Chapter VI: Part II: pp. (iv.) enclosing inset title-page printed in red and (1)

green] + 280 + (4). Advertisements and reviews of Part I. and of
_The Children of the New Forest_ paged 1-4 occupy pp. (281) to
(284).

Each volume contains four line engravings printed separately.
Grey-green cloth, blocked in gold. Uniform with _The Children of the
New Forest_.

NOTES—(i) Part I. was published in December, 1848, and Part
II. in February, 1849.

(ii) The second edition of Part II. differs from the first
in that there are preliminary pages (viii), of which p. (v)
bears a note by the author's son referring to Captain
Marryat's death. Frontispiece and title-page are, as
previously, inset on different paper, and the latter printed
in red and green.

(iii) Of Part II. only two chapters were written by Marryat.

1849

VALERIE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. By CAPTAIN MARRYAT, R.N. Author of _Peter
Simple_, _Frank Mildmay_ etc. London: Henry Colburn, Publisher,
Great Marlborough Street. 1849. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).

Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 312. Publisher's advertisements, 2 pp., printed
on text paper bound in at end.

Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 287 + (1). Advertisement of _Frank Mildmay_
occupies p. (288).

Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. Also grey-green cloth, gilt,
blocked in blind. White end-papers.

NOTE—This book was published in June, 1849. The story—to the
end of Vol. II., chap. iii.—appeared serially in the “New
Monthly Magazine” during 1846 and 1847. Owing to illness,
Marryat was unable to complete the book, which was finished
by another hand.

II.—A BOOK ATTRIBUTED TO MARRYAT, ONE EDITED BY HIM AND OTHERS POSSIBLY
WRITTEN WITH HIS HELP

1836

THE FLORAL TELEGRAPH: A New Mode of Communication by floral signals.
With Plates. London: Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street. MDCCCXXXVI.
1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. xv + (i) + 307 + (11). Publishers'
advertisements occupy pp. (309) to (318)—others face title-page. The
book contains six hand-coloured plates, printed separately.
Olive-green cloth, blocked in gold and blind. Yellow end-papers.

NOTES—(i) This book was published in December, 1836. It was
reissued, probably in 1850, with a cancel title-page
reading: “The Floral Telegraph or Affection's Signals” by
the late Captain Marryatt [_sic_] R.N., author of _Peter
Simple_ etc. London: Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street. The
pagination reads: xv + (i) + 324. Pp. xv + (i) + 189 + (1)
are identical in the two editions, which are probably to
this point composed of the same sheets. The second half of
the book has, however, been reset, altered, and extended.
The illustrations are the same as in the earlier edition,
but they are much more coarsely reproduced and mechanically
coloured. Olive-green cloth, similar to the first edition,
but differently blocked in gold. Yellow end-papers.

(ii) It is a moot point whether or not Marryat was the
author of this rather foolish little book. That he had,
however, definite connection with it is suggested by the
fact that on its first publication the “Metropolitan
Magazine,” at that time closely identified with Marryat,
devoted to it a three-quarter-page highly laudatory review,
of which, after praising the introduction, the writer said:
“Though no name is found on the title-page, it is evident
that the work is from a practised and popular writer.”
Further, if Marryat were not the author, it is difficult to
understand the publishers' motive in reissuing it
immediately after his death with his name on the title-page.
If he deserves responsibility for the book, the manœuvre is
comprehensible enough, especially on the part of a firm with
whom he had severed relations in 1837, and thus deprived
them of the profitable exploitation of his established
reputation.

1836

RATTLIN THE REEFER. Edited by the author of _Peter Simple_. “All hands
reef top-sails—Away, Aloft!” London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington
Street, Successor to Henry Colburn. 1836. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ ×
7¾).

Vol. I. pp. xii + (ii) + 301 + (3). Note by Marryat stating his
connection with the work occupies p. (iv). Publisher's
advertisements occupy pp. (303) (304).

Vol. II. pp. viii + 300. No half-title to this volume.

Vol. III. pp. viii + 344. No half-title to this volume.

Each volume contains three full-page etched illustrations by A.
Hervieu, of which one is a frontispiece and the other two in the
course of the text. A list of illustrations for the three volumes
occupies p. (xiii) of Vol. I. The illustrations are dated 1836.
Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.

NOTE—This book, which was written by Edward Howard (see p.
100), was published on July 23, 1836. A second edition
appeared on August 5 of the same year. A dramatic version by
J. T. Haines (who also dramatized _Jacob Faithful_) was
issued in February, 1893, as No. 2008 in French's Acting
Editions of British Plays.

Two-thirds of the story appeared serially in the
“Metropolitan Magazine” under the title, _The Life of a
Sub-Editor_. Reviewing the book in its three-volume form,
Marryat himself explained fully how and to what extent it
had been transformed from a record of autobiographical fact
to a frank experiment in fiction.

_NOTE_

The six items that follow are, like _Rattlin the Reefer_, the work of Lieut. the Hon. Edward Granville George Howard, who worked as sub-editor to Marryat on the “Metropolitan Magazine.” At one time the actual authorship of Howard's books was ascribed to Marryat himself. This is now proved to be a mistake. Indeed, apart from the note of recommendation to _Rattlin the Reefer_ and Marryat's review of that book in his magazine, there is no printed evidence that he had any share whatever in the composition of any one of them. On the other hand, he and Howard were very intimate; the stories of the latter are clearly influenced by the work of his chief; and Marryat collectors have been in the habit of regarding Howard's books as desirable adjuncts to a Marryat collection. For which reasons, and because it is no less probable than improbable that Marryat, in conversation if not by actual pencraft, helped to give his sub-editor's books their final shape, I have thought well to include them in this bibliography.

1837

THE OLD COMMODORE. By the author of _Rattlin the Reefer_. “Nestroque!”
London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1837. 3 vols. Ex.
Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅝).

Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 306.

Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 304.

Vol. III. pp. iv + 307 + (1).

Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.

NOTES—(i) This book was published on September 16, 1837.

(ii) The above reckoning was made from a rebound copy from
which clearly flyleaves were missing.

