NOTE
The bibliography of Reade's plays is obscure and confusing. I have listed in the foregoing pages only those of the printed issue of which I have found certain evidence. He is known, however, to have written many more, some at least of which were probably printed privately. Wherefore it seems desirable here to supply such particulars as can be found of the writing and acting of Reade's other plays. The facts are taken mainly from Coleman's book, which contains as an appendix a good list of titles and dates of production. Unfortunately the book itself is so confusingly put together that text and appendix are far from complementary and at times even in conflict.
A. Early Unacted Plays, written before 1851.
The Way Things Turn.
The Dangerous Path.
The Lost Sisters.
Marguerite.
Lucrezia Borgia.
A Lady's Oath.
Christie Johnstone
(The novel of the same name was built, long after, on the ruins of this unacceptable play).
B. Acted Plays, with Dates of First Production and other Available Details.
The Village Tale (produced 1852)
(Based on Claudie, by George Sand. Revived in 1872 under the title Rachel the Reaper).
Art (produced 1852)
(An adaptation of Tiridate and later christened Nance Oldfield).
Nobs and Snobs (produced 1854)
(Revived in 1865 under the title Honour before Titles).
The First Printer (produced 1854).
Free Labour (produced 1870)
(A dramatic version of the novel Put Yourself in his Place).
Shilly Shally (produced 1872)
(An unauthorized dramatization of Anthony Trollope's novel Ralph the Heir. Reade's action in appropriating the story was deeply resented by Trollope).
The Wandering Heir (produced 1872 or 1873)
(A dramatic version of the story of the same name).
Jealousy (produced 1875)
(An adaptation of Sardou's comedy Andrée, and not to be confused with Reade's dramatizations of his own novel Griffith Gaunt).
Rachel the Reaper (produced 1876)
(See above: A Village Tale).
Joan (produced 1876)
(Dramatized, without permission, from That Lass o' Lowries, by Mrs. Hodgson Burnett).
Drink (produced 1879)
(Adapted from L'Assommoir by Emile Zola).
Single Heart and Double Face (produced 1882)
(A dramatic version of the story of the same name).
GEORGE JOHN WHYTE-MELVILLE
1821-1878
G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE
Although as an authority on matters sporting Whyte-Melville stands alone, it is yet impossible, with the best will in the world and with all the respect due to his personal chivalry and courage, to regard him in the rôle of novelist as anything but absurd.
His books, where they deal with the science and the joys of hunting, have the vivid appeal that only delighted conviction can give; but as fiction, as readings of life adequately expressed in English prose, they are negligible and often ludicrous.
Whyte-Melville, the sportsman, is a figure of dignity and inspiration; Whyte-Melville, the social novelist, is Ouida in breeches. That the breeches are of perfect cut may not disguise the conventional swagger of the legs they cover. The ways trodden by this author in his search for character and incident are the exclusive ways of Victorian landlordism. Their pavements are thronged with fair ladies and brave gentlemen, while in the roadway crowd the lower orders—some mildly criminal, some a little comic, but the majority joyous in their privilege to serve the brilliant purpose of their betters. The antics of these humble creatures are watched with kindly patronage by those to whom wealth and pleasure are a normal birthright. Conversing among themselves, heartily but with elegance, the Guardsmen and squirelings of the fashionable clubs find time to exchange gracious greeting with their poorer neighbours, whose uncouth speech strikes quaintly pleasant on their cultured ears. An instruction is given; half a sovereign changes hands; a cap is dutifully touched. God willed that of His creatures some be rich and others poor; let the former bear themselves honourably and remember (when not otherwise engaged) the duties of their station; let the latter be happy in the lot to which Providence has called them.
But genial condescension to his dependants is not the only or even the main business of the Whyte-Melville gentleman. His life has two absorbing interests—horses and ladies. To a point these interests merge. With identical expertise he takes the points of a fine girl and of a blood mare. The former in her drawing-room, the latter in her stable, await in gleaming beauty his appreciative caress. At their point of ultimate usefulness, however, femininity and horseflesh part company. The latter is the hero's ally, the former his quarry in the chase; and while his adventures on horseback are told with the zest and knowledge of real authority, his exploits in lady-killing have the tedious unreality of a tale only half imagined and not a quarter lived.
It is for the falseness of his emotional writing that Whyte-Melville challenges comparison with Ouida. And, the comparison made, one is bound to concede victory to the latter. Both deal in the passions of the nobly born; but while the woman has at least the courage of bad taste, the man, fettered by good form, achieves no taste at all. Whyte-Melville's novels, like Hamlet, are full of quotations. He is the father of novelette; the wellspring of cliché. His lovely ladies are not women nor his gallants men: they are the dummies of suburban melodrama, exquisitely gowned, faultlessly tailored, mouthing the phrases of drawing-room passionates, but, even as dummies, failing to achieve that semblance of gilded sin that is their only purpose.
