Trilbyana: The Rise and Progress of a Popular Novel

The morning papers of April 30 contained this despatch: – "Denver, Col., April 29. Did du Maurier write 'Trilby'? This novel question was propounded to-day in the United States Court in good faith, when the suit of Harper & Bros. and A. M. Palmer for an injunction against the Lyceum Stock Company to restrain them from producing 'Trilby' at their theatre was called. The defendants allege that the book entitled 'Trilby' was not originated, invented or written by du Maurier. They assert that the original title and book of 'Trilby' were first published in France in 1820, and afterwards translated and published in English in 1847, and that the title and book have been common property for seventy-five years. The attorneys for the plaintiffs asked for time to communicate with their clients in New York as to the course they should pursue, and the Court postponed the hearing until Wednesday morning. Should the allegations of the Lyceum Company be true, a sensation will be caused all over the two continents. This is the first public intimation of an attack on the authenticity of the work, and if it is successful every company in the world will have as much right to play 'Trilby' as the Boston Organization."

The Lounger reprinted the telegram with this comment: – "Charles Nodier's 'Trilby, le Lutin d'Argail,' was published in Paris in 1822. It has just one thing in common with du Maurier's book – the first word in its title." The Sunday papers of May 12 printed this paragraph: – "Denver, May 11. Judge Hallet, in the United States District Court to-day, granted an injunction restraining the Lyceum Theatre from producing 'Trilby' hereafter, deciding that it infringed on the rights of Harper & Bros., and others. To-day's performance was stopped."

George du Maurier

Personalia

A London correspondent of the Philadelphia Press furnishes some interesting notes of a talk with Mr. du Maurier. Concerning literary practice, the artist-novelist said that "Peter Ibbetson" was absolutely the first story he ever wrote. "And yet," he added, "I have in one sense been writing stories all my life. Every one of my pictures, for example, has had under it a story condensed to the smallest possible space. The necessity of condensing my description and dialogue has been of great benefit to me in writing my two novels." As for "Trilby," Mr. du Maurier said that his earliest conception of the story was quite different from the one he finally worked out. "I had first thought of Trilby as a girl of very low birth – a servant, or something like that. Then it occurred to me that it would be much better to make her interesting – to create a person who would be liked by readers. As a good many people seem to be fond of 'Trilby' now, I am very glad, indeed, that I made the change." And he declared further that the character of Trilby was not a study from life, but wholly imaginary. It was Henry James who suggested to the artist that he should write novels.

"It was one day while we were walking together on Hampstead Heath. We were talking about storywriting, and I said to him: – 'If I were a writer, it seems to me that I should have no difficulty about plots. I have in my head now plots for fifty stories. I'm always working them out for my own amusement.' 'Well,' he said, 'it seems to me that you are a very fortunate person; I wish you'd tell me one of those plots.' Then I told him the story of 'Trilby.'" "Yes, he praised it very generously. 'Well,' I said, 'you may have the idea and work it out to your own satisfaction.' But he refused to accept it. 'You must write it yourself,' he said: 'I'm sure you can do it, if you'll only try.' But I insisted that I couldn't, and so we left the matter. But that night after going home it occurred to me that it would be worth while trying to write, after all. So on the impulse I sat down and began to work. It was not on 'Trilby,' however, but on 'Peter Ibbetson.' I kept at it for a time, but after doing several chapters I became utterly discouraged, and said to myself one evening: – 'Oh, I can't do anything with this. It's a mad story. It's utter rubbish.' Then I took up the sheets and was just about to throw them into the fire when I thought I'd keep them for another day and think the thing over. That night in bed, while I was worrying about the impossibility of going on with the tale, the solution of my difficulty suddenly occurred to me. 'I'll make the hero mad,' I cried to myself, 'that will put everything right.' So the next day I wrote the introduction, explaining Peter's madness, and after that I went on with the work to the end without any more trouble."

