GA's Fiction & Poetry (1869-1889)
An Annotated Bibliography of GA's Fiction & Poetry 1869-1889
Last revised: 02 Feb 20
This bibliography is intended to help students of Grant Allen by listing everything from his pen and providing annotations for most items. It lists all known publications of his fiction & poetry. Some of these items are extremely obscure, and I am greatly indebted to Victor Berch of Brandeis University and Robert Jackson for uncovering many of the rarest items.
I am grateful for help from many other people, and seek eagerly more details and corrections. There is a section on unresolved problems at the end. Contact me by email.
All printed bibliographies of Allen's creative work are unsatisfactory. Even the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature is slightly inaccurate and incomplete in its entries for fiction. The bibliographies in the three volumes of the Dictionary of Literary Biography (Gale) which have articles on GA also have omissions and some minor errors. All of these ignore GA's many uncollected stories for the periodicals. The bibliography of GA's fiction by Phil Stephensen-Payne and Virgil Utter (Galactic Central Publications, 1999) is incomplete.
The Library of Congress, the University of Toronto Library and the University of California libraries seem to hold the fullest collections of GA's fiction. There is an excellent collection of first editions in the Kingston Public Library, Ontario.
All novels were published in one volume, unless stated otherwise.
The BBC broadcast readings from An African Millionaire under the title 'Colonel Clay' at the following dates:
1. "Mexican Seer" 8 Jan 2000.
2. "Diamond Links" 9 Jan 2000.
3. "Tyrolean Castle" 15 Jan 2000.
4. "Arrest of Colonel Clay" 16 Jan 2000.
5. "German Professor" 13 Nov 2000.
6. ""Scottish Retreat" 14 Nov 2000.
7. "Old Master" 15 Nov 2000.
8. "The Japanned Dispatch Box" 16 Nov 2000.
An African Millionaire was adapted as a play by Frederick W. Sidney in 1904 and was performed 8 times in New York, at the long since demolished Princess Theatre on Broadway.
These details, obtained thanks to Michael Wynn, are not included in the following bibliography.
Except in special cases I have given up indexing GA's work which has been uploaded, as the URLs come and go, and it's easier to google for specific items. Many of the links to such material given below are broken now, but I have left them in place. A lot of GA's books are now available as print-on-demand books or e-books, and I have given up trying to list these. Now that so many newspapers have been digitised, it's become apparent that GA's short stories (in particular) were reprinted world-wide, including in translation. I do not index these appearances except in the cases where the original English publication is untraced.
Abbreviations:
CIHM=Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions, Ottawa
Penn=Rare Books and Manuscripts, the Pennsylvania State University Libraries
CW=The Chatto & Windus Archives, University of Reading Library
"I wasn't born a novelist, I was only made one. Philosophy and science were the first loves of my youth. I dropped into romance as many men drop into drink, or opium-eating, or other bad practices, not of native perversity, but by pure force of circumstances. . . . The education of an English novelist consists entirely in learning to subordinate all his own ideas and tastes and opinions to the wishes and beliefs of the inexorable British matron. . . . I had a ten years' hard struggle for bread, into the details of which I don't care to enter. It left me broken in health and spirit, with all the vitality and vivacity crushed out of me. I suppose the object of this series of papers is to warn off ingenuous and aspiring youth from the hardest worked and worst paid of the professions. If so, I would say earnestly to the ingenuous and aspiring – 'Brain for brain, in no market can you sell your abilities to such poor advantage. Don't take to literature if you've capital enough in hand to buy a good broom, and energy enough to annex a vacant crossing'." -- My First Book (1892).
1869
Two Portraits
1. Oxford University Magazine and Review, 1 (Nov 1869), 12-13. Unsigned.
2. Forecast and Fulfillment. The Lower Slopes (1894).
1870
Mr Josiah P. Doolittle's Electioneering Experiences. A Communication from a Sister University
Attributed by Clodd, GA. Doolittle, a con-man, late of Hitchcocksburg University, outwits a corrupt election committee. Full of vulgar Americanisms, this first fictional effort mocks American pretensions and corruptions, and their lack of culture generally.
1. Oxford University Magazine and Review, 2 (Jan 1870), 145-153. Unsigned.
In Bushey Park
1. Oxford University Magazine and Review, 2 (Jan 1870), 144. Unsigned.
2. The Lower Slopes (1894).
1874
Only an Insect
1. "Only an Insect." Canadian Monthly and National Review, 6 (Dec 1874), 521.
2. The Mystery of Pain. By Professor Grant Allen. Popular Science Monthly, 11 (Sep 1877), 634.
3. Ladhope Leaves. A Spring Garland for 1887. Edinburgh: T. & A. Constable, 1887.
4. The Lower Slopes (1894).
5. A Treasury of Canadian Verse, ed. Theodore H. Rand. Toronto/London: William Briggs/Dent, 1900, pp. 3-6.
This is preceded by a 4-stanza section from 'Day-Dreams' by his father J.A. Allen.
6. The Academy and Literature, 82 (30 Mar 1912 [supplement]), 8.
1875
To Herbert Spencer
Fulsome poetic eulogy which GA composed while teaching in Jamaica and sent to Spencer, followed by request to help him, GA, get an article published in England. See primary materials.
1. Popular Science Monthly, 7 (Sep 1875), 628. GA claimed the poem was probably sent to the editor (Spencer's American promoter) by Spencer himself.
2. Canadian Monthly and National Review, 8 (Oct 1875), 320-1.
3. The Lower Slopes (1894).
Vive la Commune
1. Canadian Monthly and National Review, 8 (Aug 1875), 98-9.
1878
JULY 1878
Our Scientific Observations on a Ghost
GA's first fiction. A ghost appears to a pair of medical students, and they apply a range of scientific tests, with inconclusive results. There is no plot, and it betrays its origins as an article in the long narrative sections. Chatto & Windus owned the Belgravia, which had already published numerous articles by GA. The first of a total of 23 short stories in this magazine.
1. By J. Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia: A London Magazine, 36 (July 1878), 45-59.
2. New York Times, 8 Sep 1878, 4. Unsigned.
3. Strange Stories (1884).
4. Our Observations on a Ghost by J. Arbuthnot Wilson (Grant Allen). Ill. by Audrey [sic] Beardsley . . . Limited to 50 copies. Elancourt, France: Le Visage Vert, June 1986. [Poor quality pamphlet facsimile of the Belgravia edition.]
5. Observations scientifiques sur un fantome effectuees par nos soins, par Grant Allen. [Introduced by Xavier Legrand-Ferronniere. Translation into French by Anne-Sylvie Homassel.] L'Animal (Metz, France), 5 (Summer 1998), 40-55.
SEPTEMBER 1878
The Empress of Andorra
A tedious story of how the tiny Andorra asserts it is the last remnant of the Holy Roman Empire, and appoints an actress as its Empress.
1. By J. Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia: A London Magazine, 36 (Sep 1878), 335-351.
2. Strange Stories (1884).
DECEMBER 1878
My New Year's Eve among the Mummies
Weird experiences inside a pyramid, with a 'rational' explanation. When it reprinted this and several other stories c.1893, Pearson's Magazine paid L35 for stories 'equal to one vol.'.
1. By J. Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia Christmas Annual (1878).
2. Strange Stories (1884).
3. Pearson's Weekly, 177 (9 Dec 1893), 322-323.
4. The Desire of the Eyes and Other Stories. New York: Fenno, 1895.
5. Jour de l'an chez les momies. [Translation into French by B. d'Etroyat. Illustrated by Lalau.] Lecture pour Tous [Paris] (Jan 1910), 377-384.
6. Jour de l'an chez les momies. Jour de l'an chez les momies & autres contes surnaturels et de merveilleux scientifique. Elancourt, France: Le Visage Vert, March 1987, 1-8. [Poor quality facsimile of the Lecture pour Tous edition, #5.]
7. Le Jour de l'an chez les momies. [Translated into French by B. d'Etroyat.] La Malediction des momies, ed. Claude Aziza. Paris: Fleuve Noir, 1997, 573-594. Bibliotheque du fantastique.
8. The Mummy: Stories of the Living Corpse. Edited by Peter Haining. London: Severn House, 1988.
9. http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/programs/arts/english/gaslight/newmummy.htm [Copy text not stated. Accessed Jan 2001.]
1879
DECEMBER 1879
Lucretia
An adventure in Quebec; a very young English traveller falls in with a bewitching French-Canadian, and fears her motives are robbery or murder – worse, she turns out to be married. A good skit on English social prejudices.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia Christmas Annual (1879), 87-101.
2. By J. Arbuthnot Wilson. Holiday Stories from Belgravia. With Numerous Illustrations. London: Chatto & Windus, [1882]. Christmas Annual 1879, 87-101.
3. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
4. Romance, 4:3 (Jan 1892), 259-277.
1880
JULY 1880
My Circular Tour
A landscape painter at Niagara flirts with twins; one is "Senior Classic and Moral Philosophy Prize-woman at the Poughkeepsie Female University"; naturally he prefers her sister who (again naturally) is really the cleverer. Some stereotyped mockery of pompous Americans.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia. Holiday Number, 1880, 16-28.
2. Ivan Greet's Masterpiece (1893).
OCTOBER 1880
A Ballade of Evolution
1. St James's Gazette, 1 (6 Oct 1880), 11-12. Unsigned.
2. The Evolutionist at Large (1881).
3. Ballades and Rondeaus, Chants Royal, Sestinas, Villanelles, &c: Selected, with Chapter on the Various Forms, by Gleeson White. London: Walter Scott, 1887.
