The First Classics Series: Standard Novels

[Dan]

Standard Novels

There has long been interest in creating series of classics novels. The earliest such series I could find is 126 books long, called the Standard Novels. It started in February 1831 in London when Richard Bentley and his (not well regarded by Bentley) partner Henry Colburn reprinted The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea by James Fenimore Cooper.

From the Wikipedia entry on Richard Bentley I learned that the firm published mostly one-volume versions of novels that had previously been available only in the standard, more expensive three-decker form. They published novels whose copyright they owned and bought up the copyright to other novels. Colburn and Bentley's "Standard Novels series" became "a landmark in nineteenth-century publishing.”

Each volume was only six shillings instead of a guinea and a half (i.e. 31s 6d). These reprinted novels (what all classics start out as) were suddenly available to a much wider audience than previously. Furthermore, the firm owned the copyright to the novels, making the profits of the enterprise entirely theirs. Bentley and Colburn solicited revisions from living authors, sometimes forcing them to shorten their works so that they would fit into a single volume. Colburn and Bentley published the first 19 volumes together before animosities between the two broke them up. Later entries nevertheless still included both of their names on the title page as publishers. The series would eventually be published over a span of 24 years and include 126 volumes. Famously, these included "the first inexpensive reprints of Jane Austen's fiction," the what is now considered standard 1836 edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and many American titles. The series was extraordinarily successful commercially, proving there has always been a wonderful financial market for classics novels.

Surprisingly, there is no complete list of these 126 works available anywhere, at least not one that I could find. I searched extensively too. Therefore, I did my own research and made up my own list. For the first time in history, I present a list below for your enjoyment. It’s complete, at least in the four categories I made it: Bentley’s number (always given in Roman numerals in the series’ title pages), title, author name (in standard format, not “Mrs. Gore,” for example, as written by Bentley and Colburn), and year of earliest publication (not the year of Bentley and Colburn’s Standard Novels edition, which I maybe ought to have done instead).

The completeness of the list currently has one exception. Hard as I tried, I could not finish this list myself. One entry, the 123rd, is unverified and has information missing. One source I have gives the volume’s title as “The Leycesters.” But for the life of me, I could not determine who the author of said novel could have been, or in what year any edition of it was published. If anyone can help provide definitive information regarding that 123rd work, I would be eternally grateful and happily amend my list.

EDIT: I found the 123rd novel of the series and have corrected my list below. It is now all complete, correct, and verified.

Compiling this list revealed a number of surprises. I do not know my classics authors as well as I thought I did. Over half of them are completely new to me. My other surprise was that so many of the authors were women. Apparently, men didn’t come to dominate the market so much until the second half of the nineteenth century. A look at their Wikipedia pages revealed to me that many of the women listed here published many more works than were reprinted just for this classics series.

The Victorian novel has been thoroughly studied. There are many university courses given in the topic and many anthologies discuss them, particularly starting with works written in the late 1840s and onwards. Relatively neglected are novels written in the Romantic era of British fiction, especially transitional to what is regarded as the Victorian era works, such as most of these, even though technically anthologists should be going back to the year 1832, the start of Queen Victoria’s reign. This list of classics might really help bridge that forgotten gap. Also, I bet there's some truly wonderful reads here.

1. The Pilot James Fenimore Cooper 1824
2. Caleb Williams William Godwin 1794
3. The Spy James Fenimore Cooper 1821
4. Thaddeus of Warsaw Jane Porter 1803
5. St. Leon William Godwin 1799
6. The Last of the Mohicans James Fenimore Cooper 1826
7, 8. The Scottish Chiefs Jane Porter 1810
9. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus & The Ghost-Seer (Vol. 1) Mary Shelley, Friedrich Schiller 1818, 1800
10. The Ghost-Seer (Vol. 2) & Edgar Huntly; or, The Sleep Walker Friedrich Schiller, Charles Brockden Brown 1800, 1831

11. The Hungarian Brothers Anna Maria Porter 1807
12, 13. Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer 1400
14. The Pioneers James Fenimore Cooper 1823
15. Self-Control Mary Brunton 1811
16. Discipline Mary Brunton 1814
17. The Prairie: A Tale James Fenimore Cooper 1827
18, 19. The Pastor's Fire-side Jane Porter 1817
20. Lionel Lincoln James Fenimore Cooper 1825

21. Lawrie Todd; or, The Settlers in the Woods John Galt 1830
22. Fleetwood; or, The New Man of Feeling William Godwin 1805
23. Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen 1811
24. Corinne; or, Italy Germaine de Staël 1807
25. Emma Jane Austen 1815
26. A Simple Story, Nature and Art Elizabeth Inchbald 1791, 1796
27. Mansfield Park Jane Austen 1814
28. Northanger Abbey, Persuasion Jane Austen 1817, 1817
29. The Smuggler: A Tale John Banim 1831
30. Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen 1813