"Trilby's" American publishers have sent out the following note: – "A letter from Mr. du Maurier to the late James R. Osgood is given herewith. Possibly the hint it contains as to the secret of an exquisite literary style will interest the greater number of readers; or perhaps his saying (in 1890) that he has 'several good ideas,' which would seem to be an answer to those who have maintained that 'Trilby' was written many years ago. * * *

'My Dear Osgood: – Of course I remembered my promise, and as soon as my book – "Peter Ibbetson" – was finished and typewritten, I wrote to you – last week, as it happens – at 50 Fleet Street, but behold! you were in America; so I sent them the copy, and I believe it starts by to-day's mail for Harper in New York. I don't know how it got into the papers that I was coming out in this new line, but I have already offers to come to an arrangement. I have no notion whether it is suited to a periodical or not – you will see; probably not, – but if it is I want to be well paid for it; first [illegible], as far as my first book is concerned, whatever its merits; secondly, because the only people to whom I have told the story (H. James, Canon Ainger, poor Allingham and a few others) thought so well of it – or said so – as an idea; and I have taken great pains in the carrying out thereof. If Harper's doesn't see its way to it, I shall offer it elsewhere; and after that, I shall put it in the hands of an agent. And if I don't get what I think I ought to, I shall keep it and write another, as I have several good ideas, and writing this has taught me a lot. All of which sounds very cheeky and grand; but I am in no hurry to come before the public as a novelist before I'm ripe, and to ripen myself duly I am actually rewriting it in French, and you've no idea what a lesson that is! * * *

'Yours ever, G. du Maurier.

'15 Bayswater Terrace, London, April 18, 1890.'"

It is said that when the Messrs. Harper were negotiating with Mr. du Maurier for "Trilby," he declined their offer of a royalty on the sales of the book and decided in favor of a "lump sum." We do not know how large this sum was, but we are pretty sure that it was not so much as he would have made by the royalty plan. That would have earned at least $30,000 for him on a sale of about 100,000 copies to 31 Dec., 1894. The Messrs. Harper have, however, done a more than generous thing by him: they have informed him that they will pay him a royalty, and a good big one, too, on all sales after 1 Jan., 1895, on both "Trilby" and "Peter Ibbetson." The 600 copies of the édition de luxe of "Trilby," at $10 a copy, were sold outright to the Syndicate Trading Co.

Our London correspondent, Mr. Arthur Waugh, wrote to us on 16 April, 1895: – "The English reading public is to have its illustrated 'Trilby' in one volume in June. Hitherto the three-volume edition has alone been in circulation, and that without the illustrations. There are to be no sketches in all, and arrangements are also in progress for a large-paper edition of 250 copies, with six facsimile reproductions of original drawings, unbound." Advance orders were received for 15,000 copies of the six-shilling edition.

In an interview reported in the Tribune of June 14, Mr. J. Henry Harper was quoted as saying, apropos of a cablegram to the effect that the writing of "The Martians" was completed: —

"He assures me that his new story will not be ready for the publishers until December, 1896. I cannot tell you much about the book itself yet, but it will not be in any sense a sequel to 'Trilby' except so far as it will succeed that book. The new story will deal in its opening chapters with French school life, and then with English life, both fashionable and rowdy; then the artistic world of Antwerp and Dusseldorf is exploited, while the closing stages occur in England. There will be love in the tale, of course, and du Maurier also brings in the supernatural again. There will be plenty of liveliness and some tragedy. The book, I am given to understand, will be capable of illustration; but I am sorry to say there is some doubt as to whether du Maurier himself will illustrate it. It will depend entirely upon the state of his health, which of late has not been of the best. The length of the story will be greater than 'Trilby' and will run through about twelve numbers of Harper's Magazine, in which it will first be published in serial form."

As a matter of course, Mr. du Maurier has had no end of invitations to read and lecture in this country, but to all these invitations he has turned a deaf ear. In a recent letter to The Critic's Lounger, he expressed himself as flattered by these overtures, but added that his health would not permit of his accepting any of the tempting propositions. He might be more in the way of temptation, if it were not for the play of "Trilby." This brings him in almost as much money as readings would. We are told that he is in receipt of several hundred dollars a week from this source – not ten hundred, but very near it. This, surely, is a much easier way of earning money than travelling from one end of a big country to the other, for it costs him no greater exertion than the signing of his name to a check.

No one who loves "Trilby" should fail to read the "autobiographic interview" with du Maurier which Mr. Robert H. Sherard contributed, with illustrations, to McClure's Magazine for April, 1895. From this singularly intimate and interesting article, one learns that the author's first picture in Punch represented himself and his chum Whistler1; also, that the studio in the Latin Quarter where Trilby visited the three English artists was drawn from that of his master, Gleyre.