4. The Lower Slopes (1894).
5. The Golden Book Magazine, 4 (Dec 1926), 762.
6. Everyman's Book of Victorian Verse. Edited by J. R. Watson. London: Dent, 1982.
NOVEMBER 1880
Ram Das of Cawnpore
An Indian's reminiscences of the Mutiny – from a mutineer's point of view.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia: A London Magazine, 43 (Nov 1880), 87-90.
2. Strange Stories (1884).
DECEMBER 1880
The Chinese Play at the Haymarket
A young theatrical manager who has tried everything to woo the public taste finally wins gold with an imitation Chinese melodrama: a comic tale.
1. By J. Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia Christmas Annual (1880), 90-100.
2. New York Times, 12 Dec 1880, 3. Unsigned.
3. By J. Arbuthnot Wilson. Holiday Stories from Belgravia. With Numerous Illustrations. London: Chatto & Windus, [1882]. Christmas Annual 1880, 90-100.
4. Ivan Greet's Masterpiece (1893).
1881
AUGUST 1881
The Senior Proctor's Wooing: A Tale of Two Continents
A stuffy Oxford proctor pursues a fascinating, rich American to Saratoga, and learns some humility.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia. Holiday Number, 1881, 85-102.
2. By J. Arbuthnot Wilson. Holiday Stories from Belgravia. With Numerous Illustrations. London: Chatto & Windus, [1882]. Holiday Number 1881. 85-101.
3. Strange Stories (1884).
DECEMBER 1881
Pausodyne
A man revives in Victorian London after taking a potion in the previous century.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia Christmas Annual (1881), 24-38.
2. Strange Stories (1884).
3. The Desire of the Eyes and Other Stories. New York: Fenno, 1895.
4. Beyond Time and Space. Edited by August Derleth. New York: Pellegrini & Cudahy, 1950; Berkley, 1958.
1882
MAY 1882
Caribbean Twelve Per Cents
A lively tale of fraud and a revolutionary uprising on a Spanish-American island.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia: A London Magazine, 47 (May 1882), 344-358.
JULY 1882
An Episode in High Life
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia Holiday Number, 1882, 59-76.
2. Strange Stories (1884).
3. Morning Oregonian, 1 Oct 1892.
4. The Desire of the Eyes and Other Stories. New York: Fenno, 1895.
An Ideal Jelly-fish
1. Popular Science Monthly, 21 (July 1882), 426.
'A jelly-fish swam in a tropical sea…'
2. The First Idealist. The Lower Slopes (1894).
3. The First Idealist. Athenaeum, 103 (24 Mar 1894), 367.
4. The First Idealist. The Golden Book Magazine, 2 (Aug 1925), 211-212.
DECEMBER 1882
Mr Chung
A Chinese envoy in London becomes too westernised and is recalled to certain death: he goes back from a sense of duty. One of GA's 'clash of the races' stories.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia Christmas Annual (1882), 67-80.
2. Strange Stories (1884).
3. Our Chinese Friend. Pearson's Weekly, 173 (11 Nov 1893), 258-259.
4. The Desire of the Eyes and Other Stories. New York: Fenno, 1895.
1883
JULY 1883
Isaline and I
A young lawyer on holiday in Switzerland is rescued from the Aiguille by his love rival; later they all establish a vineyard.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia Holiday Number Summer (1883), 49-63.
2. New York Times, 2 Sep 1883, 3. Unsigned..
3. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
AUGUST 1883
The Backslider
Member of a fundamentalist and fanatical religious sect 'reverts' to ordinary life. This was GA's first fiction for the Cornhill, now under the editorship of James Payn (1830-98) from Jan 83, who had decided to make it a magazine of stories and, as he boasted, readable from cover to cover. He wrote nine stories for the Cornhill, all of them more polished than others. Paul Owen, the Gideonite, is sent to Oxford where he reads Spencer, which causes him to abandon his 'sixteenth century' religion and his sect. Conan Doyle was accepted here for the first time in July, and was paid ₤30. The circulation of the Cornhill under Stephen had been dropping badly, to around 12,000 when he left; Payn cut the price in half to sixpence. The Cornhill had previously offered monthly instalments of 2 novels by prominent novelists, eg Collins, Eliot, Gaskell, Hardy.
Unlike Doyle, who resented it, GA did not seem to care that his work was anonymous.
MS. 19pp. Penn.
1. Cornhill Magazine, 1 (Aug 1883), 191-213. Unsigned.
2. Strange Stories (1884).
3. A Bride from the Desert (c1896).
4. Twelve Tales with a Headpiece, a Tailpiece, and an Intermezzo (1899).
5. The Backslider. London/ New York : Lewis, Scribner, 1901.
SEPTEMBER 1883
The Reverend John Creedy
An African missionary atavistically reverts to savagery when he returns to his homeland, but finally 'redeems' himself. This story raised much comment at the time.
MS. 14pp. Penn.
1. Cornhill Magazine, 1 (Sep 1883), 225-242. Unsigned.
2. New York Times, 16 Sep 1883, 3. Unsigned.
3. Morning Oregonian, 14 Oct 1883. Unsigned.
4. Strange Stories (1884).
5. Can the Leopard Change His Spots? Pearson's Weekly, 170 (21 Oct 1893), 210-211.
6. The Desire of the Eyes and Other Stories. New York: Fenno, 1895.
7. Twelve Tales with a Headpiece, a Tailpiece, and an Intermezzo (1899).
8. Reverend John Creedy. The Backslider (1901).
9. The Masterpiece Library of Short Stories . . . Edited by J.A. Hammerton. Vol 8: English. London: Educational Book, [1923].
NOVEMBER 1883
The Foundering of the 'Fortuna'
A respectable banker and grain merchant sinks a scow to claim the insurance, drowning two men he had tricked in addition.
1. By J. Arbuthnot Wilson. Longman's Magazine, 3 (Nov 1883), 94-108.
2. Strange Stories (1884).
3. Silver and Grain. Pearson's Weekly, 171 (28 Oct 1893), 226-227.
4. The Desire of the Eyes and Other Stories. New York: Fenno, 1895.
5. Le Naufrage de la 'Fortuna'. [Translation into French by B. d'Etroyat. Illustrated by Biron-Roger.] Lecture pour Tous [Paris] (15 June 1914), 1579-1585.
DECEMBER 1883
My Uncle's Will
A young man, Payne, is put under pressure by his uncle's demand to add his name to his own: thus, Aiken-Payne.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia Christmas Annual (1883), 10-20.
2. New York Times, 6 Jan 1884, 9. Unsigned.
3. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
1884
Philistia
Of this, his first novel, GA wrote to his friend Robertson: 'I put my whole soul into it…. I didn't write hastily, I satisfied utterly my own critical faculty, and I can't do any better'. The central action concerns the three Le Breton brothers – Ernest, the high-minded socialist; Herbert, the cynic and cad; and the saintly, religious Ronald – as they leave Oxford and make their way in the mundane Philistine world. Other characters include Lady Hilda Tregellis, a bold and bored young aristocrat eager to marry someone 'different', and Arthur Berkeley, a composer of comic operas and the first in a long line of Allen's self-sacrificing heroes who love from afar. The novel is stuffed with ideas and there are considerable autobiographical elements, especially, one guesses, in the scenes where Ernest, dreadfully poor and burdened with a family, works at journalism while trying to keep his socialistic soul undefiled. Some of the resulting confrontations, described in GA's best sardonic mode, almost bear comparison with Waugh's Scoop. On the whole, though, the novel is damaged by its 'smart' and implausible dialogue – the characters lecture each for whole paragraphs at a time – and by the childish sentimentality of the love relationships. Another serious weakness arises from the fact that GA was obliged by the publisher to substitute a highly inappropriate happy ending. After Philistia failed to make much of a mark, GA resolved to take the downward path into middlebrow, sensational fiction and claimed he wrote nothing else with the same commitment, until The Woman Who Did.
He received £250 'for serial rights (Gents Mag) & full copyright. See Letter Book 29 Oct 1883'. [CW]. The GM was owned by Bradbury Evans and Co. from 1877 to 1905, and Chatto & Windus 1905-1907; these were linked somehow. Directed at a middle to upper class public of fair education.
In Nov 1886 Chatto mentioned a 3/6 edition, but nothing is known of this.
MS: Autograph manuscript. 288pp. Lacking chapters xv-xvii inclusive, pp.126-141. Page proof of chapter 10 (10pp) attached with a very few ink corrections. Penn.
1. By Cecil Power. Serialized Gentleman's Magazine, 256 (Jan 1884, 1-24; Feb, 105-130; Mar, 209-239; Apr, 313-339; May, 417-442; June, 521-546; 257: July 1884, 1-26; Aug, 105-137; Sep, 209-232; Oct, 313-338; Nov, 417-439; Dec, 521-548).
2. By Cecil Power. 3 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1884.
3. By Cecil Power. New York: Harper, 1884. Franklin Square Library, #430.
4. By Cecil Power. New York: Munro, 1884. Seaside Library Pocket Edition, #336.
5. By Cecil Power. New York: G Munro, 1885. Seaside Library Ordinary Edition, #1932.
6. A New Edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1895. Reprinted 1901.
7. Ottawa: CIHM, 1999. Four microfiches of the Chatto & Windus, 1895 ed. Copy in the National Library of Canada. Series #95280.
