The Trolloppe Connection
In 1918, Sadleir began collecting Trollope whose works at the time were little sought and therefore reasonably priced. That the novels were extremely difficult to find in both their original binding and in good condition merely whetted his appetite for the hunt. Once he achieved his goal, he published some essays and a bibliography on Trollope. Although he turned his attention to collecting in other areas, he continued to look for rare, additional, or better-condition Trollope titles.
With regard to his Trollopian searches, Sadleir declared, “These four years left a permanent mark on my bibliomania. They taught me to love the Victorian novel as a material thing, and therefore—for their very multiplicity of volumes if for no other reason—to be susceptible to old novels generally.”
WRITING FAMILIES
While Sadleir collected the novels of six different members of the Trollope family, the prolific writing of this family was not unusual for the time. The Dickens family produced some 60 novels, the Kingsleys 45, the Marryats around 100, counting cousins, nieces, nephews, et al., of course.
Other noteworthy writer families include: Rhoda Broughton, niece of Sheridan Le Fanu; Sara Coleridge, daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Eleanor Farjeon, daughter of Benjamin Farjeon; William and Gerald Maxwell, sons of Mary Elizabeth Braddon Maxwell; Caroline Norton, granddaughter of Richard Brinsley Sheridan; Adelaide Proctor, daughter of poet Barry Cromwell; and Mrs. Humphry Ward, niece of Matthew Arnold.
Anthony Trollope 1815-1882
At the age of nineteen, Anthony Trollope began to work for the Post Office in Ireland and started his first novel, as well. Neither it nor his next few novels and a play met with success. His postal career flourished however, and he was transferred to the Channel Islands and the west of England.
In 1852, The Warden [3696-2], the first of his Barsetshire novels, was published and received great acclaim. Other ecclesiastic novels followed and soon Trollope was hailed as the new Thackeray. By 1864, when he introduced the parliamentarian Plantagenet Palliser, Trollope was the dominant man of letters in England, but by 1871 his fortunes began to fade and publishers’ interest vanished.
The regularity of Trollope’s life as described in his autobiography was noteworthy: he wrote 2,500 words a day, hunted twice a week, and traveled extensively. He continued to write, and the last of his 47 novels were published posthumously.
Frances (Milton) Trollope 1780-1863
Frances Trollope, the mother of Anthony and six other children, turned to writing when she was fifty-two in order to support her family.
Domestic Manners of the Americans, Bentley, 1839. [3218c]
Her first book, Domestic Manners of the Americans, earned her £600 and encouraged her to write the first of her 35 novels. Her publishers were Whittaker, then Bentley, Colburn, and finally Hurst and Blackett.
Michael Armstrong, The Factory Boy, Colburn, 1840. [3228]
Among her largely successful novels is Michael Armstrong, The Factory Boy, a scathing attack on industrialism. A twelve column review in the Aetheneum warned Mrs. Trollope that if her novel exposing the horrors of child labor was successful in arousing the masses “to which her shilling numbers are but too accessible,” the kingdom might well face “civil war, bankruptcy, and national destruction.”
Cecilia Frances (Trollope) Tilley 1816-1849
Cecilia, the only sister of Anthony, married her brother’s Postal Service colleague John Tilley. She produced five children and a novel before dying in 1849 of consumption.
She wrote Chollerton, London, Olliver, 1846 [3211] It is a religious novel suitable, said a contemporary review, only for “intellects so entirely puerile as to be hardly worth bringing under authority.”
Thomas Adolphus Trollope 1810-1892
Thomas Adolphus, older brother of Anthony, worked for the London Standard as their Italian correspondent and was based in Rome, where he and his wife were famous for their hospitality to the writers and political notables of the day. Thomas Adolphus was also a prolific novel writer.
In La Beata [3267], published in 1861, he writes a sad tale of innocence seduced. In this case a poor flower girl of Florence is seduced and forsaken by an artist. She dies of consumption; the artist then takes himself to a monastery.
Frances Eleanor (Ternan) Trollope 1835-1913
Frances Eleanor, sister-in-law to Anthony, was the second wife of Thomas Adolphus and sister to the actress Ellen Ternan. She served as governess to Thomas Adolphus’ daughter after the death of his first wife.
In her novel Among Aliens, London, Blackett, 1890 [3256], she writes a simple story of a young English governess who works for a noble Italian family. It was believed to be largely autobiographical, but adds little to our knowledge of the family.
Henry Merivale Trollope 1846-1926
Henry Trollope, son of Anthony, contributed to the family’s literary output with his novel, My Own Love Story.
My Own Love Story [3266], published by Chapman and Hall in 1887. A contemporary critic said of it, “...it will go hard with Mr. Henry Trollope to justify the publication of his extremely matter-of-fact romance, the uniform dullness of which is not illuminated by a single spark of fancy, unrelieved by a single striking incident.”