By David T. Dixon In July 2022, I shared research that revealed a lasting friendship between George W.M. Reynolds and English Garibaldian Hugh Forbes. Further inquiries into their social circles uncovered important facts about Forbes’s eight years in Paris while adding additional context to Reynolds’s time on the Continent.[1] Numerous scholars cite an 1848 British … More The Prodigal Brother: Edward D. Reynolds
By Stephen Basedo Who was Victorian England’s best-selling author? There are many contenders for this title. Charles Dickens would obviously have a claim. Yet as you’re reading this short article on the G.W.M. Reynolds Society’s website, presumably you think that the eponymous author of some of the Victorian period’s most famous popular literary works also … More “Victorian England’s Bestselling Author” and Reynolds in Brazil: Two New Publications
By Dave McCall (AKA David Ebsworth) I first ran into George W. M. Reynolds about ten years ago. I was writing the first of my Spanish Civil War novels, The Assassin’s Mark, and I needed to find an appropriate real-life newspaper for which fictional protagonist and journalist Jack Telford might work. It needed to be … More Reynolds’s Afterlives in the Historical Fiction of David Ebsworth
Earlier this month, the Reynolds Society took to the BAVS 2022 stage in the hopes of convincing a room of Victorianists that our discipline needs G. W. M. Reynolds. One of only five single author panels at the conference (Reynolds shared this honour with Dickens, Gaskell, Hardy, and James), the Society’s roundtable established Reynolds’s place … More The G. W. M. Reynolds Society at BAVS 2022
By: David Dixon The early life of G. W. M Reynolds is shrouded in mystery, despite the efforts of a small but dedicated cadre of scholars, researchers, and enthusiasts. A conspicuous dearth of primary sources, including personal papers and family correspondence are one reason why the best-selling English novelist of the Victorian era remains an … More Radical Rakes: The Friendship of G. W. M. Reynolds and Hugh Forbes
By: Anna Gasperini When I ask myself about how I got to study George W. M. Reynolds and his work, I think the most appropriate answer would be: I took the scenic route. This being Reynolds, of course, ‘scenic’ means dark and labyrinthine. In my case, it started from an interest in Victorian literature, in … More Follow the Bodies: A Scenic Route from The Mysteries of London to the Medical Humanities.
By: Hayley Braithwaite On Saturday 7th November 1846, the first seven pages of G. W. M. Reynolds’s Wagner, The Wehr-Wolf, could be purchased for one penny. Serialised in Reynolds’s Miscellany of Romance, General Literature, Science, and Art, the text appeared weekly for nine months alongside a variety of articles, essays, and advertisements edited (and often … More Collectible Reynolds: Pennies to (Thousands of) Pounds
By: Rob Breton Recently I published a book called The Penny Politics of Victorian Popular Fiction with Manchester University Press. It’s on the turn towards the politicization of fiction in the 1840s and begins by looking at Newgate Calendars and fiction (mostly Jack Sheppard), productions coming out of Edward Lloyd’s operations (such as Sweeney Todd), … More Writing on Reynolds
By: Mukaram Irshad Naqvi With the crowning of Queen Victoria as Empress of India in the year 1877, the British Empire set its foot firmly in India, taking over from the British East India Company. The interactions between the English and Indian cultures started to grow, especially in the field of literature. During the 1880s, … More Reynolds In Translation
By Emily Violet Richardson I was delighted to have received an email at the beginning of this year asking if I would like to contribute a piece for the fabulous G.W.M. Reynolds Society blog. I am sure none of us need to be reminded of how profoundly undercelebrated Reynolds is, but nonetheless, I feel privileged … More The Eyes Have It: Voyeurism and Violence in Reynolds’s Gothic
G. W. M. Reynolds Society 