Nevertheless, despite their ineptitude, the books of Whyte-Melville compel a curious and obscure respect. Respect for what it were hard to say, for his written word is his own deadliest accuser. Sentences might be chosen almost at random from the novels of social life that would prove his possession of every fault possible to a novelist and to a writer of prose. And yet, through the screen of their fatuity, one has glimpses of the personality of the author himself—a personality at which one may make mock, but only with affection. This country gentleman turned novelist was an upright, guileless creature, hard riding, generous hearted, as unconscious of his innate snobbery as of his natural modesty, conventional because unaware of any world or school of thought beyond the narrow limits of his own. His pictures of England are as dull and as unreal as the pretty garden scenes in water-colour produced by county ladies to this day; but both the painter of these lifeless pictures and the comfortable amateurs responsible for horrid views of moorland and herbaceous border command a sort of wistful admiration. There is something so clean and easy and contented in the mentality from which these books and drawings spring that, if only it were not so stupid, so impenetrable to variety of idea, its passing might well be looked on with regret. Whyte-Melville's qualities, like those of the type he represents, are more obscure than his defects. The class of country gentleman to which he personally belonged is rapidly disappearing; when it is gone we shall wonder a little perplexedly why we miss it. It was so easy to ridicule, so pathetically a target for mockery and persecution. In our greater wisdom we have shot it to pieces, riddling its obtuse selfishness, its bland complacency, with the bullets of reforming zeal. But something fine will have perished with it, something indefinable but leaving a sense of gap, to remind us that destruction is never quite the discriminating triumph that iconoclasts claim for it in advance.
This, then, is one contemporary view of Whyte-Melville's novels, whose only demonstrable virtue is their sportsmanship. One may quote from Market Harborough, from Riding Recollections, even from the social stories, passages of speed and exhilaration, passages of unaffected wisdom and perception, descriptive of the hunting that, next to honour, he loved best of all that life could offer. In opposition may be printed page after page of stilted rhetoric, mawkish humour, the falsest of sentiment, the most wanton elaboration of noun and adjective. But after all quotation is done and a balance struck, there will still remain the elusive quality that gave character to the class from which the author came, an essence of breeding and tradition that no phrasing can crystallize, that vanishes in the moment of its expression. For this spiritual quality Whyte-Melville is admirable; for his literary faults he is unreadable. Such, in a nutshell, is the judgment of one reader who cannot excuse a book stupidity and pretentiousness for the sake of isolated passages of hunting lore, but seeks to appreciate in the character of a social generation that is fading fast, a distinction that to all seeming will fade with it.
There are, however, readers of other kinds, and for their sake and because among our grandmothers and our aunts the stories of Whyte-Melville were avidly admired, a summary classification of his books shall be attempted.
He began as a writer of autobiographies, of the part-fashionable, part-sporting, part-knockabout kind, the tradition of which came down from the eighteenth century, through Frederick Marryat, to a dozen writers of the hard-drinking, riotous forties. Digby Grand (1853) and Tilbury Nogo (1854) are essentially novels of this type, while in Kate Coventry (1856) the author merely adapts the recipe to the needs of a girl heroine. The Interpreter (1858) strikes a note of its own, for the scenes in the Crimea and in Turkey were drawn from the writer's experience and give a convincing picture of the period and its happenings. Apart from them, however, the book is an ordinary first-person record of the social wanderings of a young Englishman of family.
Between the second and the third of the books above mentioned had appeared General Bounce (1855), a transitional novel, not wholly apart from those that preceded it, but halfway to a place among the stories of contemporary love-making and sport, of which the author was to produce a lengthy list. These novels of English society contain much of the most repellent of Whyte-Melville's work, although many have refreshing interludes of hunting and scenes on the racecourse or in the stable that will endear them to specialists in the genre, if they cannot reconcile others to the artificial tedium of the love stories and the clumsy contriving of the plots. Here are the titles of the social novels:
General Bounce (1855),
Good for Nothing (1861),
The Brookes of Bridlemere (1864),
The White Rose (1868),
M or N (1869),
Contraband (1871),
Satanella (1872),
Uncle John (1874),
Roy's Wife (1878),
Black but Comely (1879).
Next in numerical importance are the costume novels, beloved of an earlier generation, but to the critical modern reader the poorest of poor stuff, so compact of Wardour Street, of hollow sentiment, and of forced, démodé attitude as to be intolerable.
