puttick & Simpson, Jany. 20th 1890 Lot 7." Not listed in Puttick and Simpson Auction Catalogue. Lot 7, purchased by Withers, consists of books relating to music. After three titles ("Beethoven's Life," (item 431), "Bass' Street Music in the Metropolis," (item 24), and "Callcott's [sic] Musical
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Grammar" (item 71)), there is an "etc." In 1999 WC's copy of Holmes was in the possession of Faith and William Clarke. 262. Holmes, J. Gibb. Ghosts' Gloom: A Novel. 1889. "front." [Hartley] {147} Dedicated '"To Wilkie Collins, Esq., This novel is gratefully dedicated by an admirer of his genius and a recipient of his kindness'" (Gasson 48) 263. Holmes, Oliver Wendell. Songs of Many Seasons: 1862-1874. Boston, 1875. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins cl." [buyer name indecipherable] {82} Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894: DAB), poet, physician, humourist. WC wrote to Oliver Wendell Holmes: "I must say (most imperfectly) in writing that I am indeed gratefully sensible of all that I owe to your cordial welcome, and that I shall prize as long as I live the charming little poem which speaks to me of your genius and your kindness whenever I look at it. Farewell, dear Doctor Holmes, for the present. I have few dearer hopes than the hope of my return to America" (MS: Library of Congress: 7 March 1874). WC dedicated his Readings and Writings in America, 1874, to Holmes. Upon receiving Songs of Many Seasons, WC wrote to Holmes: "Your last Poems have been - in bed and out of bed - my always welcome companions. I know them well enough to have my special favourites. 'The Organ Blower' delights me by its delicate irony and its true and charming feeling. "At the Pantomime" - where the sudden revulsion of feeling is so finely touched - is, as I think, another masterpiece. Of the 'War Songs' all have the 'ring' of true poetry in them. 'Never or Now' is the finest thing of the kind I have read since Campbell laid down his pen for ever. Again, in quite another way the delightful 'Class Meeting' Poems have the same masterly hold over the feelings of the reader - simple, pathetic, unaffected and finely true. I am not a little proud to find the "Toast" with which you honoured me at that memorable dinner, included among your Poems. I may say for myself honestly that the kindness which has thus distinguished me has not been thrown away on an ungrateful man - and I may add that the little which I have here ventured to say on the subject of your Songs of Many Seasons is said truly with my whole heart" (17 May 1875: Letters, II, 394). WC met various American literati, including Bryant, Clemens [Mark Twain], Holmes, Longfellow, and Whittier, at a 22 October 1873 breakfast party in his honour. During the party Holmes read the following toast:
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Wilkie Collins's Library A Toast to Wilkie Collins The painter's and the poet's fame Shed their twinned lustre round his name, To gild our story-teller's art, Where each in turn must play his part. What scenes from Wilkie's pencil sprung, The minstrel saw but left unsung! What shapes the pen of Collins drew, No painter clad in living hue! But on our artist's shadowy screen A stranger miracle is seen Than priest unveils or pilgrim seeks The poem breathes, the picture speaks! And so his double name comes true, They christened better than they knew, And Art proclaims him twice her son, Painter and poet, both in one!
264. Hone, William. The Every Day Book, or, A Guide to the Year: Describing the Popular Amusements, Sports, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs, and Events, Incident to the Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Days, in Past and Present Times. 4 vols. 1878. "numerous woodcuts hf. bd." [Smith] {46} William Hone (1780-1842), pseudonym John Cecil, appears on title page. 265. [Hone, William]. Sixty Curious and Authentic Narratives and Anecdotes. 1822. "bds uncut" [Nugent] {5} 266. Hook, Walter Farquhar. A Church Dictionary. [1843]. "cloth . .. 'H.Collins' on title." [Bennett] [59]. Not recorded in Puttick and Simpson. Household Words. See under Dickens, Charles (item 161). 267. Hugo, Victor. Hans dTslande. 2 vols in 1. [Paris], 1858. "hf. mor." [Nugent] {211}
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268. Hugo, Victor. L 'Histoire d'un Crime. 2 vols. Paris, 1877. "hf. mor." [Nugent] {211} 269. Hugo, Victor. Notre-Dame de Paris. 3 vols. Brussels, 1836. "hf. mor." [Nugent] {211} 270. Hugo, Victor. [Le Theatre}. 3 vols. Paris, 1850. "hf. cf." [Nugent] {211} Probably a compilation of various plays. 271. Hunt, Robert. Popular Romances of the West of England; or, The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall. 1881. "illustrated by G. Cruikshank" [Oliver] {14} 272. Inchbald, Elizabeth, ed., [The British Theatre.] 2 vols., 1806-1809. "with signatures of William Wilkie Collins" [Nugent] {115} WC wrote to an unidentified correspondent: "I very sincerely admire Mrs. Inchbald's Simple Story [1791] - but I have never written an essay on the subject" (MS: Texas: 23 September 1887). Mrs. Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821), novelist, dramatist, actress. 273. Irving, Washington. [Knickerbocker, D.] The History of New York. [1835]. "frontis. by Heath, 12 mo. "signature of Wilkie Collins dated 1844 on fly-leaf." [Withers] {31} WC reviewed Chronicles of Wolf erfs Roost, and Other Papers by Washington Irving in The Leader, VI: 255 (24 February 1855), 187-188. 274. Irving, Washington. Complete Works. 10 vols. Bohn, 1854. "substantially bound, hf. green morocco, marbled sides and edges, Portrait" {78} [85] Bennett purchased for £1 5s. and catalogued for 32s and also offered another copyat"35s in cloth". 275. Jackson, William. The New and Complete Newgate Calendar: or, Malefactor's Universal Register. Vols. 1-3. 1800-[1803]. Plates.
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Wilkie Collins's Library [Nugent] {6}
276. Jahn, Otto. Life of Mozart, trans, by Pauline D. Townsend. 3 vols. 1882. "ports, cl." [Smith] {8} 277. Jardine, David. Celebrated Criminal Trials. 2 vols. 1835. Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge [Nugent] {5} 278. Jerrold, Sidney. A Handbook of English and Foreign Copyrights in Literary and Dramatic Works. 1881. {15} [54] See also items 12, 134, 319, 342. 279. Johns, J. J., Anglican Cathedral Church of Saint James, Mount Zion, Jerusalem. 1842. "thin folio, cloth, 6 pages of coloured plates, containing 11 Illustrations, loose in case, List of Subscribers" {245} [18] 280. Johnson, Samuel. Lives of the English Poets. [Dublin]. 1779-1781. "vols. 1 and 2, 8vo, old calf, title of 1 vol. repaired." [Bennett] [89] Not identified in Puttick and Simpson. For the complicated bibliographical nature of this publication, see J.D. Fleeman, A Bibliography of the Works of Samuel Johnson (2000), II, 1357 ff. 281. Johnson, Samuel. The Works of Samuel Johnson, with Life by Murphy. 12 vols. 1806. "8vo, diamond calf, gilt, marbled edges. Portrait after Reynolds, M. A. Beloe on title and Wm. Beloe's bookplate . . . Trade Edition." Bennett's catalogue notes "Some of the covers are loose but could be put in Library condition for a trifle. The price is very moderate." Bennett purchased for 2s 6d and offered for sale at 15/-. See also Fleeman, II, 1661-1669. {137} [88] WC wrote to Paul Hamilton Hayne, '"What must be done, sir, w|li be done,' old Doctor Johnson said, and said truly, in the last century. I hope you like Doctor Johnson. He is one of my heroes - Boswell's Life of him is my favourite book - and (to the astonishment of some of the shallow literary men of the present time in England) I persist in thinking his 'Vanity of Human Wishes,' and his
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'lines on the death of Robert Levett' two of the grandest poems ever written." (27 December 1885: Letters, II, 490). See also under Boswell, James (items 44-47), Croker, John Wilson (item 145), and Piozzi, Hester Lynch (item 389). 282. Kane, Elisha Kent. Arctic Explorations in 1853-54-55. . . The Second and Last United States Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin. 2 vols. Hartford, Conn. 1871-72. "numerous illustrations hf. cf." [May] {71} 283. Kelly, Michael. Reminiscences of Michael Kelly of the King's Theatre and Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Including a Period of Nearly Haifa Century with Original Anecdotes of Many Distinguished Persons, Political, Literary and Musical. 2 vols. 1826. "port. . . . hf. cf." [Bain] {111} The Athenaeum, WC's London club, purchased this copy with WC's annotations in 1890. At the foot of p. 154 (volume 2), WC notes "This is a mistake. The play had proceeded beyond the Act in which these words occur, when Palmer dropped dead on the stage (see the notice of John Palmer in Geneste's 'English Stage'.)" WC is reacting to Kelly's "On the 2nd of August [1798] the stage had an irreparable loss, by the death of that excellent actor, John Palmer [1742?-1798], who expired on the stage, while acting in 'The Stranger,' just as he uttered - 'There is another, and a better world!'" (II, 154). The DNB entry on Michael Kelly (1764?-1826), actor, vocalist and composer, attributes his Reminiscences to "Theodore Hook from materials furnished by Kelly" (X, 1245). 284. Kent, Charles. Corona Catholica. 1880. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins" [Coverley] {52} Charles Kent (1832-1902), edited The Sun (1853-1871) and the Weekly Register (1874-1881), worked on Household Words, friend of Bulwer Lytton and Dickens. Kent frequently corresponded with WC (see Letters, II, 598). See also under Lamb, Charles (item 293). 285. Kent, Edward George. Lindum Lays and Legends. 1861. "cr. 8vo. cloth" gilt edged "illus." {92} [91]
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286. Kershaw, James. The Grand Extensive Plan of Human Redemption. Louth. 1797. "cr. 8vo, leather. H. Collins on title" [Bennett] [59]. Not recorded in Puttick and Simpson. 287. Ketchum, William. An Authentic and Comprehensive History of Buffalo. 2 vols. Buffalo, NY. 1864. "presentation copy to Wilkie Collins" [Roche] {38} William Ketchum (1798-1876), historian of Buffalo, probably met WC during his New Year 1874 visit to Buffalo. 288. Kinglake, Alexander William. Invasion of the Crimea. Vol. 1. 1877. "Cabinet edition, cr. 8vo, red cloth" {154} [92] Bennett has publication date as "1876". WC dined with Kinglake (18091891) whilst staying with Dickens at Folkestone, 2 September 1855 (Letters, I, 143). Kinglake's Eothen: or, Traces of Travel Brought Home from the East, first published in 1844, proved to be very popular and went through many editions. 289. Knight, Cornelia. Autobiography of Miss Cornelia Knight, Lady Companion to the Princess Charlotte of Wales with Extracts from Her Journals and Anecdote Books. 2nd ed. 2 vols. 1861. "port morocco extra" [Maggs] {64} 290. Kock, Charles-Paul de. French Novels. [Paris]. [Olivero] {176} Charles-Paul de Kock (1794-1871), prolific comic novelist. 291. Labiche, Eugene. Theatre Complet avec une Preface, par E. Augier. 8 vols. Paris. 1879. "sewed" [purchaser indecipherable] {178} Eugene Labiche (1815-1888) wrote more than 160 farcical comedies. 292. Lamb, Charles. Specimens of English Dramatic Poets, Who Lived about the Time of Shakespeare. 2 vols. 1835. [Hartley] {85} 293. Lamb, Charles. Works: Poetical and Dramatic Tales, Essays and Criticisms, with Biographical Introduction, Notes by Charles Kent. 1889. "thick cr. 8vo, cloth,. . . Routledge"
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[Bennett] [93]. Not recorded in Puttick and Simpson. See also under Cornwall, Barry (item 135). 294. Lanfrey, Pierre. Histoire de Napoleon. 4 vols. Paris. 1869. "hf. mor." [deCoverley] {198} 295. Langdale, Charles. Memoirs of Mrs. Fitzherbert; With an Account of Her Marriage with H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, afterwards King George IV. 1856. "port, pencil notes on title and pp. 121-2 by Wilkie Collins, cl." [Seymour] {23} The pages annotated by WC relate Mrs. Fitzherbert's marriage "to the Prince, according to the rites of the Catholic Church in this country;.... No Roman Catholic priest officiated." The names of the witnesses were cut out of the marriage certificate. Mrs. Fitzherbert regretted this "but a letter of the Prince on her return to him, has been preserved to supply any deficiency, in which he thanks God, that the witnesses to their union were still living" (121-122). 296. Lardner, Dionysius. ed. Cabinet Cyclopedia. 6 vols. [Woollett] {156} The Cabinet Cyclopedia was published in 133 vols. 1829-1849. See also [Dunham, Samuel Astley] (item 173). 297. L'Art. [Paris], "illustrated, various nos." [Oliver] {189} 298. Las Cases, Emmanuel-Auguste Dieudonnee. A-D. Memorial de Sainte Helene. 2 vols. Paris, 1842. "2 large thick vols.. . . 8vo, half calf, profusely illustrated with some hundreds of engravings" {201} [110] These memoirs of Napoleon in captivity Bennett bought for 8s and catalogued at 15s. 299. Latude, Jean Henri Masers de. Memoires de Henri Masers de Latude. 2 vols. in 1. Paris, 1835. [Suckling] {161}. Suckling was acting for Quaritch who were purchasing on commission for William Barclay Squire. Jean-Henri Masers de Latude (1725-1805), imprisoned for thirty-five years (1749-1784) for inventing a plot against Mme de Pompadour.
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300. Laurent, Paul Mathieu, called de I'Ardeche [1793-1877], P. M. History of Napoleon. New York: 1848. "From the French of I'Ardeche with 500 illustrations after Horace Vernet and original Portraits, 2 vols. in 1, very thick cr. 8vo, half calf. Very substantial. 8/6. Willoughly, n.d." {66} [107] WC wrote to his mother: "The weather has, hitherto, prevented my journey to Versailles to see Vernet's last great picture. Everybody is in extasies about it, here" (30 September 1845: Letters, I, 34). A few days later her wrote to her: "Yesterday however the human family had a respite from 'la [penitence]', which I took advantage of to go to Versailles and see Horace Vernet's last great... painting 'The taking of Smalah'. I know of no picture - except Michael Angelo's Last Judgment - in Ancient or Modern Art, so triumphantly successful as this wonderful work. Difficulties of the most stupendous nature, in drawing and composition, extending over a space of upward of two hundred feet, and varying in complexity at every succeeding foot of canvas, are overcome by Vernet - positively - in every instance . . . . The Arab palanquins, the squadron of French cavalry galloping out of the picture - the frantic . . . pursued by an infuriated herd of cattle - the overthrown tents - the fainting women - the scared antelopes - the sand hills in the background - the slaughtered and slaughtering Arabs - these, and a hundred other objects incident to the terrible occasion, are all treated with equal fidelity and equal skill. How long I stood before the picture, I know not. It. . . raised my . . . belief in the power of painting to a pitch I could never have imagined possible before. It stands alone among the productions of Modern Historical Art above all expression and beyond all criticism" (6 October 1845: Letters, I, 35). Horace Vernet's (1789-1863) "The Taking of Smalah d'Abd-el-Kader al Taguim" depicts the events of May 1843 when a force headed by the due d'Aumale "surprised and defeated the zmala", or the household of about 30,000 people of the Amir Abd al Qadir. See John Ruedy, Modern Algeria (\992), 64. A translation of Laurent de PArdeche's illustrated Histoire de I'Empereur Napoleon (Paris, 1849). 301. Layard, Austen Henry. Discoveries at Nineveh. 2 vols. 1848-49. "woodcuts presentation copy to Wilkie Collins 1852" [Thistlewood] {104} Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894) excavated Nineveh, became undersecretary for foreign affairs, and served as British minister in Madrid and then Constantinople. Layard joined WC, Dickens and others, when they ascended Vesuvius in November 1853 (see Letters, I, 114, 116).
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302. Lear, Edward. Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica. 1870. "a large volume . . . 8vo with map. 40 full page plates and 40 cuts in the text" {9} [94] Robinson refers to Edward Lear (1812-1888), the artist, traveller, and writer of nonsense verse, as "a lifelong friend of WC" (93): for an assessment of the friendship, see Lonoff in Smith and Terry 37-51. 303. Lee, Harriet. Canterbury Tales. 4th ed. 5 vols. 1803-1804. "with signature of Wilkie Collins on fly-leaf of vol. 1" [Hartley] {76} Short stories by Harriet Lee (1757-1851). 304. Leigh, Henry Stone. The Religions of the World. 1869. "sm. 8 vo, cloth, 6d." Published by Trubner. [Bennett] [60]. Not recorded in Puttick and Simpson. 305. Leon, Edwin De. Askaros Kassis, the Copt. A Romance of Modern Egypt. Philadelphia, 1870. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins" [Withers] {31} Edwin De Leon (1828-1891), American diplomat and journalist. WC wrote to 7 May 1874 and 1 June 1877. 306. Le Sage, Alain-Rene. Le Bachelier de Salamanque. 2 vols. Paris, 1767. "12mo, old calf, nice old plates" {163} [66] 307. Le Sage, Alain-Rene. Histoire de Gil Bias. 4 vols. Paris, 1818. "plates . . . hf. cf." [Nugent] {199} 308. Les Nuits Anglaises. Paris, 1770. "first volume 8vo (broken) calf [unidentified] {163} [67] 309. Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. New York, "various nos. a parcel." [Oliver] {189} This ran from 1876-1906. Founded by Frank Leslie (1821-1880), pseud, of Henry Carter. Illustrated current events, it divided drawings into blocks distributed among several engravers and then reassembled them. "In this way, his illustrations reached the public long before those of his competitors." The paper was continued after Leslie's death by his widow
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Wilkie Collins's Library Miriam F. Leslie (1836-1914). [Hart, 6th ed.]. WC sold the serial rights of The Fallen Leaves, The Black Robe, and Heart and Science to Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. See G. Law, Serializing Fiction in the Victorian Press (2000), 104, 260, and also WC to William Seaver 12 January 1881 (MS: Princeton).
310. Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim. The Dramatic Works ofG E. Lessing, edited by Bell, 2 vols. Bohn, 1878. [Nugent] {115} 311. Lever, Charles. Novels, n.d. [Oliver] {157} WC wrote to Charles Lever (1806-1872): "Perhaps I almost need an introduction myself- it is so long since I have had the pleasure of seeing you. In this case, I can only refer you to Jack Hinton, Charles O'Malley [i.e., the eponymous heroes of two of Lever's novels], and a few other old friends of yours, who will vouch for me that they are old friends of mine too, and who will help to keep me in your remembrances until you give me the opportunity of making up for lost time when you are next in England." (MS: Harvard: 12 September 1862). 312. Lewes, George Henry. The Life and Works of Goethe. 1875. [Lupton] {25} 313. Lewes, George Henry. Ranthorpe, or A Poet's First Struggles. 1847. [May] {94} WC and Lewes were friendly in the 1850's and 1860's. WC was one of the earliest contributors to The Leader. His series of six letters addressed to Lewes, "Magnetic Evenings at Home" (17 January-13 March 1852), were followed by Lewes's "The Fallacy of Clairvoyance" (27 March 1852) and WC's "The Incredible Not Always Impossible" (3 April 1852). 314. Lewis, John Frederick. Sketches and Drawings of the Alhambra, Made during a Residence in Granada, in the Years 1833-4. 1835. "Folio . . . lithograph plates by Harding" [Heald | Parsons] {242} John Frederick Lewis, R.A. (1805-1876), Orientalist painter, draughtsman, etcher, and mezzotint engraver. Colleague of William Collins. James Duffield Harding (1797-1863), watercolorist, engraver and lithographer, specializing in landscapes and topographical views. 315. Linton, Eliza Lynn. Novels, n.d. [Smith] {158}
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Eliza Lynn Linton, nee Lynn (1822-1898), novelist. In 1856 she sold Gad's Hill to Dickens. 316. Locker, Frederick, afterwards Locker-Lampson, Frederick. A Selection from the Works of Frederick Locker, with illustrations by R. Doyle. 1865. Moxon's Miniature Poets. [May] {94} Frederick Locker (1821-1845), poet and civil servant. 317. Lockhart, John Gibson. Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott. 10 vols. Edinburgh, 1848. "hf. mor." [Graham] {89} See also under Scott, Sir Walter. 318. London Stage; A Collection of the Most Reputed Tragedies, Comedies, Operas, Melodramas, Farces, and Interludes. 4 vols. 1824. "ports and woodcuts, hf. cf." [buyer's name indecipherable] {113} 319. Longman, Thomas. Copyright and Our Colonies. [1881] "with others, sewed" {15} [54] See also items 12, 134, 278, 342. 320. Louvet de Couvray, Jean-Baptiste. Memoires de Louvet de Couvray. Paris, 1823. "signature of W. Wilkie Collins on fly-leaf " [Suckling] {161} Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray (1760-1797). 321. Lovett, William. The Life and Struggles of William Lovett, in His Pursuit of Bread, Knowledge, and Freedom. 1876. "cl." [Lupton] {25} William Lovett (1800-1877), Chartist. 322. Lutteroth, Henri. Chants Chretiens [6th ed. Paris, 1851]. "with signature of Wilkie Collins inserted Paris 1851." [Suckling] {161} Musical score, Hymns, French choruses, Sacred (unaccompanied voices, 4 parts).
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323. Lytton, Edward George Lytton Bulwer. First Baron. Dramatic Works. 2 vols. 1876. [Suckling] {140} 324. Lytton, Edward George Lytton Bulwer. First Baron. Dramatic Works, n.d. "thick cr 8vo, cloth . .. Red Line Poets, Routledge" {84} [96] 325. Lytton, Edward George Lytton Bulwer. First Baron. King Arthur, a Poem. Toronto, 1871. "cloth" {84} [95] WC wrote to his friend, the artist Edward Matthew Ward "I met Bulwer at a party on Monday night. He is looking bright and plump. Now is the time to take his portrait." (28 June 1849 Letters, I, 56). WC gave advice to Lytton (1803-1873) on Canadian copyrights (MS: Herts Record Office: 22 October 1870). 325A. Lytton, Edward George Lytton Bulwer. First Baron. [Novels]. [Oliver] {157} 326. Macaulay, Thomas Babington, Baron. Critical and Historical Essays Contributed to the Edinburgh Review. 3 vols. 1854. "thick . . . 8vo whole calf gilt, marbled edges" {168} [99] WC wrote to R.H. Dana: "All literary London is now astir . . . about a work of a very different order - Macaulay's History of England. It is regarded everywhere, as a really great achievement, and as tending to found a new school of Historical writing. The first edition of three thousand copies was out of print in a fortnight. This is indeed a great age for great authors." (12 January 1849: Letters, I, 54). 327. McCarthy, Justin. Miss Misanthrope. 2 vols. 1878. "8vo cloth . . . 12 illustrations by A. Hopkins" {146} [97] Justin McCarthy (1830-1912), novelist and journalist. 328. McCarthy, Justin. Our Sensation Novel. 1886. "cloth" {146} [98] 329. MacDonald, George. Castle Warlock. [3 vols. 1882]. [Edwards] {143}
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330. MacDonald, George. Home Again. 1887. [Edwards] {143} 331. MacDonald, George. Marquis ofLossie. [3 vols. 1877]. [Edwards] {143} 332. MacDonald, George. Sir Gibbie. [3 vols. 1879]. [Edwards] {143} 333. MacDonald, George. St. George and St. Michael. [3 vols. 1876]. [Edwards] {143} "5 vols. presentation copies to Wilkie Collins 1883-1887." Macdonald's London publishers were Kegan, Paul and Trench. No correspondence between WC and George MacDonald (1824-1905) has yet come to light. 334. Mackay, Robert William. A Sketch of the Rise and Progress of Christianity. 1854. "cloth, 1/6," published by Chapman. [Bennett] [59]. Not recorded in Puttick and Simpson. 335. MacMullen, John Mercier. The History of Canada, from Its First Discovery to the Present Time. Ontario, 1868. "mor." [Maggs] {129} 336. Macready, William Charles. Macready's Reminiscences and Selections from His Diaries and Letters., ed. by Pollock. 1876. [name of buyer illegible] {122} WC sent a copy of his Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A. (1848) to Macready, the great actor-manager (1793-1873) (MS: Kansas: 18 June 1849). 337. M'Crie, Thomas. History of the Progress and the Suppression of the Reformation in Italy in the 16th Century Including a Sketch of the History of the Reformation in the Grisons. Edinburgh, 1833. [name of buyer illegible] {170} 338. ' 'Magazines, etc.'' "a parcel" [Oliver] {186} Part of a lot which includes Notes and Queries. No other information available. 339. Marmontel, Jean Francois. Contes Moraux. 2 vols. Paris, 1766.
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Wilkie Collins's Library "vols. 2 and 3 . . . 8vo. sheep. John Boteler's Bookplates" {163} [68] Jean Francois Marmontel (1723-1799), French dramatist and novelist. The copy possibly belonged to John Boteler (1796-1885), British Naval Captain, whose journals were privately printed in 1883.
340. Marryat, Frederick. The Pirate and the Three Cutters. 1836. "8vo, hf. brown, morocco gilt, gilt edges, with Portraits and 20 exquisite plates by Clarkson Stanfield, brilliant impressions and spotless of the original edition" {72} [121] Frederick Marryat (1792-1848), highly-paid, prolific novelist. 341. Marryat, Frederick. Works. 16 vols. [1873]. "illustrated, hf. cf. Routledge" [Edwards] {44} 342. Marston, Edward. The Articles of the International Copyright Union: With the Act and Order in Council Giving Effect to Them in the British Dominions. 1887. {15} [54] Edward Marston (1825-1914), publisher, and partner in Sampson Low who published The Woman in White and other WC novels. For Marston's reminiscences of WC, see his After Work: Fragments from the Workshop of an Old Publisher (1904), 86-87. Cf. WC to Marston (31 October 1860: Letters, I, 191). See also items 12, 134, 278, 319. 343. Marzials, Frank Thomas. Life of Charles Dickens. 1887. "cloth uncut." {61} [57] "Great Writers" series. Volume includes J.P. Anderson's Bibliography of Dickens' Works. Martin, Sir Theodore. See under "Gaultier, Bon" (item 220). 344. Massett, Stephen C. (iDrifting About, " or, What (<Jeems Pipes, of Pipesville" Saw-and-Did. New York, 1863. "illustrated, presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins" {30} Item purchased by Bennett, not listed by him. Stephen C. Massett (1820-1898), American lyricist, composer of popular songs. 345. Mazeres, Edouard Joseph Ennemond. [Dramatique]. [Paris], n.d.
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Part of 6 vols. bound with "no titles," also includes Melesvile and Scribe. [Jones] {202} Edouard Mazeres (1796-1866) collaborated with Scribe and others, wrote theatrical vaudevilles. 346. Medbery, James Knowles. Men and Mysteries of Wall Street. Boston, 1870. [Reya] {36} 347. Medwin, Thomas. Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron Noted during a Residence with His Lordship at Pisa, in the Years 1821 and 1822. 1824. {72} [28] See also items 65-67. 348. Meilhac, Henri. [Drame]. [Paris], n.d. [Jones] {202} Part of 3 vols. including Barriere, Bouilhet, Feuillet, Plouvier, and Touroude. Henri Meilhac (1831-1897) collaborated with Halevy in drawing-room comedies e.g. Frou-frou (1869). Wrote the Libretti for Offenbach's operettas La Belle Helene (1865), and La Vie Parisienne (1867). 349. Mejan, Maurice. Recueil des Causes Celebres, et des Arrets qui les Ont Decidees. 2nd ed. 26 vols. Paris, 1808. "hf. bd. with signature of Wilkie Collins in vol. 1" [Roche] {192} WC purchased this in a Paris bookstore in 1856: "T was in Paris wandering about the streets with Charles Dickens .. . amusing ourselves by looking into the shops. We came to an old bookstall - half shop and half store and I found some dilapidated volumes of records of French crimes, a sort of French Newgate Calendar. I said to Dickens 'Here is a prize'. So it turned out to be. In them I found some of my best plots. 'The Woman in White was one'" (Clarke 100, citing Wybert Reeve, "Recollections of Wilkie Collins," Chambers's Journal, June 1906). 350. Melesville, Anne Honore Joseph. [Drame]. [Paris], nd. Part of 6 vols. bound with "no titles," also includes Mazeres and Scribe. [Jones] {202} Anne Honore Joseph Melesville (1787-1865), French dramatist, collaborated with Scribe and others. His Le Chalet (1834) was adapted by Planche, and others for the Victorian stage.
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351. Melville, Hermann. Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas: A Sequel to 'Typee, or The Marquesas Islanders'. 1849. [Thistlewood] {104} WC's Ioldni; or, Tahiti as It Was; A Romance was written in 1844. 352. Merimee, Prosper. Theatre de Clara Gazul. Paris, 1881. [Olivero] {179} 353. Meryon, Edward. The Huguenot. 1876. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins" [Suckling] {97} Edward Meryon (1809-1880), author of The History of Medicine (1861) and also "On the mode of propagation of nervous impulses", Lancet, no. 2942 (17 January 1880), 85-86. 354. Miles, Henry Downes. Pugilistica; Being One Hundred and Forty-Four Years of the History of British Boxing. 3 vols. 1880-1881. "plates . . . cl." [Thompson] {2} 355. Miller, James. Alcohol; Its Place and Power. Glasgow, 1861. {12} Purchased by Bennett, but not listed in his catalogue. 356. Moak, Nathaniel Cleveland. Closing Argument of Nathaniel C. Moak: At Ballston Spa, October 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 1878, on Behalf of the People in the Case of The People against Jesse Billings, Jr.: With the Charge of Hon. Judson S. Landon, Presiding Justice. Albany, New York, 1879. "presentation copy to Wilkie Collins, hf. cf." [Nugent] {6} Nathaniel Cleveland Moak (1833-1892), attorney. Jesse Billings, Jr. was tried for the murder of his wife: crucial was the medical testimony. 357. Moliere, Jean Baptiste Poquelin de. Oeuvres Completes de Moliere. 1 vols Paris, 1824. "12 mo." [Cogswell] {162} WC wrote to Edward Pigott "excepting Falstaff and Dogberry, I think Moliere a greater humourist than Shakespeare" ([October-December 1855]: Letters, I, 146). 358. Moore, Thomas. The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore. Paris, 1842. "port. hf. cf. gilt, royal" [Storre] {128}
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WC wrote to his close friend Sebastian Schlesinger, who composed popular songs: "I suppose you know the original Irish melody to which Moore adapted his words. Excepting 'God Save the Queen' it is the most widely known 'tune' in Great Britain. Anybody who can hum anything knows the 'Minstrel Boy.' Here is serious established competition against you" (MS: Harvard, 28 January 1884). 359. Morris, Mowbray Walter. Essays in Theatrical Criticism. 1882. [Nugent] {115} Mowbray Walter Morris (1847-1911), dramatic critic of the London Times from 1873 to 1885 when he became editor of Macmillan's Magazine until at least 1900. 360. Motley, John Lothrop. The Rise of the Dutch Republic, n.d. "cl." [Thistlewood] {104} First published by Harper, New York in 3 vols. (1856). There were various subsequent single volume editions. 361. Murphy, Arthur. The Life of David Garrick, Esq. 2 vols. 1801. "port. .. bds. uncut." [Suckling] (118) 362. Napier, William Francis Patrick, Sir. History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France, from the Year 1807 to the Year 1814. 3 vols. 1882. "plans cl." [Broadhurst] {101} 363. Nargeot, Pierre Julien. Pieces de Theatre. Paris, n.d. "cloth" [Jones] {195} Pierre Julien Nargeot, born 1799, librettist for the Comedie Fran£ais. 364. Narrey, Charles. Pieces de Theatre. Paris, n.d. "cloth" [Jones] {195} Charles Narrey (1825-1892), French comic dramatist. 365. Nesbit, Edith. Lays and Legends. 1887. "presentation copy from the publisher" [Hartley] {99} Longmans, who published in November 1848 WC's first book Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., RA.
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366. Newman, John Henry. Apologia Pro Vita Sua: Being a History of His Religious Opinions. 1879. [Coverley] {52} Published by Longmans. For the complex history of publication see The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, III (1999), 2254. 367. Newspaper Cuttings Relating to Our Civilization, Hints for Scenes and Incidents, etc. "in 2 scrap-books and small parcel, with a few notes by Wilkie Collins" [Edwards] {188} 368. "Newspapers. Health Various Nos. " "a parcel" [Bennett] {187} Not listed in Bennett's Catalogue. 369. Nicholls, Henry George. The Forest of Dean; An Historical and Descriptive A ccount. 1858. "fancy cloth extra, numerous illustrations" {75} [51] 370. Nolan, Thomas. The Vicarious Sacrifice of Christ. 1860. "thin 8vo, limp cloth, 6d." [Bennett] [60]. Not recorded in Puttick and Simpson. 371. Nordhoff, Charles. The Communistic Societies of the United States; From Personal Visit and Observation: Including Detailed Accounts of the Economists, Zoarites, Shakers, the Am ana, One i da, Bethel, Aurora, Icarian and Other Existing Societies; Their Religious Creeds, Social Practices, Numbers, Industries, and Present Condition. 1875. [Maggs] {34} WC used this as a source for The Fallen Leaves (1879) in which the hero Amelius Goldenheart "has been brought up in a Utopian community in America. .. . Wilkie took the details of the community from a description of the Oneida communities in a book he owned, The Communistic Societies of the United States by Charles Nordhoff (Peters 386). 372. Norman, Benjamin Moore. Rambles in Yucatan, or, Notes of Travel through the Peninsula. New York, 1843. [Maggs] {34} 373. Notes and Queries. 4th series, vol. 10. 1872. "unbound" [Oliver] {186}
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WC used "Indo-Mahommedan Folk-lore," in Notes and Queries, 3 rd Series II (1867), 180, when writing The Moonstone (Sutherland, ed. The Moonstone, 474). 374. Ogden, William Sharp. Studies in Mercantile Architecture Comprising Fifty Suggestive Designs for Warehouse, Shop, and Office Buildings. 1885. Folio. "55 plates cl." [Hill] {240} 375. Ohnet, Georges. La Comtesse Sarah. Paris, 1882-1888. "hf. mor. and sewed" [Dobell] {215} First published in 1883. Georges Ohnet (1848-1918) wrote very popular sentimental novels. 376. Ohnet, Georges. Le Maitre de Forges. Paris, 1882-1888. "hf. mor. and sewed" [Dobell] {215} First published 1882. 377. Ohnet, Georges. Volonte. Paris, 1882-1888. "hf. mor. and sewed" [Dobell] {215} First published [1888]. 378. Olmstead, Frederick Law. Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom. 2 vols. 2nd ed. 1862. [Maggs] {37} 379. O'Meara, Barry Edward. Napoleon in Exile. 2 vols. 1827. "half dark calf, 3 ports, and 2 vigs. frequent pencil marks in the margins by W.C." {66} [109] 380. Opening Ceremonies of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge. Brooklyn, New York, 1883. [Money] {238} Published by the Press of Brooklyn Eagle Job Printing Department. 381. Otway, Thomas. The Works of Mr. Thomas Otway, in Two Volumes. Consisting of His Plays, Poems and Love-Letters. 2 vols. 1712. "vol. 2 wants a cover" [Hartley] {124}
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Wilkie Collins's Library Thomas Otway (1652-1685), Restoration dramatic writer of tragedies.
382. Parkinson, Joseph Charles. Places and People: Being Studies from the Life. 1869. {154} [113] Joseph Charles Parkinson (1833-1908: DNB), journalist, civil servant, social reformer. Contributed to the Daily News, All the Year Round, Temple Bar, among other periodicals. Married in 1867 the daughter of George Elliot - the industrialist. Friend of W. P. Frith, Edmund Yates, and others: advocate for Poor Law Reform. WC sought Parkinson's advice during the writing of Man and Wife', see for instance WC to Parkinson (17 July 1869: Letters, II, 323-24). 383. Peek, Francis. Social Wreckage: A Review of the Laws of England as They Affect the Poor. 1883. [Hartley] {21} 384. Peuchet, Jacques. Memoires Tirees des Archives de la Police de Paris por Servir a I 'Histoire de la Morale et de la Police, Depuis Louis XIVjusqu 'a Nos Jours. 6 vols. Paris 1838. "hf. cf. with signature of Wilkie Collins" [Roche] {209}. Roche were acting for Quaritch who were buying on commission for William Barclay Squire, 14 Albert Place, Victoria Road, Kensington. WC wrote to Frederick Lehmann, "Reade has been here, and has carried off my book about the French Police (Memoires tirees des Archives, &c &c)." (25 October 1869: Letters, II, 326). 385. Phillips, Henry. Poems Translatedfrom the Spanish and German. Philadelphia, 1878. "thin, 8vo, cloth" {95} [14] See also Chamisso, Adelbert von (item 83). 386. Picard, Louis-Benoit. Oeuvres. 10 vols. Paris, 1821. "binding broken" [Nugent] {164} Louis-Benoit Picard (1769-1828), French dramatist. 387. Pigault-Lebrun, Charles Antoine Guillaume. LEnfant du Carnival. 2 vols. Paris, 1815. [Powell] {177} Charles Pigault-Lebrun (1753-1835), wrote licentious fiction.