1838

OUTWARD BOUND: OR A MERCHANT'S ADVENTURES. By the author of _Rattlin
the Reefer_, _The Old Commodore_ etc. London: Henry Colburn,
Publisher, Great Marlborough Street. 1838. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ ×
7¾).

Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 299 + (1). No half-title.

Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 308 + (2). Half-title to this volume.
Publisher's advertisements occupy pp. (309) (310).

Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 326. Half-title to this volume.

Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White end-papers.

NOTE—This book was published in March, 1838. The story
appeared in part as a serial in the “Metropolitan Magazine”
under the title _Ardent Troughton_.

1839

MEMOIRS OF ADMIRAL SIR SIDNEY SMITH, K.C.B. ETC. By the author of
_Rattlin the Reefer_ etc. London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington
Street, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. 1839. 2 vols. Demy 8vo
(5½ × 9).

Vol. I pp. vii + (i) + 400.

Vol. II. pp. vii + (i) + 411 + (5). Publisher's advertisements
occupy pp. (413) to (416). No half-titles.

Steel-engraved portrait frontispiece to each volume, printed
separately. Pale blue ribbed cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow
end-papers.

1840

JACK ASHORE. By the Author of _Rattlin the Reefer_, _Outward Bound_
etc. etc. London: Henry Colburn, Publisher, Great Marlborough
Street. 1840. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).

Vol. I. pp. xvi + 310.

Vol. II. pp. viii + 300.

Vol. III. pp. vii + (i) + 323 + (1).

Steel-engraved portrait frontispiece to Vol. I. printed separately.
Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.

1842

SIR HENRY MORGAN: THE BUCCANEER. By the author of _Rattlin the
Reefer_, _Outward Bound_, _Jack Ashore_ etc. London: Henry Colburn,
Publisher, Great Marlborough Street. 1842. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ ×
7¾).

Vol. I. pp. vii + (i) + 295 + (1).

Vol. II. pp. vi + 307 + (1).

Vol. III. pp. vii + (i) + 315 + (1).

There is a portrait frontispiece to Vol. I., lithographed and
printed separately. Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. White
end-papers.

1859

TALES FROM BENTLEY. Vol. I. London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington
Street, 1 vol. Pott 8vo (4 × 6¼). Pp. (iv) + 96. Buff paper wrappers
printed in black. Also in boards. _The Marine Coast_, a story by the
author of _Rattlin the Reefer_, occupies pp. 55 to 88.

NOTE—This first series of _Tales from Bentley_ was published
in September, 1859.

_A NOTE ON MARRYAT AS ARTIST_

It is well known that Captain Marryat was a painter as well as a writer. Collectors of his written work will perhaps also be interested to know of a published book containing in reproduction some of his drawings. In 1825 or 1826 there appeared the following work:

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BURMESE WAR. Both Series. With twenty-four plates
after drawings by Captain Marryat, Thornton and Moore displaying the
Operations of the British Forces. London: Published by Thomas Clay.
(N.D.) The volume measures 20½ × 13¼, is bound in thick grey paper
wrappers lettered in black as above, and contains five engravings of
pictures painted by Stothard and D. Cox after drawings by Captain
Marryat. The name Kingsbury and Co., 6 Leadenhall Street, appears at
the foot of the engravings as their publisher, together with the
date 1825.

BENJAMIN DISRAELI
1804-1881

BENJAMIN DISRAELI

It is easier to blame historians and political critics of the life and statesmanship of Disraeli for neglecting his novels, than it is oneself to judge these novels as literature, apart from the huge mass of incident, ambition, and achievement that went to make up the character of their extraordinary author. To attempt in a few pages an estimate of Disraeli as a man of letters were manifestly absurd, seeing that he was rarely that and nothing else. It were doubly absurd, even if possible, to treat in summary of the interactions of his political and literary genius when one of the finest biographies of modern times (and that in six volumes) has already covered every inch of the ground. The only purpose, therefore, which these unauthoritative notes may serve is that of indicating in a few words the development of Disraeli as a novelist and the respective content of his principal books.

Although his novels fall into distinct and different groups, they are all primarily satirical in character. From the moment of the anonymous but sensational appearance of _Vivian Grey_ to that of the publication of _Endymion_ which bore on each of its three volumes the name of the most distinguished statesman of the world, Disraeli held up alike to the follies and the ideals of his age the mirror of a keen and ruthless mind.

But if he gazed on his contemporaries more often from the angle of satire than from any other, he enclosed in their various frames the period portraits that are his books. As a very young man—unknown, ambitious, at once receptive and intensely sensitive—he used as material for fiction not only the incidents of his own life, but, even more, the thoughts and aspirations that filled his teeming brain. _Vivian Grey_ (1826-7), _Contarini Fleming_ (1833), and _Alroy_ (1833) are mainly interesting as autobiography, and to the use of personal experience as material for novel-writing he returned in extreme old age when, looking back from the splendid eminence of his power, he described in the pages of _Endymion_ the long road that he had travelled from obscurity to fame.

_Vivian Grey_ appeared in five volumes, with an interval of a year between the issue of the first two and that of the last three. But for the brilliant publicity given to it by Colburn, the book would have attracted little or no attention. It is a showy, careless pastiche of the society of the day, a gallery of isolated portraits rather than a single composition, attractive to the fashionable public of the time for its thinly veiled presentment of well-known men and women. The reader is further unpleasantly aware that the author's interest in his book did not extend much beyond the first of the five volumes. Young men find it easier to start a book than to finish one, and Disraeli was clearly no exception to the rule.

_Contarini Fleming_ and _Alroy_, written after an extended tour in the East, show, at its most luxuriant and ornate, the author's talent for heady, rhetorical prose. Like most of his race, Disraeli was more susceptible to magnificence and to decoration than to severe simplicity, and throughout his books was prone to an excessive use of epithet and metaphor. If these two early books show his love of ornament more shamelessly than those written at a maturer age, they can claim nevertheless to have received more careful and conscientious working, so that their embellishments, if too lavish, are at least scrupulously fashioned.