Holmby House (1860)
(A tale of the Civil War with a strong bias in favour of the Cavalier party),
The Queen's Maries (1862)
(A romantic tribute to Mary, Queen of Scots),
The Gladiators (1863)
(A novel of Rome and Judæa at the time of Christ),
Cerise (1866)
(An eighteenth-century tale),
Sarchedon (1871)
(A novel centring round the figure of Semiramis),
Sister Louise (1876)
(A novel of seventeenth-century France),
Rosine (1877)
(A novel of the French Revolution).
There remain two books of purely sporting significance, and Katerfelto.
Market Harborough (1861), the pride of the Pytchley, is hardly a novel. It is a string of hunting and horse-dealing episodes into which Whyte-Melville threw all that he had of science and of enthusiasm. Riding Recollections (1878) are what their name implies. It is not for any but the expert to criticize these books, which are held in some quarters to be essential textbooks to a hunting education. Katerfelto (1875) will also escape comment here, but for a different reason. Among my childhood memories this Exmoor tale glows adored, uncriticized. How will it read to-day? To put it to the test frightens me. I dare not open it.
EDITIONES PRINCIPES
FICTION, POETRY, ESSAYS
1850
HORACE: Odes, Epodes and Carmen Sæculare Translated into English verse by G. J. Whyte Melville Esq., late Coldstream Guards. London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co., Stationers Hall Court. 1850. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8½). Pp. (viii) + 120. Dark green cloth, blocked in gold and blind. Yellow end-papers.
1853
DIGBY GRAND: An Autobiography. By G. J. Whyte Melville. London: John W. Parker and Son, West Strand. 1853. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 303 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. iv + 312 + (4). No half-title. Publishers' advertisements, paged 1-4, occupy pp. (313) to (316).
Red cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in February, 1853. The story appeared serially in “Fraser's Magazine.”
1854
TILBURY NOGO: Or Passages in the Life of an Unsuccessful Man. By the author of Digby Grand. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1854. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 8¾).
Vol. I. pp. iv + 310 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 348.
No half-titles. Brown cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1854. The story appeared serially in “The Sporting Magazine.”
1855
GENERAL BOUNCE: Or The Lady and The Locusts. By G. J. Whyte Melville. London: John W. Parker and Son, West Strand. 1855. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 296 + (4). Advertisement of Digby Grand occupies verso of half-title. Publishers' advertisements, numbered 1 to 4, occupy pp. (297) to (300).
Vol. II. pp. iv + 278 + (2). No half-title. Publishers' advertisements occupy pp. (279) to (280).
Pale brown cloth, gilt. Pale brick end-papers.
Note—Although dated 1855 this book was actually published in December, 1854. The story appeared serially in “Fraser's Magazine.”
1856
KATE COVENTRY: An Autobiography. Edited by G. J. Whyte Melville, author of Digby Grand. Originally published in “Fraser's Magazine.” London: John W. Parker and Son, West Strand. 1856. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾). Advertisement of books by the same author occupies p. (323) and publishers' list p. (324). Scarlet ribbed cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Chalk-blue end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1856.
[1857]
THE ARAB'S RIDE TO CAIRO: A Legend of the Desert. By G. J. Whyte Melville. Illustrated and Illuminated by Mrs. Wolfe Murray. Seton & Mackenzie, Edinburgh. Houlston & Stoneman, London. 1 vol. Fcap. 4to (6⅞ × 8¼). Pp. 14. Red cloth, full gilt, blocked in gold, or green morocco, full gilt, tooled in gold and black. Yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This volume was published in January, 1857.
(ii) It is hardly a book in the ordinary sense, consisting, as it does, of 14 pp. of stout card printed on one side only. Each page is printed in three or more colours, vaguely after the style of an illuminated MS. Pseudo-gothic lettering is used throughout, and the whole volume is typical of the Victorian table book at its most ornate.
1858
THE INTERPRETER: A Tale of the War. By G. J. Whyte Melville, Author of Digby Grand, General Bounce etc. etc. Originally published in “Fraser's Magazine.” London: John Parker and Son, West Strand. 1858. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅝). Pp. iv + 431 + (1). No half-title. Publishers' catalogue, 8 pp., bound in at end. Red cloth, gilt, blocked in black, uniform with Kate Coventry. Chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published in January, 1858.
1860
HOLMBY HOUSE: A Tale of Old Northants. By G. J. Whyte Melville. Author of Digby Grand, The Interpreter etc. Originally published in “Fraser's Magazine.” London: John Parker and Son, West Strand, 1860. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 325 + (3). Pp. (i) and (ii) precede frontispiece and form technically a half-title, but p. (i) is not printed as such. Publishers' advertisements occupy pp. (327) and (328).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 344 + (4). No half-title. Publishers' advertisements, numbered 1 to 4, occupy pp. (345) to (348).