31. Stories of Waterloo William Hamilton Maxwell 1833
32. The Hunchback of Notre Dame Victor Hugo 1831
33. The Borderers: A Tale James Fenimore Cooper 1829
34. Eugene Aram Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1832
35. Maxwell Theodore Hooke 1830
36. The Water-Witch James Fenimore Cooper 1830
37. Mothers and Daughters Catherine Grace Frances Moody Gore (Mrs. Gore) 1831
38. The Bravo James Fenimore Cooper 1831
39. The Heiress of Bruges Thomas Colley Grattan 1830
40. Red Rover James Fenimore Cooper 1827

41. Vathek, The Castle of Otranto, The Bravo of Venice William Beckford, Horace Walpole, Heinrich Zschokke 1786, 1764, 1804
42. The Country Curate George Robert Gleig 1834
43. The Betrothed Alessandro Manzoni 1827
44. The Adventures of Hajji Baba, of Ispahan James Justinian Morier 1824
45. The Adventures of Hajji Baba in England James Justinian Morier 1828
46. The Parson's Daughter Theodore Edward Hook 1833
47. Paul Clifford Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1830
48. Adventures of a Younger Son Edward John Trelawny 1835
49. Tales of the Alhambra, The Last of the Abencerages, The Involuntary Prophet Washington Irving, François de Chateaubriand, Horace Smith 1832, 1835, 1835
50. The Headsman James Fenimore Cooper 1833

51, 52. Anastasius Thomas Hope 1819
53. Darnley; or, The Field of the Cloth of Gold George Payne Rainsford James 1830
54. Zohrab the Hostage James Justinian Morier 1832
55. The Heidenmauer; or, The Benedictines, A Legend of the Rhine James Fenimore Cooper 1832
56. De L'Orme George Payne Rainsford James 1830
57. Headlong Hall, Nightmare Abbey, Maid Marian, and Crotchet Castle Tomas Peacock 1815, 1818, 1822, 1831
58. Trevelyan Caroline Lucy Scott 1833
59. Philip Augustus; or, The Brothers in Arms George Payne Rainsford James 1831
60. Rookwood William Harrison Ainsworth 1834

61. Henry Masterton; or, The Adventures of a Young Cavalier George Payne Rainsford James 1832
62. Peter Simple Frederick Marryat 1834
63. Jacob Faithful Frederick Marryat 1834
64. Japhet, in Search of a Father Frederick Marryat 1836
65. The King's Own Frederick Marryat 1830
66. Mr. Midshipman Easy Frederick Marryat 1836
67. Newton Forster; or, The Merchant Service Frederick Marryat 1832
68. The Pacha of Many Tales Frederick Marryat 1835
69. Ratlin the Reefer Frederick Marryat, Edward Howard 1838
70. Captain Blake of the Rifles; or, My Life William Harrison Maxwell 1836

71. Helen Maria Edgworth 1834
72. The Last Days of Pompeii Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1834
73. The Bivouac; or, Stories of the Peninsular War William Harrison Maxwell 1837
74. Precaution James Fenimore Cooper 1820
75. Jack Brag Theodore Hook 1837
76. Rory O'More: A National Romance Samuel Lover 1837
77. Ben Brace, the Last of Nelson's Agamemnons Frederick Chamier 1836
78. The Vicar Of Wrexhill Frances Milton Trollope 1837
79. The Buccaneer Anna Maria Hall (Mrs. S.C. Hall) 1832
80. Tylney Hall Thomas Hood 1834

81. The Widow Barnaby Frances Milton Trollope 1839
82. The Soldier of Lyons: A Tale of the Tuileries Catherine Grace Frances Moody Gore (Mrs. Gore) 1841
83. Marriage Susan Ferrier 1810
84. The Inheritance Susan Ferrier 1824
85. Destiny; or, The Chief's Daughter Susan Ferrier 1831
86. Gilbert Gurney Theodore Hook 1835
87. The Widow and the Marquess; or, Love and Pride Theodore Hook 1833
88. All in the Wrong; or, Births, Deaths, and Marriages Theodore Hook 1839
89. Homeward Bound; or, The Chase: A Tale of the Sea James Fenimore Cooper 1838
90. The Pathfinder; or, The Inland Sea James Fenimore Cooper 1840