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388. Pini, G. La Cremation en Italie et al 'Etr anger de 1774 jusqu 'a Nos Jours. Milan, 1885. "illustrated" [Parsons] {181} 389. Piozzi, Hester Lynch. Autobiography, Letters and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale). by Abraham Hayward, 2nd ed. 2 vols. 1861. "port, and front. . . hf. mor" [Smith} {65} Hester Lynch Piozzi, Mrs. Thrale (1741-1821), friend of Dr. Johnson. Her Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, published in 1786. In 1788 her correspondence with Johnson was published. See also items 280-281. 390. Pixerecourt, Rene-Charles Guilbert de. Theatre Choisi. 4 vols. Paris, 1841. "hf. mor." [Money] {210} Rene-Charles Pixerecourt (1773-1844), prolific popular dramatist. 391. Plouvier, Edouard. Le Pays des Amours: Comedie en Cinq Actes, Melee de Chant. Paris, n.d. [Jones] {205} Edouard Plouvier (1821-1876), author of dramatic comedies. 392. Poe, Edgar Allan. The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Including the Choicest of His Critical Essays. With a Study of His Life and Writings from the French of Charles Baudelaire. [1872]. "thick, cr. cl. WC has written in pencil 'Stories by Poe not included in the 'Complete collection' on first page." {84} [114] See Gasson 124. 393. Pontes, Lucien Davesies de. Social Reform in England. 1866. [Hartley] {21} 394. Pope, Alexander. The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope. 3 vols. n.d. "cl." [Hartley] {85} For WC's use of Pope in No Name, see Caracciolo in Smith and Terry 174-176. 395. Pope, Alexander. The Works ofAlexander Pope, Esq. with Notes and Illustrations by Warton. 9 vols. 1797. "cf."
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Wilkie Collins's Library [Nugent] {73} WC quotes Pope in a letter to Frank Ward: "Well might Pope say 'The life of a writer is warfare on earth.'" (MS: Princeton: 8 April 1886).
396. Prescott, William Hickling. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic. 3 vols. 1849. [Broadhurst] {101} 397. Prior, Matthew. Poems on Several Occasions. 2 vols. 1766. [Cogswell] {169} Procter, Bryan Waller. See under Cornwall, Barry (items 135-138). 398. Proposed Destruction of the Well Walk Hampstead, 1879. 4 to "presentation copy". [Osborne] {182} According to Thomas J. Barratt, The Annals of Hampstead, 3 vols., 1912, the quarto pamphlet is by Sir Gilbert Scott. It was reprinted in London by Lionel Leventhal Ltd., in association with Camden Historical Society, 1972. 399. The Public Ledger Building, Philadelphia: With an Account of the Proceedings Connected with Its Opening June 20, 1867. Philadelphia, 1868. [Reya] {36} Published by G. W. Childs of Philadelphia. Contains the "Dedication of Printers' Cemetery, Woodlands," 187-205. Probably a presentation copy. WC met Childs (1829-1894): see WC to Childs, 16 March 1874 (Letters, II, 382). 400. Puigblanch, Antonio. Inquisition Unmasked, trans, by William Walton. 2 vols. 1816. "plates" [F. Hurt] {134} This work by Antonio Puigblanch (1775-1840) was originally written in Spanish. 401. Quilter, Harry. Sententice Artis, First Principles of Art for Painters and Picture Lovers. 1886. "Author's edition plates presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins, crimson mor. extra t.e.g. impl. 8 vo." [Sotheran] {45}
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Harry Quilter (1851-1907), editor of the Universal Review, close friend and correspondent of WC's in the final years of his life. See for instance 11 April 1888 (Letters, II, 555-56) and cf. Gasson 128. 402. Rabelais, Francis. The Works of Francis Rabelais, trans, from the French with explanatory notes. 4 vols. 1844. "vols. 1 and 2 with signature of Wilkie Collins, June 1844 cl." [Withers] {93} Vol. 1 (rebound) with WC's signature on the fly-leaf "Wilkie Collins, June 1844" in 1999 in the possession of Faith and William Clarke. On the fly-leaf in pencil is the note "Lot 93, Purchased at the sale of the Library of the late Wilkie Collins Esq at Puttick & Simpson's. Jany. 20th 1890." 403. Radcliffe, Anne. The Italian, or, The Confession of the Black Penitents a Romance. 3 vols. 1797. [Thistlewood] {167} "Collins's mother, Harriet, was a fan of [Radcliffe's] work" (Nadel, xxxi). Radcliffe (1764-1823), "gothic" novelist. 404. Radcliffe, Anne. Mysteries ofUdolpho. 4 vols. 1803. "copper-plates" [Thistlewood] {167} 405. Radecliffe, Noell. St. Katharine of Alexandria: A Dramatic Legend. 1859. "cl." [name of buyer illegible] {122} 406. Raisson, Horace. Le Manuel du Gastronome; ou, Nouvel Almanach des Gourmands, Servant de Guide dans les Moyens de Faire Excellente Chere. Paris, 1830. "6mo. hf. calf, cover loose, 2 plates" [Bennett] [63] 407. Ranke, Leopold von. History of the Popes, trans, by E. Foster. 3 vols. 1847. [Farren]{160} WC probably consulted during the writing of The Black Robe. 408. Reade, John Edmund. The Laureate Wreath and Other Poems. 1863. [Withers] {91} 409. Reade, John Edmund. The Poetical Works of John Edmund Reade. New edition. 3 vols. 1865. [Withers] {91}
Wilkie Collins's Library
142 John Edmund Reade (1800-1870), poet.
410. Redford, George. Art Sales. A History of Sales of Pictures and Other Works of Art. 2 vote. 1888. Quarto "roy" [Withers] {232} 411. Redford, George. A Manual of Ancient Sculpture. 1886. "numerous illustrations presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins cl." [Withers] (19) Following WC's death, his old friend from The Leader days, George Redford (1816-1895), surgeon and art critic, fine baritone, wrote to Harriet Elizabeth Bartley: I was pleased to hear from you though it was such a grief to lose our dear old Wilkie. I wrote to your mother before I knew of his death, having heard that he was not so well. I am so grateful to think that I saw him and had such a delightful (though touched with sadness) chat with him one evening when I called. .. .1 thought then he would pull through, he was so strong, and intellectually quite himself as far as [it] went. He said as he grasped my hand with all his old warmth "you see, I'm all right - feel my arms" - but I had hard work to hide my eyes lest he should see what I really dreaded. Then he said in the most cheery tones let's have a cigar - a small one and Caroline brought the box and we each took one and she lighted them, and so enjoyed this last of smokes together! And long as I live shall I remember with joy and gratitude that last parting - so genial - so like his generous own nature - now as I recall it the tears drop from my eyes. I fancy this was a privilege that few had besides me, and I'm sure to none was it happier or more valued. Well - now we must be content with our memories - so it must be with the dearest some time - Alas! If I'm well I shall go to stand around his grave. I don't write to her for one should be alone in those hours of grief and mourning but I will ere long and sometime speak to her [Caroline Graves].... P.S. Do you know that when you were a little girl, I witnessed his signing his will (MS: Princeton: 25 September 1889). 412. Reed, Isaac. A Select Collection of Old Plays. 1825. "vol. 6 with signature W. Wilkie Collins 1845" [name of buyer illegible] {122} 413.
Regnier de la Brierre, Frangois Joseph Philocles. Comedies. Paris, n.d. [Dobell] {204}
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Frangois, Joseph Philocles Regnier (1807-1885), to whom WC dedicated The Law and the Lady, distinguished French actor. For WC and Regnier, see Gasson 131-32. 414. Reichenbach, Karl Freiherr von. Researches on Magnetism. 1850. "presentation copy" [Edwards] {10} Karl Freiherr von Reichenbach (1788-1869). His book probably used by WC for his January to April 1852 Leader series of letters on "experiments in hypnotism and clairvoyance" (Peters 109-110). 415. Repertoire de Theatre Franqais. 67 vols. Paris, 1813. "cf. 12 mo." [Nugent] {165} Probably: Theatre des Auteurs du Second Ordre, ou, Recueil des Tragedies et Comedies Restees au Theatre Franqais; Pour Faire Suite aux Editions Stereotypes de Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Regnard, Crebillon et Voltaire: Avec des Notices sur Chaque Auteur, la Liste de Leurs Pieces, et la Date des Premieres Representations. 61 vols. Paris, 1813. 17th- and lS^-century French drama. 416. Reynolds, Frederick. The Life and Times of Frederick Reynolds. 2nd ed. 2 vols. in 1. 1827. "cl."
[Hartley] {117} Frederick Reynolds (1764-1841), dramatist. 417. Richardson, Samuel. Clarissa. 3 rd ed. 8 vols. 1751. "cf." [F.Hutt] {125} 418. Richer, Frangois. Causes Celebres et Inter ess antes, avec les Jugements qui les Ont Decidees. 18 vols. Amsterdam, 1772-1781. "cf. 12mo." [Bennett] {193} French criminal trials: possibly used as a plot source for The Woman in White and elsewhere. 419. Ritchie, Leitch. Wanderings by the Loire. 1833. "21 plates by Turner." Alternative title: Turner's Annual Tour (1833). [May] {69} See also item 498.
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420. Ritson, Joseph. Robin Hood: A Collection of All the Ancient Poems, Songs, and Ballads, Now Extant, Relative to That Celebrated English Outlaw. 1820. "woodcut on title painted, with signature 'William Collins aged 8 years 1832'" [Maggs] {96} 421. Roosevelt, Blanche. The Copper Queen: A Romance of To-day and Yesterday. 3 vols. 1886. [Hartley] {139} Mrs. Blanche Roosevelt (1853-1896), American writer who dedicated her Verdi, Milan, and Othello (1887) to WC. She wrote "To Wilkie Collins. My dear friend . . . knowing that the work never would have been written without you, I dedicate it to you" (Gasson 48). 422. Roscoe, William. The Life of Lorenzo de 'Medici: Called the Magnificent. 1846. "signature of W.W. Collins 1846" [Farren] {160} First edition [1822]. 423. Roslyn, Guy. Village Verses. 1876. [Suckling] {97} 424. Ross, Alexander Milton. Recollections and Experiences of an Abolitionist from 1855 to 1865. Toronto, 1875. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins" [Withers] {31} Alexander Milton Ross (1832-1897). 425. Ruggles, Henry Joseph. The Method of Shakespeare as an Artist, Deduced from an Analysis of His Leading Tragedies and Comedies. New York, 1870. "sm. 8vo. cl." {12} [119] WC thanked Jesup, Paton & Co., for a copy of the volume (MS: Princeton: 14 March 1876). 426. Ruxton, George Frederick Augustus. Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains. 1849. [Thistlewood] {104} Puttick and Simpson Auction Catalogue misprints the author as "Buxton" for "Ruxton." Ruxton (1820-1848), Sandhurst-educated adventurer (Hart, 579).
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427. Sand, George. Consuelo. [Paris, 1842]. [Purchaser indecipherable] {178} Puttick and Simpson Catalogue lot 178 after Les Beaux Messieurs de Bois-Dore indicates "etc." and "11 vols.": It is likely that WC had other works by George Sand in his library. WC wrote to Kate Field: "Is there any fatigue in this weary world which is equal to the fatigue that comes of daily working of the brains for hours together? George Sand thought all other fatigues unimportant by comparison — and I agree with George S." (January 1881: Letters, II, 433). To Paul Hamilton Hayne, he wrote "In one of her letters or her prefaces, George Sand declares that of all the wretchedest forms of mortal weariness the fatigue produced by hard work of the brain is the most complete. My otherwise unpardonable silence offers to you its only excuse under the protection of George Sand." (16 July 1884: Letters, II, 469). Similarly, he wrote to W.G. Collings "I have been writing novels for the last five and thirty years, and I have been regularly in the habit of relieving the weariness which follows on work of the brain - declared by George Sand to be the more depressing of all forms of mortal fatigue - by dry champagne at one time, and by brandy and water (oW Cognac) at another" (MS: University of Illinois, Urbana: 20 May 1889). 428. Sand, George. Les Beaux Messieurs de Bois-Dore. [Paris, 1842]. [Purchaser indecipherable] {178} 429. Sardou, Victorien. [Comedies]. 10 vols. bound in 3 vols. Paris, v.y. "Nos Imtimes, Les Ganaches, Nos Bons Villageois, Seraphine etc." "hf. mor. remainder sewed" [Jones] {203} Victorien Sardou (1838-1901), prolific writer of comedies and historical dramas. 430. Scadding, Henry. Toronto of Old. Toronto; Collections and Recollections Illustrative of the Early Settlement and Social Life of the Capital of Ontario. Toronto, 1873. "ports, hf. mor." [Maggs] {129} 431. Schindler, Anton Felix. The Life of Beethoven, Including His Correspondence with His Friends . . . Edited by Ignace Moscheles. 2 vols. 1841. "Beethoven's Life, edited by Moscheles port." [Withers] {7}
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432. Scott, Walter Sir. The Miscellaneous Prose Works. 28 vols. Edinburgh and London, 1834-1836. "ports, fronts, and vignettes after Turner . . . red cl." [Roche] {87} See William B. Todd, Ann Bowden. Sir Walter Scott: A Bibliographical History 1796-1832 [1998] 921-31 [350 A]. WC wrote to A.P. Watt: "My account of myself is a little gloomy this time. I have lost the dear old friend and companion of many years - my dog. I should not acknowledge to many people what I have suffered during his last illness and death. But I think you will understand me. No more of it now! I think of Walter Scott, when his dog died - asking the friends with whom he was to have dined that day to excuse him because 'he had lost a dear old friend' - and love and admire him more than ever" (7 September 1885: Letters, II, 484). He also wrote to A.P. Watt: "The stick has arrived in perfect safety. I am indeed most heartily obliged to you for this singularly interesting gift. A stick is a familiar friend - and when that friend associates me with Walter Scott's own plantation I am (in some degree at least) associated with the writer of all others whom I love and admire - the greatest of novelists and the kindest and truest of men. My new stick will be my treasured possession as long as I live" (MS: Private Possession: 23 October 1885: Letters, II, 487). For an account of WC's use of Scott in No Name and Armadale, see Peter L. Caracciolo in Smith and Terry 165-181. Also see Gasson 137. 433. Scott, Walter Sir. The Modern British Drama, ed. by Sir Walter Scott. 5 vols. Edinburgh and London, 1811. "five large thick imp. 8vo. volumes, half old calf, fine vignette on each title by Smirke. Bookplates, 'The Harte.' Tragedies (2 vols.), Comedies (2 vols.), Operas and Farces (1 vol.), from 1598 to 1788 by the best writers of both centuries." {110} [61] Bennett purchased for 10 s and priced in his catalogue for 28 s. In fact, Smirke only drew the title vignette - in this instance of a Giant Jester for the fifth volume. The other title vignettes were drawn by H. Howard and M. W. Sharp (William B. Todd, Ann Bowden, 238-41 [54 A]). 434. Scott, Walter Sir. Poetical Works. 12 vols. Edinburgh and London, 1888. "fronts, and vignettes after Turner . . . hf. bd." [Graham] {88}
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Adam and Charles Black, of Edinburgh, published in 2 vols. in 1888 the Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott. Todd and Bowden record only the first collected edition of The Poetical Works of Walter Scott, Edinburgh, 1820 as being issued in 12 vols. (William B. Todd and Ann Bowden, 74246; 262 A). WC wrote to his mother from Whitby: "On the other side of the room, two more windows look out over the town, and the ruins of Whitby Abbey (celebrated in 'Marmion') on the cliff above" (7 August 1861: Letters, I, 198). WC wrote to William Winter: "I positively decline to let the poet preach to me or puzzle me. He is to express passions and sentiment in language which is essentially intelligible as well as essentially noble and musical - or I will have nothing to do with him. You will now not be surprised to hear that I delight in Byron and Scott - and, more extraordinary still, that I am a frequent reader even of Crabbe!" (5 August 1878: Letters, II, 413). WC wrote to Paul Hamilton Hayne: "Shall I astonish you if I confess that I read Walter Scott's poetry with admiration and delight - and shall I add that I believe Byron to be beyond comparison the greatest poet that has sung since Milton? Now you know what my criticism is worth?" (16 July ISS4: Letters, II, 470). 435. Scott, Walter Sir. Waverley Novels. 48 vols. Edinburgh and London, 1859. "Illustrated edition, numerous illustrations, cl." [Maggs] {86} In an early letter to his mother, Mrs. Harriet Collins, WC wrote from Scotland: "We have made another tour to Sumburgh head (mentioned by Scott in the Pirate) it is 30 miles from head quarters" (2 July 1842: Letters, I, 12). Subsequently, he wrote to William Winter: "My nerves are too much shaken for travelling. An armchair and a cigar - and a hundred and fiftieth reading of the [word erased] glorious Walter Scott (King, Emperor, President, and God Almighty of [erased word] novelists) - there is the regimen that is doing me good! All the other novel-writers I can read while I am at work myself. If I only look at the 'Antiquary' or 'Old Mortality', I am crushed by the sense of my own littleness, and there is no work possible for me on that day" (14 January 1883: Letters, II, 453). To Sebastian Schlesinger, he wrote "I am one of the literary men who think T. [i.e., Tennyson] is right in accepting a peerage - not as a distinction conferred on himself, but as a recognition of Literature which has its use and its value in such a country as England. Since the baronetcy conferred on Walter Scott - who ought to have been created a Prince if he had only written 'The [erasure] Antiquary' and Tvanhoe' - no purely
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Wilkie Collins's Library literary man has been ennobled in this country" (14 January 1883: Letters, II, 464). To Paul Hamilton Hayne, he wrote "It may be hundreds of years, before another Fenimore Cooper appears in America, or another Walter Scott in England. I call these two and Balzac - the three Kings of Fiction" (3 May IS&4: Letters, 11,467). In a similar vein, he wrote to A.P. Watt: "I cannot work at present. . . . In the meanwhile I have been reading 'Guy Mannering' again for the 50th time at least. That wonderful book was written in six weeks! What a set of pigmies we are, by comparison with Scott!" (1 July 1887: Letters, II, 540). To J.A. Stewart, he wrote "After more than thirty years' study of the Art, I consider Walter Scott to be the greatest of all novelists, and 'The Antiquary' is, as I think, the most perfect of all novels" (9 January 1888: Letters, II, 552). Similarly, he wrote to Hall Caine: "Look at two of the greatest of tragic stories - Hamlet and the Bride of Lammermoor, and see how Shakespeare and Scott take every opportunity of presenting contrasts, and brightening the picture at the right place" (15 March 1888: Letters, II, 554). The hero Amelius Goldenheart of The Fallen Leaves has Scott's works in his library: "The writings of the one supreme genius who soars above all other novelists as Shakespeare soars above all other dramatists - the writings of Walter Scott - had their place of honour in his library" (Stroud: Sutton, 1994; 186).
