Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 First Considerations of an American Tour
- 2 Underway to America
- 3 An Auspicious Welcome: New York City
- 4 The Tour Begins: Upstate New York
- 5 Readings and Responses: Philadelphia, Boston and New York
- 6 The Second Swing: Baltimore and Washington
- 7 A Change of Managers: The Northeast
- 8 The ‘Double Difficulty’: Montreal, Toronto and Buffalo
- 9 The Final Circuit: Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago
- 10 Arguments and Accolades: Return to New England
- 11 Winding Down: New York and Wallingford
- Conclusion: Wilkie Collins and the American People
- Appendix A ‘The Dream Woman’
- Appendix B Performance Summary
- Appendix C Itinerary
- Appendix D Contacts
- Appendix E Press Portraits
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
6 - The Second Swing: Baltimore and Washington
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 First Considerations of an American Tour
- 2 Underway to America
- 3 An Auspicious Welcome: New York City
- 4 The Tour Begins: Upstate New York
- 5 Readings and Responses: Philadelphia, Boston and New York
- 6 The Second Swing: Baltimore and Washington
- 7 A Change of Managers: The Northeast
- 8 The ‘Double Difficulty’: Montreal, Toronto and Buffalo
- 9 The Final Circuit: Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago
- 10 Arguments and Accolades: Return to New England
- 11 Winding Down: New York and Wallingford
- Conclusion: Wilkie Collins and the American People
- Appendix A ‘The Dream Woman’
- Appendix B Performance Summary
- Appendix C Itinerary
- Appendix D Contacts
- Appendix E Press Portraits
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Collins was delighted when Frank Ward rejoined him for the trip to Baltimore. They took advantage of a new ‘Pennsylvania Air Line’ rail service between New York and Baltimore/Washington. The scenery along the 200-mile route was said to be among the most beautiful in the country. They checked into the magnificent new Carrollton Hotel on Light Street in Baltimore, built the year before and boasting all the modern conveniences.
The announcement at the centre of the front page of the Baltimore Gazette was that Wilkie Collins would be giving his only Baltimore reading on Wednesday, 26 November at the Masonic Temple. The reading was the third entertainment of the Sadler Business College Course and tickets were $1.00. Collins was happily anticipating the evening, writing to John Elderkin, of ‘the most encouraging prospects for the reading tonight’ as he thanked him for the proofs of The Dead Alive.
In 1869, in response to a request from an American correspondent, Wilkie had written a letter including information about his background. In conjunction with his Baltimore appearance, the Baltimore Sun published that letter, written to ‘a gentleman of Virginia, now of Baltimore’:
No. 90, Gloucester Place Portman Square, W. London November 18, 1869
Dear Sir,
My life, like the lives of other literary men, is all in my books. I was born in 1824. I was the oldest of the two sons of William Collins, Royal Academician, the celebrated English painter of the coast scenery and cottage life of his native country. I was christened by the name of his dearest friend, the late Sir David Wilkie, another famous painter of the British School. Wilkie was my godfather.
I was educated at a private school of excellent repute, and learned Latin and Greek as well as most of the boys. The only part of my ‘education’ which has, as I believe, done me any good in later life was given to me by my father, who took me to Italy with him for two years when I was a boy of twelve years of age. […]
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- Information
- Wilkie Collins's American Tour, 1873–4 , pp. 49 - 52Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014