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February 2026
f variety really is the spice of life, our website has plenty to enliven these winter days, with a range of new contributions in different areas.
Our own team has been especially busy, with our Managing Editor Diane Josefowicz leading the field by guiding us expertly through Martin Hewitt's recent book, Darwinism's Generations: The Reception of Darwinian Evolution in Britain, 1859-1909. The concept of a generation and the nature of historical change are among the ideas that come under scrutiny here, so there is much in the review to interest specialist and non-specialist alike. Readers will want to turn to the book itself to find out more, and to see whether they agree that Hewitt could usefully have enlarged on the reception of Darwin's ideas beyond Britain. A proposal for a future volume, perhaps?
Meanwhile, JB has been working with some of that variety of contributions mentioned at the beginning. Tim Willasey-Wilsey, a former contributing editor who still takes a keen interest in the site, photographed the monuments of the Guildhall in the City of London for us, while attending a function there: of the national heroes thus honoured, we now have Pitt the Elder, Pitt the Younger, Nelson and Wellington. Michael Riley, who has also been in touch in previous years, sent in photographs of the premises of Hughes & Mullins, the royal photographers who operated on the Isle of Wight and recorded many of the royal family's events there, from a a family gathering in the grounds of Osborne House, to that popular pastime, the Tableau Vivant.
Before escaping from winter for a few weeks in the antipodes, Philip Allingham, our Contributing Editor from Canada, finished updating some of the earliest work on the website, including an informative piece on Dickens's tour of Philadelphia's "solitary prison," the Eastern Penitentiary, during his first visit to America. It made a great impact on him. Hard to believe, but this first went online in 2004! Very soon after arriving in New South Wales, Philip began sharing with us some glimpses of early architecture here, starting with this delightful set of photographs of the Tacking Point Lighthouse by the James Barrett, who rose from humble beginnings in Arbroath in Scotland to leave a lasting legacy as Colonial Architect on the other side of the world. Next came Trial Bay Gaol, introducing prison reformer Harold Maclean, whose family also went out from Scotland, and who left an important mark of another kind on New South Wales.
More intriguingly, Randall Wallace, a new contributor, sent in information and details about a large, bound collection of hundreds of mostly Victorian illustrations, with significant links to the publishing house of Richard Bentley, and Dickens's early publications. So far, Randall has provided an introduction and taken a close look at two sketches by Robert Seymour which suggest the approach Dickens was taking to the Pickwick Papers project. Randall and JB then worked together to look at seven illustrations by George Cruikshank for Oliver Twist and consider their possible source — a fascinating exercise!
Correspondence: Many thanks to Professor François Grosjean for alerting us to his work on the "Rugeley Poisoner" William Palmer (we have a piece about him here) and what he rightly calls a "poignant story: that of a trusting young solicitor in the 1850s, who was drawn into the scandal that surrounded the murderer — and that ultimately poisoned his own life.
January 2026
arm New Year Greetings from the Victorian Web! As Dickens puts it at the end of his Christmas book, The Chimes, "May the New Year be a happy one to you, happy to many more whose happiness depends on you!" Our Managing Editor, Diane Josefowicz, has now sent 2025 down into the archives: we trust that you'll find much in our ever-expanding website to interest and inspire you as 2026 unfolds.
Two good sources of inspiration, both overseen by Diane as well, are our conference notices/calls for papers, and our book reviews. Note especially that the deadline for abstracts for the Thomas Hardy Conference in Dorset this summer was extended to 25 January. It does pay to keep your eyes open for such extensions. As for reviews, here's one not to be missed: Christian Gallichio discusses The Nineteenth-Century Novel and the Pre-Cinematic Imagination, by Alberto Gabriele. This develops the idea that optical toys and tools like the zoetrope or the microscope helped propel the novel form towards modernism — a critical approach that produces some strikingly original analyses, for instance, in Gabriele's final chapter, of George Eliot's Middlemarch.
Technological advance affected all spheres of production, some more obviously than others. For example, JB brought in a contemporary account of the maritime engineer, Andrew Laing, whose work on turbines powered the Mauretania early in the next century, and helped turn Newcastle into a powerhouse of shipbuilding. The achievements of Laing and other local shipbuilders would be commemorated in some of A.K. Nicholson's dynamic stained glass in Newcastle Cathedral. Later in the month, JB added Count Gleichen's terracotta bust of Mary Seacole, the Jamaican nurse now celebrated for her work in the Crimea. Florence Nightingale's reputation has fallen somewhat as Seacole's has risen, and JB also took a look at the issues involved here.
Feeling a bit flat after the holidays? Our Senior Editor, Simon Cooke, has the answer: his new illustrated essay examines Max Beerbohm's irreverent take on some of the most popular artists of the Victorian period, "Mocking the Pre-Raphaelites: The Comic Art of Max Beerbohm." You may be familiar with some of the individual cartoons, but this round-up definitely has a cumulative effect!
Meanwhile, fittingly for this time of year (and for his own love of acting), our Contributing Editor for Canada, Philip Allingham, has been revising and adding to his work on theatrical adaptations of Dickens's works. The list of these has grown, and one important addition, recently finalised, is "Films and Plays from A Tale of Two Cities." With the panto season ending, Philip turned back to his more usual work, on the Dickens illustrators. Of special interest here is his updated note on Phiz's wrapper design for the monthly serialisation of A Tale of Two Cities. Updating is essential in an area where scholarship is so active, and most recently he has been improving his scans and commentaries on Fred Barnard's illustrations of key moments in the same novel.
As so often, one of our most active and valued contributors, Dennis T. Lanigan, had been hard at work promoting one of the less fêted Pre-Raphaelites, one whose kindly personality would have been impossible for Max Beerbohm to lampoon: Thomas Matthews Rooke, whose paintings can sometimes ambush you with their colour and vision. Herod's Feast is just one example. Dennis also contributed a drawing by the sculptor Thomas Woolner, and a commentary on this unexecuted design for the Cawnpore (Kanpur) Memorial in India.
Despite a recent emphasis on updating existing pages, we now have 136,654 documents and images as compared with 132,386 just over a year ago (December 2024).
Correspondence: A particular pleasure over the festive season was some well-informed input from Michael Riley on the background and sequence of construction at Queen Victoria's home on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House. Stuart Orr also brought to our attention some interesting research on the Julius Beer Mausoleum at Highgate Cemetery, which overturned some attributions in its listing text and other trusted sources. Another useful comment, this time on the admission of women students to the Victorian art school, Cary's (previously known as Sass's), came from Dr. Gilles Weyns. We welcome all such corrections, updates and additional information.
Last modified 26 January 2026