Between the publication of the last three volumes of _Vivian Grey_ and that of the story of _Contarini Fleming_ Disraeli published two works of fiction which, although in the matter of primary characteristic isolated from the rest of his work and from each other, contain elements that constantly reappear in the books of his later life.

_The Voyage of Captain Popanilla_ (1828) is a satire on English political and social institutions cast in the form of an inverted _Gulliver's Travels_ or _Erewhon_. Instead of an Englishman reaching an imaginary and fantastic land, where he finds conditions that correspond partly to the prejudices, partly to the ideals, of the author, the hero of Disraeli's satire is a being from a mythical world, who comes over the sea to an island that is, in all but name, England as Disraeli saw it. As an example of pertinacious and aggressive parody _The Voyage of Captain Popanilla_ is witty and readable enough, but it fatigues, as do all pastiches of the kind, by its somewhat literal pursuit of contemporary activity. Disraeli should have limited his prospect of satire, for the individual beauties of any view are appreciated in proportion to the smallness of their number. _Popanilla_ is overcrowded, and the reader's mind tires with the effort to solve the riddle that is contained in nearly every paragraph.

_The Young Duke_ (1831) was written to make money. One may go farther and confess that the author, seeking frankly to profit by the contemporary popularity of the novel of fashionable life, wrote a tale of society into which he crammed all that he knew of character and incident likely to appeal to the mood of the moment. With such antecedents it is surprising that _The Young Duke_ is not a worse book than it is. Inevitably it reads artificially, and the young writer had not the skill entirely to conceal the wilfulness with which the work was put together. On the other hand, the heroine deserves the attention of Disraeli students, for she is the direct forerunner of Sybil, and that part of _The Young Duke_ which depends on her personality is not without a touch of the four great political novels upon which Disraeli's fame as a writer must rest.

It was four years after the publication of _Alroy_ that Disraeli next appeared as a novelist. He then published, within six months of one another, two stories that stand markedly apart from the rest of his work, in that they are wholly without political significance. Even amid the extravagance of _Contarini Fleming_ and _The Young Duke_ occur passages that depend for their significance on political movements or political thought of the time. _Vivian Grey_, being a _roman à clef_ of high society, and _Popanilla_ being a direct satire of institutions, are naturally full of what was, even in those days, the author's ruling interest. But _Henrietta Temple_ (1837) and _Venetia_ (1837) are romances pure and simple. They may be said also to have no autobiographical significance, save in so far as the first part of the earlier book was written under the stimulus of a real love affair. It must be admitted that _Henrietta Temple_, once it gets beyond the boundary of Disraeli's own passionate experience, is a tame and careless book. The interval that passed between the writing of the earlier and that of the later portion seems to have extinguished his enthusiasm for the work. Colburn was clamouring for a novel, and Disraeli, as always hard pressed for money, raked out his incomplete manuscript, furbished it up, finished it off, and delivered it to the publisher. _Venetia_ has not this fault of interrupted fashioning. It is, however, in one reader's opinion at any rate, a very tedious affair—rhetorical, unreal, and sluggish in movement; but this view is contrary to that held by many, who consider that the book's portraiture gives it value as commentary on the life of Byron and other famous people.

There follows, this time after an interval of seven years, the first of the four famous political novels that, whether or no they can be said to have introduced a new genre into English fiction, are undoubtedly the finest achievements of Disraeli's literary career. _Coningsby_ (1844), _Sybil_ (1845), and _Tancred_ (1847) are too well known to need description here. Because, however, their interdependence as parts of a general scheme in the mind of the author tends to become obscured by consideration of their respective quality, note may be taken of the fact that _Coningsby_ is a novel of political views, _Sybil_ one of social conditions and classes among the people, and _Tancred_ one of religion as an influence in national life. Of the characters in _Coningsby_ many reappear in _Tancred_, while Tadpole and Taper, whose names have become part of English political slang, pull their wires and cadge their jobs as assiduously in _Sybil_ as in the story that preceded it. It would be interesting to work out a comparison between Disraeli and Trollope as political novelists. Probably one would come to the decision that those of Disraeli are the better political novels and those of Trollope the better novels of politics. In other words, Disraeli is the cleverer publicist, but Trollope the finer artist. _Coningsby_ and its fellows depend very much on contemporary fact and personality for their full understanding and significance. Surely it is not hyperæsthetic to demand that literature be its own interpreter? In so far as a work of art requires outside knowledge for its proper appreciation, to that extent it falls short from what in art is highest and most perfect.

The appearance of _Lothair_ in 1870 caused something of a scandal in serious political circles. The Briton is accustomed to take his statesmen seriously, but his novelists with frivolity and in the leisure hour. Wherefore he regarded it as unseemly that the name of an ex-Prime Minister and of a man whose political career was by no means run should figure on the title-pages of a three-volume novel. Curiosity conquered disapproval and, as on an hundred other occasions, a book condemned for its very existence was purchased and read in tens of thousands. _Lothair_ is the work of a man who knew everybody and almost everything. The personal satire, the constructive and destructive fervour of _Coningsby_, _Sybil_, and _Tancred_ have given place to a greater gravity and restraint, to an ironic vision more general and less individual. Taking as his subject the power of the Catholic Church, the rival power of revolutionary free thought and the indeterminate central position of the Church of England, Disraeli built up his fourth and most extensive picture of the England of his time. If we miss the idealist conviction that gives to some of the passages in _Tancred_ the force of a splendid sermon, we gain a certainty and a dignity of thought which were inevitably lacking in the books of the earlier period. We also continue to enjoy the epigram, the vivid minor portraiture, the lightning grasp of fact and of every implication of fact, that give to the political novels of Disraeli their unique flavour and importance.

_BIOGRAPHY_

THE LIFE OF BENJAMIN DISRAELI, EARL OF BEACONSFIELD. By WILLIAM
FLAVELLE MONYPENNY and GEORGE EARLE BUCKLE. 6 vols. London: John
Murray. 1912-1920.