91. The Deerslayer; or, The First Warpath James Fenimore Cooper 1841
92. Jacqueline of Holland Thomas Colley Grattan 1831
93. The Man at Arms; or, Henri de Cerons George Payne Rainsford James 1840
94. Two Old Men's Tales: The Deformed and The Admiral's Daughter Anne Marsh-Caldwell 1834
95. The Two Admirals James Fenimore Cooper 1842
96. Richard Savage Charles Whitehead 1842
97. Cecil; or, Adventures of a Coxcomb Catherine Grace Frances Moody Gore (Mrs. Gore) 1841
98. The Prairie Bird Charles Augustus Murray 1844
99. Jack O'Lantern; (Le Feu-Follet;) or, The Privateer James Fenimore Cooper 1842
100. Ayesha, the Maid of Kars James Justinian Morier 1834

101. Marchioness of Brinvilliers: The poisoner of the Seventeenth Century: A Romance of Old Paris Albert Smith 1846
102. Belford Regis; or, Sketches of a Country Town Mary Russell Mitford 1835
103. Some Account of My Cousin Nicholas Thomas Ingoldsby 1841
104. Joseph Rushbrook; or, the Poacher Frederick Marryat 1841
105. The Outlaw: An Historical Romance Anna Maria Hall (Mrs. S.C. Hall) 1835
106. The Phantom Ship Frederick Marryat 1839
107. Snarleyyow; or, The Dog Fiend Frederick Marryat 1837
108. Adventures of Mr. Ledbury Albert Smith 1842
109. Agnes de Mansfeldt Thomas Colley Grattan 1835
110. The Improvisatore; or, Life in Italy Hans Christian Andersen 1835

111. Romance and Reality Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1831
112. Catherine de Medicis; or, The Queen-Mother: A Romance Luisa Stuart Costello 1848
113. Percival Keene Frederick Marryat 1842
114. Recollections of a Chaperone Arabella Sullivan (Lady Dacre) 1831
115. Experiences of a Gaol Chaplain Erskine Neale 1847
116. Legends of the Rhine and of the Low Countries Thomas Colley Grattan 1832
117. Tales of the Peerage and Peasantry Arabella Sullivan (Lady Dacre) 1835
118. Sir Ralph Esher; Adventures of a Gentleman of the Court of Charles II Leigh Hunt 1832
119. The Hamiltons; or, The New Era Catherine Grace Frances Moody Gore (Mrs. Gore) 1834
120. Life of a Sailor Frederick Chamier 1832

121. The Fortunes of Hector O'Halloran, And His Man Mark Antony O'Toole William Hamilton Maxwell 1853
122. The Fortunes of the Scattergood Family Albert Smith 1845
123. Rosalind and Felicia; or, The Sisters Alicia Moore 1821, 1854
124. Afloat and Ashore James Fenimore Cooper 1844
125. Lucy Hardinge James Fenimore Cooper 1844
126. Wyandotte; or, The Hutted Knoll James Fenimore Cooper 1843

[Sharon]

This is really interesting! Thanks for posting

[Dan]

Thanks. It might be fun to go through this list to count just how many one has read. Me? I have never read a work by Cooper, so there goes 21 possibilities. Marryat neither, bye-bye another 12. I've read 9, 12, 13, 30, and 43. I liked all of them, four stars minimum to each, but #43 would have to be my favorite, narrowly beating out #9. If the five on this list I have read are any predictor for the others, these books are well selected!

[Jane]

This is a really interesting list and have picked out a few to add to my reading list.
I have read eight books on the list[No's 9, 12, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30 and 32]
I have a copy of "Last of the Mohicans" but have not yet got round to reading it yet

[Wreade1872]

Dan wrote: " Marryat neither, bye-bye another 12. I'v..."
I was about to say i've read Marryat but i've actually read Florence Marryat who wrote a 'vampire' book, that came out the same year as Dracula.
She is actually the daughter of Frederick Marryat :) .

[Sara, Old School Classics]

What a lot of effort you have put into this! I was surprised to find I had only read eight of these books (almost all of them Austen) and have now found a huge gap in my reading education. I will admit to having had Cooper on my list of books I need to read since long, long before joining GR, and yet I have to say that I have never yet read him.

[Dan]

I finally found the 123rd book of the series. It is Rosalind and Felicia: Or, the Sisters, by the Authoress of 'historical Pictures of the Middle Ages' by Alicia Moore. The reason I thought the book might have been titled The Leycesters is because it has reportedly been printed under that title as well. I could not verify that and have my doubts actually. Leycester is also Rosalind and Felicia's surname in Moore's novel.

The list is now complete, verified, and without omissions. Yay!

[Carolien]

This is an amazing list, Dan, thank you! I've only read 6 of them. I'll have to take a look at the others as there are quite a few new options of me.

[Dan]

Sara wrote: "I had only read eight of these books (almost all of them Austen) and have now found a huge gap in my reading education. I will admit to having had Cooper on my list of books I need to read."

