Wilkie Collins (1824-1889)

Biographical note

English novelist, credited with writing the first mystery.

Wilkie (William) Collins was born in London on January 8, 1824. His father (also called William) was a landscape painter, but it seems his father had ambitions for his son outside the arts. Wilkie was first found a place in the tea trade, but displayed no aptitude for commerce. He then studied law at Lincoln's Inn, he was admitted to the bar in 1851 but didn't prosper here either. It was only when he started writing that he seemed to find his vocation.

His first published work was written in memory of his father, who died in 1847. Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A. was published in 1848. He started writing fiction shortly afterwards. Antonina was published in 1850 and Basil in 1852.

In April 1852 Wilkie wrote a piece for Charles Dickens' weekly: Household Words. This marked the start of a professional relationship which was to last for ten years, and which left both men better writers for their aqaintence.

Wilkie was immensely popular in his time, and wrote 25 novels and over 50 short stories. His most successful works were The Woman in White, No Name, Armadale, and The Moonstone. He was one of the first, and is still one of the greatest, writers of mystery fiction, and has been much imitated over the years.

He died in London on September 23, 1889

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Works

Novels

Antonina [1850]
Basil [1852]
Hide and Seek [1854]
The Dead Secret [1857]
A Rogue's Life [1857/1879]
The Woman in White [1860] [ read | print | download ]
No Name [1862] [ read | print | download ]
Armadale [1866] [ read | print | download ]
The Moonstone [1868] [ read | print | download ]
No Thoroughfare [1867, with Dickens]
Man and Wife [1870]
Poor Miss Finch [1872]
The New Magdalen [1873]
The Law and the Lady [1875]
The Two Destinies [1876]
My Lady's Money [1878]
The Haunted Hotel [1879] [ read | print | download ]
The Fallen Leaves [1879]
Jezebel's Daughter [1880]
The Black Robe [1881]
Heart and Science [1883]
I Say No [1884]
The Evil Genius [1886]
The Guilty River [1886]
The Legacy of Cain [1889]
Blind Love [1889 - unfinished. Completed by Walter Besant]

Short Stories

Iolani, or Tahiti as it was. A Romance [written 1844; published 1999]
Mr Wray's Cash Box [1852]
The Ostler [1855]
After Dark [1856] [ read | print | download ]
A Terribly Strange Bed [1852] -- A Stolen Letter [1854] -- Sister Rose [1855] -- The Lady of Glenwith Grange [1856] -- Gabriel's Marriage [1853] -- The Yellow Mask [1855]
A Fair Penitent [1857]
The Frozen Deep [1857], a play co-written with Charles Dickens
A House to Let [1858, co-written with Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell and Adelaide Anne Procter] [ read | print | download ]
The Queen of Hearts [1859]
- Mad Monkton [1855]
- The Dream Woman [1855]
- Anne Rodway [1856]
- The Black Cottage [1857]
- The Family Secret [1857]
- The Dead Hand [1857]
- A Plot in Private Life [1858]
- The Biter Bit [1858]
- Fauntleroy [1858]
- The Parson's Scruple [1859]
Blow Up with the Brig! [1859]
The Cauldron of Oil [1861]
The Fatal Cradle [1861]
No Thoroughfare [1867], a story and play co-written with Charles Dickens
Miss or Mrs? [1873]
The Frozen Deep and Other Stories [1874]
- The Frozen Deep
- Dream Woman
- John Jago's Ghost; or The Dead Alive
A Fatal Fortune [1874]
A Rogue's Life [1879]
The Ghost's Touch and Other Stories [1885]
Little Novels [1887]
- Miss Jéromette & the Clergyman [1875]
- Mr. Captain & the Nymph [1876]
- Mr. Percy & the Prophet [1877]
- Miss Bertha & the Yankee [1877]
- Miss Mina & the Groom [1878]
- Mr. Marmaduke & the Minister [1878]
- Mrs. Zant & the Ghost [1879]
- Mr. Policeman & the Cook [1881]
- Mr. Cosway & the Landlady [1881]
- Miss Morris & the Stranger [1881]
- Mr. Lismore & the Widow [1883]
- Mr. Lepel & the Housekeeper [1884]
- Mr. Medhurst & the Princess [1884]
- Miss Dulane & My Lord [1886]

Non-fiction

Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A. [1848]
Rambles Beyond Railways [1851]
My Miscellanies [1863]