Strange Stories
These were published in November or December. GA's original proposed title for this collection was 'Nightmares'. Has an Introduction in which GA speaks of himself as 'by trade a psychologist and scientific journeyman.' And: 'Though these stories do not profess to be anything more than mere short sensational tales, I have yet endeavoured to give most of them some slight tinge of scientific or psychological import or meaning'. It reprints 16 stories: 'The Reverend John Creedy' [Cornhill], 'Dr Greatrex's Engagement' [Cornhill], 'Mr Chung' [Belgravia], 'The Curate of Churnside' [Cornhill], 'An Episode in High Life' [Belgravia], 'My New Year's Eve among the Mummies' [Belgravia], 'The Foundering of the "Fortuna"' [Longman's], 'The Backslider' [Cornhill], 'The Mysterious Occurrence in Piccadilly' [Belgravia], 'Carvalho' [Belgravia], 'Pausodyne' [Belgravia], 'The Empress of Andorra' [Belgravia], 'The Senior Proctor's Wooing' [Belgravia], 'The Child of the Phalanstery' [Belgravia], 'Our Scientific Observations on a Ghost' [Belgravia], 'Ram Das of Cawnpore' [Belgravia]. All were published (originally) either anonymously or under the pseudonym J. Arbuthnot Wilson. Reviews were generally approving, comparing him to Poe. He received L100 'in full payment for the Copyright and all interest in a book of stories . . .' [CW].
1. With a Frontispiece by George du Maurier. London: Chatto & Windus, 1884. Reprinted 1886, 1892, 1899, 1908.
2. Sällsamma historier. [Translation into Swedish.] Stockholm : Adolf Bonnier,1889, 1895. Adolf Bonniers romanbibliotek.
3. Ottawa: CIHM, 1981. Five microfiches of the Chatto & Windus, 1884 ed. Copy in the University of British Columbia Library.. Series #05072.
Periodical contributions in 1884; by month where known
MARCH 1884
Carvalho
A man of mixed blood is permitted to marry an English girl - his ancestry doesn't show.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia: A London Magazine, 53 (Mar 1884), 34-52.
2. Strange Stories (1884).
3. The Desire of the Eyes and Other Stories. New York: Fenno, 1895.
MAY 1884
The Mysterious Occurrence in Piccadilly
Ingenious story explaining away an apparently phantasmic appearance. May be based on GA's knowledge of the work of the Society for Psychical Research on apparitions.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia: A London Magazine 53 (May 1884), 344-54.
2. Strange Stories (1884).
3. The Desire of the Eyes and Other Stories. New York: Fenno, 1895.
JUNE 1884
Dr Greatrex's Engagement
A young doctor finds himself pulling facial grimaces, and fears insanity. He has made a 'grand discovery' about 'Energy' and fears it is just another symptom of delusional mania. The grimaces prove to be just a nervous twitch, easily curable by the cutting of a 'ganglion'; the discovery is hailed as a work of genius. The 'Energy' paper sounds very much like GA's own absurd production Force and Energy: is the story an exercise in wish fulfilment?
MS. 19pp. Penn
1. Cornhill Magazine, 2 (June 1884), 561-583. Unsigned.
2. New York Times, 15 June 1884, 11. Unsigned.
3. Strange Stories (1884).
4. A Bride from the Desert (c1896).
JULY 1884
Hugh Portledown's Return from Normandy
Bright tale of young lawyer who falls for a French governess on board a cross-channel steamer.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia. Holiday Number, 1884, 19-31.
AUGUST 1884
The Child of the Phalanstery
Futuristic-utopian story of a baby's being sacrificed on eugenic/selectionist grounds for being slightly disabled.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia: A London Magazine, 54 (Aug 1884), 163-76.
2. New York Times, 24 Aug 1884, 10. Unsigned.
3. Strange Stories (1884).
4. Twelve Tales with a Headpiece, a Tailpiece, and an Intermezzo (1899).
5. The Backslider (1901).
SEPTEMBER 1884
The Curate of Churnside
One of GA's best 'psychopath' stories, about a murderous young clergyman who knifes his uncle, forges his will and gets away with it. In the introduction to Strange Stories GA wrote of this: 'I tried to present a psychical analysis of a temperament not uncommon among the cultured class of the Renaissance.' [He is obviously thinking of Browning's 'My Last Duchess' & 'The Bishop Orders His Tomb']. 'The union of high intellectual and aesthetic culture with a total want of moral sensibility'. There was a kind of parody of this story under the title of 'My First Murder' published anonymously in the Belgravia and then the New York Times (22 May 1885).
MS. 34pp. Penn.
1. Cornhill Magazine, 3 (Sep 1884), 225-258. Unsigned.
2. Strange Stories (1884).
3. The Desire of the Eyes and Other Stories . New York: Fenno, 1895.
4. Twelve Tales with a Headpiece, a Tailpiece, and an Intermezzo (1899).
5. Murder Without Tears. Edited by Will Cuppy. New York: Sheridan House, [1946].
OCTOBER 1884
John Cann's Treasure
Cecil Mitford, a Colonial Office clerk, tracks down a pirate's letter in his grave in Spanish Town, Jamaica; he locates the treasure, but the find proves trivial; he is rescued from resulting insanity by the love of a good woman.
MS. 24pp. Penn.
1. Cornhill Magazine, 3 (Oct 1884), 337-366. Unsigned.
2. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
3. Twelve Tales with a Headpiece, a Tailpiece, and an Intermezzo (1899).
4. The Backslider (1901).
DECEMBER 1884
Olga Davidoff's Husband
A beautiful young Russian marries a Tartar Buriat who turns out to be a brigand. She betrays him; in revenge he pursues her to England and chops her hand off.
1. By J.Arbuthnot Wilson. Belgravia. Christmas Annual, 1884, 1-17.
2. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
3. Pearson's Weekly, 176 (2 Dec 1893), 306-307.
1885
Babylon
The Babylon of the title is the English/American artists' colony in late Victorian Rome. Here there come together, eventually, two artistic geniuses – one a landscape painter, the other a sculptor – from very different humble backgrounds. Hiram Winthrop, a bashful lad and lover of nature, is raised on a hogs-and-corn farm in New York state, in a family of narrow-minded fundamentalists. Meanwhile Colin Churchill is growing up in much more attractive rural Dorset, modelling figures in clay from the river for his sweetheart Minna and astonishing the vicar with his innate grasp of plastic form. Hiram is rescued by Lothrop Audouin, a rich, refined Boston intellectual, a confirmed bachelor who has fled industrial America for a solitary but comfortable life on the shores of Lake Ontario. He altruistically puts Hiram through school and college. Meanwhile Colin works at wood-carving and then puts himself under the tutelage of Cicolari, a stone sculptor, where his genius rapidly expands. After some difficulties both Colin and Hiram are drawn to Rome; Colin quickly makes a name, but Hiram is apprenticed to a unsympathetic historical painter, and has a harder time. There are various love interests too, including a sinister Italian model, Cecca, who tries to poison Minna. GA clearly moved down-market with this story, but it is full of lively incident and as an account of the mysterious upwelling of artistic genius in totally unpropitious places, it is memorable and effective. There is a study of Ruskin, under the name of John Truman, who raises Hiram to stardom. Critics pointed to a close resemblance to the plot of James' Roderick Hudson.
Chatto paid L300 for the full copyright.
MS: Autograph manuscript. 299pp. Lacking chapters 15-17 inclusive, pp.98-120. Page proofs for chapter 22 (24pp) attached with a very few corrections in ink. Penn.
1. By Cecil Power. Serialized Belgravia, 55 (1884/5): 360-384, 484-512; 56 (1885): 108-128, 235-56, 361-384, 482-508; 57 (1885): 105-128, 228-255, 358-383, 481-508; 58 (1885/6): 106-28, 232-256.
2. By Cecil Power. 3 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1885.
3. By Grant Allen (Cecil Power). With Twelve Illustrations by P. MacNab. 3 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1885.
4. By Cecil Power. New York: Harper, 1885. Harper's Franklin Square Library, #494.
5. By Cecil Power. New York: D. Appleton, 1885. Reprinted 1887.
6. By Cecil Power. New York: Munro, [1885]. Seaside Library Pocket Edition, #610.
7. New York: Lupton, 1892. Souvenir Series, #7.
8. A New Edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1893.
9. New York: Lupton, 1899. Elite Series. Reprinted 1899.
10. Cheap Edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1906. [Pub. Mar 1/-]
11. Ottawa : CIHM, 1980. 1+4+4+4 microfiches of the Chatto & Windus, 1885 ed. (as by Grant Allen) in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto Library. Series #05005-08.
12. Ontario. Ottawa: CIHM, 1986. 1+4+4+4 microfiches of the Chatto & Windus, 1885 ed. (as by Cecil Power) in the Douglas Library, Queen's University. Series #56067-70.
Periodical contributions in 1885; by month where known
FEBRUARY 1885
The Search Party's Find
The doctor-narrator joins an arctic expedition, together with a Harry Lemarchant, a villain who tells bloodcurdling stories about 'dispersing' Aborigines in Queensland: 'the black man has got to go to the wall; the white man, with his superior moral and intellectual nature, has got to push him there.' The latter is poisoned with a dose of arsenic which he meant for the narrator.
