Wilkie Collins

HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. ‘The woman who first gives life, light, and form to our shadowy conceptions of beauty, fills a void in our spiritual nature that has remained unknown to us till she appeared.’ One of the earliest works of ‘detective’ fiction with a narrative woven together from multiple characters, Wilkie Collins partly based his infamous novel on a real-life eighteenth century case of abduction and wrongful imprisonment. In 1859, the story caused a sensation with its readers, hooking their attention with the ghostly first scene where the mysterious ‘Woman in White’ Anne Catherick comes across Walter Hartright. Chilling, suspenseful and tense in mood, the novel remains as emotive for its readers today as when it was first published.

The Six Letters of Wilkie Collins is a collection of letters written by the renowned English novelist Wilkie Collins. Collins, who is best known for his mystery and suspense novels, including The Woman in White and The Moonstone, was also an accomplished letter writer. This collection includes six of his most notable letters, which cover a range of topics, from his personal life to his writing process. The first letter is addressed to his friend and fellow writer, Charles Reade, and discusses Collins' struggles with writer's block. The second letter is to his publisher, and discusses the publication of his novel, The Moonstone. The third letter is to his brother, and discusses his personal life and family affairs. The fourth letter is to his friend, the actress Ellen Terry, and discusses his admiration for her acting talent. The fifth letter is to his friend and collaborator, the artist John Everett Millais, and discusses their joint project, a book of illustrations for Collins' novel, The New Magdalen. The final letter is to his friend and fellow writer, Robert Louis Stevenson, and discusses Collins' admiration for Stevenson's work. Overall, The Six Letters of Wilkie Collins offers a fascinating glimpse into the life and mind of one of the greatest English novelists of the 19th century. This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Thank you for checking out this book by Theophania Publishing. We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you soon. We have thousands of titles available, and we invite you to search for us by name, contact us via our website, or download our most recent catalogues. A prolific playwright and novelist, William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) created his masterpiece, The Moonstone, at the age of 44. Even though it was not too enthusiastically received by such classics of his time as Dickens, the novel introduced a new genre of a detective story and is remarkable for its excellent plot-development as well as its finely moulded characters. It did and still does leave the reader breathless and puzzled to the very end. Some of the themes exploited in the novel - for example, the British in India - added to the success of the book. An important and not so frequent element of the story is the use of opium. This theme is particularly well developed since Collins (suffering from gout all his life) experienced the action of the substance (in the form of laudanum) on himself and went through a series of delusional episodes, firmly believing he was followed by his imaginary alter ego, "Ghost Wilkie".

Based on a 1858 play called "Red Vial", Collins' "Jezebel's Daughter" is a tale of mystery, betrayal, and misguided trust revolving around Mrs. Fontaine, a nefarious widow who employs her late husband's poisons and remedies to manipulate those around her. A thrilling and engaging novel with obvious parallels to modern detective fiction, this book is recommended for fans of such literature, and it constitutes a must-have for collectors of Collins' work. Many antiquarian books like this are becoming increasingly rare and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing "Jezebel's Daughter" now in an affordable, modern edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.