Mr. du Maurier's monogram, which appears on the title-page of this pamphlet, is reproduced from a carving on the table at which the staff contributors to Punch dine once a week, and on which many of them have made similar inscriptions. We are indebted for it to McClure's Magazine.

Mr. du Maurier and Mr. Whistler

The first two or three of the following paragraphs appeared on the Lounger's page in The Critic of 16 June, 1894, and were reprinted, with most of the Whistler-du Maurier items that succeed them, in the issue of Nov. 17.

Mr. Whistler has mastered two arts besides painting and sketching. One he has immortalized in that unique brochure, "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies"; the other is the Gentle Art of Advertising Oneself. These two generalities are not always to be distinguished from each other. It is quite possible to make an enemy in advertising oneself; and nothing is easier than to draw general attention to oneself, by the same act that incurs the enmity of individual – especially if the individual be eminent. At the present moment M. du Maurier happens to be one of the most conspicuous figures in the field jointly occupied by Art and Letters. In choosing him as an object of clamorous attack, Mr. Whistler has shown himself a past-master of the art of advertising oneself. By identifying himself with one of the characters in a story that everyone is reading, he brings himself more conspicuously before the public than by painting a new picture. Moreover, in sending to an English newspaper a letter in which he vituperates his quondam friend and fellow-artist, he interrupts himself for but a moment in the pursuit of his legitimate calling as a painter.

In America, at least, few readers of "Trilby" would have known that, in Joe Sibley, Mr. du Maurier had hit off some of the most salient "peculiarities" of the immensely talented etcher, who, when he takes the newspapers into his confidence, dips his pen in the corrosive acid with which he bites his plates. Joe Sibley is not an engaging character; he is a Bohemian of the Bohemians, clever, witty, penniless and presuming. In taking his sibilant surname as a pseudonym for Whistler, we have the endorsement of the artist himself, though he does not expressly declare himself to be the archetype of this particular character. Sibley is the only man in the book who could have been drawn from Whistler – the Whistler of a generation ago; and no one but Sibley could have written the following letter, in which the creator of the character is so wittily vilified: —

"To the Editor – SIR: It would seem, notwithstanding; my boastful declaration, that, after all, I had not, before leaving England, completely rid myself of the abomination – the 'friend '! One solitary, unheeded one – Mr. George du Maurier – still remained, hidden in Hampstead. On that healthy heath he has been harboring, for nearly half a life, every villainy of good fellowship that could be perfected by the careless frequentation of our early intimacy and my unsuspecting camaraderie. Of this pent-up envy, malice and furtive intent he never at any moment during all that time allowed me, while affectionately grasping his honest Anglo-French fist, to detect the faintest indication. Now that my back is turned, the old marmite of our pot-au-feu he fills with the picric acid of 30 years' spite, and, in an American magazine, fires off his bomb of mendacious recollection and poisoned rancour. The lie with which it is loaded à mon intention he proposes for my possible 'future biographer' – but I fancy it explodes, as is usual, in his own waistcoat, and he furnishes, in his present unseemly state, an excellent example of all those others who, like himself, have thought a foul friend a finer fellow than an open enemy.

"Paris. J. M'Neill Whistler.

"Reflection: The compagnon of the pétard we guillotine. Guineas are given to the popular companion who prepares his infernal machine for the distinguished associates in whose friendship he has successfully speculated."

* * *

The following card appeared in Harper's for October: —

"Pursuant to an arrangement made with Mr. J. McNeill Whistler by our London agents, Messrs. Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., the publishers of the English edition of Harper's Magazine, the following letter is published: —

August 31, 1894.

"'Dear Sir – Our attention has been called to the attack made upon you by Mr. du Maurier in the novel "Trilby," which appeared in our magazine. If we had had any knowledge of personal reference to yourself being intended, we should not have permitted the publication of such passages as could be offensive to you. As it is, we have freely made such reparation as is in our power. We have agreed to stop future sales of the March number of Harper's Magazine,2 and we undertake that, when the story appears in the form of a book, the March number shall be so rewritten as to omit every mention of the offensive character, and that the illustration which represents the Idle Apprentice shall be excised, and that the portraits of Joe Sibley in the general scene shall be altered so as to give no clue to your identity. Moreover, we engage to print and insert in our magazine for the month of October this letter of apology addressed to you. Assuring you again of our sincere regret that you should have sustained the least annoyance in any publication of ours, we are,

"'Yours respectfully, Harper & Brothers.