1. By J. Arbuthnot Wilson. Longman's Magazine, 5 (Feb 1885), 390-403.
2. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
3. An Arctic Expedition. Pearson's Weekly, 172 (4 Nov 1893), 242-243.
MARCH 1885
The Two Carnegies
A pair of identical twins are like two clocks, with Ernest 14 days in advance of Harold. They quarrel over a woman they both want to marry, and both eventually die of the same disease. 'Twins, you know, are almost exactly alike in all things, and in the absolute coincidence of their constitutions, you can see the inexorable march of disease, and the inexorable unfolding of the predetermined life-history far better than in any other conceivable case' 131.
MS. 24pp. Penn.
1. Cornhill Magazine, 4 (Mar 1885), 292-324. Unsigned.
2. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
APRIL 1885
Professor Milliter's Dilemma
Cyril Milliter is both an anatomist and a preacher in a fundamentalist sect. By accident, to his horror he discovers a bird-lizard in a layer of oolite. He hides the discovery, but when the truth comes out he finds, to his surprise, that neither his wife nor congregation are specially concerned about the new revelation. Obviously the character is drawn (in part) from Philip Gosse. 'He can hardly resist a quiet smile himself, nowadays, when he remembers how he once kept that harmless piece of pictured stone wrapt up carefully in a folded handkerchief in his laboratory cupboard for some weeks together, as though it had been a highly dangerous and very explosive lump of moral dynamite, calculated to effect at once feel swoop the complete religious and ehtical disintegration of the entire divine universe'. 277.
1. Belgravia: A London Magazine, 56 (Apr 1885), 172-195.
2. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
JULY 1885
In Strict Confidence
Harry Pallant, in love with his wife, is appalled to get a 'problem letter' from her in his work as an agony aunt, saying she loves another man. He attempts to drown himself, but fails. It turns out that his wife had merely copied out the letter on behalf of a friend with a marital problem.
1. Belgravia. Holiday Number, 1885, 1-15.
2. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
DECEMBER 1885
The Beckoning Hand
Horrid atavism in the West Indies. Rich Harry Tristram marries the mysterious and voluptuous Cesarine Vivian, half-Haitian, after being drugged with a drink and a cigarette laced with 'machineal'. She turns out to be a practitioner of 'Vaudoux' and practises human sacrifice. She dies of yellow fever, the last stage being the 'vomito negro' and the hero marries his English rose.
11th August 85. Dear Sir, A very influential northern newspaper has proposed to me that you should contribute to their Christmas number one of your short sensational stories, such as you have written from time to time for the Cornhill. The proprietors, I take it, are willing to purchase the story outright, in which case they might sell to other newspapers for simultaneous publication, or they would purchase the use for their own paper only.
Will you kindly let me know if you are willing to write the story & what your views as to remuneration are.
I think this offer – should you accept it – lead to a demand from newspapers for your contributions & probably to this same newspaper taking a long story by you at some future time. (Watt). The paper paid £30 for it.
21 Oct 85. … I hope to dispose of 'The Beckoning Hand' in Australia & America and if possible get another £20 for you from this source, but for a short story such as this, I rather think the sum got – if this further amount be obtained – is a phenomenal one, but of course I shall try to get as much as possible for anything you may entrust me with.
5 Apr 86. I am sorry I did not succeed in getting anything for 'The Beckoning Hand' either in the States or Australia. In the former I now know of a very good market. (Watt)
1. Sheffield Independent, Christmas 1885 –
2. Cesarine: African Charms and West Indian Poisons. Brooklyn Eagle Christmas Number, 24 Dec 1885, 2
3. Boston Globe, 25 Dec 1885), 3.
4. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
5. Pearson's Weekly, 174 (18 Nov 1893), 274-275.
6. Terror by Gaslight: More Victorian Tales of Terror. Edited by Hugh Lamb. London: W.H. Allen, 1975; Sevenoaks: Coronet, 1977.
7. Reign of Terror. Edited by Michel Parry. London: Severn House, 1977; London: Corgi, 1978.
1886
For Maimie's Sake. A Tale of Love and Dynamite
This peculiar novel's peculiar heroine is Maimie Llewellyn, a blonde 'child of nature' very like the heroine of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes forty years later. Her upbringing was in the hands of an eccentric sea captain father, who is an admirer of Reason and Tom Paine. Her charms are such that every man (and woman) she meets is ravished by her. Adrian Pym, an Oxford tutor, Jocelyn Cipriani, a painter, and his wife Hetty, and Sydney Chevenix, an explosives chemist, are all 'in love' with her and do their best to protect her from her own devastating naivety. Marrying Chevenix, Maimie soon gets bored and accidentally on purpose shoots him with an experimental pistol in favour of Adrian Pym. But her husband survives to spend the rest of his life in another identity while keeping a hidden watch over his wife and her love (while earning a living from scribbling articles) – simply because he still finds her a loveable innocent. Finally Sydney kills himself, to prevent further suspicion falling on Maimie and Adrian. There is a subplot concerned with Russian Nihilists, led by a ruthless woman with the soundly revolutionary name of Vera Trotsky – an odd coincidence, since it is said Lev Bronstein took over that name from his gaoler only when he escaped to England in 1902. (GA probably took the name 'Vera' from Wilde's play Vera, or The Nihilist of 1883).
The motivation in this novel is fairly preposterous; but one guesses that it dramatises and reworks some passage in GA's own marital relations; his own letters show he invested a good deal of himself in it. The sickly and slightly resentful uxoriousness of the male characters is notable. Once again, GA's unwillingness to confront darker issues (including lesbianism, perhaps) makes rather vacuous a novel that could have been a much more ambitious 'sex-problem' novel of its day. One character says that 'if you look through all history you'll find invariably it is for the lightest women, the emptiest women, the shallowest women, the unworthiest women, that men have always in all times done and dared the utterly unspeakable'. This throws some doubt on GA's idea of women as eugenic (moral) gatekeepers – what is the role of such women as Maimie?
Chatto was quite bowled over with the novel. 'Allow me to congratulate you on the very powerful and startling story you have written in For Maimie's Sake. I found the interest so absorbing that after once committing to read the MS you so kindly sent I could not lay it aside until I finished every line of it. It is so entirely different from the ordinary serial and three volume story that I am inclined to advise you to make the experiment of departing from these conventional methods of publication, and allow us to issue it at once in one volume complete at six shillings, we undertaking all costs of production and advertising and paying you a royalty of one shilling (13 copies as 12) on every copy sold. The copyright in this case remaining your own . . . .' [CW, 5 Oct 1885]
Chatto apparently intended to bring out a cheap edition in paper for 2/- in the spring of 1889, and offered L30 for the copyright instead of royalties. [CW, 8 Aug 1888]. That same September he reported he was clearing 'the old stock in a new cover' and that the Academy was speaking of it wrongly as a new edition. However, that 2/- paper ed. never appeared; the new ed. did not appear until 1894.
MS: Autograph manuscript with revisions and corrections. 270pp. Lacking p.57. Penn.
Serialization. None known.
1. London: Chatto & Windus, 1886.
2. For Maimies Sake [sic].New York: D Appleton, 1886.
3. New York: G Munro, [1886]. Seaside Library Pocket Edition, #712.
4. New York: G Munro, 1887. Munro's Library, #688.
5. New York: Lovell, 1889. Lovell's Library.
6. New York: FM Lupton, [188-?]. Stratford Edition. Reprinted 1900.
7. New York: International Book, [nd]. Columbus Series.
8. A New Edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1894.
9. New York: Street & Smith, [1900]. Arrow Library, 115.
10. Ottawa: CIHM, 1981. Four microfiches of the Chatto & Windus, 1886 ed. Copy in the University of British Columbia Library. Series #05037.
11. Ottawa: CIHM, 1992. Three microfiches of the Lupton, [188-?] ed. Copy in the Carleton University Library, Ottawa. Series #90880.
In All Shades. A Novel
Set mostly in Trinidad (really Jamaica), this deals realistically and quite effectively with the obsessive interest in racial purity among the white planter class (thus the title). Harry Noel and Edward Hawthorne are Oxford friends. Noel is the aristocratic heir to an estate in Lincolnshire; Hawthorne is a lawyer whose parents live in Trinidad. Hawthorne marries Marian, having secured a judgeship in Trinidad. They go out there in the company of Nora Dupuy, of strong racist views, who is returning to her uncle's estate. (The description of the voyage out is obviously autobiographical.) When the Hawthornes arrive, they find themselves ostracised by the planters (especially the arrogant Dupuy father and son) for having Negro blood in the Hawthorne family tree; or, as Dupuy puts it, 'a touch of the tar-brush'. However, they win some acceptance thanks to the behaviour of the governor's wife, although Hawthorne becomes the sworn enemy of the Dupuys for sticking up for a black labourer in a court case. Later Noel arrives on a visit in pursuit of Nora; he too is revealed to have West Indian connections in Barbados, and some African blood himself. At first he is spurned by Nora Dupuy on this account, but he distinguishes himself in an uprising and is eventually accepted.