Frontispiece in coloured lithograph to Vol. I., printed separately. Red-brown cloth, gilt. Chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published in March, 1860.
1861
MARKET HARBOROUGH: Or How Mr. Sawyer went to the Shires. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1861. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7½). Pp. viii + 312. Olive-green cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in April, 1861.
1861
GOOD FOR NOTHING: Or All Down Hill. By G. J. Whyte Melville. Author of Digby Grand, The Interpreter, Holmby House etc. Originally published in “Fraser's Magazine.” London: Parker, Son and Bourn, West Strand. 1861. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 298 + (2). Publishers' advertisements occupy p. (299).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 265 + (3). Publishers' advertisements occupy pp. (267) and (268).
No half-titles. Maroon cloth, gilt. Chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published in December, 1861.
1862
MARKET HARBOROUGH: Or How Mr. Sawyer Went to the Shires. 4th Edition. INSIDE THE BAR: Or Sketches at Soakington. By the author of Digby Grand etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1862. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7½). Pp. iv + 393 + (3). Buff cloth, printed, in red and black. White end-papers, of which the first inside front is printed with publishers' advertisements.
Note—This volume is the first edition of Inside the Bar. It was published in April, 1862.
1862
THE QUEEN'S MARIES: A Romance of Holyrood. By G. J. Whyte Melville, Author of Digby Grand, The Interpreter, Holmby House, Good for Nothing etc. London: Parker, Son and Bourn, West Strand. 1862. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 304.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 254 + (2). Publishers' advertisements occupy p. (255), and 8 pp. advertisements, printed on text paper but numbered 1 to 8, are bound in at end.
No half-titles, but in Vol. II. 2 pp. blank precede title. Violet cloth, gilt. Chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1862.
1863
THE GLADIATORS: A Tale of Rome and Judæa. By G. J. Whyte Melville, author of Digby Grand, The Interpreter, Holmby House, The Queen's Maries etc. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green. 1863. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. iv + 324.
Vol. II. pp. iv + 305 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. iv + 291 + (1).
No half-titles. Red embossed cloth, gilt, blocked in gold and blind. Pale chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was announced for publication by Parker in November, 1863. In January, 1864, it appeared over Longmans' imprint, but dated 1863. Whether any copies are in existence with a Parker imprint I do not know; if so they are the real first edition.
1864
THE BROOKES OF BRIDLEMERE. By G. J. Whyte Melville. Author of The Gladiators, Digby Grant (sic), The Interpreter, Holmby House, The Queen's Maries etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1864. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 293 + (3).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 307 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 293 + (3). Publishers' catalogue, 36 pp., and dated October, 1864, bound in at end.
No half-titles. Red cloth, gilt. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published on October 29, 1864.
1866
CERISE: A Tale of the Last Century. By G. J. Whyte Melville, author of The Gladiators, Digby Grand, The Brookes of Bridlemere etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1866. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. iv + 309 + (3).
Vol. II. pp. iv + 301+ (3).
Vol. III. pp. iv + 318 + (2).
No half-titles. Magenta cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Pale cream end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in April, 1866.
(ii) Cerise was rapidly reprinted, and it is curious to report that copies of the third edition exist with publishers' catalogue at the end of Vol. III. dated March, 1866—i.e., prior to the book's first publication. The first edition contained no catalogue.
1868
THE WHITE ROSE. By G. J. Whyte Melville, author of Cerise, The Gladiators, Brookes of Bridlemere etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. vii + (i) + 262 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 263 + (1).
Vol. III. pp. vii + (i) + 252.
Red-purple cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in February, 1868.
1869
BONES AND I: Or The Skeleton at Home. By G. J. Whyte Melville. Author of The Gladiators, Cerise, Digby Grand etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1869. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅜). Pp. iv + 287 + (1). No half-title. Brown cloth, gilt. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1869.
1869
SONGS AND VERSES. By G. J. Whyte-Melville. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1869. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½). Pp. vii + (i) + 136. Errata slip inserted at p. 1. Dark red cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Pale yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in September, 1869.
(ii) The author revised and added to the poems in this book on several occasions after its original publication. Strictly speaking, any new edition which contains even one fresh poem may rank as a first edition, and collectors of Whyte-Melville, who are also purists, may therefore be advised not to pass over any one of the first six or seven editions of Songs and Verses without satisfying themselves that no fresh matter distinguishes it from its predecessors.
1869
M. OR N. “Similia Similibus Curantur.” By G. J. Whyte-Melville. Author of Digby Grand, Cerise, The Gladiators etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1869. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. vi + 312 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. vi + 313 + (3). Publishers' advertisements occupy pp. (315) (316).