436. Scribe, Eugene. [Dramatique]. [Paris], n.d. Part of 6 vols. bound with "no titles," also includes Mazeres and Melesvile. [Jones] {202} Eugene Scribe (1791-1861) prolific dramatist, author of vaudeville comedies, comedies of intrigue and opera libretti. WC wrote to Robert du Pontavice de Heussey: "I ought to add that I had not ever thought of the 'Woman In White' in 1855. The book was not published - even in its first serial form - until 1859-60. Some few of my earlier stories had been translated into French at that time - and some of the illustrious French authors had read them - notably Scribe who charmed me by his kind encouragement" (15 March 1886: Letters, II, 520). 437. Scribe, Eugene. Theatre Complete. 2nd ed. 24 vols. Paris 1834- 42.
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"plates, hf. bd." [Hill] {190} 438. Scribner's. New York, "magazine, various nos. a parcel" [Bennett] {185} WC wrote to A.P. Watt that he agreed to Watt trying Scribner's with a story: "My idea is that these American magazines all stand committed to the new American school of fiction - and that my way of writing represents the abomination of desolation in their eyes" (MS: Pembroke College, Cambridge: 28 June 1887). Scribner's Monthly first appeared in 1870 and ran to 1881: its successor, Scribner's Magazine began in 1887 and closed in 1939. WC does not appear to have contributed to either. 439. Serret, Ernest. Pieces de Theatre. Part of 26 vols., Paris, n.d. "cloth" [Jones] {195} Ernest Serret (1821-1874), French comic dramatist. 440. Sewell, William Grant. The Ordeal of Free Labor in the British West Indies. 1862. [Vernon] {102} 441. Shakespeare, William. The Poems. Ed. Robert Bell. 1855. "cl." The annotated edition of the poet published by J. W. Parker and Son. [Bennett] [118] WC notes in a letter to Edward Pigott that he had just met Bell (MS: Huntington: 21 April, 1855). On 23 October 1851, WC wrote to the publisher, Richard Bentley that he contemplated writing a story called "The Mask of Shakespeare" (Letters, I, 73). WC wrote to Edward Pigott "My appreciation is all wrong in no end of literary subjects . .. Excepting Falstaff and Dogberry, I think Moliere a greater humourist than Shakespeare" ([Oct-Dec 1855] Letters, I, 146). WC wrote to Frederick Lehmann: "Mrs John Wood had made the St. James Theatre a perfect fairy palace - and is playing old English Comedy - with American actors. Scenery and dresses marvellously good. A great success. The other great success I am going to see on Wednesday monkeys, who [erasure] are real circus riders -jump through hoops, dance on the horse's back, and bow to the audience voluntarily when they are applauded. We shall see them in Shakespeare next - and why not? They can't be worse than the human actors, and they might be better" (25 October 1869: Letters, II, 327). There are fewer references in WC's letters to Shakespeare, and to specific Shakespearean dramas, than would be expected. Caracciolo does indicate
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Wilkie Collins's Library "an intricate web of reference" to "Shakespearean and Sheridan allusions" in No Name and Armadale (Smith and Terry 165, 168-169, 174-175).
442. Shakespeare, William. The Stratford Shakspeare. Ed. Charles Knight. 6 vols. 1860. "hf. bd. 12mo" [Withers] {43} 443. Sheridan, Richard Brinsley. The Critic. 1781. "title mounted" [Suckling] {135} WC wrote to Mrs. Harriet Collins from Rome: "The horrible Neapolitan exhaustion and depression, seemed to be oozing out of me like the valour of'Acres' in the Rivals" (4 December 1863: Letters, I, 240). Bob Acres in Sheridan's The Rivals, discovers that his rival is his friend, and finds that his courage is "oozing out at the palms of his hands." WC wrote to Rosa Kenney "I saw your two scenes from 'The School for Scandal' on Monday. . . . I also wondered whether 'Lady Teazle' [A character in Sheridan's The School for Scandal] might not be brought a little nearer to nature, without losing her necessary relationship to Art?" (MS: Harvard: 17 May 1882). On 5 May [1883], he wrote to the actor Frank Archer, "I most sincerely thank you for a delightful evening. Pray add my thanks to Mr. Thorne [Sheridan's The Rivals was produced by Thomas Thorne at the Vaudeville Theatre in December, 1882 and continued for over 200 performances.] for his kindness, and my congratulations on his admirable performance of Acres. He and Mrs. Stirling are comedians in the highest and best sense of the word. And let me not forget Faulkland. You made the most idiotic character on the British stage (written, I am firmly convinced, in some of Sheridan's most utterly drunken moments) a gentleman in presence and manner - the victim of his own bad temper. If I had been working with you, as in the days of the "Magdalen", I should have protested against a hardness here and there, and a little hurry in elocution (natural enough, having such words to speak!), and there is the beginning and the end of my criticisms" (Cited: Frank Archer, An Actor's Notebooks, [1912], 186). 444. Siebe, Henry. The Conquest of the Sea; With Numerous Illustrations: A Book about Divers and Diving. 1874. [Woollett]{153} 445. Simpson, Jane C. Linda or Beauty and Genius: A Metrical Romance [Poems]. Glasgow, 1859. [Suckling] {97}
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446. Smedley, Edward. The Occult Sciences: Sketches of the Traditions and Superstitions of Past Times, and the Marvels of the Present Day. 1855. [Woollett] {153} 447. Smith, Sydney. The Works of the Rev. Sydney Smith. 3 vols. 1854. "with autograph of Wilkie Collins on title of vol. 1" [Withers] {53} 448. Smollett, Tobias George. The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle. In which are Included, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality. 4 vols. 1784. [Hartley] {172} It is somewhat curious that WC doesn't appear in his letters to refer to Smollett (1721-1771), whose "coarse realism" might have appealed to him. 449. Soulie, Frederic. La Confession Generate. Paris, [1840-48]. [Smith] {216} 450. Soulie, Frederic. La Lionne. Paris, [1846]. [Smith] {216} 451. Soulie, Frederic. Les Memoires du Diable. Paris, [1837-38]. [Smith] {216} 452. Soulie, Frederic. Sathaniel. Paris, [1837]. "Part of 11 vols. sewed Paris v.y." [Smith] {216} Frederic Soulie (1800-1847), author of more than forty best-selling sensational novels. 453. Southerne, Thomas. Sir Antony Love or, The Rambling Lady: A Comedy. 1698. [Money] {238} Thomas Southerne (1659-1746), Anglo-Irish dramatist. Wing S 4767 454. Southey, Robert. Essays, Moral and Political. Now First Collected. 2 vols. 1832. "presentation copy to 'Master Collins 1st Prize Maida Hill Academy Xmas 1835'" [Withers] {90} 455. Souvestre, Emile. Pieces de Theatre. Part of 26 vols., Paris, n.d. "cloth"
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Wilkie Collins's Library [Jones] {195} Emile Souvestre (1806-1854), French dramatist.
456. Spicer, Henry. Strange Things among Us. 1863. [Withers] {150} Lot 150 in the Puttick and Simpson Catalogue lists three items plus "etc.: 8 vols in all". Spicer's work is not indicated. However, it was sold at Sotheby's 21 July 1983, Lot 24. Sotheby's Catalogue describes WC's "copy of Strange Things among Us by H. Spicer, with several passages marked by him in pencil and autograph annotation in four places ('. . . Deaf and dumb child conscious of the passing of a ghost which expressed its presence by sound . . . ' ) . Original cloth rubbed and soiled." The book was once owned by Dorothy L. Sayers and was purchased by Quaritch for £290. Possibly WC used as a source whilst writing Poor Miss Finch: A Novel (1872) which has a heroine who "has been blind with cataracts since she was a year old" (Gasson 125). 457. Standard Novels. 5 vote. [Woollett] {156} Possibly five of Bentley's Standard Novels. 458. Steinmetz, Andrew. History of the Jesuits. 3 vols. 1848. "numerous pencil marks by Wilkie Collins hf. mor." [May] {47} Possibly WC used as a source whilst writing "The Yellow Mask," Household Words 7-28 July 1855 and The Black Robe (1881). 459. Stephen, George Sir. Adventures of an Attorney in Search of Practice. 2nd ed. 1840. "cloth, bears evidence that [WC] had read it carefully - having his pencil marks in the margin" {12}[122] 460. Stephen, George Sir. The Jesuit at Cambridge. 2 vols. 1847. "hf. cf." [Thistlewood] {166} 461. Stephen, Henry John. New Commentaries on the Laws of England Partly Founded on Blackstone. 4 vols. 1841. "cl." [Woollett] {18} 462. Stephens, John Lloyd. Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapus and Yucatan. 1844.
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"plates 2 vols. cf. gt." [Maggs] {131} John Lloyd Stephens (1805-1852), New Jersey-born author. In 1834 he left his legal practice to travel and write (Hart, 636). His Incidents of Travel in Central America and Incidents of Travel in Yucatan were both illustrated by Frederick Catherwood (1799-1854). 463. Stephens, John Lloyd. Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. 2 vols. 1843. "120 plates cf. gt." [Maggs] {130} 464. Sterne, Laurence. Tristram Shandy. 2 vols. 1783. [Hartley] {172} WC wrote to his Mother: "As for the [pepper], (in the words of Captain Shandy in reference to his nephew's first [informative] work) 'wipe it up and say nothing about it'" (11 March 1856: Letters, I, 150). In a letter to Charles Ward, WC refers to Slawkenbergius, the author of a treatise on noses in Tristram Shandy: "Sell a child - terms, £10 - down! Slawkenbergius would fetch more, if disposed of by weight - but I think him too amiable to be parted with" (10 October 1860: Letters, I, 190). In a letter to Andrew Chatto, WC writes "I agree with Mr Shandy that there is a great deal in a name - which does not encourage me" (MS: Princeton: 11 October 1887). 465. Sterne, Laurence. The Works of Laurence Sterne; With a Life of the Author. 5 vols. 1823. "cl." [Withers] {90} 466. Stokes, John Lort. Discoveries in Australia, with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed during the Voyage of the Beagle, 1837-1843. 2 vols. 1846. "plates cl." [Maggs] {41} 467. Sue, [ Eugene]. Clemence Herve. Paris, 1862-1869. Part of 13 vols. "Works" of Sue. {214?} [123] Puttick and Simpson Lot 214 identifies "Mysteries de Paris 4 vols; Le Juif Errant 4 vols.; Mathilde 4 vols. etc.; 16 vols. hf. mor. and sewed." Bennett [123] identifies these three titles plus Clemence Herve. Marie-Joseph, called Eugene, Sue (1804-1875), popular novelist. 468. Sue, [Eugene]. Le Juif Errant. Paris, 1862-1869.
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Wilkie Collins's Library "4 vols. uniform, but in hf. dark green morocco" Part of 13 vols. "Works" of Sue. {214} [123]
469. Sue, [Eugene]. Mathilde. 4 vols. Paris, 1862-1869. Part of 13 vols. "Works" of Sue. {214} [123] 470. Sue, [Eugene]. Les Mysteres de Paris. 4 vols. Paris, 1862-1869. Part of 13 vols. "Works" of Sue. {214} [123] 471. Sue, [Eugene]. The Legend of the Wandering Jew. trans, by W. Thornbury. illustrations by Gustave Dore. 1857. Folio "cl." [Heald] {243} 472. Sutton, Christopher. Disce Vivere: Learn to Live. 1847. "cloth, name on title" [60] Not recorded in Puttick and Simpson. Printed for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, reprinted from the first edition of 1602, with a memoir of Sutton's life (15657-1629). 473. Sweetser, Moses Foster. King's Handbook of Boston Harbor. Cambridge, Mass, 1882. [Reya] {36} 474. Swift, Jonathan. The Works of Jonathan Swift, with Life and Notes by John Hawkesworth. 1166-1161. "copper-plates 21 vols. (small hole in title of vol. 17 and last 2 11. of vol. 21 damaged) cf." {127} [124] WC writes to Mrs. Harriet Collins from Rome: "St. Peters cock (big enough to eat-up fifty St. Peters) flaps his wings, and crows mechanically three times, during the ceremony - the machinery in the inside of this Brobdingnag bird creaking and rattling audibly while the automation goes through its performance" (16 October 1853: Letters, I, 99). 475. Tasso, Torquato. The Jerusalem Delivered ofTorquato Tasso. trans, by J.K. James. 2 vols. in 1. 1865. "presentation copy from [Sir John Kingston James] to Wilkie Collins 1865" [Maggs] {96}
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Sir John Kingston James (1815-1893), Anglo-Irish Baronet, translated from the Italian. Lived in Tunbridge Wells and may well have known Harriet Collins. 476. Tasso, Torquato. The Jerusalem Delivered ofTorquato Tasso. 2 vote. 1818. "16 mo. hf. cf. .. . cover loose" Contains WC's autograph. [Bennett] [87]. Not recorded in Puttick and Simpson. Translated by the Rev. J. H. Hunt. 477. Taveau, Augustin Louis. Poems. Volume I. New York, 1884. {95} [15] Augustin Louis Taveau (1828-1886), South Carolina poet, author of various collections of poems including The Magic Word (Boston, 1855) and Montezuma: An Historical Poem of the Ancient Aztecs of Mexico, 1883-1855. This was included in the first volume of his Poems, published in New York and London by G. P. Putnam's, 1884. No more volumes published. 478. Taylor, Alfred Swaine. Poisons in Relation to Medical Jurisprudence. 1849. [Hartley] {16} 479. Taylor, Alfred Swaine. On Poisons. 1859. [Hartley] {16} 480. Taylor, Bayard. The National Ode, the Memorial Freedom Poem. Boston, 1877. "sm. 4to finely bound in brown morocco, antique, gilt edges, 78 pretty illustrations by leading American artists" {72} [125] 481. Taylor, Edward Samuel. The History of Playing Cards. 1865. [Nugent] {171} 482. Taylor, Jeremy. Holy Living and Dying. 2 vols. 1824. "cl. presentation copy to [WC's] mother 1825" {54} [59] WC requests his mother to tell his brother Charley: "I have read a little of Jeremy Taylor - in accordance with my promise: a little because my present course of life is not favourable to theological studies, and Jeremy is rather involved and hard to understand after a day's . . . rolling over rough high roads in a travelling carriage" (16 October 1853: Letters, I, 100).
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483. Tennyson, Alfred Lord. Locksley Hall Sixty Years After. 1886. "green cl." {92} [128] WC wrote to Mrs. Harriet Collins: "As they all like Tennyson at Oxford, they may like to hear what he said about himself to a friend of mine, who repeated it to me. 'My misfortune is,' said the great T. - 'that I have not got anything in me. If I had only got something in me, I could write as well as Shakespeare'" (26 July 1859: Letters, I, 169-70). 484. Thackeray, William Makepeace. The Book of Snobs. 1855. "one shilling edition" [Dobell] {184} On hearing of Thackeray's death, WC wrote to Mrs. Harriet Collins: "I have been answering your last letter but one - but not your last, telling me of Thackeray's death. I had seen the news some days before in 'Galignani' and had tried hard to hope it was a false report - but the next day's paper cut the hope from under me. I am heartily sorry for his poor children and for Charley and all his intimate friends. I, as you know, never became intimate with him - but we always met on friendly and pleasant terms. He has left a great name most worthily won, and he has been spared the slow misery of a lingering death-bed. These are the consolations for his loss which his family and his old friends will feel when Time has helped them. I can say no more" (8 January 1864: Letters, I, 242). See also Gasson 146. 485. Thackeray, William Makepeace. The History ofPendennis. 2 vols. 1878. "illustrated by the author and R. Doyle" [buyer indecipherable] {145} 486. Thackeray, William Makepeace. TheNewcomes. 2 vote. 1879. "illustrated by the author and R. Doyle" [buyer indecipherable] {145} 487. Thackeray, William Makepeace. Vanity Fair. 2 vote. 1879. "illustrated by the author and R. Doyle" [buyer indecipherable] {145} 488. The Theatrical Observer and Daily Bills of the Play. 1821 -1832. "some nos. wanting, bound in 12 vols. bds." [Parsons] {105} 489. Thesaurus Dramaticus. Containing All the Celebrated Passages, Soliloquies, Sim Hies, Descriptions, and Other Poetical Beauties in the Body of English Plays, Antient and Modern, Digested under Proper
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Topics; With the Names of the Plays, and Their Authors, Referr 'd to in the Margin. 2 vote. 1724. "cf." [F.Hutt] {123} 490. Thiers, Adolphe. Histoire de la Revolution Frangaise. 10 vols. Paris, 1845-1862. "hf. mor." [Maggs] {207} 491. Thiers, Adolphe. Histoire du Consulat et de TEmpire. 20 vols. Paris, 1845-62. Two copies were sold. One with "ports, and plates...hf. mor." [Maggs] {207}; the other was "no plates, hf. bd." [Hudson] {208}. 492. Thompson, Benjamin. The German Theatre. 6 vote. 1801. "plates" [F.Hutt] {123} 493. Thornbury, Walter. British Artists from Hogarth to Turner. 2 vote. 1861. "cl. presentation copy with interesting autograph letter from the author inserted in vol. 1" [Withers] {13} Walter George Thornbury (1828-1876), miscellaneous writer, prolific contributor to Household Words and All the Year Round. The Athenaeum art critic. 494. [Topchi [pseud]]. A Travers L 'Orient et L 'Occident. Recit de Huit Annees de Voyages en Espagne, Portugal, Grece, Montenegro, Turquie, etc., etc., St. Petersbourg. [1888]. [Parsons] {181} 495. Tourode, Alfred. [Drames]. [Paris], n.d. Part of 3 vols. including Barriere, Bouilhet, Feuillet, Meilhac, and Plouvier. [Jones] {202} Alfred Tourode (1839-1875), author of comic farces. 496. Townshend, Chauncy Hare. The Three Gates: In Verse. 1859. " presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins" [May] {94} Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798-1868), Dickens's friend "who had taken holy orders, was a wealthy man who, perhaps fortunately, never practised his profession" (Peters 133). WC and Dickens stayed with him
158
Wilkie Collins's Library whilst in Switzerland October 1853 (See WC to Mrs. Harriet Collins, 16 October, 28 October 1853: Letters, I, 100, 101). WC wrote to the Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend concerning clairvoyance: "I forgot to give you this little payment of information, in the interest of our discussion about the bell-pulling ghost. I am afraid I believe still in the supernatural origin of the nine o'clock ring - partly, I suspect, because it would make such a [picturesquely] awful opening for a ghostly Romance!" (MS: Wisbech & Fenland Museum: 5 June [1856]). See also Gasson 148. WC thanked Townshend for "the copy of his new poems" in a letter dated 29 June 1859 (Letters, I, 165).