I.—EDITIONES PRINCIPES
FICTION, POETRY, ESSAYS, LETTERS, ETC.

1825

AN ENQUIRY INTO THE PLANS, PROGRESS AND POLICY OF AMERICAN MINING
COMPANIES. London: John Murray. MDCCCXXV. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5¼ × 8½).
Pp. 135 + (1) of which p. (6) is paged vi. Paper boards, paper
label. White end-papers.

NOTE—These observations were made from a third enlarged
edition published in the first year of issue, and it is
likely that the first edition, although similar in format,
etc., contains fewer pages.

1825

LAWYERS AND LEGISLATORS: Or NOTES ON THE AMERICAN MINING COMPANIES.
(Quotation from Hooker.) London: John Murray. MDCCCXXV. 1 vol. Demy
8vo (5¼ × 8½). Pp. (viii) + 99 + (1). No half-title. Paper boards,
paper label. White end-papers.

1825

THE PRESENT STATE OF MEXICO: As detailed in a Report presented to the
General Congress by the Secretary of State for the Home Department
and Foreign Affairs at the Opening of the Session in 1825. With
Notes and a Memoir of Don Lucas Alaman. London: John Murray,
Albemarle Street. MDCCCXXV. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5¼ × 8½). Pp. 130.
Advertisement of Disraeli's two earlier pamphlets occupies verso of
half-title, facing title-page. Pp. (6) to 55 are occupied by a
Memoir of Don Lucas Alaman, written by Disraeli. Alaman's report
begins on p. 57. Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.

1826/7

VIVIAN GREY. “Why then the world's mine oyster which I with sword will
open.” London: Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street. 1826 (Vols. I.
and II.), 1827 (Vols. III. IV. and V.). 5 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ ×
7⅝).

Vol. I. pp. (vi) + 266 + (2).

Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 236 + (4). Publisher's advertisements occupy pp.
(237) to (240).

Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 333 + (3). Publisher's advertisements occupy
pp. (335) and (336).

Vol. IV. pp. (iv) + 362.

Vol. V. pp. (iv) + 324.

Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.

NOTE—Vols. I. and II. of this story were published on April
22, 1826; Vols. III. IV. and V. on February 23, 1827.

1828

THE VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN POPANILLA. By the author of _Vivian Grey_.
“Travellers ne'er did lie though fools at home condemned 'em.”
London: Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street. 1828. 1 vol. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4⅞ × 7¾). Pp. viii + 243 + (1). Paper boards, paper label.
White end-papers.

NOTE—This book was published on June 3, 1828.

1831

THE YOUNG DUKE: “A moral Tale, though gay.” By the author of _Vivian
Grey_. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, New Burlington
Street. 1831. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (7⅞ × 4¾).

Vol. I. pp. iv + 300. No half-title.

Vol. II. pp. (vi) + 269 + (3). Text ends p. 269; note occupies p.
(271).

Vol. III. pp. (vi) + 265 + (3). Publishers' advertisements occupy
pp. (267) (268).

Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White end-papers.

NOTE—The only copy of this book I have been able to consult
in its original state contained at the end of Vol. I. a
publishers' catalogue, 8 pp., dated April, 1832. Clearly it
did not belong to the first issue, but what date should be
found on a catalogue of the earliest issue, where in the
three volumes such a catalogue should appear, or whether
there should be a catalogue at all, I do not know.

1832

ENGLAND AND FRANCE: Or A CURE FOR THE MINISTERIAL GALLOMANIA.
(Quotation from speech by Duke of Wellington.) London: John Murray,
Albemarle Street. 1832. 1 vol. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾). Pp. viii +
(xii) + 268. Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.

NOTES—(i) This book was published in April, 1832.

(ii) The above observations were made from a rebound cut
copy, and details of measurement are therefore conjectural.

1832

CONTARINI FLEMING: A Psychological Autobiography. London: John Murray,
Albemarle Street. MDCCCXXXII. 4 vols. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾).

Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 288.

Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 247 + (1).

Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 194 + (2). Publisher's advertisements occupy
pp. (195) (196).

Vol. IV. pp. (iv) + 230 + (2).

Paper boards (half cloth), paper label. White end-papers.

NOTES—(i) This book was published in May, 1832.

(ii) The sheets of the Murray edition were issued in 1834 by
Edward Moxon, Dover Street, over the name: “D'Israeli The
Younger, author of _Vivian Grey_, _Alroy_ and _Ixion in
Heaven_,” with a new preliminary signature (8 pp.) to Vol.
I. containing a preface in explanation of the author's
action in putting his name to the book. Consequently from
the purist point of view the Moxon edition of 1834 should be
collected as containing fresh matter. It was bound in pale
maroon cloth, with paper label. Yellow end-papers.

1833

THE WONDROUS TALE OF ALROY: THE RISE OF ISKANDER. By the author of
_Vivian Grey_, _Contarini Fleming_ etc. London: Saunders and Otley,
Conduit Street. 1833. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).

Vol. I. pp. xxv + (iii) + 303 + (1).

Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 305 + (3). Publishers' advertisements, dated
February, 1833, occupy pp. (307) and (308).

Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 324 + (4). Advertisements of works by the same
author occupy pp. (325) and (326).

Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.

NOTE—This book was published on March 5, 1833.

1833

WHAT IS HE? By the author of _Vivian Grey_. (Extract from a Letter.)
London: James Ridgway, Piccadilly and E. Lloyd, Harley Street,
MDCCCXXXIII. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5⅜ × 8½). Pp. 16. Half-title serves as
wrapper and bears the words “Price Sixpence.” P. 16 serves as back
wrapper. Advertisements occupy p. (2).

NOTE—The above notation was made from a copy of the “New
Edition, Revised” of the pamphlet. Since, however, this
first appeared in the same year and over the same imprint, I
have ventured to assume comparative uniformity of size and
appearance.

