Small 8vo. Vol. I., pp. 298; Vol. II., pp. 298; Vol. III., pp. 285.
For this book Colburn agreed to pay the author half profits, but actually incurred a loss which amounted to £63, 10_s._ 1½_d._ Only 375 copies were printed, and 140 sold. The sum of £123, 19_s._ 5_d._, recorded as received for this work, was therefore probably in respect of later editions. The influence of a friend obtained a short notice in the _Times_ to the effect that the book was like a leg of mutton, substantial, but a little coarse, but before this notice appeared Trollope had made up his mind never to ask for, or deplore, criticism; never to thank a critic for praise, or quarrel with him for censure. To this rule he adhered with absolute strictness, and recommended it to all young authors.
LA VENDÉE. | An Historical Romance. | By | ANTHONY TROLLOPE, Esq., | Author of “The Kellys and the O’Kellys,” etc. | In Three Volumes. | London: | Henry Colburn, Publisher, | Great-Marlborough-Street. | 1850. |
Small 8vo. Vol. I., pp. iv (preface pp. iii-iv), 320; Vol. II., pp. 330; Vol. III., pp. 313.
According to the agreement for this book Trollope was to receive £20 down; £30 when Colburn had sold 350 copies; and £50 more should he sell 450 within six months. The £20 was received, but no more, so that the sales were presumably no larger than before. No reviews of it seem ever to have met Trollope’s eye.
THE | WARDEN. | By | ANTHONY TROLLOPE. | London: | Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. | 1855. |
Conceived while wandering around Salisbury Cathedral during his work in establishing rural posts, _The Warden_ was begun by Trollope at Tenbury in Worcestershire on July 29, 1852, and finished in Ireland in the autumn of the following year. This was the first book of the series of novels of which Barchester was the central site. He received a cheque for £9, 8_s._ 8_d._ at the end of 1855, and £10, 15_s._ 1_d._ a year later. A thousand copies were printed, and of these about 300 were converted into another form five or six years later, and sold as belonging to a cheap edition.
A review in the _Times_ rebuked the author for indulging in personalities in the matter of one Tom Towers, introduced by him as a contributor to the _Jupiter_. But though Trollope had certainly thus alluded to the _Times_, he was at that period entirely ignorant of the _personnel_ of its staff.