There is also a study of a Dr W. Clarkson Whitaker, a mulatto returning to Trinidad after becoming a medical doctor at Edinburgh. He is also a composer and violinist of genius, and a botanist. Even though he presented as an admirable person (one who is virtually hounded to death when he arrives home), Allen cannot avoid wild generalisations about his racial background: "[he] talked on to them hour after hour, doing the lion's share of the conversation, and delighting them with his transparent easy talk and open-hearted simplicity. He was frankly egotistical of course – all persons of African blood always are; but his egotism, such as it was, too the pleasing form of an enthusiasm about his own pet ideas and pursuits" (73). As this suggests, GA certainly had his own crochets about racial characteristics (based on his reading of Darwinism, it has to be said), and his presentation of the black Trinidadians is cringe-making; but the novel offers lively insights into Victorian race issues from several different points of view. It is curious to see Britain presented as a haven of racial tolerance.
In All Shades was in MS form by 14 May 1885. Chatto either would not or could not take this novel in serial form and offered only L150 for the novel rights only: 'It is with great reluctance that we feel compelled to say that the pleasure which we had promised ourselves of being able to offer you better terms for each succeeding novel of yours is not within our reach'. [CW, 14 May 1885]
14th July 85. Dear Sir I have pleasure to inform you that I have disposed on the serial use of your novel In All Shades to the proprietors of Chambers Journal for the sum of two hundred guineas (L210). [Watt]
Watt secured L75 for the remaining copyright from C&W on 21 Oct 1886. [CW]. GA was certainly using Watt in Oct 1885, probably for the first time when recommended by Chatto to try to get him to unload the serial form of this novel. How much Chambers paid for the serial is unknown.
2nd Oct 85. Dear Sir As you were good enough to entrust me with the disposal of the copyright of your novel In All Shades I have offered it – exclusive of its appearance serially in Chambers Journal and in America and Australia – to Mr Chatto. He is willing to pay the sum of L75, but before agreeing to this proposal I shall be glad to hear if it meets with your approval. [Watt].
28 Dec 85. …I shall be glad if you will kindly send me the three sets of proofs of In All Shades, that I may try to do something with your story in America and Australia. I do not consider that Messrs Chambers have behaved well in announcing your story without giving me [ ] notice of their intention … promised to give me .. notice of its appearance.
The first intimation I had was seeing their [ ?] in the December pages of their Journal and I immediately wrote to them pointing out that they had arranged [ ?] not to publish till 1887, and to give me clear notice of the commencement. The only reply I have received is that they have set you four sets of proofs 'we presumed for transmission abroad'. I am rather afraid they have spoilt the chance of disposing of the story in the colonies but I will try my best.'
5 Jan 86. [He informs GA that 'by commencing publication of your story In All Shades without informing me of their intention to do so, rendered it I fear impossible to get anything for it in Australia and America. I think they are fairly entitled to compensate you for their loss. I have therefore written to them asking that under the circumstances they should pay you a further sum of One hundred pounds a very moderate sum I think, for the rights in question.'
'11 Jan 86. Dear Mr Grant Allen, As I informed you, a few days ago I made a claim on Messrs Chambers for L100 because of their neglect to inform me that they were going to publish your story this month instead of in 1887. In common courtesy they were bound to give me timely notice of their intention.
As they have been troubling you with copies of their letters to me, I need not put you to further annoyances than ask you kindly to read the copy of letter enclosed which I have written today to Messrs Chambers, in reply to their of the 9th inst.
I should be glad to know that I have your approval in what I have done.'
MS not located.
1. Serialized Chambers's Journal 5th Series, 3 (2 Jan 1886-24 Sep 1886): 1-6; 21-22; 36-39; 51-53; 66-70; 83-86; 99-102; 131-134; 147-149; 163-166; 179-181; 195-199; 211-215; 227-229; 244-248; 261-263; 276-280; 291-293; 308-310; 323-326; 340-342; 357-358; 371-373; 387-389; 404-405; 420-423; 436-438; 451-454; 466-470; 484-485; 499-501; 516-519; 531-534; 547-550; 563-564; 584-587; 599-601; 611-613.
2. 3 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1886. Reprinted 1887.
3. A New Edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1887. The Piccadilly novels. Reprinted 1888, 1890, 1892, 1899, 1904, 1912.
4. Chicago and New York: Rand, McNally, 1888. Globe Library.
5. London: Chatto & Windus, 1918.
6. New York: Street & Smith, [nd].
7. New York & London: Street & Smith, [nd].
8. New York: Hurst, [nd].
9. Ottawa: CIHM, 1980. 1+4+4+4 microfiches of the copy of the Chatto & Windus, 1886 ed. Copy in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto Library. Series #05041-44.
10. Ottawa: CIHM, 1981. Four microfiches of the copy of the Rand, McNally, 1888 in the National Library of Canada. Series #26239.
11. Ottawa : CIHM, 1982. Four microfiches of the Chatto & Windus, 1887 ed. Copy in the University of British Columbia Library. Series #17941.
Kalee's Shrine
Olga Trevelyan, born in India, is taken as a baby by her nursemaid and secretly dedicated as a Thug to the blood-thirsty god Kali. A sign of this is that she does not close her eyes while sleeping. Years later, on holiday on the East Anglian coast, she is admired by Alan Tennant, an oculist, who realises there is something wrong when she laughs wildly and horribly at the sight of a shipwreck; nevertheless, they are soon engaged. While Alan is away on a boating trip, Olga is hypnotised at a fashionable party and, egged on by an old Anglo-Indian colonel, she makes towards her friend with a sinister looped handkerchief. Neither woman is brought out of their trances properly but they go off to bed with the dubious support of a dose of hashish prescribed by a meddling doctor. In the night Olga does her best to strangle her friend. Alan, whose boat is called the Indian Princess, nearly drowns; fortunately, he returns in time to administer some resuscitation, cut a small nerve to restore Olga's eyelid functions and generally put everything right. A very silly pot-boiler. The role played by his co-author Cotes is not at all clear.
MS not located.
Serialization. None known.
1. By Grant Allen and May Cotes. Bristol: JW Arrowsmith/ London: Simkin, Marshall, 1886. Arrowsmith's Bristol Library, #11.
2. By Grant Allen and May Cotes. New York: New Amsterdam Book, [nd]. Arrowsmith's Bristol Library, #11.
3. By Grant Allen and May Cotes. New York: New Amsterdam Book, 1897. Vagabond Library. 'Authorized edition for the United States'.
3. The Indian Mystery; or, Kalee's Shrine. New York: New Amsterdam Book, 1902.
4. Ottawa : CIHM, 1981. Three microfiches of the Simkin, Marshall, 1886 ed. Copy in Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto Library. Series #05048.
5. Ottawa : CIHM, 1986. Three microfiches of the New Amsterdam Book, 1897 ed. Copy in the Douglas Library, Queen's University. Series #58404.
Periodical contributions in 1886; by month where known
JANUARY 1886
The Third Time
Edie Meredith marries a handsome Irish-Australian; after some mysterious absences, he is revealed to be a drunkard, and decently shoots himself.
1. By J. Arbuthnot Wilson. Longman's Magazine, 7 (Jan 1886), 294-308.
2. Pearson's Weekly, 175 (25 Nov 1893), 290-291.
3. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
FEBRUARY 1886
Harry's Inheritance
Harry Woolrych, bastard son of a wastrel suicide and a Eurasian mother, is stealing money from his soldier uncle, Sir Thomas Woolrych, a military man of the old school. Thanks to the old soldier's good advice, he abjures gambling and theft and eventually makes good as a doctor, proving (unusually for GA) that 'heredity' isn't everything.
28 Nov 85. Dear Mr Grant Allen Mr Comyns Carr has accepted your short story 'Harry's Inheritance', but says he can only pay at the rate of 35/ a page of The English Illustrated Magazine. Are you willing to accept this honorarium? I shall now try the Graphic with the other.
30 Jan 86. Watt received 15 guineas from the EIM for this, which he passed on less commission. [Berg]
1. English Illustrated Magazine, 3 (Feb 1886), 323-332.
2. Living Age, 168 (13 Mar 1886), 650-659.
3. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
The Gold Wulfric
A numismatic long short story with an ingenious plot: the hero is accused of stealing a rare Wulfric from the British Museum.
MS. 29pp. Penn
1. Cornhill Magazine, 6 (Feb 1886), 154-183. Unsigned.
2. Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, 37 (Feb 1886), 191-217.
3. Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, 43 (Apr 1886), 476-492. Unsigned.
4. The Beckoning Hand (1887).
DECEMBER 1886
Mr Pierrepont's Repentance
Another numismatic story, in which a vicar is tempted to steal an aureus from a philistine small-town mayor.
1. Belgravia: A London Magazine, 61 (Dec 1886), 183-204.
1887
The Beckoning Hand, and Other Stories
Contains a Preface and 13 stories: 'The Beckoning Hand' [unlocated but in the Sheffield Independent according to Watt letter book], 'Lucretia' [Belgravia], 'The Third Time' [Longman's], 'The Gold Wulfric' [Cornhill], 'My Uncle's Will' [Belgravia], 'The Two Carnegies' [Cornhill], 'Olga Davidoff's Husband' [Belgravia], 'John Cann's Treasure' [Cornhill], 'Isaline and I' [Belgravia], 'Professor Milliter's Dilemma' [Belgravia], 'In Strict Confidence' [Belgravia], 'The Search Party's Find' [Longman's], 'Harry's Inheritance' [English Illustrated Magazine]. In the Preface GA says the title story 'is practically new, having only been published before as the Christmas supplement of a provincial newspaper.' 'Should I succeed in attaining the pious ambition of the Fat Boy, and 'making your flesh creep', then, as somebody once remarked before, 'this work will not have been written in vain.' C&W paid L75 for the remaining copyright to the collection. [CW].