1834

THE REVOLUTIONARY EPICK: THE WORK OF DISRAELI THE YOUNGER. Author of
_The Psychological Romance_. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street,
MDCCCXXXIV. [The title-page to Vol. II. reads in addition: “Books
II. and III. containing The Plea of Lyridon, the Genius of
Feudalism; and the First Part of the Conquest of Italy.”] 2 vols.
Large Post 4to (8¼ × 10½).

Vol. I. pp. viii + 89 + (3).

Vol. II. pp. xi + (i) + (91) to 206.

Advertisement of _Contarini Fleming_ (differently worded in each
case) faces title in both volumes. Paper boards. Paper label on
sides. White end-papers.

NOTE—Only fifty copies of this edition were printed. See
preface to the second and revised edition published in 1864,
details of which are given below.

1834

THE CRISIS EXAMINED. By DISRAELI THE YOUNGER. London: Saunders and
Otley, Conduit Street. 1834. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8½). Pp. (iv) +
31 + (1).

NOTES—(i) This pamphlet was issued in December, 1834.

(ii) The above observations were made from a rebound copy,
wherefore the style of binding is an assumption, and I
suspect that two or more flyleaves—maybe printed with
advertisements—should be added to the reckoning here set
down.

1835

VINDICATION OF THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION IN A LETTER TO A NOBLE AND
LEARNED LORD. By DISRAELI THE YOUNGER. London: Saunders and Otley,
Conduit Street. 1835. 1 vol. Tall Demy 8vo (5½ × 9). Pp. ix + (i) +
210 + (2). Publishers' advertisements occupy pp. (211) and (212). A
four-page leaflet of publishers' advertisements should be found
inserted between the front end-papers, and an erratum slip at p.
(v). Paper boards, paper label. White end-papers.

NOTE—This book was published in January, 1835.

1836

THE LETTERS OF RUNNYMEDE. “Neither for shame nor fear this mask he
wore That, like a vizor in the battle-field But shrouds a manly and
a daring brow.” London: John Macrone, St. James's Square.
MDCCCXXXVI. 1 vol. Slim Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 8¼). Pp. (xxiv) [paged as
ii + (v) + vi-xx + (ii)] + 234 + (6). Publishers' advertisements, 2
pp., dated August 1, 1836, occupy pp. i and ii. The half-title is
inset on different paper between p. ii. and title-page. Paper
boards, paper label. White end-papers. Also in dark blue embossed
cloth, gilt, yellow end-papers.

NOTE—This book was published in July or August, 1836.

1837

HENRIETTA TEMPLE: A Love Story. By the author of _Vivian Grey_. “Quoth
Sancho, Read it out by all means; for I mightily delight in hearing
of love stories.” London: Henry Colburn, 13 Great Marlborough
Street, MDCCCXXXVII. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅝).

Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 299 + (1).

Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 309 + (3). Publisher's advertisements occupy pp.
(311) and (312).

Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 331 + (1).

Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. White end-papers.

NOTE—Although dated 1837, this book was actually published
in December, 1836.

1837

VENETIA. By the author of _Vivian Grey_ and _Henrietta Temple_. “Is
thy face like thy mother's my fair child?” “The child of love,
though born in bitterness and nurtured in convulsion.” London: Henry
Colburn, Publisher, 13 Great Marlborough Street. MDCCCXXXVII. 3
vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7⅝).

Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 346.

Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 377 + (1).

Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 324. Publisher's advertisements occupy pp. (i)
and (ii).

No half-titles. Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. White
end-papers.

NOTE—This book was published in May, 1837.

1839

THE TRAGEDY OF COUNT ALARCOS. By the author of _Vivian Grey_. London:
Henry Colburn, Great Marlborough Street. 1839. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5½ ×
8½). Pp. vi + (ii) + 108. Errata slip facing p. 1. Paper boards,
paper label. White end-papers.

NOTE—This book was published in May, 1839.

1844

CONINGSBY: Or THE NEW GENERATION. By B. DISRAELI ESQ., M.P., author of
_Contarini Fleming_. London: Henry Colburn, Publisher, Great
Marlborough Street. 1844. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾).

Vol. I. pp. iv + 319 + (1).

Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 314.

Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 354. Advertisements occupy pp. (351) to (354).

No half-titles. Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. White
end-papers.

NOTE—This book was published in May, 1844.

1845

SYBIL: Or, THE TWO NATIONS. By B. DISRAELI, M.P., author of
_Coningsby_. (Quotation from Latimer.) London: Henry Colburn.
Publisher. Great Marlborough Street. 1845. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ ×
7¾).

Vol. I. p. viii + 315 + (1).

Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 324.

Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 326 + (2). Publisher's advertisements occupy
pp. (327) and (328).

Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. White end-papers.

NOTE—This book was published in May, 1845.

1847

TANCRED: Or THE NEW CRUSADE. By B. DISRAELI, M.P., author of
_Coningsby_, _Sybil_ etc. London: Henry Colburn, Publisher, Great
Marlborough Street, 1847. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅞).

Vol. I. pp. (ii) + 338.

Vol. II. pp. (ii) + 340.

Vol. III. pp. (ii) + 298 + (12). Publisher's advertisements occupy
pp. (299) to (310).

No half-titles. Paper boards, half cloth, paper label. White
end-papers.

NOTE—This book was published in March, 1847.

1852

LORD GEORGE BENTINCK: A Political Biography. By B. DISRAELI, Member of
Parliament for the County of Buckingham. “He left us the legacy of
heroes; the memory of his great name and the inspiration of his
great example.” London: Colburn and Co., Publishers, Great
Marlborough Street. 1852. 1 vol. Demy 8vo (5¾ × 8¾). Pp. viii + 588.
Publishers' catalogue, 8 pp., and measuring 5 × 8, bound in after p.
588. This catalogue is followed by a further single sheet (2 pp.)
advertisement, measuring 5 × 8½. Dark olive-brown cloth, gilt,
blocked in blind. Yellow end-papers.

NOTE—Although dated 1852, this book was actually published
in December, 1851.

1853

*IXION IN HEAVEN. THE INFERNAL MARRIAGE. THE VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN
POPANILLA. THE TRAGEDY OF COUNT ALARCOS. By BENJAMIN DISRAELI.
London: David Bryce, 48 Paternoster Row. 1853. 1 vol. Cloth.

