Collins, Wilkie born Jan. 8, 1824, London
died Sept. 23, 1889, London
Wilkie Collins an early master of the mystery and detective story and the first English novelist to write in this genre.
The son of William Collins (1788–1847), the landscape painter, he developed a gift for inventing tales while still a schoolboy at a private boarding school. At an early age he was placed in the tea trade, where his performance was undistinguished. After studying law at Lincoln's Inn, he was admitted to the bar in 1851 but proved to have as little aptitude for law as for commerce.
He worked, instead, on an historical novel, painted well enough to have a picture hung at the Royal Academy, engaged in theatricals, and visited Paris. His first published work was a memoir to his father, who died in 1847, Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A. (1848). His fiction followed shortly after...
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Wilkie Collins Novels
Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A. 1848
Antonina (The Fall of Rome) 1850
Rambles Beyond Railways or, Notes in Cornwall Taken A-Foot 1851
Basil 1852
Hide and Seek 1854
A Rogue's Life 1856
The Dead Secret 1857
The Woman in White 1860
No Name 1862
Armadale 1866
No Thoroughfare with Charles Dickens 1867
The Moonstone 1868
Man and Wife 1870
Poor Miss Finch 1872
The New Magdalen 1873
The Law and the Lady 1875
The Two Destinies 1876
My Lady's Money 1877
The Haunted Hotel 1879
The Fallen Leaves 1879
Jezebel's Daughter 1880
The Black Robe 1881
Heart and Science 1883
I Say No 1884
The Evil Genius 1886
The Guilty River 1886
The Legacy of Cain 1889
Blind Love 1890
The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices with Charles Dickens 1890
Wilkie Collins Short Stories
Little Novels 1887
Miss Jeromette and the Clergyman 1875After Dark 1856
Mr. Captain and the Nymph 1876
Mr. Percy and the Prophet 1877
Miss Bertha and the Yankee 1877
Miss Mina and the Groom 1878
Mr. Marmaduke and the Minister 1878
Mrs. Zant and the Ghost 1879
Mr Cosway and the Landlady 1881
Mr. Policeman and the Cook 1881
Miss Morris and the Stranger 1881
Mr. Lismore and the Widow 1883
Mr. Lepel and the Housekeeper 1884
Mr. Medhurst and the Princess 1884
Miss Dulane and My Lord 1886
The Queen of Hearts 1859
The Last Stage Coachman 1843
The Twin Sisters 1851
A Passage in the Life of Perugino Potts 1852
A Terribly Strange Bed 1852
Mr Wray's Cash Box or the Mask and the Mystery 1852
Nine O'Clock! 1852
The Dream Woman 1855
The Lady of Glenwith Grange 1856
The Black Cottage 1857
The Family Secret 1857
The Dead Hand 1857
The Dead Secret (1857)
A Fair Penitent 1857
The Biter Bit 1858
Blow Up With the Brig! 1859
The Fatal Cradle 1861
Miss or Mrs? 1873
The Dead Alive 1874
The Frozen Deep 1874
Fatal Fortune 1874
The Devil's Spectacles 1879
Fie! Fie! (The Fair Physician) 1882
The Poetry Did It 1885
A Sad Death and Brave Life 1886
Farmer Fairweather 1886
The First Officer's Confession 1887
Love's Random Shot 1894
Wilkie Collins Plays
No Name Written by Bayle Bernard with Wilkie Collins approval 1863
No Thoroughfare First performed at the Adelphi Theatre December 26 1867
Black and White First performed at the Adelphi Theatre March 29 1869
The Woman in White (Play) First performed at the Olympic Theatre October 9 1871
The Moonstone First performed at the Olympic Theatre September 17 1877