497. Trowbridge, John Townsend. Coupon Bonds, and other stories. Boston, 1873. "plates, presentation copy to Wilkie Collins from the author" [Hartley] {141} John Townsend Trowbridge (1827-1916), Boston-based novelist and short story writer. 498. Turner, Joseph Mallord William. Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour round the Southern Coast of England. 1849. Quarto, "plates by Cooke, Collins, etc. vignettes on India paper, hf. mor. uncut" [Swift] {234} See also under Ritchie, Leitch (item 419). 499. Twain, Mark. The Prince and the Pauper. Toronto, 1882. [Withers] {150} 500. Vanbrugh, John, Sir. Plays. 2 vote. Ml6. [Hartley] {124} Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726), dramatist and architect. 501. Verne, Jules. Cinq Semaines en Balloun. [Paris, 1863]. [Dobell] {213} 502. Verne, Jules. Vile Mysterieuse. 2 vote. [Paris, 1875]. "illustree de 154 dessins par [Jules-Descartes] Ferat" "hf. mor." [Nugent] {200} 503. Verne, Jules. Vingt Mille Lieues sous les Mers. 2 vote. [Paris, 1870]. [Dobell] {213} 504. Verne, Jules. Voyage au Centre de la Terre. [Paris, 1864].
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"9 vols. (3 vols. hf. mor. and 6 sewed). .. Paris v.y." [Dobell] {213} 505. Voltaire. Oeuvres Completes de Voltaire. 70 vols. [Kehl], 1784. "avec la Vie, portrait and plates by Moreau . . . cf. (rubbed) g.e." [St. Martins] {206} 506. Walch, Garnet. Head over Heels. A Christmas Book of Fun and Fancy. Melbourne, 1874. "cr. 8vo. cl., many comical cuts" {97?}[129] 507. Walch, Garnet. A Little Tin Plate. Melbourne, 1881. "presentation copy to WC from the author" [Suckling] {97} Garnet Walch (1843-1913), member of Melbourne's literary circles, probably a friend of WC's Australian representative, the Melbourne-based H. Biers. 508. Walcott, Mackenzie Edward Charles. The East Coast of Englandfrom the Thames to the Tweed, Descriptive of Natural Scenery, Historical, Archaeological, and Legendary. 1861. [Black] {155} 509. Walton, Izaak. The Complete Angler oflzaak Walton and Charles Cotton. 2 vote. Chiswick, 1824. "orig. bds., uncut fronts, and vigs. Finely printed" {154} [16] 510. Ward, Adolphus William, Sir. Dickens. 1882. "Morley's English Men of Letters" {61} [56] 511. Warren, Claud. Celebrated Hands: The Life-Size Outlines of the Hands of Twenty-Two Celebrated Hands. 1882. Folio, "plates" {245} [82] Contains "The hands of Wilkie Collins": illustrated Gasson 37. 512. Webster, Noah. An American Dictionary of the English Language. [New York], 1849. Quarto, "port, cf." [Heald] {237}
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513. Westall, William. The Phantom City: A Volcanic Romance. 1886. [Hartley] {147} William Westall (1835-1903), novelist. 514. Wetton, George Norman. Wetton's Guide-Book to Northampton, and Its Vicinity. 1849. "cr. 8 vo, cloth, Illus." [Black?] {155} [76] 515. Whitman, Sidney. Conventional Cant, Its Results and Remedy. 1887. [Hartley] {147} 516. Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Boston, 1860-61. "port, cl." [Frieling] {81} 517. Wilson, James. Autobiography of the Blind, with Essay on the State of the Blind by John Bird. [1856]. "sm. 8vo, cloth, front." [Bennett] [21] Bennett Catalogue gives the date as "1859." WC probably consulted during the writing of Poor Miss Finch (1872). 518. Wilson, John. The Dramatic Works of John Wilson. Edinburgh, 1874. [Dobell] {107} John Wilson (1626-1696), comic dramatist. 519. Winslow, Forbes. Lettsomian Lectures on Insanity. 1854. "presentation copy to the 'Editor of The Leader'" {17} [103] WC's friend Edward Pigott edited The Leader ca. January 1852-ca. July 1853, ca. March 1854-June 1858. For WC and The Leader, see Gasson 93. 520. Winslow, Forbes. On Obscure Diseases of the Brain. 2nd ed. 1861. "cl. with present. Inscription from the Author to Wilkie Collins" {17} [102] Forbes Winslow (1810-1874), physician, member of the Royal College of Surgeons: "regarded by the public as an authority in cases of insanity, and in 1847 opened two private lunatic asylums at Hammersmith, where he employed the humane method of treating lunatics. . . . The frequent establishment of the plea of insanity in criminal cases was largely due to his influence" (DNB). WC may well have consulted whilst writing The Woman in White.
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521. Winter, William. Brief Chronicles. 2 pts. New York, 1889. [Dobell] {184} 522. Winter, William. English Rambles and Other Fugitive Pieces, in Prose and Verse. Boston, 1884. "presentation copy from the author to Wilkie Collins" [Bennett] {11} 523. Winter, William. In Memory of John McCulloch. New York, 1889. "only 500 copies printed" De Vinne Press. [Dobell] {33} 524. Winter, William. The Poems of William Winter. Boston, 1881. "3 pencil marked by W. Collins" {11} [131] 525. Winter, William. The Press and the Stage, an oration. New York, 1889. "only 250 copies printed cl." [Dobell] {33} 526. Winter, William. Shakespeare's England. Boston, 1886. [Dobell] {184} 527. Winter, William. Thistle-down: A Book of Lyrics. 1878. "cloth" {11} [132] WC wrote to William Winter thanking him for his "last volume of poems. . . . I am sure you will believe I speak sincerely, when I thank you for some hours of real pleasure, derived from your volume. Both in feeling and expression I find your poetry (to use a phrase which I don't much like, but which expresses exactly what I mean) 'thoroughly sympathetic' 'The Ideal,' 'A Dirge,' and 'Rosemary' are three among my chief favourites. I thank you again for them - and for all the rest" (5 August \81S: Letters, 11, 413). William Winter (1836-1917), dramatic critic of The New York Tribune and friend of WC. See Gasson 158. Winter's Old Friends (New York, 1909) contains reminiscences and extensive citations from WC's letters to Winter. 528. Winter, William. The Trip to England. Boston, 1879. "uncut" [Dobell] {31} 529. Winter, William. The Trip to England. 2nd ed. Boston, 1881.
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Wilkie Collins's Library "8vo. cl. gilt top, 10 heliotype plates by" Joseph Jefferson {11} [130]
530. Wiseman, Nicholas Patrick. Recollections of the Last Four Popes and of Rome in Their Times. 1858. "ports, hf. cf. gt." [Packer] {70} Possibly a source for The Black Robe. Cardinal Wiseman (1802-1865), Archbishop of Westminster. 531. Wolzogen, Ernst von. Wilkie Collins, ein Biographisch-Kritischer Versuch. Leipzig, 1885. "8vo. sewed." [Bennett] [50] 532. Wonders of the Universe; or Curiosities of Nature and Art: Including Memoirs and Anecdotes of Wonderful and Eccentric Characters of Every Age and Nation. 2 vote. 1827. "plates" [Edwards] {10} 533. Wood, Henry, Mrs. East Lynne. 1888. [Hartley] {141} WC wrote to George Smith: "I may certainly, without undue arrogance, consider myself to be a rather better novelist, with a rather wider reputation than Mrs. Henry Wood. I happen to know that she averages a thousand a year profit to herself by the sale of her novels - aH in six shillings a volume" (5 December 1872: Letters, II, 359). WC may well be thinking of Mrs. Henry Wood's (1814-1887) best-seller, East Lynne (1861) "By 1876 Bentley had printed 65,000 copies", and she received an unusually high price from Bentley for the copyright (Sutherland, 678). WC wrote to John Hollingshead, the theatrical manager and journalist: "You know the case of Mrs. Henry Wood's 'East Lynne'? I believe, she has never received six [pennies] of the money which the piece has made" (25 February 1873: Letters, II, 363). 534. Woodrooffe, Anne Cox. The History of Michael Kemp: The Happy Farmer's Lad. 4th ed. 1830. [name of buyer illegible] {170} 535. Wraxall, Nathaniel William, Sir. Historical Memoirs of My Own Time. 2 vote. 1815. "old diamond cf, port, notes in pencil on fly-leaf by WC" {133} [133]
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Nathaniel William Wraxall (1751-1837: DNB) 536. Wright, Thomas. Some Habits and Customs of the Working Classes. By a Journeyman Engineer. 1867. [Hartley] {21} 537. Young, Edward. The Complaint, and the Consolation; or, Night Thoughts. With Marginal Designs by W. Blake. 1797. Folio "hf. bd., edges uncut." [Parsons] {239}
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ADDENDA The following items were omitted in error. Bible. The New Testament. Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1869. Now in private possession. The volume is inscribed, "Wilkie Collins Esq | with Baron Tauchnitz' | kindest regards." WC wrote to Baron Tauchnitz thanking him "for the beautiful specimen of German printing and German binding which you have so kindly sent to me. You have added one more to the many agreeable which I connect with 'The Tauchnitz Edition' in adding your Thousandth volume to my little library" (12 February 1869: private possession). Published on 11 February 1869, Tauchnitz's thousandth volume was the Bible. The New Testament. Presentation copies were bound in red morocco with gilt lettering on the front (see Todd and Bowden 187, 314; cf. Gasson [144]-145, and Letters, ii, 45657). Boddam-Whetham, J. W. Pearls of the Pacific. 1876. "plates hf. cf. gt." [Packer] {70} Description of Polynesia and Hawaii. Addition: 462.
See Richard Collins, "The Ruins of Copan in The Woman in White: Wilkie Collins and John Stephens's Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, " Wilkie Collins Society Journal, 2 (1999), 5 - 7 .
1
Sotheby's 18 June 1891 Sale containing WC's books is recorded in Index of English Literary Manuscripts, Vol IV1800-1900 Part I Arnold-Gissing, Compiled by Barbara Rosenbaum and Pamela White. London and New York, Mansell, 1982. She also records a Sotheby's 3-4 June 1891 Sale containing WC's "printed work" (665). 2
Cited Frederick G. Ribble and Anne G. Ribble. xliii.
3
ELS Monograph Series 24. Victoria, British Columbia: English Literary Studies, University of Victoria, 1981.
Appendix PAINTINGS AND ART WORK IN COLLINSfS POSSESSION AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH WC's first published book, his two-volume biography of his father, Memoirs of The Life of William Collins, Esq., RA. With Selections from His Journals and Correspondence published by the London publishers Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans in 1848, contains as an "Appendix," to the second volume, an "enumeration" of his father's paintings (II, 341-352). The date of the painting is followed by the title of the work, details of where exhibited, information on "for whom painted, or by whom purchased" and then the sum received for the work. Collins's biography of his father concludes with a two-page listing of "Engravings from the Work of William Collins, R.A." (353-54). Two years before her death, Harriet Collins agreed to the division of her husband's paintings between her two sons. WC wrote to his mother on 11 May 1867: "Charley and I have tossed for the pictures, and Frith is coming today to value Charley's half. Charley won the toss and chose first (to my astonishment!) the upright Sorrento - (with the chestnut tree) - leaving the sea-Sorrento (afterwards repainted large for Gibbons) to fall to me. We then went on alternating. Charles chose next, the small park-[raling] landscape went with the shadows on the road (near Hendon I think). I followed, and took the Roman boy's heads! Charley followed . . . and took the green pool & weeds. I took next the Devonshire stream. Charley took the (upright) Bembridge Sands. I took the trees at Pond St. Charley took the copy from De Hoog. I took the portrait of my Grand Mother, and there it ended." WC added, "I am quite content, and so is he. You must certainly come to town - and see my Sorrento in its new and beautiful, frame!" (Letters, II, 286).
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The evaluation by William Powell Frith (1819-1909), the Victorian painter and close friend of both WC and Charles Collins, of the latter's share of his father's paintings is unavailable. In the second volume of his biography of his father, WC gives a description of the paintings realized at Sorrento. The painting of the sea "possessed all the attractive simplicity of subject and purity of tone . . . a view of the Mediterranean, with Vesuvius in the horizon, and a strip of beach and promontory in the right-hand foreground - the whole being treated with remarkable airiness and transparency of effect" (II, 191). In her biography The King of Inventors: A Life of Wilkie Collins, Catherine Peters describes WC's house at 90 Gloucester Place, where he lived from September 1867 until early 1888. WC hung Margaret Carpenter's "portrait o f his mother Harriet "as a young g i r l . . . in his study, with a portrait of his father and a painting of Sorrento by William Collins, which hung to the left of the massive writing table which had belonged to his father. Charley's portrait of Wilkie as a young man and one by Millais were also in this room and an etching of Dickens. His own Academy painting, 'The Smuggler's Retreat', went in the dining-room" (287). WC gave a copy of his Memoirs of his father to his literary agent and friend A. P. Watt. The first of the two volumes, now in private possession, contains on its front papers the inscription, "To A. P. Watt from | Wilkie Collins | April 21 1885". WC has annotated his "enumeration" of his father's paintings. The undated annotations contain prices and purchasers. Tipped into the first volume is a note in WC's hand, headed "Vol. I. Page 69": 'The Reluctant Departure." (1815). The descriptions of pictures exhibited before 1823, are taken from my mother's recollections of them on the Royal Academy walls. In this case, I have evidently mistaken what she told me - and perhaps her memory may also have been a little at fault. On, and after 1823, my mother spoke (and I wrote) of what she had seen in progress in my father's studio. Her memory - in these cases (tested by old friends of my father who had to read my life of him). . . declared to be wonderful. W. C. Collins refers to the second chapter of his Life of his father, which covers the years 1807-1816. He writes, "In the year 1815, my father exhibited at the Royal Academy, - 'The Reluctant Departure,' (sold to Mr. Carpenter;) 'Half-holiday Muster,' (sold to Lady Lucas;) and 'A Harvest Shower,' (sold to Mr. Currie)". There follows a detailed description of "The Reluctant Departure" (I, 69-70).