Light brown (or brown) embossed cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published on October 15, 1869. I do not know which shade of binding is the earlier.
1871
CONTRABAND: Or A Losing Hazard. By G. J. Whyte-Melville. Author of Digby Grand, Cerise, The White Rose etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1871. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. vi + 307 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. vi + 281 + (1).
Bright blue cloth, blocked in gold and blind. Yellow end-papers.
Note—Although this book is dated 1871, it was actually published in December, 1870.
1871
SARCHEDON: A Legend of the Great Queen. By G. J. Whyte Melville. Author of The Gladiators, Holmby House, etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1871. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 289 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (vi) + 270.
Vol. III. pp. (vi) + 251 + (1).
Bright blue cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Pale chocolate end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1871.
1872
SATANELLA: A Story of Punchestown. By G. J. Whyte-Melville. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1872. 2 vols. Sm. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7¼).
Vol. I. pp. vii + (i) + 260.
Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 267 + (1).
Lithographed frontispiece to each volume printed separately and one other similar illustration in vol. ii. Red (or maroon) cloth, blocked in black and gold. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in June, 1872. I do not know which shade of binding is the earlier.
1873
THE TRUE CROSS: A Legend of the Church. By G. J. Whyte-Melville. Author of The Gladiators, Sarchedon etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1873. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅜). Pp. (iv) + 241 + (1). Publishers' catalogue, 32 pp., dated January, 1873, bound in at end. Green (or chocolate) cloth, blocked in black and gold. Pale yellow end-papers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in March, 1873.
(ii) Copies in red-brown cloth, gilt, without decorative blocking, are of later issue, although they sometimes contain a catalogue of the original date. Which shade of the original binding is the earlier, I do not know.
1874
UNCLE JOHN: A Novel. By G. J. Whyte-Melville. Author of Market Harborough, The Gladiators, Kate Coventry, Satanella etc. etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1874. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 267 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. (viii) + 236.
Vol. III. pp. (viii) + 218 + (2).
Green cloth, blocked in black and gold. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in August, 1874.
1875
KATERFELTO: A Story of Exmoor. By G. J. Whyte-Melville, author of Digby Grand, Cerise, Uncle John etc. With Illustrations by Colonel Hope Crealocke, C.B. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1875. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5⅝ × 8⅝). Pp. (iv) + 291 + (1). No half-title. Publishers' catalogue, 34 pp., dated November, 1874, bound in at end. Twelve illustrations in lithograph, printed separately. Dark red cloth, blocked in gold. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—Although dated 1875, this book was actually published in December, 1874.
1876
SISTER LOUISE: Or The Story of a Woman's Repentance. By G. J. Whyte-Melville, Author of Digby Grand, The Gladiators, Katerfelto. With Illustrations by Miriam Kerns. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1876. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5⅜ × 8⅝). Pp. xii + 268. Publishers' catalogue, 32 pp., dated December, 1875, bound in at end. Eight illustrations, roughly lithographed. Green cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Chocolate end-papers.
Notes—(i) Although dated 1876, this book was actually published in December, 1875.
(ii) Copies without catalogue and with yellow end-papers are probably of a subsequent issue.
1877
ROSINE. By J. G. [sic] Whyte-Melville, Author of Cerise, Katerfelto etc. etc. With illustrations by Miriam Kerns. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly, 1877. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5¾ × 8⅝). Pp. (vi) + 266. Publishers' catalogue, 36 pp., dated December, 1876, bound in at end. Eight illustrations. Magenta cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Very dark green end-papers.
Notes—(i) Although dated 1877, this book was actually published in December, 1876.
(ii) Copies in maroon cloth, gilt, blocked in black but without other decoration on side save a simple rectangular frame are of later issue.
1878
RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. By G. J. Whyte-Melville. With Illustrations by Edgar Giberne. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1878. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (5¼ × 7⅞). Pp. xii + 251 + (1). Publishers' catalogue, 32 pp., dated November, 1877, bound in at end. Eight illustrations, being photographs from drawings pasted on to thin card. Dark brickish-red cloth, blocked in black and gold. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in April, 1878.
1878
ROY'S WIFE: A Novel. By G. J. Whyte-Melville. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1878. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7⅜).
Vol. I. pp. vi + 299 + (1).
Vol. II. pp. vi + 310.
Olive-brown cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Cream end-papers.
Note—This book was published in July, 1878.
1879
BLACK BUT COMELY: Or The Adventures of Jane Lee. By G. J. Whyte-Melville. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1879. 3 vols. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 303 + (i).
Vol. II. pp. viii + 304.
