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ROBERT WILLIAMS BUCHANAN (1841-1901) |
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NOVELS
It is safe to say that Robert Buchanan’s novels have not stood the test of time. There are 27 titles listed in the bibliography, which, of itself, implies that Buchanan’s novels must have enjoyed some measure of popularity in their day. But none of them have managed to seep into the public consciousness to become ‘classics’ and they have no standing either in the more rarefied atmosphere of the academic world. So, Buchanan’s novels will never be the subject of doctoral theses or prestigious BBC adaptations. It was never the intention of this website to bring Buchanan’s novels back into the world. They have all been out of print for many years now and it is doubtful that situation will ever change. For Buchanan they served their purpose, they kept the wolf from the door. In Harriett Jay’s biography, Chapter 18: ‘First Ideas of Novel Writing’, gives a fascinating portrait of Buchanan at work. His initial idea was to write a novel in collaboration with William Canton and the chapter contains his correspondence on the matter. The collaboration failed however and Buchanan continued alone, producing his first novel, The Shadow of the Sword, which was initially published in The Gentleman’s Magazine in monthly instalments. In Chapter 20 Harriett Jay offers more insights into Buchanan’s working methods including the following passage: “The arrangements made, Mr. Buchanan set to work with a will and wrote his monthly instalments with keen pleasure. He had the story very clearly mapped out from start to finish, so that when it came to be written it flowed easily from his pen. His monthly parts were the neatest things I have ever seen written, as they were in a very tiny but perfectly clear hand on ordinary sheets of note-paper, and almost without an erasure. I fear, however, he was never far ahead with his “copy,” the writing of which he invariably postponed till the last possible moment, and this method of his was the cause later on of some trouble. While the story was running in the magazine there occurred a fire on the premises of Messrs. Grant, the publishers, and a good deal of valuable manuscript was destroyed, amongst it the last instalment of the “Shadow of the Sword.” As usual this had arrived late, too late for the editor to have had an opportunity of sending a proof and as Mr. Buchanan himself had kept no copy (there was no typewriting in those days), the only thing to be done was for him to set to work and rewrite the instalment. This he did with such marvellous rapidity that the appearance of the magazine was not delayed by a single day.” The Shadow of the Sword was published in book form in 1876, but despite its success, Buchanan waited another five years before publishing his second novel, God and the Man. After this, there came a steady stream of titles. At the close of Chapter 20, Harriett Jay gives her own assessment of Buchanan’s novels: “Into these two novels, “The Shadow of the Sword” and “God and the Man,” Mr. Buchanan, as I have shown, put the very best work of which he was capable. Both were conceived and partly written as poems, and both remained poems although they were given to the world in prose form. Had things gone well with him he would, in all probability, have continued to give the world of his very best, but after the publication of “God and the Man” he had to face a calamity which would have broken down many a stronger man. His young wife, who had never been strong, was stricken with the cruellest of all diseases, cancer, and for two long years she was slowly dying. He was too poor a man to be able to sit down and nurse his grief, work had to be done, and he did it, though not with the same heart, the same enthusiasm. His great ambition now was to make money, and so he scribbled at fiction in order to attain this end. His output was very great and very rapid, and although his income increased, his position as a novelist declined, many of his later novels were written, as it were, with his left hand, and it is certain that had he been a man of means they would never have been written at all.” *** Buchanan’s first two novels are available to download from the West Midlands Literary Heritage site: Since this version of God and the Man just contains the ‘Proem’ and text of the novel, I have also added a page to this site of some additional material: the original dedication to Rossetti (‘To An Old Enemy’), a second dedication to Rossetti following his death, the Preface to