10 Books by Wilkie Collins
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Overview: William Wilkie Collins, author of the first detective novels in English, was born in 1824. The son of a respected landscape painter, he was named after his painter godfather, David Wilkie. Educated in London, Collins studied to become a barrister, although it was never his intention to practise, and by 1848 he had turned to writing, a number of short works appearing in Charles Dickens’ periodicals, Household Words and later, All the Year Round. A first novel, Iolani, set in ancient Tahiti and involving sorcery and sacrifice, though perhaps written as early as 1844, was later rejected by publishers (and only rediscovered and published for the first time in 1999). His second novel, Antonina (1850), set in fifth-century Rome, was a popular success, before Collins’ first venture into crime fiction with Basil (1852), a Gothic tale of doppelgangers, bigamy, and hidden family secrets. Developing at once detective fiction and the novel of sensation, Collins’ exotic and gripping stories – often involving strong heroines, sinister locales, charlatans, and physical or psychological afflictions – became hugely popular with the reading public. His great novels appeared in the 1860s, when, at the height of his powers, Collins’ wrote The Woman in White (1860), No Name (1862), Armadale (1866), and The Moonstone (1868).
Genre: Fiction > Mystery/Thriller
The Haunted Hotel
An eminent doctor is visited by a desperate woman with a question: am I evil, or insane?
When the letters from Italian servant to his wife in London suddenly cease, she is convinced he has been murdered.
In the darkened bedroom of a mouldering palazzo by the Grand Canal, an English lord sickens and suddenly dies.
How are these little mysteries connected? Spend the night in Room 14 of Venice’s finest hotel, and find out the truth – if you dare…
INCLUDES THE GHOST STORY ‘THE DREAM WOMAN’
The Poisoned Meal
This case takes us across the Channel to Normandy; and introduces us to a young French girl, named Marie Françoise Victoire Salmon. Her father was a poor Norman laborer. Her mother died while she was a child. From an early age Marie had learned to get her own living by going out to service. Three different mistresses tried her while she was a very young girl, and found every reason to be satisfied with her conduct. She entered her fourth place, in the family of one Monsieur Dumesnil, when she was twenty years of age. This was the turning-point in her career; and here the strange story of her life properly begins.
John Jago’s Ghost
"John Jago’s Ghost," set in America, portrays the hardworking lives of New England farmers that examines the rivalry between two men for the control of Morwick Farm and the love of a pretty girl.
Miss Jeromette and the Clergyman
My brother, the clergyman, looked over my shoulder before I was aware of him, and discovered that the volume which completely absorbed my attention was a collection of famous Trials, published in a new edition and in a popular form. He laid his finger on the Trial which I happened to be reading at the moment. I looked up at him; his face startled me. He had turned pale. His eyes were fixed on the open page of the book with an expression which puzzled and alarmed me. "My dear fellow," I said, "what in the world is the matter with you?" He answered in an odd absent manner, still keeping his finger on the open page.
Mr Captain and the Nymph
This early work by Wilkie Collins was originally published in 1876. Born in Marylebone, London in 1824, Collins’ family enrolled him at the Maida Hill Academy in 1835, but then took him to France and Italy with them between 1836 and 1838. Returning to England, Collins attended Cole’s boarding school, and completed his education in 1841, after which he was apprenticed to the tea merchants Antrobus & Co. in the Strand. In 1846, Collins became a law student at Lincoln’s Inn, and was called to the bar in 1851, although he never practiced. It was in 1848, a year after the death of his father, that he published his first book, The Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A., to good reviews. The 1860s saw Collins’ creative high-point, and it was during this decade that he achieved fame and critical acclaim, with his four major novels, The Woman in White (1860), No Name (1862), Armadale (1866) and The Moonstone (1868). The Moonstone, meanwhile is seen by many as the first true detective novel – T. S. Eliot called it "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels…in a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe." Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900’s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions.
Mr Percy and the Prophet
The disasters that follow the hateful offense against Christianity, which men call war, were severely felt in England during the peace that ensued on the overthrow of Napoleon at Waterloo. With rare exceptions, distress prevailed among all classes of the community. The starving nation was ripe and ready for a revolutionary rising against its rulers, who had shed the people’s blood and wasted the people’s substance in a war which had yielded to the popular interests absolutely nothing in return.
Nine O’Clock
Wilkie Collins was an English novelist and playwright. Collins was also a lifelong friend of the legendary writer Charles Dickens with whom he worked with on some plays and other fictional works. In total Collins was the author of 30 novels, 14 plays and more than 60 short stories with his best known works being The Woman in White and The Moonstone. This edition of Collins’ Nine O’Clock includes a Table of Contents.
The Cauldron of Oil
About one French league distant from the city of Toulouse, there is a village called Croix – Daurade. In the military history of England, this place is associated with a famous charge of the eighteenth hussars, which united two separated columns of the British army, on the day before the Duke of Wellington fought the battle of Toulouse. In the criminal history of France, the village is memorable as the scene of a daring crime, which was discovered and punished under circumstances sufficiently remarkable to merit preservation in the form of a plain narrative.
The Last Stage Coachman
Wilkie Collins was an English novelist and playwright. Collins was also a lifelong friend of the legendary writer Charles Dickens with whom he worked with on some plays and other fictional works. In total Collins was the author of 30 novels, 14 plays and more than 60 short stories with his best known works being The Woman in White and The Moonstone.
Gabriel’s Marriage
This early work by Wilkie Collins was originally published in 1853. Born in Marylebone, London in 1824, Collins’ family enrolled him at the Maida Hill Academy in 1835, but then took him to France and Italy with them between 1836 and 1838. Returning to England, Collins attended Cole’s boarding school, and completed his education in 1841, after which he was apprenticed to the tea merchants Antrobus & Co. in the Strand. In 1846, Collins became a law student at Lincoln’s Inn, and was called to the bar in 1851, although he never practiced. It was in 1848, a year after the death of his father, that he published his first book, The Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A., to good reviews. The 1860s saw Collins’ creative high-point, and it was during this decade that he achieved fame and critical acclaim, with his four major novels, The Woman in White (1860), No Name (1862), Armadale (1866) and The Moonstone (1868). The Moonstone, meanwhile is seen by many as the first true detective novel T. S. Eliot called it "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels. . .in a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900’s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions.
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