Vol. III. pp. viii + 292 + (4). Publishers' advertisements occupy pp. (293) to (296). Publishers' catalogue, 32 pp., dated December, 1878, bound in at end.
A four-page slip of publishers' advertisements should be found inserted between the front end-papers of Vol. I. This slip predates the catalogue in Vol. III. Blue-grey cloth, gilt, blocked in black. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in January, 1879.
[?1879 or 1880]
THE BONES AT ROTHWELL: A Lecture delivered by the late Captain Whyte Melville, being an account of the remarkable bone cavern beneath Rothwell Church. Price 1d. Rothwell, printed by Ed. Chamberlain, 3 Market Place. (Quotation from Gray's Elegy heads title-page and wrapper.) 1 vol. Cr. 8vo. 16 pp. White paper wrappers, printed in black. Outside back wrapper occupied by printer's advertisements.
Note—This is the text of a lecture delivered by Whyte-Melville on January 3, 1862, to the Moulton Religious and Useful Knowledge Society, and printed in the “Northampton Mercury” for January 11 of the same year. When first the pamphlet above described was issued I cannot be certain, but R. B. Wallis, in a booklet published in 1888, and entitled All About the Rothwell Bones, speaks of the lecture as obtainable in pamphlet form from Chamberlan of Rothwell. Certainly, therefore, the publication predates 1888, and I have ventured above on the date of the year following Whyte-Melville's death because it seems possible that the lecture was first issued in pamphlet form to combine the interest in the Rothwell Bones with that likely to be created in Whyte-Melville by his decease. The clumsiness with which Whyte-Melville is spoken of as “the late,” but at the same time given the rank of “Captain” instead of that of “Major,” implies a hasty reprint from the file of the “Northampton Mercury,” by someone aware of his death but careless of the military rank to which he finally attained.
The colour of the paper wrapper varies with different issues. In addition to a white copy, as above described, I have seen one in a pale yellow cover.
ELIZABETH CLEGHORN GASKELL
1810-1865
MRS. GASKELL
BIOGRAPHY AND CRITICAL REMINISCENCE
MRS. GASKELL: Haunts, Homes and Stories. By Esther A. Chadwick. London. 1910.
MRS. GASKELL. By the same. London. 1913.
MRS. GASKELL. By A. E. Bayley. (Women Novelists of Queen Victoria's Reign.) London. 1897.
MRS. GASKELL AND KNUTSFORD. By G. A. Payne. London. 1906.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Much valuable bibliographical information is contained in two little books by Mr. John Albert Green of the Manchester Reference Library:
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE TO THE GASKELL COLLECTION IN THE MOSS-SIDE LIBRARY. Manchester. 1911.
CATALOGUE of an Exhibition of Books and Autographs illustrating the Life and Work of Mrs. E. C. Gaskell. Manchester. 1911.
Students may also be referred to:
GASKELL BIBLIOGRAPHY. A list of the writings of Mrs. E. C. Gaskell and of the Rev. William Gaskell. By Wm. E. A. and Ernest Axon. Manchester. 1895.
I.—EDITIONES PRINCIPES
FICTION, BIOGRAPHY, ETC.
1848
MARY BARTON: A Tale of Manchester Life. (Quotation from Carlyle.) London: Chapman and Hall, 186 Strand. MDCCCXLVIII. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (x) [paged as viii] + 317 + (3). The place of half-title and verso is taken by a publishers' advertisement, 2 pp., listing: “Chapman and Hall's Series of Original Works in Fiction, Biography, and General Literature.”
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 312.
No half-titles. Ribbed mulberry cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in October, 1848.
[1850]
LIBBIE MARSH'S THREE ERAS: A Lancashire Tale. London: Hamilton Adams and Co. 1 vol. 16mo. Pp. 72. Paper wrappers printed with title of story.
Note—This story first appeared in 1847, in Vol. I. of “Howitt's Journal,” over the pseudonym “Cotton Mather Mills.” It was issued by Chapman and Hall over the author's name in 1855 as a fourpenny pamphlet of twenty-four pages.
1850
[*]THE SEXTON'S HERO AND CHRISTMAS STORMS AND SUNSHINE. Contributed by the authoress of Mary Barton. For the benefit of the Macclesfield Public Baths and Washhouses. Manchester: Johnson, Rawson and Co. 1850. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo. Pp. 28. Paper wrappers.
Note—These stories first appeared in 1847 and 1848 in Vols. II. and III. of “Howitt's Journal,” over the pseudonym “Cotton Mather Mills.” They were reissued under one cover by Chapman and Hall in 1855 over the author's name.