Thanks, Sara. It's funny you should mention Cooper and Austen in the same paragraph. I too have neglected Cooper. Curious about his work, I read a little about him and saw that he got into a writing career to start with at about thirty years of age because he had just read an English novel of manners and said to his wife he could write a better novel than that author had. His wife must have said, "Prove it!" His first novel is Precaution (1820). I pulled up an HTML version off Gutenberg.org, read the first couple pages, and it read a lot like a reread of the only Austen novel I have yet read: Pride and Prejudice. In fact, I can't quite believe the extent to which Cooper "borrowed" from Austen. I'll give Cooper's entire novel a read sometime soon to see if he actually improved on Austen, in my opinion, or not.

Once Cooper proved to himself he could write, he came out with the first book under his own name the next year, 1821: The Spy, the third entry on the list.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

What an interesting story, Dan! I will need to check out Precaution, but I'm not expecting him to better Austen for me.

[Dan]

I see someone nominated #26 for June's old school poll. I doubt it has a chance of winning--no one else will have heard of it--but it has my vote!

[Tom]

I've read The Spy by Cooper and no others. It's entertaining to read what Mark Twain has to say about Cooper's work. It isn't exactly complimentary.

[Terry]

I have only read nine on this list, mostly Austen, but also including The Deerslayer by Cooper. I was surprised by so many names unknown to me, but like Sarah, I have wanted to read more Cooper.

Curious about Mary Mitford, I went to the internet and found this: Per Quora answer to a query, Mary Mitford was the great-great-great aunt of the 20th century Mitford sisters, with Mary being from Northumberland, but more closely related to Bertrand Russell.

[Wreade1872]

Dan wrote: "I finally found the 123rd book of the series. It is Rosalind and Felicia: Or, the Sisters, by the Authoress of 'historical Pictures of the Middle Ages' by [author:Alicia Moore|33918..."

Very nice work. I tried looking up various books on archive.org and checking the backs to see if i could find an advertising list with the missing volume but had no luck anyway.

[JenniferAustin]

What a great list, and what a great story about the publisher! I will definitely try Cooper's The Spy. Cooper's writing style isn't always to my taste, but I grew up hearing about Natty Bumpo. I'll give him a try again.

Tom, I can imagine Mark Twain pillorying Cooper. Your description of his first novel makes me think I will choose something else!

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Speaking of Mark Twain here is his essay "The Literary Offences of Fenimore Cooper"

https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/eng...

[JenniferAustin]

Lynn wrote: "Speaking of Mark Twain here is his essay "The Literary Offences of Fenimore Cooper"

https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/eng..."

Oh, Lynn, this is wicked funny!

"Cooper's art has some defects. In one place in "Deerslayer," and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has
scored 114 offenses against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record."

"10. They require that the author shall make the reader feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and in their fate; and
that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones. But the reader of the "Deerslayer" tale dislikes the good people in it, is indifferent to the others, and wishes they would all get drowned together. "

[Dan]

I've gone 10% of the way in on Cooper's Precaution (it's a long book) and find that it reads more like Louisa May Alcott than Jane Austen. All the characters are nice, agreeable, and wholesome (did I accidentally stream Hallmark?); plus the writing is rather simplistic. There are too many characters introduced in the first few pages to keep them straight without a character chart. I cannot recommend it after all.

I must admit to skepticism about the complete validity of Twain's criticism of Cooper. How could Cooper appeal to so many if he were truly that awful? I can't say from direct personal experience though, having not yet picked up a well-regarded Cooper novel, of which over half are. I do tend to become offended about and then rather harsh (or blunt) in my comments regarding bad writing, and so may end up sharing Twain's opinion.

[Wreade1872]

Dan wrote: "I've gone 10% of the way in on Cooper's Precaution (it's a long book) and find that it reads more like Louisa May Alcott than Jane Austen. All the characters are nice, agreeable, and..."

I've read Deerslayer and Twain's opinion is partially correct, in that book Natty Bumpo (as the good guy) comes across as a complete ass, but i enjoyed disliking him but i wasn't indifferent to the supposedly 'bad' character and the others which were pretty interesting.
I've also read one not on this list by Cooper, The Monikins a gulliver-esque satire, obviously a bit different from what people associate with Cooper but i actually liked that more.

Oh and for those who don't know, Deerslayer is the first of the Natty Bumpo books chronologically but was published last as a prequel.

[Annette]

I love book lists and the challenges they present. Thank you! I look forward to using this one.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Dan wrote: "I've gone 10% of the way in on Cooper's Precaution (it's a long book) and find that it reads more like Louisa May Alcott than Jane Austen. All the characters are nice, agreeable, and..."

Twain was a comedian and as such would probably have been the first to admit that his opinion was completely unreliable LOL.

[Sara, Old School Classics]

How true, Lynn!