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Christie, Manson & Woods auction sale at 8 King Street, St. James's Square, on Saturday, February 22, 1890 contains "The Collection of Modern Pictures, Water-Colour Drawings & Engravings of Wilkie Collins, Deceased." There are sixty-six lots in all divided into twenty-six lots consisting of "Engravings and Photographs - Framed." These are followed by a single lot consisting of "Sir David Wilkie's palette" (lot 27) and by thirteen lots of "Water-Colour Drawings" underneath which is the name of "W. Collins, R. A." - WC's father. The remaining lots of "Pictures" are identified by the artist and then the title. The following transcription follows the auctioneer's lot numbering. Whenever any light can be thrown on a lot item, this is placed underneath the transcription of the lot. The auctioneer's description is in italics. My annotation is not. Transcription of "The Catalogue of The Collection of Modern Pictures, WaterColour Drawings & Engravings, of Wilkie Collins, Deceased. . . . Christie, Manson & Woods, at their Great Rooms. 8 King Street St. James's Square on Saturday, February 22, 1890. "
Engravings and Photographs, Framed 1. After Claude and Turner Probably Claude (le) Lorrain (1604/5-1682): great landscape painter. 2. Portraits, &c. 3. Photographs from the Sistine Chapel Rome was "one of Collins's favourite cities, first visited as a boy" with his family "between January and April 1837 and from February to April 1838." He revisited the city 13-18 November 1853, and also stayed in Rome with Caroline Graves and her daughter "for three months from December 1863" (Gasson 133). 4. After Heilbuth, Gerome, &c. Ferdinand Heilbuth (1826-1889), French artist. Jean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904), French painter and sculptor, and exponent of realism. 5. "1884" after E. Meissonier Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891), French artist. 6. "Ave Caesar, " after Gerome; and the Death of Caesar Jean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904), Parisian sculptor and painter
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7. Wilkie Collins, by Sarony of New York, 1873 Napoleon Sarony (1821-1896) was the dedicatee of Heart and Science (1883). WC sat for Sarony during his 1873-4 reading tour of America. WC wrote to him "You have taken just the sort of photograph I like. Those taken of me over here are perfect libels, but I feel like giving your pictures to my friends" (cited Gasson 137). Reproductions of "photographs taken by Sarony in New York during Collins's reading tour of America" are found in Gasson 137; Smith and Terry 44; Clarke, The Secret Life, 112-13. 8. Jacob Bell, after Sir E. Landseer, R.A. An engraving by Thomas Landseer (1795-1880), after E. Landseer, dated 1869. 9. Rossini's Views in Rome Luigi Rossini (1790-1857): Italian engraver, painter, architect. 10. Venus, after Titian, by Strange Sir Robert Strange (1721-1792). "His stated aim was to reproduce works by the great Italian masters for the British public, and he travelled in Italy from 1760 to 1764 copying paintings. . . . Today, however, these reproductive engravings are neglected due to dullness of subject matter" (Ian Mackenzie, British Prints Dictionary and Price Guide, 1998. 322). 11. Rubens' Son, and a Landscape after Rubens; and one after Rembrandt; &c. 12. Charles Dickens 13. Augustus Egg, R.A., after J. Phillip R.A. by T 0. Barlow, R. A. Augustus Leopold Egg, R.A. (1816-63). His early death left WC "dreadfully shocked and distressed" (Letters, I, 218). Thomas Oldham Barlow (1824-1889), a "notable etcher and mezzotint engraver of portraits, sentimental and sporting subjects after many of the best known Victorian painters" (Mackenzie 86). 14. Dr. Johnson, after J. Opie RA., by Townley Charles Townley, b.1745 "Mezzotint and occasional stipple engraver of portraits and decorative, historical and animal subjects after his contemporaries and Old master painters" (Mackenzie 336). 15. Village Politicians, after Wilkie, by Raimbach Abraham Raimbach (1766-1843), line engraver who specialized in large plates after Sir David Wilkie. 16. The Penny Wedding, by Stewart
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17. Fetching the Doctor after W. Collins, R.A. by Wagstaff Charles Edward Wagstaff (1808-1850), line mezzotint and mixed-method engraver. 18. The Fisherman's Home, after W. Collins, R. A. byJ. Phelps - artist's proof WC's Appendix "Pictures Painted by William Collins, Esq., R.A." at the end of the second volume of his Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., RA. identifies a 1826 painting under the title "Fishermen Leaving Home for the Night" - (afterwards entitled "The Fisherman's Departure"). The purchaser is given as "J. Morrison, Esq" and the sum received as "350 gs." (346). 19. Young Shrimp Catchers; Happy as a King; and Rustic Hospitality See WC's "Appendix": "Young Shrimp Catchers . . . Engraved by [Phelps]" - a "Line Engraving from Pictures"; and "Line Engravings from Pictures and Drawings, Published in Periodical Works . . . In the Royal Gallery of Modem British Art. . . Happy as a King . . . Engraved by Finden. Rustic Hospitality . . . Engraved by Outram" (353). Edward Francis Finden (1791-1857) and William Finden (1787-1852) both line engravers after their contemporaries and the Old Masters. John Outram, fl. mid19th century, London line engraver. 20. Searching the Net; and Going for a Sail WC's "Appendix" identifies "Searching the Net" amongst "line engravings from pictures . . . engraved by [Phelps]" (353). 21. Cromer, by W. Ward Probably "Etchings by the Painter . . . Shrimp Boys at Cromer. The same plate engraved in mezzotint, by W. Ward" ("Appendix," 353). "Shrimp Boys at Cromer" dated 1816, exhibited at the Royal Academy and purchased by Sir T. H. Heathcote (343). William Ward, (1766-1826), "eminent mezzotint and occasional stipple engraver of portraits, decorative, genre, sporting and animal subjects after his contemporaries, his own designs and Old master painters" (Mackenzie 348). 22. Four small plates in two frames 23. A Literary Party at Sir Joshua Reynolds' Sir Joshua Reynolds, R.A., (1723 - 1792), First President of the Royal Academy. 24. Hastings and Dover, after J. M. W. Turner WC records in his "Appendix" six "Line Engravings From Pictures and
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Drawings, Published in Periodical Works" "In Turner's Southern Coast." None of these are specifically of "Hastings and Dover" (354). 25. The Peaceful Thames, after F. Walker, A. R. A. by C. Waltner - remarque proof Francis Sylvester Walker (1848-1916), Anglo-Irish landscape, genre painter, mezzotint etcher of landscapes. Charles Albert Waltner (1846-1925), Parisian "etcher of portraits and figure subjects after his French and British contemporaries" (Mackenzie 346). 26. An Illustration to the New Magdalen, by Godefroy - chalk Probably John Godfrey c. 1817-1889, "line engraver of small bookplates" (Mackenzie, 173). For the publication of various editions of WC's The New Magdalen (1873), see Gasson 113. 27. Sir David Wilkie's Palette Taken with him to Syria, and presented to William Collins, R.A., by Wilkie's Sister There is a detailed account of Sir David Wilkie's (1785-1841) close relationship with William Collins, in WC's Memoirs, see especially I, 235.
Water-Colour Drawings W. Collins, R.A. 28. A Bird's Eye View 29. A Common 30. Old Willows 31. At Sorrento See Letters II, 286. 32. Studies of heads - in one frame 33. Studies of Landscapes - in one frame 34. Coast Scenes - in one frame 35. Studies of Figures - two in one frame
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36. Landscapes - in one frame 37. Coast Scenes - in one frame Pictures 38. A. W. Fowles. The Yacht "Coquette" (in four views); and a photograph 2 In late June 1856 WC "went sailing with Pigott and Pigott's brother . . . . They hired a boat of the Royal Yacht Squadron, the Coquette" (Peters 166): WC describes, in a letter of 2 July 1856, his experiences on board whilst crossing the Channel and entering the Bristol Channel (Letters, I, 156). A. W. Fowles of Ryde (fl. 1840-1860), a maritime painter. 39. C R. Leslie, R.A. The Entombement, after Titian Charles Robert Leslie (1794-1859), historical genre and portrait painter. 40. W. Gill. Children, with a dog and mouse-trap William Gill, fl. 1826-1869, exhibited at the Royal Academy: a follower of David Wilkie. 41. C Collins Portrait of a Lady, after Sir J. Reynolds 42. C Collins The Empty Purse 43. C Collins Nine Studies for Pictures J. A. Gere observes in Pre-Raphaelite Drawings in the British Museum (1994) that "the group of eighteen [Charles Collins] drawings in the Museum collection was bought in 1891, for only £6 - 6 -, from Charles Fairfax Murray.. .. The drawings by Collins had previously belonged to his brother Wilkie, who had died in 1889" (101). 44. W. Collins, R.A. Taking Out the Thorn - a study for the large picture
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45. Another Study, for the same picture In the "Appendix" to his Memoir WC dates "Taking out a Thorn" to 1828. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy and purchased by "J. Delafield" for "250 gs." (346). In the first volume of Memoirs he writes about the painting at some length: 'Taking out a Thorn' was his [father's] only inland scene of the year [1828]. The locality of this picture is on Hampstead Heath; the point of view, the clump of fir-trees, near the inn called 'The Spaniards,' looking across towards 'North End.' On a bank sits an old furze-cutter, extracting a thorn from the finger of a chubby urchin, who rubs his eyes dolefully with the corner of his pinafore during the operation, which is compassionately and curiously observed by the unlucky patient's companions. The rich, soft colouring; the simple rustic incident; the vigorous truth and nature of this picture, rendered it immediately and widely popular. Among other connoisseurs, by whom the possession of it was desired was the King, who expressed a wish, if it was not already sold, to add it to the two sea-pieces by the painter, which he already possessed. But the picture had been a commission; and its owner, very naturally, prized it too highly to be able to prevail on himself, under any circumstances, to forgo his prior right to his valuable possession (I, 305-306). 46. Sir J. E. Millais, R. A. Portrait of Wilkie Collins The jacket illustration to the American edition of Peters, The King of Inventors reproduces in color the oil on panel, 267 x 178 mm (10 1/2 x 7"), painting of WC, signed with monogram dated 1850 by Millais, and now in the National Portrait Gallery London. It is also found in Peter Funnell, et al. Millais Portraits (1999), 53. A black and white reproduction is in Gasson, 35. It was purchased by Henry Powell Hartley, who "in 1893 sold [it] to the National Portrait Gallery to raise funds" (Gasson 14; and see Clarke 191). 47. H Gray Portrait of Wilkie Collins Probably WC's "cousin, Henry Gray, who kept a picture dealer's shop in Old Cavendish Street" Peters 269). 48. W. Collins, R.A. Sorrento, Vesuvius in the distance -painted on the spot The Collins family stayed in the Sorrento area during the Summer of 1836. In
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his Memoir of his father, WC recalls two of his father's sketches which "bear the appearance of finished pictures." Of these, "the first is coloured with surpassing brilliancy and vigour. Its foreground is a strip of cornfield, over-hung by the branches of a large chesnut-tree; its distance, the olive-gardens of Sorrento, the coast of Vico, the bright Mediterranean, and Vesuvius beyond." The second also "looks towards Vesuvius . . . but from a different point. Here the smooth limpid sea, with gay market-boats floating idly on its surface, ripples into the foreground, tinged with the clear Italian reflections of the hour and scene. A strip of beach, an extremity of rocky cliff, and the point of Vico, presented the rest of the composition in Nature, and supply it in the sketch." WC adds that "the airy delicacy and day-light of the effect thus produced proved so popular in England, that the painter was commissioned to paint two pictures from it. The original study, (for which many offers have been made,) remains as well as the landscape first mentioned, a treasured heirloom in the family of the painter" (II, 108-09). WC's Appendix listing his father's paintings contains various paintings of Sorrento, Ischia and the Bay of Naples (II, 349, 51-52). 49. W. Collins, R. A. Two Studies of the Head of a Roman Youth 50. W. Collins, R. A. A Devonshire River Scene Paintings by William Collins listed by his son include "Buckland on the River Dart" exhibited in 1824 at the Royal Academy and purchased by E. P. Bastard, Esq., M.P. for 120 gns. (II, 346). 51. W. Collins, R. A. The Withered Tree 52. W. Collins, R. A. Trees at Hampstead 53. W. Collins, R. A. Portrait of Mr. Collins, father of the artist William Collins (1740-1812), settled in London from County Wicklow and eked out a living from picture dealing and restoring. He died a bankrupt. See Gasson 32. 54. A. Geddes Portraits of Wilkie Collins and Charles Collins, when they were boys Reproduced as Plate 3 in Letters, I, between [xlii-1]. Acquired at this auction by WC's friend Horace Pym (1844-1896), and in possession of the Pym family until
174
Appendix
sold in the Pym auction, June 2001. Also reproduced as Illustration 5 in Peters between 240-41. 55. C. Collins Portrait of William Collins, R. A. - chalk Probably "William Collins, 1846, from a drawing by Charles Allston Collins National Portrait Gallery, London" reproduced as Illustration 3 in Peters between 240-41. 56. J. Linnell, Sen. Portrait of William Collins, R. A. Reproduced in Clarke, facing p. 112. In possession of Faith Clarke. WC's Memoir is prefaced by J. Linnell's portrait of William Collins engraved by H. Robinson. 57. J. Linnell, Sen., After Portrait of William Collins, R. A. by C Collins 58. J Linnell, Sen., 1834 Head of a Boy 59. CA. Collins Portrait of a Lady, seated 60. Mrs. Carpenter Portrait of Mrs. Collins, Wife of W. Collins, RA. Gasson writes, "Collins acquired Margaret Carpenter's portrait of his mother as a young girl from Jane's daughter, Margaret Ward, when he moved into Gloucester Place, during 1867. Margaret Carpenter's portrait of Collins's paternal grandmother is now in the National Gallery of New Zealand" (25). 61. W. Collins, R. A. Portrait of the Artist's Mother 62. W. Collins, R. A. Portrait of the Artist's Father: Studies of heads of children on the back 63. W. Collins, R. A. A Landscape, with figures, after J. Ruysdael
Appendix 64. W. Collins, R. A. The Virgin and Child Exhibited at the Royal Academy 1843 65. W. Collins, R. A. Antonio, from the "Merchant of Venice " Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1845 66. W. Collins, R. A. A Patriarch Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1844
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Index All references to the Introduction and the Addenda are in bold and to page numbers. References to the Reconstruction are to item numbers, not page, and are not in bold. Adams, Robert Dudley, 17, 23, 54; 144 Adventures, 58-60; 64, 68, 84, 152, 282,351,372,444; Addenda, 164 Ainsworth, William Harrison, 47; 6 Albemarle, George Thomas Keppel, Earl of, 7 Alcohol, 25; 355 Aldeburgh, 16, 25, 36; 8 Aldine editions, 8, 49; 96, 168 All the Year Round, 22, 56, 61; 10, 19, 124,382,493 America, Central, 58-59; 462 American Literature, 44, 51; 133, 144, 149, 154, 164, 192, 196,209-210,228,247, 263, 273-274, 305, 309, 344,351,392,396,438, 477,480,497,499,516, 521-529 Andersen, Hans Christian, 10; To Be, Or Not to Be? 10 Anderson, J. P., 343 Anderson, Mary, 20
Anecdotes, 265 Angelo, Henry Charles William, 11 Angelo, Michael, 300 Annual Register, 3-4, 56; 165 Anselm, Saint, 38, 64; 13 Antrobus & Company, 131 Apaches, 140 Apparitions, 227, 456 Appleton, D. & Co. (publishers), 121 Arabian Nights' Entertainments, 14 Archaeology, 44, 62; 301, 508 Archer, Frank, 443 Architecture, 374, 380, 398-399 Arctic Explorations, 282 Arizona, 140 Art, 29, 44, 60-61; 50-51, 97, 131, 167,279,297-298,302, 306,314,374,401,410411 Artists, 20, 44, 60-61; 51, 300, 340, 419,493,498,537 Ashanti War, 63 Asia, Central, 58 Athenaeum, The, 29; 54, 493