"'J. McNeill Whistler, Esq.'"

* * *

One of the humors of the controversy was a letter that appeared in the first number of Harry Furniss's Lika-Joko. It was supposed to have been written by Whistler to express his indignation at having been cut out of the book. The English as well as the American papers fell into the trap, and discussed the letter as a genuine expression of Mr. Whistler's outraged feelings. It was only a joke, however – and is said to have been the only joke in Mr. Furniss's comic paper. To an interviewer for The Westminster Budget, Mr. Whistler expressed his surprise that anyone should have been taken in by the parody. "There was no harm in the appearance of the article," he said, "but what caused my merriment, though not surprise, is that anyone would have thought for a moment that I had written it. But then, it was in England, and in England anything is possible!" That the parody was a clever one will be seen from the following extract: —

"In the fascinating numbers of 'Trilby,' as they appeared in Harper's Magazine, I read with delight of one Joe Sibley, idle apprentice, king of Bohemia, roi des truands, always in debt, vain, witty, exquisite and original in art, eccentric in dress, genial, caressing, scrupulously clean, sympathetic, charming; an irresistible but unreliable friend, a jester of infinite humor, a man now perched upon a pinnacle of fame (and notoriety), a worshipper of himself; a white-haired, tall, slim, graceful person with pretty manners and an unimpeachable moral tone. My only regret was that too little was said about so charming a creation. I looked to see more of him in the published three volumes. But no! I found the addition of some thoughtful excursuses by Mr. du Maurier upon nudity, agnosticism, and other more hazardous subjects, which had, presumably, been judged too strong for the ice-watered, ice-creamed constitution of the American Philistine; but I looked in vain for the delightful Joseph Sibley. In his place I find a yellow-haired Switzer, one Antony, son of a respectable burgher of Lausanne, who is now tall, stout, strikingly handsome and rather bald, but who in his youth had all the characteristics of the lost Joseph Sibley – his idleness, his debts, his humor, his art, his eccentricity, his charm. I rubbed my eye-glass. Je me suis demandé pourquoi."

Displeased with The Speaker's comments on his connection with "Trilby," Mr. Whistler compelled that paper to print a letter from his solicitors, from which it appears that the revised MS. of the novel was sent to him to be passed. And apropos of this, he remarks in a letter to the editor: – "I question if it be not without precedent that a writer ever before so abjectly regorged his spleen as to submit his Bowdlerized work to his victim for his approval."

In the Chicago Tribune of Sunday, 2 Dec., 1894, were reprinted from Harper's the pictures of, and passages about, Joe Sibley which provoked Mr. Whistler's threatened libel-suit. The revised passages, as they appear in the book, were also given.

"Trilby" Entertainments

Of entertainments founded upon Mr. du Maurier's book, the name is legion. The most pretentious, and at the same time the most successful, was the series of "Scenes and Songs from 'Trilby,'" given at Sherry's in the afternoon and again in the evening of Saturday, February 9, for the benefit of that admirable institution, the New York Kindergarten Association. The affair, which had the advantage of distinguished patronage, was given under the special management of Mrs. Charles H. Ditson; Mr. E. Hamilton Bell arranged the details of scenery and costume; and among those who personated the various characters were several well-known artists.

