1st Edition

William Tinsley (1831-1902) Speculative Publisher

By Peter Newbolt Copyright 2001
    388 Pages
    by Routledge

    This title was first published in 2001. An account of the activities of 19th-century publisher William Tinsley, particularly in relation to his authors and his chosen way of making a living. In considering the library-publishing system that dominated all aspects of fiction in the latter part of the 19th century, when down-payments rather than loyalties were the rewards of novelists, it may be surprising to find how wide were the variations in prices that publishers paid for such work. Differences appeared when individual publishers developed soft spots for particular authors, and in consequence they sometimes made fools of themselves. William Tinsley certainly did so, on several occasions, but was blessed, at least in later life, with the grace of never seriously regretting any of his mistakes. Examples of the nature of this good-hearted man are found in these pages. This account relies to an extent on Tinsley's two volumes of memoirs.

    1 South Mimms 2 Leaving Home: Notting Hill 3 The Brough Brothers 4 Business Partnership: Marriage Partnerships 5 The Circulating Libraries and the Three-volume Novel 6 Sala Sets the Ball Rolling 7 Mary Elizabeth Braddon 8 George Lawrence and Ouida 9 Mrs Henry Wood and Mrs J.H. Riddell 10 Two Failed Take-overs; Death of Edward 11 Sheridan Le Fanu and Rhoda Broughton 12 Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald 13 Harrison Ainsworth and Wilkie Collins 14 William Black and author-publisher relations 15 War-Correspondent Novelists: Russell and Henty 16 George Meredith and Thomas Hardy 17 Thomas Hardy’s first three Novels 18 Edmund Yates and ‘Novel Liaisons’ 19 The Office Staff and Management 20 Hard labour or fulfilment for women in writing 121 Tinsleys ' Magazine, and twelve months of Mirth 22 J.R. Planché, dramatist and Somerset Herald 23 Benjamin Leopold Farjeon 24 Walter Besant and Richard Jefferies 25 Some other Tinsley Authors 26 Life’s Rich Pageant: J.L. Toole and Henry Irving 27 Diminuendo doloroso

    Biography

    Peter Newbolt