George Henry Lewes's 1869 Diary and Journal: A Transcription and Annotation of Unpublished Holographs Held at the Beineke Library of Yale University

Abstract

This article is a transcription and annotation of two unpublished pieces of personal writing by George Henry Lewes, life partner of nineteenth-century author George Eliot. One is a dated daily diary from the year 1869; the second piece comprises sections from his Journal, Volume XII, June 1866-May 1870, relating to that year. The diary and journal are housed in the Beineke Library of Yale University. Special permission has been given by Jonathan G. Ouvry, George Henry Lewes's descendant and holder of copyright on unpublished Lewes-George Eliot manuscripts, for them to be used for this project. The year 1869 was significant in the lives of Lewes and Eliot and included the tragic death of Lewes's son, Thornton. At the same time, George Eliot was compiling research and writing some sections of Middlemarch and Lewes himself was gathering information and working on his five-volume Problems of Life and the Mind. To provide the most consistent and cohesive picture of the year 1869, the diary and journal sections have been incorporated into a single document, with annotations, notes, and introduction. The “Introduction” describes the holographs and places them within the context of George Henry Lewes's and George Eliot's life, domestic environment, work and ideas. The “Editorial Notes” lay down the principles of adherence wherever possible to what George Henry Lewes wrote in the two holographs. The transcriptions and annotations, which locate or explain references, are followed by an alphabetically arranged listing of “Works Cited,” as well as two appendices. The first consists of an alphabetical listing of books read by Lewes in 1869, and the second provides an alphabetically arranged guide to “Friends, Acquaintances, and Visitors” found in the holographs.