178 Athenaeum Club, 9, 65; 283 Atlas, 14; 39 Atlas, Allan W., 256 Augier, Emile, 15,291 Australia, 23, 36, 60; 466, 507 Australian Journal, 88, 128, 134, 144, 146, 148, 160, 165, 186, 196,202,209-210, 224,226-228,238-243, 246-247, 253-255, 260, 266,274,278,280-281, 285-286, 288, 293, 298, 300, 302, 304, 306, 308, 319,324-328,334,339340, 342-344, 347, 355, 368-370, 379, 382, 385, 392,406,418,425,433, 438, 444, 459, 467-470, 472, 474,476- 477, 480, 482-483,506,509-511, 514,517,519-520,522, 524,527,529,531,535 Australian Literature, 44; 88, 143, 506-507 Aytoun, W. E., 220 Azores, 55 Bailey, Phillip James, 17 Bain (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 9; 283 Baker, David Erskine, 45; 18 Ball, Edward, later Fitzball, 8, 17, 20, 45; 198-199 Balzac, Honore de, 19, 133, 435 'Bard, Samuel, A.,' see Squier, Ephraim, George Barratt, Thomas J., 398 Barriere, Theodore, 22-23, 495 Bartley, Harriet Elizabeth, 411 Bass, Michael Thomas, 25, 62; 24 Baudelaire, Charles, 392 Beaumarchais, Pierre-Augustine Caron de, 25 Beaumont, Francis, 26 'Bede, Cuthbert,' see Bradley,
Index Edward Beethoven, Ludwig van, 261, 431 Begg, James A., 64; 28 Behn, Mrs Aphra, 31 Belifante Brothers (publishers), 125 Bell, Robert, 48; 310, 441 Bellamy, George Anne, 45; 32 Beloe,M.A.,281 Beloe, William, 281 Benham, Charles, 74 Bennett, M. L. (booksellers/buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 6,10-15,22-23,28,32, 35, 30-39, 41, 53, 55, 65; 2,7-9, 12-13,28-30,36, 38-39, 45-46, 49, 52-54, 62, 66, 72, 83, 85, 98101, 103, 106-107, 109115,117,119-122,124Bentley (publishers), 24, 26, 37, 54-55; 40, 118, 177,457, 533 Bentley, Richard, 24, 37; 441 Bentley's Miscellany, 19, 33 Beranger, Pierre Jean de, 34 Berlioz, Hector, 62; 35 Bernard, Pierre-Joseph, 39, 51; 36 Bernard-Derosne, C , 126 Besant, Sir Walter, 37 Bible (New Testament), 2, 64; Addenda, 164 Bichat, Xavier, 39; 38 Biers, H., 507 Bigelow, John, 18, 30, 51, 57; 210 Billings, Jessie, Jr. 356 Biography, 6, 9,14, 21-24, 35, 4345, 48, 53-56, 60-62; 7, 11, 18,30,32,35,46-47, 49,51,56,73,76, 93, 129, 138, 147, 154, 166, 199,206-208,210-211, 238,251,253,256-257, 261,276,280-281,283, 289,295,298-300,312,
179
Index 320,336,343-344,361, 382,389,416,422,431, 459,474,510-511,517, 531 Bird, John, 517 Bixby, Daniel, 17, 30, 65; 139 Black (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 202, 237, 508, 514 Blackie & Sons (publishers), 224 Blackstone, Sir William, 461 Blain, Virginia, 31 Blake, William, 8, 61; 537 Blanchard, S. L., 6 Boase, Frederic, 22; 93 Bodleian Library, Oxford, 12; 186 Bohn (publisher), 16, 24, 43, 49, 51,54; 145,274 Bonaparte, Napoleon, 8,14, 48, 51, 55; 2, 34, 49, 188,251, 294, 298, 300 Borrow, George Henry, 5; 43 Boston Harbor, 57; 473 Boswell, James, 46-47, 145, 281 Boteler, John, 339 Bouilhet, Louis Hyacinthe, 48, 495 Bourke, Phillip, 54 Bowden, Ann, 432-434; Addenda, 164 Boxing, 354 Bradley, Edward, 27 Brain (diseases of), 520 Brandling, Henry Charles, 50, 120 Brigstocke, Thomas, 16, 21, 45; 52 Broadhurst (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 362, 396 Brooke, Thomas Digby, 13, 64; 238 Brooklyn (New York), 36; 380 Brown, Olivier, Madox, 54 Browne, Hablot Knight, see Phiz Bryant, William, 263 Buckley, Theodore William Alois, 16, 24, 43, 54; 5 Buffalo (New York), 287 Bullar, Joseph, 55
Burke, Peter, 57 Burton, John Hill, 4; 60 Bushby, Anna S., 54; 5, 10 Buss, Robert William, 156 Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 65-67, 141,434 Cabinet Cyclopedia, The, 296 Caine, Hall, 16, 47; 69-70, 435 Calcott, John, 71,261 Calverley, Charles Stuart, 38; 72 Cambridge, 21, 29, 32, 36, 38, 57; 460 Camden Historical Society, 398 Canada, 29, 36-37, 42, 59-60; 28, 85,335,430 Canadian copyrights, 325 Canadian Literature, 44, 62; 239 Canler, Louis, 27; 73 Caplin, Jean Francois Isidore, 74 Caracciolo, Peter, 14, 394, 432, 441 Carre, Fabrice, 75 Cassell's Magazine, 2 Catherine, Saint of Alexandria, 405 Catherwood, Frederick, 59; 462 'Cecil, John,' see Hone, William Cendrey, Camille de, 126 Cerrachini, Lida, 128 Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de, 79 Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, 80, 349 Chambers' Encyclopedia, 81 Chambers, Robert, 82 Chamisso, Adelbert von, 16, 29, 53; 83 Champlain, Samuel de, 84 Chapman, John (publisher), 334 Charlotte, Princess of Wales, 289 Chartism, 321 Chateaubriand, Francis-Rene, 40; 85 Chatrian, Pierre Alexandre, 188 Chatto, Andrew, 37; 464 Chatto and Windus (publishers), 70, 106, 122, 224 Chiapus, 59; 462
180 Childs, George W., 24; 399 Christianity, 27, 64; 334 Cibber, Colley, 86-87 Clairvoyance, 53, 65; 496 Clarke, Faith, 6, 9; 261, 402 Clarke, Marcus [Andrew Hislop], 54; 88 Clarke, William M., 152, 261, 402; Classical Literature, 5, 90, 280 Claudian (Claudius Claudianus), 43, 54; 90 Clemens, Samuel L., see Twain, Mark Clements, Patricia, 31 Cloncurry, Baron Valentine, 57; 93 Coball (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 51 Cogswell (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 42, 50, 67, 232, 357, 397 Coleman, George, 232 Collings, W. G., 427 Collins, Charles Allston (WC's brother), 4, 29, 60; 482, 484 Collins, Harriet (WC's mother), 4, 20, 43, 46, 64; 252, 286, 403,434-435,443,464, 474-475, 482-484, 496 Collins, Philip, 206 Collins, Wilkie, 1-66; 6, 12, 14, 19, 20, 24, 26-27, 29, 37, 46, 50,55,60,64-65,70,73, 79,90,96,97-98,117, 119-120,122-126, 131, 133-135, 141, 146, 148150, 152-153, 159, 161, 180, 186-187, 191, 196197,202-203,208,210, 216,225,232,242-243, 251,254-256,261-263, 272,281,283-284,287288, 295, 300-302, 309, 311,313,325-326,333, 336, 342, 349, 357-358,
Index 365,371,382,384,394395,399,401,403,407, 411-414,421,425,427, 432,434-436,438,441, 443, 448, 456, 464, 474, 482-484,496,507,511, 517,519,527,531,533 (inscribed/association copies), 15, 22-23, 30,32, 52; 5, 8, 10, 24, 33, 46, 52, 54, 62, 69, 74, 77, 82-83, 85-86,94,99, 109, 118, 121, 127-128, 132, 137, 139, 144, 156, 160, 162, 173, 192, 196-197,201, 204-206,210,221,226, 228, 230, 233, 236, 246, 249-250, 253, 258- 260, 263,272-273,283-284, 295,301,303,305,320, 333, 344, 349, 353, 365, 367,392,398-399,401402,411-412,420,422, 424, 447, 454, 456, 458459,475-476,493,496497,507,519-520,522, 524, 535; Addenda, 164; (Works), After Dark, 98; Antonina, 54; 26, 90, 99, 225; Armadale, 1,7,25, 63; 148,202,432,441; "Bachelor Bedroom, The," 80; "Balzac translation," 19; Basil, 1-2; Black Robe, The, 4, 7, 26, 64; 101,124-125,128,309, 407, 458, 530; Dead Alive, The, 103; Dead Secret, The, 104, 126, 161; Dream Woman, The, 105; Evil Genius, The, 63; 106; Fallen Leaves, The: First Series, 4, 7, 27; 107, 309, 371, 435; Frozen Deep, The, 108; George and
181
Index Mary, 125; Haunted Hotel, The, 109, 125; Haunted House, The, 124; Heart and Science, 7, 63; 110, 125, 128,309; "Incredible Not Always Impossible, The," 313; Ioldni, 6,27, 58; 187,244, 351; Jezebel's Daughter, 124-125; "John Jago's Ghost," 127; Law and the Lady, The, 3; 111, 413; Legacy of Cain, The, 112; Little Novels, 113; "Magnetic Evenings at Home," 313; Man and Wife, 2,7, 24; 60, 114, 125, 127, 3S2; Memoirs, 21, 54, 60; 336, 365; "Miss or Mrs?" 115; Moonstone, The, 4, 27, 37, 41,65; 152, 216, 373; My Lady's Money, 125; My Miscellanies, 10, \9;New Magdalen, The, 23, 29; 1 1 6 , 2 5 4 ; ^ ^ ^ , 16, 25, 63; 8, 125-126,394, 432, 441; No Name: A Drama, 117; "Parson's Scruple, The," 60; "Percy and the Prophet," 125; Poor Miss Finch, 47; 118, 180,456,517; "Portrait of an Author Painted by His Publisher," 99; Queen of Hearts, The, 105, 119, 203; Rambles Beyond Railways, 120; Readings and Writings in America, 263; Reviews, 273; Rogue's Life, A, 60; 121, 128; Two Destinies, The, 122, 128; Woman in White, The, 4, 22, 26-27, 42, 48, 59, 63, 65; 126127,135,342,418,436,
520; "Yellow Mask, The," 458; (Danish) 25, 41, 46, 52,54; 124; (Dutch) 4142, 46, 52; 125; "Works" (English) 7, 21-22, 41-42, 52; 123; (French) 18, 23, 27, 30, 38, 40-42, 50-52; 126; (German) 41-44, 46, 52-53; 127; (Italian) 8,19, 22, 41-42, 44, 46, 52; 128; (Swedish) 41-42; 124; Collins, William (1721-1759), poet, 49; 96 Collins, William (WC's father), 6, 8, 21, 54, 60, 64; 52, 97, 314,498 Colorado (Rocky Mountains), 59; 426 Comedie Fran9ais, 363 Communistic Societies, 28; 371 Commynes, Philippe de, 56; 129 Congreve, William, 130 Cooke, Edward William, 61; 131 Cooke, George (line engraver), 498 Cooke, Joseph B., 23; 132 Cooke, William Bernard (line engraver), 498 Cooper, James Fenimore, 8, 40, 51, 66; 19, 133,435 Copyright, 12, 134, 278, 319, 325 342 Corneille, Pierre, 415 Cornhill, The, 1 Cornwall, 64; 120,271 'Cornwall, Barry,' 8,11,17; 135138 Cotton, Charles, 509 Coverley (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 284, 366 Cowley, Abraham, 90 Crabbe, George, 48; 141, 434 Crebillon, Claude-Prosper Jolyot de, 143,415 Cremation, 41,44, 62; 388 Crimea, 288 Criminal cases, 21; 520
182 Croker, John Wilson, 145 Crowe, W., 96 Crowne, John, 37, 46; 146 'Crucis, Alpha,' see Adams, Robert Dudley, 17, 23, 54 Cruikshank, George, 33, 178, 271 Cumberland, Joseph George, 147 Curiosities and Wonders, 446, 456,532 Daily Bills of the Play, 45; 488 Daily News, The, 382 Dana, Richard Henry, 51; 149, 326 Danish Literature, 10 D'Avenant, Sir William, 37, 46; 150 De Coverley (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 25, 34, 294 Defoe, Daniel, 48; 151-152 De Quincey, Thomas, 37, 48; 153 Detectives, 40; 73, 216, 218, 384 De Vinne Press (New York), 523 Dickens, Charles, 6-10, 16-17, 20, 23, 25-26, 32, 45-46, 54, 56,63; 10, 155-62, 180, 198,204,206,284,288, 301,315,343,349,496, 510; 157,206,256; Barnaby Rudge, 206; David Copper field, 206; Dombey and Son, 206; Edwin Drood, 46; Letters, 8,17,25,32,46,54; 10, 24, 159, 180; Martin Chuzzlewit, 206; Oliver Twist, 206; Pickwick Papers, 156; Plays and Poems, 8; 158; see also All the Year Round, Household Words Dickens, Mary, 17, 32, 46; 159-160 Dickinson, Frances Vickress ('Frances Elliot'), 180-185 Dictionaries and Reference, 44-46, 57, 63; 18, 81, 165,248-
Index 249, 264, 266, 296, 446, 488-489,492,511-512, 532 Dictionary of American Biography (DAB), 263 Dictionary of National Biography (DNB), 5, 7, 32, 41, 52, 70, 82, 96-97, 135, 226, 283, 520 Diderot, Denis, 9, 39, 65; 163 Diving, 444 Dobell, Bertram (booksellers/ buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 6; 15, 18,22, 129,145,150, 194,375377,413,484,501,503504,518,521,523,525526 Dore, Gustave, 471 Doyle, Richard, 220, 316, 485-487 Drury Lane, Theatre Royal, 9; 283 Dryden, John, 168 Dumas fils, Alexandre, 172 Dumas pere, Alexandre, 169-171 Dunham, Samuel Astley, 173, 296 East Coast of England, 63; 508 Edgcumbe, Richard, 65 Edinburgh Review, 57; 326 Edgeworth, Maria, 1 Edwards, Annie, 174-177 Edwards, Francis (booksellers/ buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 5-6, 47; 21, 58, 84,90, 170-171, 173, 187, 204, 208, 244, 329-333, 341,367,414,523 Electro-Chemical bath, 74 Eliot, George, 47, 52; 179 Eliot, Sir John, 6, 56; 207 Elliot, George (industrialist), 382 Ellis, Joseph, 22; 186 Engelmann (publisher), 127 Engineer, 536 England, Social Reform in, 382-
183
Index 383,393 England, South Coast of, 498 English Literature, 21, 43-49; 4, 6, 16-18,26,31,33,37,4041,44-47,52,54,56,59, 61-62,65-67,69-70,72, 80,86-88,91-92,94-96, 98-128, 130, 133, 135138, 141, 144-147, 150153, 155-162, 165-166, 168, 174-185, 191, 197199,203-208,220-221, 224,230-233,236,240243,251,253-254,257259, 262, 272, 278, 280281,283-285,292-293, 302-303,311,313,315319,323-325,327-333, 336, 340-343, 347, 358359,361,365,381,392, 394-395, 397, 403-405, 408-409,412,416-417, 420, 423, 425, 432-435, 441-443,445,447-448, 453-454, 457-458, 460, 464, 474, 482-484, 486489,496,500,509-510, 513,515,518,531,533534,537 Erckmann, Emile, 40; 188 Europe, Middle Ages, 13, 58; 246 Farquhar, George, 11, 43, 46, 64; 191 Farren (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 5, 407, 422 Fawcett, Edgar, 17,30; 192 Fechter, Charles Albert, 17, 30; 196 Ferat, Jules-Descartes, 502 Feuillet, Octave, 39; 194, 495 Feval, Paul, 40; 195 Field, Kate, 30; 196,427 Fielding, Henry, 38, 48, 54; 86, 97, \97; Tom Jones, 38; 197 Fildes [Sir Samuel] Luke, 157 Fitzball, Edward Ball, 198-199
Fitzherbert, Mrs, 295 Flaubert, Gustave, 42; 48, 200-201; Salammbo, 17, 30, 42; 201 Fleeman, J.D., 280-281 Fletcher, John, 26 Forgues, Emile D., 126, 203 Forster, John, 6, 35, 56; 204-208, 232 Forum, The, 9, 209 Foster, E., 407 France, 21, 23, 30, 36-37, 40, 5556, 58, 62-63; (criminal investigations) 27; 73, 89, 218,349,384,418; (gastronomy) 406; (history) 55; 2, 49, 129, 183,184,238,251,294, 298- 300, 320, 379, 490491; (literature) 40; 1,3, 15, 19,22-23,25-26,3436,48,75,85, 142,163, 169-172, 188, 190, 194195,200-201,203,212214,216-219,234-235, 255,267-270,290-291, 306-308, 339, 345, 348350, 352, 357, 363-364, 375-377,386-387,390392,402,413,415,427429, 436- 437, 439, 449452,455,467,468-471, 495, 501-505; (music) 62; 322; (philosophy) 139, 505; (South of) 55; 362 France, Peter, 194 Francis, 81 Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 7; 309 Franklin, Benjamin, 30, 57; 211 Franklin, Sir John, 282 Frieling (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 516 Frith, W. P., 382 Gaboriau, Emile, 40; 216-219 "Galignani," 484
184 Galignani's Library (Paris), 6 Gardner (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 231 Garrick, David, 43, 45; 361 Gasson, Andrew, 11, 23, 26-27, 3738, 41-42, 47-48, 51, 53, 60; 12, 19,29,37,50,64, 70, 100, 105-106, 108, 117, 119, 121-122, 125126,137,161, 180,244, 262,392,401,413,421, 432,456,484,496,511, 519, 527; Addenda, 164 Gastronomy (French), 44, 62; 406 Gaultier, Bon (Sir Theodore Martin), 220 Genealogy, 248 Geneste, John, 43, 45; 221, 283 George (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 5-8, 11, 13,21, 24, 27, 30, 38, 40, 46-49, 53-54,57-58,60-63; 57, 153 George, Henry, 56; 222-223 German Literature and Culture, 44, 52, 62; 83, 229, 261, 276, 310,312,385,407,414, 431,492,531 Ghosts, 23, 44, 62, 64; 190, 262, 446, 450 Gibbon, Charles, 224 Gibbon, Edward, 225 Gibson, William Sidney, 226 Gilbert, Sir John, 119 Gill, William Fearing, 18, 30; 228 Gilpin, Henry, 230 Godwin, William, 257 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 43, 53; 17,83,312 Goldsmith, Oliver, 231-233 Goncourt, Edmond de, 234-235 Goncourt, Jules, 234 Gordon, Lady Lucie Duff, 193 Goteborg (Sweden), 36; 124 Graham (buyers at Puttick and
Index Simpson), 317, 434 Graves, Caroline, 25, 27, 63; 8, 411 Gray, Thomas, 49; 236 Greece, 494 Grundy, Isabel, 31 Guides, 44, 62; 8, 148, 202, 237, 508,514 Haggard, Sir Henry Rider, 240243 Halevy, Ludovic, 40; 348 Hallam, Henry, 13, 58; 246 Hampshire, (Forest of Dean), 369 Hampstead, 19, 24; 398 Harding, James, Duffield, 314 Harper & Brothers (publishers), 122, 360 Harper's Magazine, 9, 247 Hart, James D., 426, 462 Hartley (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 7; 59, 69, 70, 74,78,87,132,177,189, 191,222-223,258,262, 292,303,365,381,383, 393-394,416,421,448, 464, 478-479, 497, 500, 513,515,533 Harvard University Library, 311, 358, 443 Harvey, Sir Paul, 26, 86, 216 Hawaii, Addenda, 164 Hawkesworth, John, 11, 49; 474 Hayne, Paul Hamilton, 18, 28, 49, 51; 19,133,250,281, 427, 434-435 Hay ward, Abraham, 389 Hazlitt, William, 8, 48, 55; 251, 257 Heald (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 80, 314,471, 512 Heath, William (engraver), 273274 Hedlund, T. (publisher), 124 Hemans, Felicia Dorothea, Mrs., 1 Heseltine, J. G., 216
Index Hetzel, J. (publisher), 126 Heussey, Robert du Pontavice de, 9, 18, 23-24, 40, 49, 57; 232, 253-255, 436 Hill (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 61, 197,374, 437 History, 2, 20, 27-28, 49, 63, 73, 82, 89, 93, 129, 151,163,165, 173,189, 204-205,207,210-211, 221,223,225-226,246, 248-249,251,260,271, 273, 275, 277, 287-289, 294-295,300-301,320321,326,335,337,346, 349, 354, 360, 362, 366, 369,371,378-379,383, 393, 396, 400, 407,422, 424, 430, 440, 448, 458, 473,481,490-491,515, 530,535,536 Hoffman, C. T. W., 229 Hogarth, George, 17, 61-62; 256 Hogarth, Georgina, 32, 46; 159-160 Holcroft, Thomas, 257 Holden, James, 23; 258 Holl, Henry, 259 Holley, George, 260 Hollingshead, John, 533 Holmes, J. Gibb, 262 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 29-31, 51; 263 Hone, William, 264-265 Hook, Theodore, 65; 283 Hook, Walter Farquhar, 43, 64; 266 Household Words, 7,16, 22, 24, 26, 46, 48, 52, 54, 61, 64; 60,105,161,284,458, 493 Howard, H., 433 Howatson, M. C , 90 Hudson (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 491 Hugo, Victor, 24, 39, 50; 267-270 Hunt, Rev., J. H., 476
