Wilkie Collins's Library: A Reconstruction

(Hardback)

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Overviews the contents and auction of Collins's library and includes annotated entries for individual items. Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) is a major British Victorian novelist, dramatist, short story writer, and journalist. He is best known today as the author of The Moonstone, which T.S. Eliot called the first and greatest English detective novel. He has been the subject of two recent biographies, and a revival of interest in his works is now under way. In particular, there is growing concern with his intellectual development, as witnessed by the 1999 publication of his collected letters. This reconstruction of his library offers a thorough analysis of the books he owned and his response to them and thus illuminates Collins as a reader and writer. The book begins with a narrative discussion of the contents of Collins's library and its auction. This introductory essay sheds light on the types of books he owned, his use of those texts in his writings, and the dispersion of his collection in 1890. The bulk of the volume provides annotated entries for each item from his library. Entries include publication and bibliographic information, descriptions from sale catalogs, information about the author of the item, citations of the book or author from Collins's letters, and information on the present location or subsequent history of the item. An appendix catalogs paintings and artwork in Collins's possession at the time of his death.

Reviews

[a] fresh and highly illuminating discernment of Collins....[a] very attractive and relliable assessment of the role of books, in the life and work of an eminent Victorian writer....[l]ikely to remain a standard work on its subject, and also a basis for further research in the future. It must, therefore, be recommended unreservedly for purchase by academic establishments of any standing.-Reference Reviews
In the wake of renewed interest in Collins, this work reconstructs the Victorian author's library, with the goals of understanding "Collins as a reader through an analysis of the books he owned and his response to them" and presenting details of 19th-century source material....an important addition to Collins scholarship. Recommended for libraries with large literature collections or that support study of Victorian literature.-Choice
"a fresh and highly illuminating discernment of Collins....a very attractive and relliable assessment of the role of books, in the life and work of an eminent Victorian writer....likely to remain a standard work on its subject, and also a basis for further research in the future. It must, therefore, be recommended unreservedly for purchase by academic establishments of any standing."-Reference Reviews
"[a] fresh and highly illuminating discernment of Collins....[a] very attractive and relliable assessment of the role of books, in the life and work of an eminent Victorian writer....[l]ikely to remain a standard work on its subject, and also a basis for further research in the future. It must, therefore, be recommended unreservedly for purchase by academic establishments of any standing."-Reference Reviews
"In the wake of renewed interest in Collins, this work reconstructs the Victorian author's library, with the goals of understanding "Collins as a reader through an analysis of the books he owned and his response to them" and presenting details of 19th-century source material....an important addition to Collins scholarship. Recommended for libraries with large literature collections or that support study of Victorian literature."-Choice

Author Bio

WILLIAM BAKER is Professor, Department of English, and Professor, University Libraries, at Northern Illinois University.