Facts about Wilkie Collins
- 10
Collins's novel No Name, published in 1862, featured one of Victorian literature's first protagonists born outside wedlock, a scandalous narrative choice that shocked contemporary readers.
- 09
Poor eyesight forced Collins to dictate much of his later work to secretaries, a physical limitation that shaped his compositional process during the 1870s and 1880s.
- 08
At age 17, Wilkie Collins was apprenticed to a tea merchant but abandoned the position after two years to pursue painting and eventually writing.
- 07
Over 500,000 copies of The Woman in White were sold during Collins's lifetime, making it one of the most commercially successful novels of the Victorian era.
- 06
Nineteen theatrical adaptations of Collins's novels were performed during his lifetime, with The Woman in White alone generating multiple stage versions that brought him significant income beyond his serialized publications.
- 05
Collins maintained a long-term relationship with Caroline Graves beginning around 1858, living with her openly for decades despite never marrying, a scandalous arrangement for Victorian society.
- 04
During an 1864 trip to Italy, Collins gathered research for his novel Armadale, which he completed and serialized in The Cornhill Magazine from 1864 to 1866.
- 03
In 1856, Collins published his first novel, Antonina, which was favorably reviewed by William Makepeace Thackeray and established his early reputation as a writer.
- 02
Wilkie Collins suffered from severe gout and laudanum addiction throughout his adult life, conditions that worsened after an 1870 illness and influenced his later writing.
- 01
The Moonstone, serialized in The Dickens periodical All the Year Round starting in 1868, is often credited as the first detective novel in English literature.