"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."
— P.J. O'Rourke
Wilkie Collins | First Editions
1824 - 1889
William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 - 23 September 1889) was an English novelist, playwright, author of short stories and general man of letters. He was enormously popular during the Victorian era, rivalling the likes of Dickens (with whom he was both friend and colleague), in popularity.
He wrote 30 novels, 60-odd short stories, 14 plays, and around 100 pieces of non-fiction work.
Collins is arguably best known for "The Woman in White", "The Moonstone", and "Armadale", although his popular output far exceeded those three works.
He is also credited unofficially with creating the "sensational" novel ("Basil" of 1852 is a particularly good example, being that tragic and overwrought must be exhausting) and with refining if not outright inventing the modern detective story (in the words of another distinguished bookseller Collins's "The Moonstone." is the: "fons et origio of many genre memes", no more absinthe for that man).
See below our stock of Wilkie Collins First Editions and fine bindings.
Results 1 - 3 (of 3)
Heart and Science.
London: Chatto & Windus, 1913. [Anti-Vivisection Novel] LIBRARY EDITION. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.[2] x; 334 [6]. Publisher's blind-decorated purple cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper. Spotting to first and final leaves. Spine sunned and titles to spine dulled / oxidised. Moderate wear to cloth. Very good... More
The Legacy of Cain. A Novel.
London: Chatto & Windus, 1906. [Classic Literature] LIBRARY EDITION. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.viii; 320. Publisher's blind-decorated purple cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper. Spotting to first and final leaves. Spine sunned and titles to spine dulled / oxidised. Moderate wear to cloth. Very good. More
The Moonstone.
New York, NY: Harper and Brothers, 1868. [Literature] FIRST U.S. EDITION, being the FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION, also first single volume edition. Published the same year as the UK triple-decker. Slim octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.223; [1] blank. Publisher's blind-stamped textured brown cloth (not ribbed, as some copies), with decorative gilt..... More
Results 1 - 3 (of 3)