185 Hunter Rose & Co. (publishers), 37; 260 Huntington Library, The, 109, 117 Hurt, F., (buyers at Puttick and Simpson) 32, 44, 63, 166, 180-185,400,417,489, 492 Hymns, 62; 252 Inchbald, Elizabeth, 45; 272 India, 4, 42, 65 Insanity, 15, 21, 65; 519 Ireland, 36-38; 93, 358 Irving, Washington, 51; 273 Italy, 2, 20-22, 36, 58, 62; 42, 76, 90, 183,337,407,422, 475-476, 530 James, Sir John Kingston, 6, 43, 53; 475 Jefferson, Joseph, 529 Jerusalem (churches), 279 Jesuits, 4, 26, 58-59, 64; 460 Jesup, Paton & Co., 425 Johnson, Captain Charles, 151 Johnson, Samuel, 14, 49; 44-47, 86, 145,280-281,389 Jones (booksellers/buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 23, 48, 75, 214, 345, 348, 350, 363364,391,429,436,439, 455, 495 Jones, Stephen, 18 Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 256 Jurisprudence (medical), 478 Kegan, Paul and Trench (publishers), 333 Kelly, Michael, 8, 45; 283 Kent, Charles, 25, 35, 42, 64; 251, 284,293 Kent, Christopher, 152 Ketchum, William, 287 King, Alfred, 27
186 Kinglake, Alexander William, 288 'Knickerbocker, Diedrich,' see Irving, Washington Knight, Charles, 48; 442 Knight, Cornellia, 289 Kock, Charles-Paul de, 290 Kruse, Lawrids, 229 Labiche, Eugene, 40, 291 Lamb, Charles, 26; 135, 293-294 Lancet, The, 353 Landon, Hon. Judson S., 356 Landor, Walter Savage, 6; 208 I'Ardeche, 300 Lardner 's Cabinet Cyclopaedia, 173,296 Lardner, Dionysius, 296 L'Art, 297 Latude, Jean Henri Masers de, 299 Laurent, Paul Mathieu, called 'de Laverdiere, Charles Honore, 41, 59; 84 Law, Graham, 309 Laws, 2, 4-5, 44, 56; 383, 459, 461, 478-479,519 Layard, Sir Austen Henry, 301 Leader, The, 15, 20-21, 51, 63-65; 273,313,411,414,519 Lear, Edward, 24; 302 Leaves of Grass, 52; 516 Lee, Harriet, 303 Leech, John, 220 Lehmann, Frederick, 10, 41; 384, 441 Lehmann, Nina, 16; 82 Leon, Edwin De, 305 Le Sage, Alain-Rene, 306-307 Leslie, Frank [Henry Carter], 7; 309 Leslie, Miriam, 309 Les Nuits Anglaises, 39; 308 Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, 43, 53; 310 Leventhal, Lionel, 398 Lever, Charles, 47; 311
Index Lewes, George Henry, 47, 52-53; 312-313 Lewis, John Frederick, 8, 61; 314 Linnell, John, 4 Linton, Eliza Lynn, 315 Locker, Frederick (later LockerLampson), 316 Lockhart, John Gibson, 317 Loire, The (France), 419 London Stage, 45; 318 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 263 Longman, Thomas, 319 Longmans (publishers), 19; 365366 Lonoff, Sue, 302 Loughborough, 23; 132 Louis, XI. (King of France), 129 Louvet de Couvray, Jean Baptiste, 7; 320 Lovett, William, 56; 321 Lupton (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 152,312,321 Lutteroth, Henri, 62; 322 Lytton, Edward George Lytton Bulwer, 45, 47; 284, 323325, 325A Macaulay, Thomas Babington, Baron, 326 Macmillan's Magazine, 359 Macready, William Charles, 45; 336 McCarthy, Justin, 327-333 McCulloch, John, 523 Magazines, 7,11, 44, 62; 338, 373, 438 Maggs Brothers (booksellers/ Buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 6; 11,31,40, 64,93,117,145,147, 164, 257,289,335,371-372, 378, 420, 430, 435, 462463,466,490-491 Magnetism, 19, 44, 53, 62, 65; 414
Index Man, Isle of, 25, 36, 63; 148, 202 Manitoba, 13-14; 28 Marmontel, Jean Francois, 339 Marryat, Frederick, 6, 47, 61; 340341 Marston, Edward, 342 Martin, Sir Theodore, see 'Gaultier Bon'. Mary, Queen of Scots, 27 Massett, Stephen C , 19, 30, 63; 344 May (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 17,282,313, 316,419,458,496 Mazeres, Edouard Joseph Ennemond, 345, 350, 436 Medical testimony, 63; 356 Medicine, 44, 62; 74, 478-479, 519-520 Medwin, Thomas, 48; 347 Meilhac, Henri, 40, 50; 348 Mejan, Maurice, 4, 8, 26, 38, 63; 349 Melbourne (Australia), 36, 54; 507 Melesville, Anne Honore Joseph, 40; 345, 350 Memoirs, 7-8,13, 21-22, 35, 41, 43-46, 48, 54-57, 60, 6263; 35, 41, 73, 76, 89,93, 97, 129, 147, 154, 163, 199,256-257,283,295, 298-299,317,320,336, 347,384,416,424,472, 532-535 Meryon, Edward, 353 Mexico, 58-59; 372, 426, 462-463 Milton, John, 434 Moak, Nathaniel Cleveland, 19, 30, 63;356 Moliere, Jean Baptiste Poquelinde, 357 Money (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 26, 37, 91-92, 259,380,390,453 Montagu, Elizabeth, 166 Montenegro, 494
187 Moore, Thomas, 358 Moreau, J. M., 505 Morland, George, 8, 21, 60-61; 97 Morley (publisher), 510 Moscheles, Ignace, 62; 431 Motte Fouque, Caroline, Baroness De La, 229 Mowbray, Walter Morris, 359 Moxon, Edward, 316 Mozart, Wolfgang, Amadeus, 261, 276 Murphy, Arthur, 43, 45; 281 Music, 9, 25, 44, 62; 24, 33-35, 71, 252,256,261,276,318, 322,344,431 Nadel, Ira B., 187,244,403 Naigeon, Jaques Andre, 163 Nargeot, Pierre Julien, 40, 50; 363 Narrey, Charles, 364 Netherlands, The, 360 New America, 164 New Mexico, 140 New York, 7,11, 15,17, 24, 29-32, 36, 51, 65; 273, 380 New York (State), Ballston Spa, 356 New York Tribune, The, 527 New York (Wall Street), 57; 346 Newgate Calendar, 26; 275, 349 Newspapers, 2, 7, 35; 309, 367-368 Niagara, 29, 57; 260 Noise, 25, 62; 24 North America, 29, 42, 51, 55, 59; 84 North Carolina, 142 North West, The, 29 Northampton, 36; 514 Northcote, James, 232 Notes and Queries, 65; 338, 373 Nugent (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 7; 20, 43, 60, 77,95,143,193,233,236, 265, 267-270, 272, 275, 277,307,310,356,359, 386,395,415,481,502
188 Offenbach, Jaques, 348 Ohnet, Georges, 50; 375-377 Oliver (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 7; 16, 170, 172, 178, 188,297,309,311, 325A, 373 Opera, 22, 40, 45, 50, 62; 256 Osborne (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 205, 398 Otway, Thomas, 11, 46; 381 Oxford, 12, 36, 38, 40, 50-51, 64; 483 Pacific, 58; Addenda, 164 Packer (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 249, 530, Addenda, 164 Paine, Thomas, 257 Palestine, 30 Pall Mall Gazette, 206 Palmistry, 44, 62; 511 Papacy, 530 Paris (bookstores), 349 Parker, J. W. and Son (publishers), 441 Parkinson, Joseph Charles, 24; 382 Parsons, Edwin (booksellers/ buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 7-8; 56, 61,97, 102, 135-136, 138,314, 388, 488, 494, 537 Patagonia, 59; 68 Patmore, Coventry, 138 Peninsula War, 362 Peters, Catherine, 21, 25, 28, 32, 37, 48, 52-53, 65; 97, 371, 414,496 Philadelphia, 24, 29, 30, 36, 53, 57, 63; 399 Phillips, Henry, 83, 385 Philosophy, 17, 30, 44, 62, 65; 139, 163,505 Phiz (i.e., Browne, Hablot Knight), 156 Physiology, 31, 37, 39, 44, 62; 38
Index Picard, Louis-Benoit, 386 Pickering, William (publisher), 96, 168, 186 Pichler, Karoline, 229 Pigault-Lebrun, Charles, 51; 387 Pigott, Edward, 357 Piozzi, Hester Lynch (Mrs. Thrale), 389 Pixerecourt, Rene-Charles, 390 Planche, James Robinson, 40, 45; 350 Playing Cards, 481 Plouvier, Edouard, 391 Poe, Edgar Allan, 40; 392 Poisons, 63; 479 Politics, 1, 44, 56-57, 62, 64; 204205, 209, 222-223, 382383,393,440,536 Pollock, Sir Frederick, 336 Polynesia, 6, 27, 58; 187, Addenda, 164 Pompadour, Mme de, 7, 56 Poor Law Reform, 382-383 Pope, Alexander, 49; 86, 394-395 Portugal, 60; 494; (History of), 173 Powell (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 3, 89, 190, 195, 203, 387 Princeton University Library (Parrish Collection), 4, 9; 27,85,251,253,309,411, 425, 464 Prior, Sir James, 49; 231 Procter, Bryan Waller, see 'Cornwall, Barry', 8,11, 17 Protest, 44, 62; 24, 398, 424 Psychiatry, 44, 62, 65; 519-520 Psychology, 44, 55, 62, 65; 53, 414 Publishing, 7, 37, 46; 12, 134, 154, 278,319 Puigblanch, Antonio, 43; 400 Pullen (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 35, 73, 200
Index Pusey, Edward Bouverie, 38, 64; 13 Putnam, G. P. (publishers), 477 Puttick and Simpson (auctioneers), 5-15, 22-23, 28, 32, 35, 37-38, 47, 52-54, 61, 65; 13,30,90, 117, 137,227, 261,266,280,286,293, 304, 334, 370, 426-427, 456, 467, 472, 476 Quaritch, Bernard (booksellers/ buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 6-8; 19,23, 206, 299, 384, 456 Quilter, Harry, 7-8,19, 35, 61; 401 Racine, Jean, 415 Radcliffe, Anne, 403-404 Radecliffe, Noell, 405 Railways, 120 Raisson, Horace, 406 Ramsgate, 25; 24 Raphael, 21; 52 Reade, Charles, 10, 62; 384 Reade, John Edmund, 408-409 Redford, George, 61; 410-411 Reed, Isaac, 45; 18 Reeve, Wybert, 26; 349 Reformation, 337 Regnard, Jean Francis, 415 Regnier, de la Brierre, Francis Joseph Philocles, 413 Religion, 1, 43-44, 62, 64; 13, 30, 227-228, 252, 266, 284, 286, 304, 334, 337, 366, 370, 400, 407, 458,460, 472, 482, 530 Restoration Drama, 11, 37, 46; 130, 146,150,167,381,500, 518 Revue des Deux Mondes, La, 41; 203 Reya (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 346, 399, 473 Reynolds, Frederick, 45; 416 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 232
189 Rhetoric, 515 Ritchie, Leitch, 61; 419 Robin Hood, 6; 420 Robinson, Kenneth, 24; 20, 206, 302 Robson (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 10; 155 Roche (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 7-8; 19,96, 133, 168,251,287,349, 384,432 Roman Empire, 58; 225 Rome (history of), 26, 530; (St. Peters), 49; 474 Roosevelt, Blanche, Mrs., 22; 421 Rose, G. Maclean, 260 Ross, Alexander Milton, 30; 424 Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 29, 48; 54 Rossetti, William Michael, 28; 54 Routledge (publishers), 293, 324, 341 Ruedy, John, 300 Ruxton, George Frederick Augustus, 426 Sabin, Frank T. (booksellers/ buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 104, 108, 116, 192,225,230 St. James Theatre, 441 St. Martin's Public Library (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 9; 163, 505 Salisbury (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 55 Sampson Low (publisher), 59; 64, 100,119,259,342 Sand, George, 39; 427-428 Sandhurst, 59; 426 Sandwich Islands, 27, 58; 187 Santarelli, 128 Sardou, Victorien, 429 Sarony, Napoleon, 29 Sayers, Dorothy L., 456 Schlesinger, Sebastian, 29, 42; 358, 435
190 Scotland, 4, 63-64; (Sumburgh Head), 435 Scott, Sir Gilbert, 19, 24; 398 Scott, Sir Walter, 4, 8, 40, 45, 48, 66; 19,65,133, 141,201, 317,432-433,444,435; Antiquary, The, 435; Bride of Lammermoor, The, 70; Guy Mannering, 435; Ivanhoe, 435; miscellaneous prose works, 48; 432; Modern British Drama, 48; 433; poetry, 48; 434; Old Mortality, 201; Quentin Durward, 201; Waverley Novels, 1, 48 Scribe, Eugene, 345, 350, 436-437 Scribner's (publishers), 438 Scribners, Magazine, 9, 438 Sculpture, 19, 44, 60-61; 411 Seaver, William, 309 Serret, Ernest, 439 Seymour (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 295 Seymor, Robert, 156 Shakespeare, 3-4, 15, 39, 48; 166, 292,357,425,441-442, 483, 526; Hamlet, 70, 435 Sharp, M. W., 433 Shattock, Joanne, ed., The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, 43, 366 Sheffield and Rotherham Independent Supplement, 4 Sheldon, Mary French, 17, 30, 42; 201 Shelton, Thomas, 53; 78 Shepherd, R. H., 31, 158 Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 147, 443 Shipping and craft, 61; 131
Index Siddons, Sarah (nee Kemble), 45; 41 Simpkin and Marshall (publishers), 27 Slavery (Abolition), 57; 424 Smirke, Robert, 433 Smith (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 7; 6, 167,216219,264,276,315,389, 449-452 Smith, Elder (publishers), 98 Smith, George, 533 Smith, Nelson, 14, 152, 302, 394, 432,441 Smollett, Tobias, 97,448 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 472 Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 27; 277 Sotheran (booksellers at Puttick and Simpson), 8, 37, 46; 401 Soulie, Frederic, 449-452 Southerne, Thomas, 46; 453 Southey, Robert, 10, 45; 173, 221, 454 Souvestre, Emile, 455 Spain, 396, 400, 494; (history of), 173 Spanish Literature, 44, 53, 62; 7879, 173,385 Spenser, Walker T. (booksellers/ buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 158-159, 197198 Spicer, Henry, 64; 456 Squier, Ephraim George, 21, 384 Squire, William Barclay, 7-8; 19, 299 Stanfield, Clarkson, 47, 61; 340 Stephens, John Lloyd, 462 Sterne, Laurence, 97, 464-465 Stephens, John R., 15, 198 Stephens, Russell, 56 Stewart, J. A., 435
Index Stirling (buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 10; 156-157, 162 Storre (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 65, 358 Stothard, Thomas, 48, 60; 51, 152 Street Music, 9,16, 25, 62; 24 Suckling, George (booksellers/ buyers at Puttick and Simpson), 10,41,79,88, 94, 139, 154, 174-176, 179,201,211,250,252, 256, 299, 320, 323,353, 361,423,443,445,507 Sue, [Eugene], 467-469 Sun, The, 26; 284 Superstitions, 44, 62, 64; 190, 227, 238,271,285,446 Sutherland, John, 88, 152, 373, 533 Sutton, Christopher, 64; 472 Swift, (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 118,498 Swift, Jonathan, 11, 49; 474 Switzerland, 496 Tasso, Torquato, 6,19, 43, 53; 475476 Tauchnitz, Bernhard and Christian (publishers), Addenda, 164 Taveau, Augustin Louis, 477 Taylor, Jenny Bourne, 3 Taylor, Jeremy, 20, 35, 64; 482 Temperance, 64; 355 Temple Bar, 382 Tennessee, 142 Tennyson, Alfred Lord, 250, 435, 483 Terry, R. C , 14, 152,302,391, 432,441,444;^. 171 Thackeray, William Makepeace, 484-487 Theatre: American, 196, 521, 525; English, 18,26,31-32,41, 52, 56, 86, 87, 130, 146147, 150, 174, 191, 196,
191 199,221,232,272,278, 283,292-293,318,323, 336,359,361,381,405, 412,416,425,433,441443, 453, 488-489, 500, 518,521,526; French, 15, 22-23,25,48,75, 169170,172,194,212,214, 254,270,291,345,348, 350, 352, 357, 363-364, 386,390-391,413,415, 429, 436-437, 439, 455, 495; German, 310, 492 Theatrical Observer, The, 8, 45; 488 Thesaurus Dramaticus, 45; 489 Thistlewood, (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 68, 142, 167, 229,301,351,360,403404, 426, 460 Thompson (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 68, 142, 167, 229,301,351,354,360, 403-404, 426, 460 Thornbury, Walter, 61; 493 Times, The (London), 359 Todd, William B., 432-434; Addenda, 164 Topp, Chester W., 224 Toronto, 13, 29, 32, 36-37, 54; 260, 430 Tourode, Alfred, 495 Townsend, Pauline D., 276 Townshend, Rev., Chauncy Hare, 496 Train, The, 131 Travel, 6,13, 29, 31, 38, 41, 44, 47, 58-59; 21, 35, 44-45, 50, 55, 58, 64, 84, 140, 148, 164,179-180,186,244245,260,282,351,372, 378,419,426,462-463, 466, 473, 494, 508, 528529 Trials (incl. Criminal), 3-5,19, 27, 41, 44, 62-63; 43, 57, 60,
192 193,275,277,356,418, 459,461 Trowbridge, John Townsend, 20, 30; 497 Triibner (publishers), 304 Tunbridge Wells (Kent), 43; 475 Turkey, 494 Turner, Joseph Mallord William, 419,493,497,498 Twain, Mark (Clemens, Samuel L.), 29, 32; 263, 499 Tynemouth, 226 United States (History of), 20; (Communistic Societies), 371; (Travels in), 378 Universal Review, The, 401 Vanbrugh, Sir John, 500 Vaudeville Theatre, 443 Verdi, Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco, 421 Vernet, Horace, 55; 300 Vernon, (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 140,440 Versailles, 300 Vesey (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 130 Vincent, Benjamin, 63; 249 Voltaire, 3-4, 9, 39, 50, 65; 166, 415,505 Walch, Garnet, 20, 54; 506-507 Walton, Izaak, 509 Walton, William, 43; 400 Ward and Lock (publishers), 27; 73 Ward, Charles, 197,464 Ward, Edward Matthew, 325 Ward, Frank, 395 Warton, Joseph, 395 Watt, A. P., 23, 25, 37, 47, 66; 24, 242-243, 432, 438 Webster, Noah, 512 Weekly Register, 26; 284 West Indies, 56; 440
Index Westall, William, 236, 513 Whitby (Yorkshire), 434 Whittier, John Greenleaf, 263 Wilkins, J. C , 129 Wilson, John, 37, 46; 518 Winslow, Forbes, 15, 21, 65; 519520 Winter, William, 15, 30-31, 48, 51; 65, 141,434-435,521-529 Wiseman, Nicholas Patrick (Cardinal), 530 Withers (booksellers at Puttick and Simpson), 7, 9-10; 4, 24, 27,47,71, 141,221,248, 261,273,305,402,408411,422,424,431,447, 454, 465, 493, 499 Wolff, Robert Lee, 259 Wonders of the Universe, 63; 532 Wood, Mrs. Henry, 533 Wood, Mrs. John, 441 Woolley (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 33, 220 Woollett (buyer at Puttick and Simpson), 14,296,444, 446,457,461 World, The, 4 Wraxall, Nathaniel William, 13; 535 Wynne, Nannie, 5 Yates, Edmund, 131,382 Yucatan, 58-59; 372, 462-463
About the Author WILLIAM BAKER is Professor, Department of English, and Professor, University Libraries, at Northern Illinois University. His previous books include Recent Work in Critical Theory, 1989-1995: An Annotated Bibliography (1996), TwentiethCentury Bibliography and Textual Criticism: An Annotated Bibliography (2002), and A Companion to the Victorian Novel (2002), all available from Greenwood Press. He also coedited The Letters of Wilkie Collins (1999), and has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for 2002-2003 to edit another three volumes of Wilkie Collins's letters.