This little book—a volume in a cheap reissue of the novels and
romances of Disraeli—is the first _book_ edition of _Ixion in
Heaven_ and _The Infernal Marriage_, which first appeared in the
“New Monthly” in 1829 and 1830, and had not been reprinted in the
interval.

1864

THE REVOLUTIONARY EPICK. By the Right Honorable BENJAMIN DISRAELI.
London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green. 1864. 1 vol.
Small Cr. 8vo (4½ × 7⅛). Pp. (xiv) [paged as (ii) + x + (ii)] + 176
+ (2). Preface (in dedication), dated Easter, 1864, occupies pp.
(vii) and (viii). Preface reprinted from the original edition
occupies pp. (ix) to (xii). Brown cloth, gilt. Chocolate end-papers.

NOTE—The text of this edition differs extensively both in
wording and length from that of 1834. In his preface the
author states that the work was completed in 1837, but,
through press of political duties, he made no arrangement
for its issue before the present date. He also avers that
only fifty copies of the edition of 1834 were printed.

1870

LOTHAIR. By the Right Honorable B. DISRAELI. (Quotation from
Terentius.) London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1870. 3 vols. Ex. Cr.
8vo (4¾ × 7¾).

Vol. I. pp. (viii) + 328. Publishers' advertisements, 32 pp., dated
January, 1870, bound in at end.

Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 321 + (3).

Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 333 + (7). Publishers' advertisements occupy
pp. (337) to (340).

Green cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Chocolate end-papers.

NOTE—This book was published in May, 1870.

1880

ENDYMION. By the author of _Lothair_. “Quicquid agunt Homines.”
London: Longmans, Green and Co. 1880. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅝).

Vol. I. pp. (iv) + 331 + (1).

Vol. II. pp. (iv) + 337 + (3).

Vol. III. pp. (iv) + 346 + (2). Publishers' advertisements occupy
pp. (347) and (348).

Scarlet cloth lettered in silver. Grey and white decorated
end-papers.

NOTE—There are two styles of blocking for the binding of
this book; that most worked and bearing publishers' imprint
at foot of spine is the earlier.

II.—BOOKS PARTIALLY WRITTEN OR EDITED BY BENJAMIN DISRAELI

1825

THE LIFE OF PAUL JONES. From original documents in the possession of
John Henry Sherburne Esq., Register of the Navy of the United
States. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. MDCCCXXV. 1 vol. Ex.
Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7¾). Pp. xii + 320. Paper boards, paper label. White
end-papers.

NOTES—(i) With reference to this book Monypenny says: “The
exact relationship of the English book to the American
original is not clear; but the former seems also to have
been written by an American, and the original MS., which has
been preserved, shows that Disraeli's share in it was
limited to the introduction here and there of a word or
phrase where the excision of a passage rendered such
amendment necessary.” In addition to the corrections thus
described Disraeli contributed an anonymous preface to the
book.

(ii) It is interesting to record here that in 1844 Captain
Marryat was asked to write a life of Paul Jones. He was
interested in the project, but it never materialized.

1826

THE STAR CHAMBER. A Weekly Magazine published by William Marsh, 145
Oxford Street. 9/8 numbers Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¾) were published: No. 1,
April 19, pp. 1 to 20; Nos. 2 and 3 (double number), April 26, pp.
21 to 58; No. 4, May 3, pp. 59 to 74; No. 5, May 10, pp. 75 to 90;
No. 6, May 17, pp. 91 to 110; No. 7, May 24, pp. 111 to 126; No. 8,
May 31, pp. 127 to 142; No. 9, June 7, pp. 143 to 154.

After the completion of the 9/8 numbers, a four-page sheet of preliminary matter was issued, of which p. (i) reads:

THE STAR CHAMBER. Vol. I. Part 1. April 19 to June 7, 1826. (Quotation
from Cavendish, “Wolsey.”) London: William Marsh, 145 Oxford Street.
Pp. (iii) and (iv) are occupied by contents list.

NOTES—(i) At one time the responsibility for the whole
contents as well as for the editorship of the “Star Chamber”
was fathered upon Disraeli. Monypenny, however, combats this
theory. He says: “The 'Star Chamber' was founded by a
certain Peter Hall, a friend of Meredith's at Brasenose,
who, through Meredith, had become acquainted with Disraeli.
Disraeli contributed some fables with a political
application under the title of _The Modern Aesop_, and
perhaps other matter. But in later life he expressly denied
('The Times,' November 3, 1871; the 'Leisure Hour,' November
4, 1871) having been editor, if indeed there ever was an
editor.” This represents, of course, the most recent and
authoritative opinion on the matter; but it is interesting,
on p. 150 of the catalogue of the Hope collection of
newspapers, etc., in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (1865),
to find reasons given for the suppression by Disraeli of all
copies of the “Star Chamber” upon which he could lay his
hands. The Peter Hall referred to above was the Reverend
Peter Hall, B.A., editor of “The Crypt.”

(ii) It is because the “Star Chamber” has come to be looked
upon as a Disraeli item that I have included it here,
despite the fact that in so doing I exceed the limit of
these bibliographies, which take no account of magazine
contributions of the authors concerned.

1849-1859

THE WORKS OF ISAAC DISRAELI. Edited with Introductions by BENJAMIN
DISRAELI.

Disraeli started work on a new edition of his father's books in 1847, but the actual publication was, for various reasons, spread over a period of ten years. The following are the dates and details in outline of the first issues of the various titles:

1849. CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. London: Edward Moxon. 3 vols. Demy
8vo (5½ × 8¾). Dark green cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers. Vol. I.
contains “A View of the Life and Writings” of Isaac Disraeli written
by his son and extending to over thirty pages.

1851. COMMENTARIES ON THE LIFE AND REIGN OF CHARLES THE FIRST, KING OF
ENGLAND. London: Henry Colburn. 2 vols. Demy 8vo (5½ × 8¾). Dark
green cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers. Vol. I. contains a brief
preface by Benjamin Disraeli.