the 1882 edition, and a series of illustrations by Fred. Barnard from the Chatto & Windus edition of 1900. God and the Man - additional material * The Internet Archive has the following novels available for download in a variety of formats: A Child of Nature (Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3) Annan Water (Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3) Foxglove Manor (Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3) The New Abelard (Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3) The Master of the Mine (Volume 1, Volume 2) That Winter Night: or, Love’s Victory Come Live with Me and Be My Love Rachel Dene: a tale of the Deepdale Mills The Charlatan (In collaboration with Henry Murray. Volume 1, Volume 2) Andromeda: an idyll of the Great River *** In The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction, John Sutherland offers the following assessment of Buchanan’s novels: John Cassidy in his book about Buchanan, published in 1973, singled out five of the novels as “too good to be forgotten”: The Shadow of the Sword, The Martyrdom of Madeline, Effie Hetherington, Diana’s Hunting, and Father Anthony. Personally, I am intrigued by two of Buchanan’s novels, The Moment After: a tale of the unseen and The Rev. Annabel Lee: a tale of to-morrow, which are more in the fantasy vein, and which I have yet to track down. I did find a copy of the former on ebay, but it was a German edition and as I don’t know German at all, I let it go. One of the reasons for the sudden plunge in Buchanan’s reputation after his death is the fact that too much of his work was written solely for money. I have no problem with hackwork, and some of my favourite books could be described as pulp fiction. So, maybe there are hidden gems among Buchanan’s novels. If I come across any, I will amend this page accordingly. |
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[Author of “Squire Kate” - the alternate title of “Come Live with Me and Be My Love” - from the 1892 illustrated edition published by Lovell, Coryell & Co. Picture courtesy of the New York Public Library.] *** The Novels: The Shadow of the Sword. 3 vols. London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1876. [reviews] A Child of Nature. 3 vols. London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1881. [reviews] God and the Man. London: Chatto & Windus, 1881. [review] The Martyrdom of Madeline. 3 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1882. [reviews] Love Me For Ever. London: Chatto & Windus, 1883. [review] Annan Water. 3 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1883. [reviews] The New Abelard. 3 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1884. [reviews] Foxglove Manor. 3 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1884. [reviews] Matt: A Story of a Caravan. London: Chatto & Windus, 1885. (U.S. title: Matt: A Tale of a Caravan) [review] Stormy Waters. 3 vols. London: John and Robert Maxwell, 1885. (A novelization of the 1883 play, A Sailor and His Lass, written in collaboration with Augustus Harris.) [reviews] The Master of the Mine. 2 vols. London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1885. [reviews] That Winter Night: or, Love’s Victory. Bristol: Arrowsmith’s Bristol Library, 1886. [review] The Heir of Linne. 2 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1888. [review] The Moment After: a tale of the unseen. London: William Heinemann, 1890. [reviews] The Wedding Ring: a tale of to-day. New York: Cassell Publishing Co., 1891. [review] Come Live with Me and Be My Love: an English pastoral. London: William Heinemann, 1891. (Alternate U.S. title: Squire Kate.) [reviews] Woman and the Man. London: Chatto & Windus, 1893. Rachel Dene: a tale of the Deepdale Mills. 2 vols. London: Chatto & Windus, 1894. [review] The Charlatan. (In collaboration with Henry Murray.) London: Chatto & Windus, 1895. [reviews] Diana’s Hunting. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1895. [reviews] Lady Kilpatrick. London: Chatto & Windus, 1895. [reviews] A Marriage by Capture. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1896. [reviews] Effie Hetherington. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1896. [reviews] The Rev. Annabel Lee: a tale of to-morrow. London: C. Arthur Pearson, Ltd. 1898. [reviews] Father Anthony. London: John Long, 1898. [reviews] Andromeda: an idyll of the Great River. London: Chatto & Windus, 1900. [reviews] The Peep O’ day boy: a Romance of ’98. London: John Dicks, 1902. __________
ROBERT BUCHANAN’S SHORT STORIES
