Written chiefly in railway trains while investigating the rural postal system of England, Barchester Towers was the second of the series dealing with the bishops, deans, and archdeacon of Barchester. It was published by Longman, after a refusal on the author’s part to curtail the work, on the half-profit system, with the payment of £100 in advance from the half-profits. Writing in 1876, Trollope records a small yearly income from this and the preceding book, The Warden, making together at that date a total of £727, 11s. 3d.
1858
THE THREE CLERKS. | A Novel. | By Anthony Trollope, | Author of “Barchester Towers,” etc. | In Three Volumes. | London: | Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. | 1858. |
Small 8vo. Vol. I., pp. iv, 340; Vol. II., pp. iv, 322; Vol. III., pp. iv, 334.
An autobiographical interest marks this book, for the story of how Trollope was admitted into the Secretary’s office of the General Post Office in 1834 by Henry and Clayton Freeling, the sons of Sir Francis, is told in the opening chapters under the guise of Charley Tudor’s admittance into the Internal Navigation Office. The whole scheme of competitive examination is deplored, and its supporters, Sir Charles Trevelyan and Sir Stafford Northcote (afterwards Lord Iddesleigh) appear respectively as Sir Gregory Hardlines and Sir Warwick West End. The book gave official offence.
As Longman was not prepared to buy it outright, Trollope took it to Bentley, who paid him £250 for all rights.
1858
DOCTOR THORNE. | A Novel. | By Anthony Trollope, | Author of “The Three Clerks,” “Barchester Towers,” etc. | In Three Volumes. | London: | Chapman & Hall, 193 Piccadilly. | 1858. | [The right of Translation is reserved.]
Small 8vo. Vol. I., pp. iv, 305; Vol. II. pp. iv, 323; Vol. III., pp. iv, 340.
The plot of this book was sketched for Trollope by his brother, Thomas Adolphus, whom he was visiting in Florence in 1857. This was the only occasion on which he had recourse to other brains for the thread of a story. While writing it in Dublin early in 1858, he was asked to go to Egypt to arrange a postal treaty with the Pasha. He sold his book, when passing through London, to Chapman and Hall for £400, Bentley refusing to give more than £300; and finished it in Egypt, writing his allotted number of pages every day, even during sea-sickness on the terribly rough voyage to Alexandria.