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Editor's Statement

Beatrice

Beatricecolliercover

In Haggard's English melodrama Beatrice, the eponymous heroine's adulterous passions result in her suicide. While less popular than his African romances, Haggard's freethinking and atheistic heroine is noteworthy for combining many features of the nineteenth century "New Woman."

Several periodicals serialized Beatrice, such as The Yorkshire Post, Ipswitch Journal, Cardiff Times, Liverpool Daily Post, and Nottingham Guardian. On 12 May 1890, Longmans, Green, & Co., London, published Haggard's novel in a print run of 10,000 copies. Longman's Fourth Edition of Beatrice featured a frontispiece by Maurice Greiffenhagen. P. F. Collier & Son, New York, published an edition that adopts Greiffenhagen's frontispiece.

In 1890 Harper & Brothers, New York, published an edition of Beatrice that included twelve illustrations. The illustrator's identity is not recorded in the front material of this edition, however because the signature of Lancelot Speed appears on several of these illustrations (see "'He's nothing...'" and "Alas!...") I have attributed all twelve to Speed. Moreover, the Harper & Brothers illustrations were likely commissioned to accompany an earlier serialized printing of Haggard's novel, rather than this specific edition, owing to their obvious cropping (see the bottom-left corner of "'No! never...").


Further Reading


Haggard, H. Rider. The Days of My Life, An Autobiography. 2 Vols. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1926. I: 279; II: 13-15.


Pocock, Tom. Rider Haggard and the Lost Empire. London: Weidenfeld and Nicoloson, 1993. 76.


Whatmore, D.E.. H Rider Haggard: A Bibliography. Westport, CT: Meckler Publishing Co., 1987. F12, 21-22.



Editions of Beatrice

Thenoncebeatricecover
1st US illustrated edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890.
Beatrice4thedcover
4th Edition. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1892.
Beatricereaderslibrarycover
The Reader's Library. London: The Reader's Library, 1927.
Beatricecolliercover
Authorized Edition. New York: P. F. Collier & Son, None.
Beatricenewnescover
1st Edition Thus. London: George Newnes, c. 1906.

Illustrations from Beatrice

Beatricereaderslibrarydustjacket
Alasshe104
Murderbeatrice140
Shestruggled22
Hesnothing82
Denouncedthe162
Whyit52
Theway96
Hushfor222
Nonever114
Beatricesat144
Beatriceandcollierfrontispiece
Thenoncebeatricefrontispiece
Mrdavies42
Beatrice4thedfrontispiece
Beatrice4thedfrontmaterial
Geoffreystaggerednewnesfrontispiece
Hereyesnewnes62
Noteightnewnes105
Beatriceisnewnes120
Praytonewnes157
Ohhenewnes30
Ihavenewnes35
Geoffreyhearnewnes132
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