Buchanan published two collections of short stories during his career, one towards the start and one near the end: Stormbeaten: or Christmas Eve at the “Old Anchor” Inn. I must thank Dr. Richard Beaton for providing the following information about this early book of Buchanan's. It is a “Christmas book” in the Dickens tradition (i.e. a collection of stories and poems with a linking narrative), and it has a short introduction, dated December 1861, signed “Williams Buchanan” with a note before the text stating that parts of the book had been published in All the Year Round and Once a Week. There is no further indication as to who wrote what, but one presumes that all the poems are by Buchanan. The contents are as follows: Introduction: How the good ship Boomerang was Storm-Beaten; how we were compelled to put back into the port of Scuttleton-upon-Kegg; and how we came together on Christmas-eve in the “Old Anchor Inn”. ___ The book is not mentioned in Harriett Jay’s biography, but Buchanan’s friendship with Gibbon is dealt with in Chapter VIII: Friendships, 1864. Here’s the opening section: “Then it was that he made the acquaintance of Charles Gibbon, who was a year or so younger than himself. The pair first met at Herne Bay, whither they had gone for a few days’ recreation, and on their return to London they set up housekeeping together, Gibbon going to share the “bankrupt garret” in Stamford Street. Besides assisting his friend in the production of copy for Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Gibbon wrote a good deal of fiction on his own account. Although their earnings at that time were not great they were both at work far into the watches of the night, reading, writing, studying, like young fellows cramming for an examination. Every night a pot of strong coffee was set upon the hob, and out of this pot they refreshed themselves, fighting hard against the natural desire for sleep, and again and again tumbling off into a troubled doze till daylight came and they crept wearily to bed. There was no absolute necessity for their burning the midnight oil in this fashion, and indeed the poet never contracted this ugly habit until Mr. Gibbon became his companion.” ___ A second edition of the book was published in December, 1869. The review in The Spectator prompted a response from Buchanan: The Spectator (25 December, 1869) Stormbeaten. By Robert Buchanan and Charles Gibbon. (Ward, Lock, and Tyler.)—This little book contains some very good and effective, and some very poor and melodramatic Christmas stories, and two or three spirited pieces of verse,—we conclude, by Mr. Buchanan,—which, though they will not for a moment compare with his true poems, are very far indeed above the ordinary verse of Christmas annuals. “Reuben Gray, or the sickly gentleman’s story,” is one of the best of these pieces of verse; and the “Gold-digger’s Story” also contains some very spirited descriptive verse. Still, neither of them is at all of the class of poems by which Mr. Buchanan has gained, and we trust will keep, his high character as a poet. The comic prose stories are, we think, the worst. “A Parisian Mystery” is one of the best. ___
The Spectator (1 January, 1870) MR. BUCHANAN AND HIS PUBLISHERS. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE “SPECTATOR.”] SIR,—I observe in last Saturday’s Spectator a review of a work entitled “Stormbeaten,” published by Messrs. Ward and Lock, and purporting to be a new work by “Messrs. Robert Buchanan and Charles Gibbon.” As the publication of the work at the present moment involves a double deception, permit me to offer some words of explanation. ROBERT BUCHANAN. ___
Reviews of Stormbeaten: or Christmas Eve at the “Old Anchor” Inn _____
Red and White Heather: North Country tales and ballads. Contents: A Highland Princess Available at the Internet Archive. ___
Reviews of Red and White Heather: North Country tales and ballads _____
Throughout his career Buchanan also wrote stories for magazines and newspapers, but these were never collected and published in book form. John A. Cassidy’s bibliography only lists two as being significant, A Heart Struggle and Lady Letitia’s Lilliput Hand. These are available on this site along with some others I have come across. One of the earliest, My Aunt’s Christmas, is set in the village of Caverford, an obvious (and rather rare) nod to Buchanan’s birthplace, and a later one, Berinthia, recalls Buchanan’s early days in London. My Aunt’s Christmas A Heart Struggle. A Tale in Two Parts Lady Letitia’s Lilliput Hand A Roman Supper The Heir Berinthia An Old Reckoning
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