1859. THE LITERARY CHARACTER Or THE HISTORY OF MEN OF GENIUS; and
LITERARY MISCELLANIES and AN ENQUIRY INTO THE CHARACTER OF JAMES THE
FIRST. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo.

1859. THE CALAMITIES AND QUARRELS OF AUTHORS. 1 Vol. Cr. 8vo.

1859. AMENITIES OF LITERATURE. 2 vols. Cr. 8vo.

These last three items were all published in London by Routledge, Warnes and Routledge, and bound in dark green cloth, with yellow end-papers. They contain no prefaces by Benjamin Disraeli, who contented himself with care for the text of his father's work.

_NOTE_

To a collected edition of his novels issued in 1870 Disraeli wrote an important preface, characterising the work of his youth from the viewpoint of a man in his sixties and indicating the considerable revisions carried out in nearly all the books.

No attempt has been made to include in the foregoing bibliography the reports of and selections from the speeches of Disraeli, which—not surprisingly—were issued in large numbers during his later life. Also are omitted two volumes of his early letters, published after his death.

WILKIE COLLINS
1824-1889

WILKIE COLLINS

Few novelists have enjoyed greater glory than did Wilkie Collins at the height of his fame; to few did loss of popularity in later years come more bitterly. For fame at one time undeniably was his. Not only had he a large and enthusiastic public; not only were his works translated into half a dozen languages within a month of their original publication; not only was he pestered by the editors of two hemispheres for stories and serials; but also he figured prominently in the professional literary life of the time, was the intimate friend of Dickens, and a member of the innermost ring of artistic and intellectual society. Probably to his intimacy with the chief literary personalities of his time is due the considerable survival of his reputation. Despite the fact that during the last period of his life he suffered severe eclipse, and although, beyond _The Moonstone_ and _The Woman in White_, none of his books are regularly read to-day, he is a name more familiar to the world than Trollope, a name more notably literary than Marryat. In the sixties, no less than in the nineteen-twenties, to belong to the writing set was two-thirds of reputation. There is no log-rolling so expert, no admiration so mutual as that existing among members of the various groups that practise the arts. Whence it has come about that the name of Wilkie Collins—who as an artist may not be mentioned in the same chapter as Trollope or Marryat, or even Mrs. Gaskell—is a household word, while those of his greater fellows sound strangely, as the notes of some old-fashioned melody.

I do not seek to imply that Collins' survival is in no way due to the quality of his work. He won the admiration of his own age and may claim that of posterity as a superb teller of stories and, in his latter days, as a pathetic and courageous figure. But apart from his dexterity in the contriving of plot, apart from a great (if intermittent) talent for the portrayal of abnormal character, he is inferior as a painter of life to many writers of his time whose very existence is nowadays forgotten.

And yet he would, perhaps, himself be content to have it so. That it was the novelist's primary duty to tell a story was his own creed, and faithfully he abode by it. He does not reveal to us human nature as does Trollope; nor, like Disraeli, pique our interest with satiric brilliance on topics of follies of the day; he has none of Marryat's gay familiarity with the winds that blow and the sun that shines on the crossroads of life's pilgrimage; he has no fund of rough but genial humanity like Reade; he is not tender like Mrs. Gaskell, nor mystic visionary like Herman Melville; even Whyte Melville, with his stilted rhetoric and clumsy naïveté, has at times an attractive freshness that Collins lacks. But if we rid our minds of all thought of him as seeking to throw on the dark places of existence the light of interpretation, looking to him rather for entertainment and for excitement, for deft mystery and for extraordinary coincidence, he will not disappoint us.

Of his novels the largest category, and that including all the books (save perhaps two) that bear re-reading nowadays, is that of the dramatic and mystery stories.

The first to appear was _After Dark_, published in 1856. To the modern reader, the unmistakable first appearance of the real Collins in these excellent tales comes with a pleasurable shock after the mild bohemianism of the preceding novel, _Hide and Seek_. _After Dark_ consists of six narratives of varying length and subject, ingeniously woven together into the pattern of a single story. At their best they are as good as anything the author ever wrote; even at their worst they are free from the perfunctory carelessness that mars so much of his later work.

_The Dead Secret_ (1857) and _The Queen of Hearts_ (1859) show the novelist carrying farther his talent for dramatic construction and his experiments in technique. Both books contain descriptive passages of sombre power.

There follow successively the four best books of Collins' career. _The Woman in White_ (1860), _No Name_ (1862), _Armadale_ (1866), and _The Moonstone_ (1868) are story-telling as fine as the nineteenth century can show. But they make evident that, even at his zenith, Collins was no reader of other men's hearts. He could fashion ingenious puppets to his will, entangling them in the meshes of his intricate and faultlessly constructed plots; but neither Count Fosco nor Captain Wragge, neither Miss Gwilt nor Sergeant Cuff, remains with the reader as a new friend or as a new enemy. Each is remembered, rather, as a striking and skilfully designed marionette, jerking through a Collins drama at the bidding of a delicate mechanism of strings.

After _The Moonstone_ the decadence began, and, to a point, accountably enough. In the first place, the author threw himself into the production of propaganda fiction, with results (as may be seen) praiseworthy but a little ridiculous. Secondly, he paid the usual price of success and began to over-write. Whereas between 1850 and 1868 he published eleven novels and books of tales, between 1870 and his death in 1889 he published eighteen, in addition to a mass of short stories for magazines, plays, and other incidental work. Thirdly—although not until late in the seventies—his health began to fail. With reasons as good as these for a falling off in Collins' work, it were ungracious to inquire whether, had he eschewed reform, controlled his pen, and retained his strength and eyesight, his fiction would have advanced from strength to strength. Perhaps; perhaps not. Let us return from hypothetical dilemma to melancholy fact. After _The Moonstone_ the decadence unmistakably began.