1850
[*]LIZZIE LEIGH: A Domestic Tale from “Household Words.” By Charles Dickens. New York. Dewitt and Davenport. 1850. 1 vol. 12mo. Buff paper wrappers printed in black with wording as above.
Note—This pamphlet was a pirated edition of a story published anonymously in “Household Words” and rashly assumed by the pirates to have been written by Dickens. It made a further appearance the next year in The Irving Offering (New York, 1851), still over Dickens' name.
1850
THE MOORLAND COTTAGE. By the author of Mary Barton. With illustrations by Birket Foster. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1850. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. (viii) + 182 + (2). Advertisement of Mary Barton occupies p. (183). Line-engraved frontispiece and picture title-page precede printed title-page. Other line-engraved illustrations here and there in the text. Maroon cloth, full gilt, blocked in gold and blind. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in December, 1850.
1853
RUTH: A Novel. By the author of Mary Barton (Quotation from Phineas Fletcher.) London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1853. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. (ii) + 298. Publishers' advertisements, 36 pp., dated 1853, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 328.
Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 311 + (1).
No half-titles. Dull purple cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers, of which those at front of Vols. I. and II. are printed with publishers' advertisements.
Note—This book was published in January, 1853.
1853
CRANFORD. By the author of Mary Barton, Ruth etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1853. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. iv + 324. No half-title. Olive-green embossed cloth, blocked in gold and blind. Yellow end-papers.
1854
[*]TWO LECTURES ON LANCASHIRE DIALECT. By the author of Mary Barton. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Paper wrappers.
1855
LIZZIE LEIGH AND OTHER TALES. By the Author of Mary Barton, Ruth etc. Cheap Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1855. 1 vol. Sm. Cr. 8vo (4½ × 7). Pp. (viii) + 304. Yellow paper boards.
Contents: The Well of Pen Morfa—The Heart of John Middleton—Disappearances—The Old Nurse's Story—Traits and Stories of the Huguenots—Moreton Hall—My French Master—The Squire's Story—Company Manners—Mr. Harrison's Confessions—Libbie Marsh's Three Eras—The Sexton's Hero—Christmas Storms and Sunshine—Hand and Heart—Bessie's Troubles at Home.
This is the first edition of all the above stories, with the exception of Lizzie Leigh, Libbie Marsh's Three Eras, The Sexton's Hero, Christmas Storms and Sunshine, Hand and Heart, and Bessie's Troubles at Home.
Notes—(i) This book was published in September, 1855. It is a volume in Chapman and Hall's Select Library of Fiction, published at two shillings.
(ii) It may be of interest to enthusiasts to know that Lizzie Leigh was adapted for the stage by W. R. Waldron and published in May, 1872, as No. 1393 in Lacy's Acting Editions of British Plays. Mrs. Gaskell must be absolved from all responsibility for this dramatization.
1855
NORTH AND SOUTH. By the author of Mary Barton, Ruth, Cranford etc. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1855. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 320. Advertisement of previous works by the same author occupies p. (i), preceding half-title. Publishers' advertisements, 4 pp., bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 361 + (1). Dark brown cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in March, 1855.
1855
[*]HAND AND HEART and BESSIE'S TROUBLES AT HOME. By the author of Mary Barton. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly. 1855. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Paper wrappers.
1857
THE LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË, Author of Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette ETC. By E. C. Gaskell, author of Mary Barton, Ruth etc. (Quotation from Aurora Leigh.) London: Smith Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill. 1857. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 8).
Vol. I. pp. viii + 352.
Vol. II. pp. viii + 327 + (1). Publishers' catalogue, 16 pp., dated March, 1857, bound in at end.
Three illustrations in steel engraving—two in Vol. I., one in Vol. II.—all printed separately. Dark brown cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in April, 1857.
1859
ROUND THE SOFA. By the author of Mary Barton, Life of Charlotte Brontë etc. etc. London: Sampson Low Son and Co., 47 Ludgate Hill. 1859. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 340. Publishers' advertisement slip, printed on yellow paper, should be found inserted between the front end-papers.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 297 + (1). Publishers' catalogue, 12 pp., printed on text paper and dated March, 1859, bound in at end.
No half-titles. Scarlet embossed cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Contents: Vol. I., Round the Sofa—My Lady Ludlow. Vol. II., The Accursed Race—The Doom of the Griffiths—Half a Life-time Ago—The Poor Clare—The Half-Brothers.
Notes—(i) This book was published in March, 1859.
(ii) It should be observed that only Vol. II. contains a list of contents, the corresponding page (iv) in Vol. I. being occupied by an author's note.
