Poor Miss Finch (1872) is more a story of contemporary social life than either a novel of mystery or one of propaganda. It may therefore appear here as pendant to the two early books just described. The central figure is a blind girl. In Hide and Seek the author took credit to himself for introducing a deaf mute, but as the affliction plays no part in the story one must refrain from joining in the applause. The blindness of Miss Finch, on the other hand, is the pivot of her tale, and a very elaborate, improbable, and overcrowded tale it is. The fact is regrettable. Neatly contrived, related in a series of narratives from different sources and from different points of view, based largely on the antagonism of two brothers, and pervaded by the wise spirit of an elderly governess-companion, this novel is so nearly an epitome of the methods and tricks of Wilkie Collins, that one could wish it more thoroughly a success.
And here, save for scattered volumes of short stories and one or two brief and unimportant novels, ends the tale of Collins's books. He is a writer for tired minds, capable—thanks to his perfect control of the mechanism of incident—of holding the interest without calling on the emotional reserves of his reader. His influence on the novel of sensation has been enormous. It is the least of his due that a generation brought up on the mystery stories of his disciples should find time to turn over the principal works of the master himself.
BIOGRAPHY
The only biography of Wilkie Collins which has yet been published is an insignificant German book issued in 1885.
EDITIONES PRINCIPES
A.—FICTION, ESSAYS, BIOGRAPHY, ETC., AND ONE BOOK WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION
1848
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF WILLIAM COLLINS, R.A.: With Selections from his Journals and Correspondence. By his son, W. Wilkie Collins. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans. MDCCCXLVIII. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅞).
Vol. I. pp. xii + 348. Publishers' catalogue, 32 pp., dated April 29, 1848, bound in at end.
Vol. II. pp. vi + 354.
No half-titles. Brown-purple (or grey-blue) cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers. Vol. I. contains engraved portrait after Linnell and engraved title-page after Collins, immediately preceding printed title. Vol. II. contains engraved title-page after Collins, immediately preceding printed title.