Trollope and the "Pall Mall Gazette". Part One

Abstract

OIIIiII1N February 7, I865, George Smith, as proprietor, and Frederick Greenwood, as editor, published the first number of The Pall Mall Gazette, a London evening newspaper that took its title from Thackeray's imaginary journal and recruited its staff from the Cornhill writers.' One of the contributors to the first number was Anthony Trollope. Since the appearance of Framley Parsonage in i86o, Trollope had been closely associated with George Smith, the two men having turned what was at first a mere business relationship into a very pleasant social relationship. Trollope had long felt a sense of obligation to Smith for having given him his first significant literary opportunity. For this reason and for the even more compelling reason of personal friendship he therefore lent his talents, without thought of adequate remuneration, toward the successful establishment of the new venture. For three or four years he considered himself a member of the Pall Mall staff, though he was very much the free-lance reporter on roving assignment and his contributions were sporadic. When Michael Sadleir was compiling his Trollope: A Bibliography, he had access to a series of letters to George Smith in which Trollope discussed his Pall Mall