1. With a frontispiece by Townley Green. London: Chatto & Windus, 1887.
2. A New Edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1888. Reprinted 1892.
3. Ottawa: CIHM, 1980. Five microfiches of the Chatto & Windus, 1887 ed. Copy in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto Library. Series #05009.
A Terrible Inheritance
Young doctor Harry Prior specialises in poisons and has discovered an antidote for curare. To his horror he discovers he is the son of a notorious poisoner, Lichfield, who has died in gaol. In an attempt to clear his name and free himself from his fears of inheriting a propensity to poison, he looks closely into the case and discovers evidence which seems to implicate Sir Arthur Woolrych, a crusty old soldier and father of his beloved, instead of his own father. Fortunately, a Dr Withers returns from the States with a confession that he was responsible for accidentally poisoning the victim himself. Prior is freed from his 'inheritance' and also from the fate of marrying a poisoner's daughter. A thin long short story of 57pp. GA obviously needed to work on the notorious SPCK treadmill as late as 1887.
MS not located
1. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, [1887]. Penny Library of Fiction.
2. En underlig arv. [Translation into Danish]. Kristiania: C. Schibsteds bogtrykkeri, 1891. 'Aftenpostens' foljeton.'
3. Mordet i Erith. [Translation into Swedish]. Stockholm: Nord. forl, 1917.
3. New York/Boston: Thomas Y. Crowell, [nd].
4. Terrible Inheritance. London/Brighton/New York: E. & J B Young, [nd]. Penny Library of Fiction.
5. Ottawa: CIHM, 1980. One microfiche of the copy of the Crowell ed. Copy in Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto Library. Series #05077.
6. Ottawa. Ottawa: CIHM, 1987. One microfiche of the copy of the E & J B Young ed. Copy in the Douglas Library, Queen's University. Series #64362.
Periodical contributions in 1887; by month where known
FEBRUARY 1887
Claude Tyack's Ordeal
Two love rivals meet in the Civil War; despite having been vilely insulted, Tyack saves the narrator from execution as a spy.
1. Longman's Magazine, 9 (Feb 1887), 386-398.
2. Ivan Greet's Masterpiece (1893).
Leonard Arundel's Recovery
The blind son of a painter recovers his sight and finds his betrothed has violently red hair; fortunately it goes white after an illness.
1. Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 74 (Feb 1887), 356-364.
A Social Difficulty
Iris, daughter of a Bishop, is forced to break her understanding with Captain Burbury, when he is under suspicion of fraud. But the Bishop, coming home early in the morning to a newly rented house, is caught trying all the doors in the street with his key, thereby learning to trust people more.
MS. 19pp. Penn.
1. Cornhill Magazine, 8 (Feb 1887), 171-188. Unsigned.
2. New York Daily Tribune, 13 Feb 1887, 11. Unsigned.
3. New York Times, 13 Feb 1887, 10. Unsigned.
4. Ivan Greet's Masterpiece (1893).
1888
Dr. Palliser's Patient.
Dr Palliser, a physician living in Paris, brings Bernascon, an executed murderer back to life with a wonderful drug. Unfortunately, he turns out to be the husband of the woman Palliser loves. A padded short story. One of the rare excursions of the PMG into fiction. Mullen paid Chatto's L7.10.00 for the (Australian?) rights in 1893.
MS. Not located
1. Serialized Pall Mall Budget, 19 Jul 1888-23 Aug 1888. [No further details.]
2. Serialized Pall Mall Gazette, 48 (20 Aug 1888), 11-12; 21 Aug, 11-12; 22 Aug, 11-12; 23 Aug, 11-12; 24 Aug, 11-12; 25 Aug, 11-12; 27 Aug, 11-12; 28 Aug, 11.
3. Serialized Bush Advocate (NZ) 8 Nov 1888, 4; 10 Nov, 4; 13 Nov, 4; 15 Nov, 4; 17 Nov, 4; 20 Nov, 4; 22 Nov, 4; 24 Nov, 4; 27 Nov, 4; 1 Dec, 4; 4 Dec, 4; 6 Dec, 4.
4. London/Melbourne: Samuel Mullen, 1889.
5. A New Edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1890. Reprinted 1893.
[No CIHM microfiche was prepared.]
The Devil's Die. A Novel
A long and rambling novel which combines two of GA's favourite topics: a study of a highly intelligent sociopath, and the romance of the clash of races. There are three central male characters: Dr Mohammed Ali, an Indian doctor; his English friend Harry Chichele, a bacteriologist and toxicologist; and Ivan Royle, an decent artist. All three are in love with Olwen Tregellas, a Cornish beauty. Chichele is a brilliant, charming but cold-blooded researcher with a dark streak of sadism in his ancestry; nevertheless, he marries Olwen despite the forebodings of Dr Ali. These are borne out when Chichele murders a woman of the slums, a patient in the Middlesex Hospital, to prove a pet theory of his. (He kills her by the ingenious means of putting his own hand, secretly chilled in an ice-bag, on to the small of her back; the chill is quickly fatal!) Ali suspects the crime but can prove nothing. While they are all on holiday in Cannes, Chichele falls under the spell of Seeta Mayne, a fascinating and sexually ambiguous romantic novelist and another of GA's athletes of the tongue. Back in London, Chichele's infatuation grows into a mania, and he almost succeeds in murdering his wife with cholera germs; she recovers, but he takes the infection himself and dies. Meanwhile Ivan Royle has gone off to the wilds of Nevada on a artistic commission. The saintly Ali, who knows the truth about his dead friend, pursues Royle in order to bring him back for the widowed and now mentally unstable Olwen. (He cannot, of course, as a "black man", think of marrying her himself.) After some bizarre adventures, including very nearly dying of thirst in the desert and surviving a shipwreck, they do return to a happy ending. There are several other plot complications, but the main interest in the novel is the GA's ironical and effective analysis of racial intolerance. Superficially at least, Dr Ali is treated as a gentleman in England; on a visit to New York, however, he is booted out of his hotel's dining room on the first day.
Chatto was gloomy about this novel, and offered no prospect of serialisation. 'I have all along been promising myself the pleasure of being able to offer you some substantial increase in the amount of our offer for a new novel by you; but the most sanguine interpretation of the results of In All Shades (which has something in common with The Devil's Die, except that I think In All Shades is likely to please the more cultivated audience, and therefore to have better reviews) showing as they do only a scant return for the outlay on it, perforce limits the amount of the advance in the present case to £10, making the amount of our offer for the remaining rights in The Devil's Die £85. I hope that this slow progress will not be more disappointing to than it is to myself and that if you favour us with the publication of The Devil's Die upon these terms it may afford a more satisfactory return for your next. . . [CW, 18 Nov 1887].
Watt secured £85 for the copyright and all interest from C&W on 10 April 1888. [CW].
MS not located.
1. Serialized People, 31 Jul 1887, 3; 7 Aug 1887, 3; 14 Aug 1887, 3; 21 Aug 1887, 3; 28 Aug 1887, 3; 4 Sep 1887, 3; 11 Sep 1887, 2-3; 18 Sep 1887, 3; 25 Sep 1887, 3; 2 Oct 1887, 3; 9 Oct 1887, 3; 16 Oct 1887, 3; 23 Oct 1887, 3; 30 Oct 1887, 3; 6 Nov 1887, 3; 13 Nov 1887, 3; 20 Nov 1887, 3; 27 Nov 1887, 3; 4 Dec 1887, 3; 11 Dec 1887, 3; 18 Dec 1887, 3; 25 Dec 1887, 3; 1 Jan 1888, 3; 8 Jan 1888, 3; 15 Jan 1888, 3; 22 Jan 1888, 3.
2. Serialized Leader: A Weekly Journal of News, Politics, Literature, Science, Agriculture, and Sport [Melbourne], 17 Sep 1887, 33; 24 Sep, 33-4; 1 Oct, 33; 8 Oct, 34; 15 Oct, 34-5; 22 Oct, 34-5; 29 Oct (Supplement), 2; 5 Nov, 33; 12 Nov, 33-4; 19 Nov, 33-4; 26 Nov, 33; 3 Dec, 34-5; 10 Dec, 34; 17 Dec, 33; 24 Dec (Christmas Supplement), 10-11; 31 Dec, 33-4; 7 Jan 1888, 33; 14 Jan, 33; 21 Jan, 33-4; 28 Jan, 33-4; 4 Feb, 34; 11 Feb, 33-4; 18 Feb, 34; 25 Feb, 33-4; 3 Mar, 33-5; 10 Mar, 34-5, 17 Mar, 35; 24 Mar, 35-6; 31 Mar, 34; 7 Apr, 34; 14 Apr, 34; 21 Apr, 34; 28 Apr, 34; 5 May 34-5; 12 May, 35-6; 19 May, 35-6; 26 May, 34-5; 2 Jun, 34-5; 9 Jun, 35-6; 16 Jun, 34-5.
3. 3 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1888.
4. A New Edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1890. Reprinted 1901.
5. New York: FF Lovell, [1888]. Household Library.
6. New York: Denison, 1888.
7. Toronto: National Publishing Co., 1888.
8. Philadelphia: Crawford, [189-?].
9. New York: Hurst, [nd]. Arlington Edition.
10. New York: Seashore Library, 1891.
11. New York: Royal Publications, [nd].
12. New York: FM Lupton, [1893]. Souvenir series #87.
13. Ottawa : CIHM, 1980. Three microfiches of the Lupton, 1893 ed. Copy in the National Library of Canada. Series #05022.
