What Wilkie Wrote

During his life Wilkie Collins published 23 novels (defined here as a single work of fiction published separately as a single book, sometimes in more than one volume), six collections of stories (defined as a single book containing more than one work of fiction, sometimes in more than one volume), one collection of essays, one travel book, and one biography. He also published numerous short stories which were not published in books in his lifetime, at least one translation from French, more than a dozen plays - some original and some adapted from his other work - and more than 100 articles in periodicals. One further novel was completed by Walter Besant and published after his death; another, the first he wrote, came to light in 1989. Not all his work has been identified.

This bibliography lists the first publication in book form in England of works by Wilkie Collins. It excludes plays, North American and other foreign editions. It also excludes the separately published Christmas editions of Household Words and All The Year Round to which Collins contributed. Many of Collins's stories were published and republished in the USA - sometimes with alternative titles - and by Tauchnitz in Leipzig. None of these variants is listed here. Numerous foreign language editions were published under a variety of titles, some bearing no relation to the English title.

(1) Sometimes published in the USA as The Crossed Path; or, Basil. A story of Modern Life
(2) Sometimes published in USA as Hide and Seek; or, the Mystery of Mary Grice
(3) From Parrish. Sometimes this date is the start of a fortnight during which the book could have appeared.
(4) later editions contained a fourth story
(5) other editions contain different stories
(6) Collins's first novel unpublished in his lifetime. The manuscript emerged in 1989.
(7) These books were published by Tillotson and Son, Bolton in around 20 syndicated newspapers including Bolton Weekly Journal, [Cardiff] Weekly Mail, Glasgow Weekly Herald, Leigh Journal and Times, Sheffield Weekly Independent - see Law.
(8) The exact dates have now been established - but for discussion see Law.

Further bibliographical information on Collins's books can be found in

• I R Brussell Anglo-American First Editions, 1826-1900, East to West, London 1935, reprinted New York1981
  
• Andrew Gasson 'Wilkie Collins: A Collector's and Bibliographer's Challenge' The Private Library, third series 3:2 (Summer 1980), pp51-77
  
• Andrew Gasson, Wilkie Collins: An Illustrated Guide, Oxford University Press 1998
  
• Graham Law 'The Serial Publication in Britain of the Novels of Wilkie Collins' in Humanitas (Waseda University Law Society) 33 (1995) pp1-29
  
• Graham Law 'Wilkie in the Weeklies: The Serialization and Syndication of Collins's Late Novels', Victorian Periodicals Review 30 No.3 Fall 1997 pp244-269
  
• M L Parrish and E V Miller, Wilkie Collins and Charles Reade - first editions...in the library at Dormy House, Constable and Company, London 1940
  
• Michael Sadleir Excursions in Victorian Bibliography, Chauncy & Cox, London 1922, reprinted New York 1974
  
• Michael Sadleir XIX Century Fiction: A Bibliographical Record Based on His Own Collection, London 1953; reprinted New York 1969
  
• J Don Vann Victorian Novels in Serial, Modern Language Association of America, New York 1985
  
• Robert Lee Wolff Nineteenth-century Fiction, Garland, New York 1981
  

Paul Lewis
version 1.02 correcting dates of Poor Miss Finch
28 Sept 1997