When next he came before the public with a novel of plot, and left for a moment the righting of public wrongs, his offering was mechanical enough. _The Two Destinies_ (1876) is built on a series of coincidences so incredible, that even Collins' candid claim to search the very border-line of impossibility for material of which to make a story cannot reconcile us to their unlikelihood.

_The Haunted Hotel_ (1879), _Jezebel's Daughter_ (1880), and _I Say No_ (1884) mark a slight improvement, and can be read with pleasure for the unfailing ingenuity of their design. _The Evil Genius_ (1886) is in the nature of a bad relapse, from which the dramatic tales never wholly recover, although, of the three remaining, _Little Novels_ (1887) and _The Legacy of Cain_ (1889) are not without flashes of the old skill and invention. _Blind Love_, finished by Sir Walter Besant and published posthumously, may perhaps claim immunity from criticism.

As a novelist of indignation Collins is pathetic rather than blameworthy. He had the usual fanaticisms of the invalid intellectual—hatred of athleticism, of sport, of legal injustice, of religious intrigue, of social insincerity; and his propaganda novels give expression to his passionate dislikes with a petulant but rather impressive sincerity. Fortunately for the modern reader of books which by their very nature are now out of date, Collins did not fail, even in his tilting at windmills, to regulate his movements with practised skill. Wherefore all but one of the propaganda novels have well-contrived plots and continuity of interest, which those will enjoy who can disentangle the fictional from the instructional in the stories' purpose. These “indignation novels” are six in number:

MAN AND WIFE (1870),
THE NEW MAGDALEN (1873),
THE LAW AND THE LADY (1875),
THE FALLEN LEAVES (1879),
THE BLACK ROBE (1871), and
HEART AND SCIENCE (1883).

That in other books are present elements of reforming zeal I am aware—for example, the abuse of private asylums figures in _The Woman in White_ and, as mentioned below, there is a propaganda aspect to _Basil_; but the six above named have their origin wholly in the author's loathing of some injustice or some social evil.

_Man and Wife_ illustrates the cruel working of the marriage laws of the United Kingdom and, incidentally, voices the author's conviction that athleticism was at the time rapidly brutalizing the youth of England. _The Law and the Lady_ ventilates another grievance against legal injustice in matters sexual. _The New Magdalen_ and _The Fallen Leaves_ are protests against the outlawry of the prostitute and of the girl who gives herself, unhallowed by the religious rite, to love. It is strange that, of two books on the same subject, one (_The New Magdalen_) should be the best novel of its class and not far below the highest level ever attained by the author, while the other (_The Fallen Leaves_) should hold the last place among everything that Collins wrote. _The New Magdalen_ is a moving and dignified treatment of a very difficult theme; _The Fallen Leaves_, from its aggressive preface to its sugary, unreal end, is tragic proof that high motive and technical efficiency may yet come together and produce only imbecile hysteria.

_The Black Robe_ is anti-Jesuit; _Heart and Science_ anti-vivisection. Both are readable, and the latter something more. It may be noted that Collins himself called _Heart and Science_ his best novel since _Man and Wife_. Probably opinion to-day would set it above that humourless and over-appendixed story, but it must rank below _The New Magdalen_ and, possibly, also below _The Haunted Hotel_.

The novels that remain may hardly be classified. _Antonina_, the story of Ancient Rome, with which in 1850, and following a fashion of the day, he began his novelist's career, is essentially a first book—painstaking, over-elaborate, and dull.

It was succeeded by _Mr. Wray's Cash Box_ (1852), a brief and sentimental tale, mainly interesting for the evidence it provides of Dickens's influence over the young Collins at the very beginning of their long friendship. Those who enjoy hearty Christmas jollity, lovable if ludicrous old age, uncouth fidelity, incompetent villainy, and sweet simple maidenhood will find _Mr. Wray's Cash Box_ pleasant enough.

_Basil_ (1852) and _Hide and Seek_ (1854) are novels of contemporary life, a little sombre, emotionally a little exaggerated. There is a hint of crusading fervour in _Basil_ (against drunken nurses and hospital routine), but the motif is not strong enough to class the book as a propaganda novel. The young author (as many both before and since have done) found stimulus for these books in the pathetic figure of the debauched girl; but she receives at his hands treatment little different from that usually given her by serious neophytes, eager to paint her tragic isolation for the improvement of the novel-reading public.

There is in _Hide and Seek_ an element of interest apart from that of the story itself. Much of the action takes place in a painter's studio, and Collins has full scope for showing his fondness for art, an enthusiasm suitable enough in the son and biographer of a distinguished painter, but somewhat uncommon among novelists of his age. Throughout his work he makes play with knowledge of contemporary painting, displaying decided and on the whole admirable taste, often well in advance of his time.

_Poor Miss Finch_ (1872) is more a story of contemporary social life than either a novel of mystery or one of propaganda. It may therefore appear here as pendant to the two early books just described. The central figure is a blind girl. In _Hide and Seek_ the author took credit to himself for introducing a deaf mute, but as the affliction plays no part in the story one must refrain from joining in the applause. The blindness of Miss Finch, on the other hand, is the pivot of her tale, and a very elaborate, improbable, and overcrowded tale it is. The fact is regrettable. Neatly contrived, related in a series of narratives from different sources and from different points of view, based largely on the antagonism of two brothers, 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.

NOTE—This book was published in November, 1848.

1850

ANTONINA: Or THE FALL OF ROME. A Romance of the Fifth Century. By W.
WILKIE COLLINS, author of _The Life of William Collins, R.A._
(Quotation from Scuderi.) London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington
Street. MDCCCL. 3 vols. Tall Ex. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 8).

Vol. I. pp. xiv + (ii) + 295 + (1).

Vol. II. pp. (viii) + 338 + (2). Publisher's advertisements occupy
pp. (323) and (324).

Vol. III. pp. (viii) + 338 + (2). Publisher's advertisements occupy
pp. (339) and (340).

Cream embossed cloth, gilt. Yellow end-papers, printed with
publisher's advertisements.

NOTES—(i) This book was published on February 27, 1850.

(ii) Copies in paper boards, half cloth and with paper
label, were probably also issued.

1851