This Mortal Coil. A Novel
Written mid-1887.
George Gissing confided in his Diary on 3 June 1893: 'Got from lib. Grant Allen's This Mortal Coil. The time I waste in reading trash such as this.' Too harsh a judgement; GA at least deserves credit for cramming so many extraordinary incidents between one pair of covers. This is a long psychological thriller, with two central male, and two female, characters. Hugh Massinger is a minor poet and a dark, handsome Byronic cad with a line in cynical and fantastical (and tiresome) talk. (In all but appearance, he is transparently based on Andrew Lang, as Lang knew.) His friend (at first) and then his mortal enemy, is Warren Relf, a stalwart, honourable yachtsman and marine artist. Both go down to the country house of Whitestrand, Suffolk, amid the salt marshes, which is owned by the Meysey family: Relf to cruise about and paint, Massinger to stay with his distant cousin Elsie Challoner. Elsie is a poor orphan, but has invested in a good Girton education and is acting as a tutor and friend to the young Winifred Meysey, sole heiress to the estate. Massinger and Elsie are in love, but Massinger quickly and treacherously proposes marriage to Winifred instead, for hard cash. When he has to reveal this to Elsie, she falls into the flood waters in a half-suicidal attempt. Massinger tries to rescue her, then, failing, fakes her disappearance with an elaborate series of forged letters. (Why does he need to do this? There is nothing obvious to connect him with E's disappearance, apparently.) Meanwhile, by an amazing coincidence, Relf has found her floating and half-dead in the water, and hauls her aboard his boat. When they piece together the truth of Massinger's duplicity, Elsie, heartbroken, is taken off abroad to San Remo by Relf's mother and sister. Massinger is quite convinced Elsie is dead, and even when Relf confronts him at their club, the truth, incredibly, still doesn't emerge that she is alive. Massinger and Winifred marry, but it soon turns sour; the intimate portrait of their failing marriage is rather well done and the best thing in the book. Eventually Winifred dies of TB on the Riviera (GA surely recycles his first wife's death here); Relf accidentally kills Massinger on a train after the latter breaks the bank at Monte Carlo; but he escapes to marry Elsie when by a remarkable twist of fate the entire train derails and plunges, with Massinger's body, into the depths of the Mediterranean. Never was a novel better named.
Watt secured £100 from Chatto 'in full payment for the copyright and all interest' on 8 Oct 1888. Watt asked for a speedy cheque as 'Mr Grant Allen tells me he is leaving England this week'. Another note from Watt makes it clear this was the 'remaining copyright' [CW].
2 Aug 87 'I have pleasure to send you by parcel post today 3 copies of the original MS of the first 11 chapters of your novel This Mortal Coil.' [GA sent ch.21-32 before 9 Sept. Watt then arranged to have this typewritten – this as early as 1887. GA sent the last section on 6 October].
20 Sep 87. '…I shall supply the Australian paper with this portion [This Mortal Coil] … By the by, do you wish me to sell this book to Chatto, as I did your other?'
27 Oct 87: Watt received £300 from Chambers for This Mortal Coil plus another £70 for the Australian serial use [Watt]
12 Jun 88 … 'I have seen Mr Chatto today about your book TMC: He makes offer of £100 for all the remaining copyright which is an advance on what he gave for a former one. Are you willing that I should accept this sum?' [Watt]
MS not located
1. Serialized Chambers's Journal, 5th Series, 5 (7 Jan 1888-13 Oct 1888): 1-6; 20-25; 35-40; 52-56; 67-70; 82-85; 99-101; 116-120; 131-134; 147-150; 163-166; 179-182; 196-198; 212-213; 228-231; 242-246; 259-263; 276-278; 290-293; 308-310; 324-327; 339-341; 354-358; 371-377; 387-390; 403-406; 419-423; 435-439; 451-455; 466-471; 483-487; 499-502; 515-519; 531-534; 547-552; 563-565; 579-581; 595-599; 611-613; 626-631; 643-645.
2. Serialized Australasian [Melbourne], 44 (31 Mar 1888, 685-7; 7 Apr, 742-3; 14 Apr, 798-9; 21 Apr, 854; 28 Apr, 916-7; 5 May, 966-7; 12 May, 1022-3; 19 May, 1078; 26 May, 1134; 2 Jun, 1190-1; 9 Jun 1246-7; 16 Jun, 1302; 23 Jun, 1358-9; 30 Jun, 1414-5); 45 (7 Jul 1888, 14; 14 Jul, 70; 21 Jul, 126; 28 Jul, 182; 4 Aug, 237; 11 Aug, 302-3; 18 Aug, 358; 25 Aug, 414; 1 Sep, 470; 8 Sep, 526; 15 Sep, 582; 22 Sep, 638; 29 Sep, 694-5.
3. 3 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1888.
4. New York: D. Appleton, 1889. Appleton's Town and Country Library, 18. [Hardback and paperback editions].
5. Chicago: Henneberry, [nd].
6. A New Edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1889. Reprinted 1890, 1892, 1895.
7. Chicago: Weeks [nd]. Marguerite Series, #69.
8. New York: Weeks, 1895. Enterprise Series.
9. Chicago: G.M. Hill, 1898.
10. Ottawa: CIHM, 1980. 1+4+4+4 microfiches of the Chatto & Windus, 1888 ed. Copy in Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto Library. Series #05078-81.
11. Ottawa: CIHM, 1982. Five microfiches of the Chatto & Windus, 1895 ed. Copy in the Hamilton Public Library. Series #26901.
12. Ottawa: CIHM, 1983.Five microfiches of the Hill, 1898 ed. Copy in the University of Victoria Library. Series #18113.
13. Ottawa : CIHM, 1984. Four microfiches of the Appleton, 1889 ed. Copy in the Douglas Library, Queen's University. Series #27572.
The White Man's Foot
A teenagers' adventure story (written for GA's son) set on a volcano in Hawaii: savage religious cults, human sacrifice, rescue of a dusky maiden by bold British sailors, etc. Contains a preface from GA to his son. The serial version appeared in a girls' magazine first published in Oct 1887 edited by Mrs L.T. Meade (first with two others, later alone.) Its age range was 18-25 and it preserved a high tone. A curious choice, since as a reviewer said, 'a safe present for a boy at the stage when his dreams of being a pirate are sobering into a moralized aspiration towards the navy.'
MS not located.
1. Serialized Atalanta, 1 (April 1888), 361-369; (May 1888), 421-427; (June 1888), 481-486; (July 1888), 539-549; (Aug 1888), 600-609; (Sep 1888), 660-669.
2. With seventeen illustrations by J. Finnemore. London: Hatchards, 1888
3. Valkoisen miehen jalka. [Translation into Finnish by Saimi Jarnefelt]. Helsinki: Otava, 1899.
4.Ottawa: CIHM, 1980. Three microfiches of the Hatchards, 1888 ed. Copy in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto Library. Series #05093.
DECEMBER 1888
My Christmas Eve at Marzin
GA's last fiction for the Belgravia. A story of retribution in Hungary, in which a murderous count is apparently haunted by a dead vassal -- again, there is a rational explanation. This is the one referred to by Chatto, and may explain why GA wrote no more for it: 'The cheque for your article in the Belgravia Annual (which I regret the bad times with both magazines made so small, 2/2/0 only ) was sent . . [CW, 31 Jan 1889].
1. Belgravia Christmas Annual (1888), 1-10.
The Sultan's Sister
At Muscat, Harry rents a cottage and spies on the Sultan's sister; when they attempt to elope she is caught. But she is saved from a sack and the sea by the narrator, an old diplomatic hand. Almost certainly reprinted in this radical paper from some more accessible but unlocated first publication.
1. Weekly Dispatch (23 Dec 1888), 11.
1889
The Tents of Shem. A Novel
This novel, set mostly in Algeria, is one of GA's most successful conventional novels. It has a complex plot turning on legal matters, whereby Iris Knyvett, yet another of GA's Girton girls (this one, surprisingly, is neither a sexless waif nor a fierce virago; in fact quite normal except for her formidable academic ability) and her half-English, half-Algerian cousin Meriem eventually come into their huge inheritance despite rascally attempts to prevent them. There is plenty of colourful Algerian detail and it is striking how well GA captures the French-colonial atmosphere and sentiments which would lead to the ferocious war against the colons half a century later – and, indeed, to the country's present miseries. GA's first serial, and first publication, in the Graphic, probably marking his acceptance as a thoroughly saleable middlebrow novelist. The ed. was Arthur Locker to 1891; then T.H. Joyce. Chatto wrote especially to congratulate him on this. 'The enclosed open letter has been sent me by the editor of the Graphic to be forward to you which I do with much pleasure. The timely interest which I take in your success as a novelist must be my excuse for venturing to rejoice over this application to you. The Graphic does not pay high prices – about £400 or £450 I imagine is their maximum for the serial use of a three volume novel, but I consider that there is a compensating value in the prestige gained by the publication of a novel in their columns and of this the management are aware and do not fail to avail themselves'. [CW, 28 Feb 1888]
Watt secured another £120 'in full payment for the Copyright reserving only first serial publication in the Graphic & foreign book rights' [CW].
MS: Holograph draft. Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto.
