The novel ran serially without illustration in All the Year Round and in the United States in Harper's Weekly simultaneously from 26 November 1859 through 25 August 1860. However, the American serial did not finish its run until 8 September 1860. In volume form, the novel first appeared in Great Britain on 15 August 1860 with a frontispiece by Sir John Gilbert and eight full-page wood-engravings by F. A. Fraser. There followed an American first edition (although this Harper & Bros. volume may have been issued ahead of the Sampson Low) with McLenan's original serial illustrations from Harper's. See, for example, the following: The Harper's Weekly serial illustration for 26 November 1859 illustration by McLenan, used by Harper's as the frontispiece in later editions: "I turned on the instant, with my fingers tightening round the handle of my stick."
Engraving of Collins from the 1901 Chatto & Windus
edition of Woman in White.
These eight full-page wood-engravings by Francis Fraser each face the page of text illustrated, so that the reader encounters word and image simultaneously, "reading" one against the other throughout the complementary pages. For a volume containing 434 pages, the novel is hardly as abundantly illustrated as the American first edition in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, but introduces the reader to visualisations of all the principal characters, largely in pairs: (1) Walter Hartright and Anne Catherick; (2) Marian Halcombe and Walter Hartright; (3) Mr. Gilmour and Laura Fairlie; (4) Count Fosco; (5) Laura Fairlie and Anne Catrherick; (6) Sir Percival Glyde, Lady Glyde, and Mrs. Rubelle; (7) the crowd gathered around the corpse of Sir Percival; and (8) Count Fosco and Walter Hartright. See also the 1861 frontispiece by Sir John Gilbert: "'Come back and sign!' cried Sir Percival."
Related Material
- John McLenan's full-scale illustrations and vignettes for the American serial: Illustrations for The Woman in White in Harper's Weekly, 1859-60
- Sir John Gilbert's frontispiece: "Come back and sign!" cried Sir Percival. for the 1875 Chatto and Windus edition
- Fred Walker's poster: The Woman in White for the Olympic's October 1871 adaptation
Bibliography
Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White: A Novel. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. Illustrated by John McLenan. Vols. III-IV (16 November 1859 through 8 September 1860).
Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White: A Novel. Illustrated by John McLenan. New York: Harper & Bros., 1861.
Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White. Illustrated by F. A. Fraser and Sir John Gilbert. London: Sampson Low, 1861; rpt. Chatto & Windus, 1875.
Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White. Ed. Maria K. Bachman and Don Richard Cox. Illustrated by Sir John Gilbert. London: Minerva, 2006.
Nayder, Lillian. Unequal Partners: Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, & Victorian Authorship. London and Ithaca, NY: Cornell U. P., 2001.
Peters, Catherine. The King of the Inventors: A Life of Wilkie Collins. London: Minerva, 1991.
"Portrait of Wilkie Collins." Frontispiece for Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White Library Edition. London: Chatto and Windus, 1901.
Vann, J. Don. "The Woman in White in All the Year Round, 26 November 1859 — 25 August 1860." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. Pp. 44-46.
Created 19 September 2024