The audience was a large one, which was excellent for the little ones who were to be benefited; and it was enthusiastic, which was only a just and fit tribute to managers, performers and singers. Every detail of the tableaux had been thought out with infinite care, and posing, grouping and make-up were as near perfection as du Maurier himself could have wished. The program included the singing of "Ben Bolt," "Bonjour, Suzon," "Au Clair de la Lune" and several other songs, and the following tableaux: – "The Three Musketeers of the Brush"; "Wistful and Sweet"; "Svengali"; "I will Not!"; "All As it Used to Be"; "Answer Me, Trilby!"; "The Soft Eyes"; "The Sweet Melodic Phrase"; "Dors, Ma Mignonne"; "The Nightingale's First Song"; "Malbrouck" and "It was Trilby." The entertainment opened most effectively with a quartet by Messrs. Devoll, Moore, Bracewell and Devoll. The first tableau, "Three Musketeers of the Brush," received the admiration it deserved, as did, also, the singing of Miss Akers and Mr. Mackenzie Gordon interspersed with the different tableaux. The first appearance of Trilby was awaited with impatient expectancy, and when she came, she proved to be "wistful and sweet," indeed, in the person of Mrs. Eric Pape, the wife of the well-known young artist. The last tableau of the second part, "It was Trilby," was most effectively arranged by Mr. Pape. The full cast of characters was as follows: – Trilby, Mrs. Eric Pape; Taffy, W. Harris Roome; The Laird, Evert Jansen Wendell; Little Billee, J. Gerald Benkard; Svengali, Robert Reid; Gecko, Eric Pape; Dodor, William Abbott; Zouzou, Franklin C. Butler; Mrs. Bagot, Mrs. J. Wells Champney; Miss Bagot, Miss Lilian Wing; Mme. Malbrouck, Mme. Bettini; Durien, Leslie G. Cauldwell; Blanchisseuse, Miss Lou-lou Noel; Fencer, Lieut. Gianni Bettini.

During the intermission between the first and second parts of the program, Mrs. Kate Douglas Wiggin sold a copy of "Trilby" presented by the Messrs. Harper. To this Mr. du Maurier and Mr. Henry James (who persuaded the author to write the book) had contributed their autographs, and Dr. English a manuscript copy of his song "Ben Bolt." The volume fetched $100, making the net addition to the Kindergarten Association's treasury about $2500.

* * *

At Mr. Mansfield's Garrick Theatre, "Trilby" has been burlesqued. It had already been parodied in book-form, produced as a melodrama, read aloud in drawing-rooms, with music, and put on the platform in "scenes and songs," so that nothing was left to do with it but to make an "operatic burlesque" of it; and this was duly accomplished by Messrs. Joseph W. Herbert and Charles Puerner, the latter being responsible for the music and the former for the words. The piece is called "Thrilby." As in the serious play founded upon the novel, the villain (rechristened "Spaghetti") is the principal figure; and mesmerism is carried to a ridiculous excess, even inanimate objects succumbing to its influence. There is a farce within this farce; for "Mme. Sans-Gêne" is parodied in a sub-play introduced under the name of "Mme. Sans Ra-Gêne." The burlesque is by no means free from horse-play, but it unquestionably accomplishes its purpose, which is merely to amuse.

At the Casino, as well as at the Garrick, "Trilby" and "Mme. Sans Gêne" have both been travestied.

* * *(Harper's Weekly)

"The Weekly has received a copy of the programme of a novel and decidedly interesting literary and musical entertainment that was given on Oct. 17, at Omaha. It was called 'An Evening with Trilby.' The participants were all gentlemen. The subjects of the papers read were 'The Story of Trilby,' 'Du Maurier, his Life and Work,' 'The French of Trilby,' 'The Identity of the Artists in Trilby,' 'Trilby's Voice and Method,' 'Trilby as a Hypnotic Subject,' 'Could Trilby be Successfully Dramatized?' After each paper there was Trilby music, which included 'Ben Bolt,' 'Au Clair de la Lune,' 'Malbrouck s'en va-t-en Guerre' and other songs and instrumental pieces. At the end of the programme comes the inquiry, What shall we 'ave the pleasure of drinkin' after that werry nice 'armony?' and then the page turns over to the farewell couplet: —

'A little warmth, a little lightOf love's bestowing – and so, good-night.'

"It is a pretty far cry from Paris to Omaha, but Trilby's voice seems to have carried that distance without the least trouble. It is worth remarking that these Omaha gentlemen made seven 'papers' about her without finding it necessary to discuss her morals."

* * *

Of the many "Trilby" entertainments in New York one of the most successful was given in May, at the house of Postmaster Dayton, for the benefit of St. Luke's Home for Indigent Christian Females. A literary criticism of the book was read, and one of the chapters of the story; and the songs that are oftenest alluded to were sung. The affair was given under the auspices of the Daughters of the Revolution.