1. Serialized Graphic: An Illustrated Weekly Newspaper, 39 (5 Jan 1889, 17-19; 12 Jan, 45-47; 19 Jan, 69-71; 26 Jan 93-95; 2 Feb, 121-3; 9 Feb, 145-7; 16 Feb, 169-170; 23 Feb, 193-4; 2 Mar 221-2; 9 Mar, 251-3; 16 Mar, 285-7; 25 Mar, 309-310; 30 Mar, 337-339; 6 Apr, 369-371; 13 Apr, 397-8; 20 Apr, 425-6; 27 Apr, 449-50; 4 May, 477-478; 11 May, 505-6; 18 May, 537-8; 25 May, 569-70; 1 Jun, 601-2; 8 Jun, 625-6; 15 Jun, 657-8; 22 Jun, 677-8; 29 Jun, 713-4.
2. Serialized Sydney Mail (Illustrated Supplement), 5 Jan 1889, 19-20; 12 Jan, 71-2; 19 Jan, 126-8; 26 Jan, 178-80; 2 Feb, 230-1; 9 Feb, 282-3; 16 Feb, 334-6; 23 Feb, 386-7; 2 Mar, 438-9; 9 Mar, 490-1; 16 Mar, 542-4; 23 Mar, 594-6; 30 Mar, 646-7; 6 Apr, 698-9; 13 Apr, 750-2; 20 Apr, 802-4; 27 Apr, 859-60; 4 May, 914-5; 11 May, 970-1; 18 May, 1026-7; 25 May, 1082-3; 1 Jun, 1138-9; 8 Jun, 1194-5; 15 Jun, 1250-2; 22 Jun 1306-7; 29 Jun 1363-4.
3. 3 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1889 [June].
4. Chicago: Rand, McNally, 1889. Globe Library, 103.
5. Chicago: Donohue & Henneberry, [1889].
6. New York: Munro, 1889. Seaside Library Pocket Edition, #1221.
7. New York: Ogilvie, 1889.
8. Liverpool: 'World's Best' Library, [189-?].
9. A New Edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1891. Reprinted 1893, 1894, 1898.
10. Toronto: William Bryce, Publisher, [nd].
11. New York: Burt, [189-?]. Harvard Edition.
12. A New Edition with a Frontispiece by E.F. Brewtnall. London: Chatto & Windus, 1890. Reprinted 1901.
13. London: Caxton Publishing, [nd; after 1893]. Caxton Library of Modern Authors.
14. New York: International Book, [nd]. Columbus Series.
15. Popular Edition. London: Chatto & Windus, 1903. Edwardian Novels volume 7, #3.
16. Ottawa : CIHM, 1982.1+3+4+4 microfiches of the Chatto & Windus, 1889 ed. Copy in Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto Library. Series #05073-6.
17. Ottawa : CIHM, 1984. Four microfiches of the Donohue & Henneberry, 1889 ed. Copy in the Vancouver Public Library. Series #14005.
18. Ottawa: CIHM, 1987. Four microfiches of the 'World's Best' Library, [189-?] ed. Copy in the Douglas Library, Queen's University. Series #64983.
The Jaws of Death. A Novel
A longish short story. Howard Freke, an Englishmen, is exiled to Cooper's Pike, Nevada, by his family after failing to become a doctor. He makes good by finding natural gas under a property he owns. Able at last to marry his sweetheart he sends for her and arranges to meet her when she lands at San Francisco. But while passing the time there waiting for her, he visits the waxworks and falls victim to a fiendish Chinese psychopath, Li Sing, who is in charge of the Chamber of Horrors. His day job is to give exhibitions of a guillotine at work on a waxwork; drugging Freke, he almost manages to cut his head off, but is thwarted just in time. A real potboiler.
MS not located.
Serialization. None known.
1. London: Simpkin, Marshall, [1889].
2. London: Jarrold, 1896. Daffodil Library of Shorter Novels. Reprinted 1898 [possibly in the Day Dawn Novel Series], 1909 [revised].
3. New York: New Amsterdam Book, 1896. Holland Library, #2. Reprinted 1897.
4. I dödsfara. [Translation into Swedish.] Stockholm: Nordiska Förlaget, 1912.
5. Ottawa : CIHM, 1980. Two microfiches of the Jarrold, 1896 ed. Copy in the Dana Porter Arts Library, University of Waterloo. Series #05047.
A Living Apparition
A story set at Biskra, Algeria, where the Pennington family are wintering. When her lover is lost in the desert, Ethel Pennington spots him in a dawn mirage, far away near the oasis of Beni-Souafa. A relief party recovers him and he and Ethel are married 'at the pretty little English consular church, near the Bab Azoun gate'.
MS not located
1. London/New York: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge/E & JB Young, 1889. Penny Library of Fiction.
DECEMBER 1889
His First Crime
Felix Caird and his family are starving; in desperation he steals a bag which proves to contain body parts. By an unlikely coincidence he runs up against the bag owner and murderer, and sees justice done.
1. Manchester Weekly Times Supplement, 21 Dec 1889, 1-2.
2. Weekly Scotsman, 21 Dec 1889, 4.
3. People, 22 Dec 1889, 19 [lacks 2 paras and last sentence]
4. Birmingham Daily Gazette, 25 Dec 1889, 3.
5. Birmingham Weekly Mercury, 28 Dec 1889, 4.
The Mayfield Mystery
A bank clerk wants to marry his boss's daughter. The banker is murdered; suspicion falls on the lover, but it turns out that his rival has used a phonograph recording of an argument with the banker to make him look guilty.
1. Tinsley's Magazine, 43 (Dec 1889), 723-760.
The Law of the Land
A woman kills her baby in despair and reflects on the legal consequences.
1. Pall Mall Budget. [Late in 1889. Exact details unknown.]
2. Arbroath Herald, 17 Oct 1889, 3.
Blood will Out?: The Oxford-educated, Anglicised African, the Reverend John Creedy, 'goes native', observed by his appalled wife [from the Cornhill Magazine, Sep 1883]
FICTION: PROBLEMS AND UNLOCATED ITEMS: Help eagerly sought
A story 'A Modern Pygmalion' was reprinted in the US and Australia. No UK magazine publication other than a fugitive private Christmas Annual is known.
I seek information about the (possible) serialisation details of some remaining GA novels, particularly serializations in newspapers and magazines outside the UK.
According to the Watt Papers, the rights to a story 'Rennell's Remorse' were bought for the Pictorial World in agreement of 12 Oct 1891. Price 100 gns. Nothing more is known of this. The file of the paper has not been checked.
The Bodleian's records of the Tillotson's Fiction Bureau refer to the following stories, about which nothing more is known: 'Christian Charity' . All publication details are sought. [Thanks to Graham Law for these references.] This story may be a retitled 'Isenberg's Regiment'.
The Watt letter books (Berg) have a letter from Watt, 20 May 1891 speaking of GA delivering a story (?) 'The Peripatetic Philosopher' to Black and White. It was paid for by June 6. This has not been traced. There are references also to 'articles' in Black and White. A file of this paper has not been examined.
Penn holds a story [?} MS called 'An Afternoon's Episode' (17pp). Publication details sought.
Penn holds a story [?} MS called 'The Hop-picker: a Phantasm of the Living'. Publication details sought.
Penn holds article and story MSS titled 'The Emancipated Woman', 'Three Little Fables', 'Venetian Sketches', 'Narcissus and Daffodil', 'The Amateur Americans', 'The New Woman Movement', 'Jamaican Reminiscences', and 'The Philistine Turns' (last was probably pub. somewhere on 13 Dec 1882). Publication details of all are sought.
I have been unable to determine which novels the following are Danish translations of:
En Selskabsdames Eventyr. Roman. Aut. Danks-norsk Udgave ved Johs. Magnussen. Hjemmets Romanbibliotek, 1905.
The following Polish translations held in the National Library of Poland cannot be identified:
Energiczna panna (1903)
Milioner w opalach (1902, 1903)
Powiesci dziwne
Sila krwi: powiesc (1894, 1928)
According to a letter from Grant Richards to the Italian Corriere della Sera of 26 July 1906, this paper had just paid £10 for the right to publish serially Hilda Wade. Other details are sought.
Acknowledgements
Many people have given help with this bibliography, supplying me with information from their own researches about obscure GA items which I would never have found myself: Jack Adrian, Mike Ashley, Pierre Coustillas, Sabine Ernst, Colin Harris, Chris Gosling, Robert Jackson, Toni Johnson-Woods, Richard Landon, Graham Law (for several obscure reprintings), Xavier Legrand-Ferronniere (for details of French translations), Bernie Lightman, Barbara Arnett Melchiori (particularly for locating, summarising and copying some Allen items in the Cambridge University Library, and for letting me see draft chapters of her book on Allen), a Private Collector (for information and copies of unique items in his collection), Terence Rodgers, Sandra Stelts, and the late Chris Willis. Thanks to others too.
I would like to record my considerable debt to Phil Stephensen-Payne, a science fiction bibliographer, whose own work on Allen was developed to a late stage before we became aware of each other's labours. Among other things, he and his collaborator Virgil Utter made known to me nearly all of the items reprinting Allen's speculative fiction and detective fiction in recent decades, which I would assuredly have missed otherwise. His completed working bibliography (Galactic Central Publications, 1999) offered a valuable means of cross-checking items. However, numerous new items have been located since Phil's bibliography was published a few years ago.
Finally, a special thanks to Victor Berch of Brandeis for his formidable ability to uncover so many of GA's previously unknown stories.
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