1860
RIGHT AT LAST: And Other Tales. By the author of Mary Barton, Life of Charlotte Brontë, Round the Sofa etc. etc. London: Sampson Low Son and Co., 47 Ludgate Hill. 1860. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7¾). Pp. (vi) + 318. No half-title. Scarlet embossed cloth, gilt, uniform with Round the Sofa. Yellow end-papers.
Contents: Right at Last—The Manchester Marriage—Lois the Witch—The Crooked Branch.
Note—This book was published on May 10, 1860.
1861
LOIS THE WITCH AND OTHER TALES. By E. C. Gaskell, author of Mary Barton, The Life of Charlotte Brontë. Copyright edition. Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz. 1 vol. (4½ × 6¼). Pp. (viii) + 338 + (2). Usual Tauchnitz paper wrappers.
Contents: Lois the Witch, The Grey Woman, The Doom of the Griffiths, The Half-Brothers, The Crooked Branch.
Note—This is a first edition of The Grey Woman.
1863
SYLVIA'S LOVERS. By Mrs. Gaskell, author of The Life of Charlotte Brontë, Mary Barton, Ruth, North and South etc. (Quotation from Tennyson.) London: Smith, Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill. MDCCCLXIII. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅝).
Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 310 + (2).
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 294. No half-title.
Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 284 + (4). No half-title. Advertisement of The Life of Charlotte Brontë occupies pp. (285) to (288).
Magenta cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Greenish-buff end-papers.
Note—This book was published in March, 1863.
1863
A DARK NIGHT'S WORK. By Mrs. Gaskell, author of Sylvia's Lovers, Life of Charlotte Brontë, Mary Barton, Ruth etc. etc. London: Smith Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill. MDCCCLXIII. 1 vol. Slim Cr. 8vo (4½ × 7⅝). Pp. (iv) + 299 + (1). Brown cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Cream end-papers.
Note—This book was published in May, 1863.
1865
THE GREY WOMAN: And Other Tales. By Mrs. Gaskell, Author of Mary Barton, North and South, Sylvia's Lovers, Cousin Phillis, Cranford etc. Illustrated Edition. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill. MDCCCLXV. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½). Pp. (iv) + 280. No half-title. Wood-engraved frontispiece and picture title-page precede printed title. Two illustrations in course of the text, wood engraved and printed separately. Red embossed cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.
Contents: The Grey Woman—Curious if True—Six Weeks at Heppenheim—Libbie Marsh's Three Eras—Christmas Storms and Sunshine—Hand and Heart—Bessie's Troubles at Home—Disappearances.
Note—This book was published in October, 1865. It is a first edition of Curious if True and Six Weeks at Heppenheim.
1865
COUSIN PHILLIS: And Other Tales. By Mrs. Gaskell, author of Mary Barton, North and South, Sylvia's Lovers, Cranford etc. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill. MDCCCLXV. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (5 × 7½). Pp. (iv) + 286 + (2). Publishers' advertisements occupy pp. (287) and (288). No half-title. Wood-engraved frontispiece and picture title-page, printed separately, precede printed title. Two illustrations in the course of the text, wood engraved and printed separately. Red embossed cloth, blocked in gold and blind. Uniform with The Grey Woman. Cream end-papers.
Contents: Cousin Phillis—Company Manners—Mr. Harrison's Confessions—The Sexton's Hero.
Notes—(i) This book was published in December, 1865.
(ii) It is a first edition of Cousin Phillis, which story appeared serially in the “Cornhill.”
1866
WIVES AND DAUGHTERS: An Everyday Story. By Mrs. Gaskell. With 18 illustrations by George du Maurier. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 65 Cornhill. 1866. 2 vols. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8⅝).
Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 336.
Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 332.
No half-titles. Ten illustrations in Vol. I. and eight in Vol. II., all wood engraved and printed separately. Maroon cloth, blocked in gold. Pale yellow end-papers.
Note—This book was published in February, 1866. The story appeared serially in the “Cornhill.”
NOTE
The Knutsford edition of Mrs. Gaskell's works (Smith, Elder and Co., 1906, 8 vols.), edited by A. W. Ward, contained in Vols. I., III., VI., and VII. material not previously issued in book form. Further additional matter (notably a chapter of Cranford) was published by Clement Shorter in the edition of Mrs. Gaskell's works edited by him for The World's Classics. The same authority published an edition of The Life of Charlotte Brontë in 1900 (Smith, Elder) with many valuable notes. He has also issued a privately printed edition of Mrs. Gaskell's Letters on Charlotte Brontë, but this booklet, in accordance with the plan of the present volume, is not herein specifically listed. Full details of the various appearances of Gaskell miscellanea (with the exception of that last mentioned above) will be found in J. A. Green's Bibliographical Guide to the Gaskell Collection, referred to on p. 203.