The Vanishing Dandy: Rediscovering Mr. Barnes of New York

A critical examination of the mysterious rise and fall of A.C. Gunter's infamous globe trotting novel and the case for it's rediscovery. 

Twenty-three years after its publication, literary critic Arthur Bartlett Maurice was still celebrating Archibald Clavering Gunter’s premier novel Mr. Barnes of New York: ‘Its success was instantaneous as it was astonishing. Everywhere…the paper covered yellow volume was to be seen.’[1] Selling half a million[2] copies within a year of publication, Gunter’s novel became a bestseller of the Gilded Age. Yet today this novel has all but vanished from literary memory. Aside from sales records or cursory mentions of its popularity, this novel presents a mysterious omission in America’s literary history. By reopening Mr. Barnes of New York to critical examination, we stand to gain crucial observations into a transient America, away from the Realist depictions which saturated the period, witnessing first-hand the decline of Romanticism in both American literature and identity, alongside the burgeoning internationalism that continues to define America to this day.

The bizarre circumstances of both the publication and astounding popularity of Mr. Barnes of New York alone warrant exploration, being simultaneously an active response to the bestselling incumbents of the period whilst drawing heavily from Romantic and Melodramatic techniques long considered antiquated in the American literary market. Yet Gunter’s manuscript rose from a work ‘no one would touch’[3], to a self-published bestseller; what drove such enthusiastic sales?  

The initial development of the novel was a self-imposed challenge by Gunter, who by 1885 was already an established playwright, having successfully written and sold Found the True Vein (1872), Two Nights in Rome (1880) and Fresh, the American (1881) to theatres in New York and Boston. Whilst the ‘critical reception of this work was never enthusiastic’[4] according to the University of Chicago archives, Gunter’s plays experienced ‘enormous popularity’[5] with the theatregoing public. Desiring to extrapolate this success, Gunter stated in an interview with the Newark Sunday Call that he wanted to escape the practical limitations of stagecraft and ‘see what effect he could produce on the public with nothing but printer’s ink between him and the audience.’[6] Completed in 1885, Gunter’s manuscript was sent to multiple publishers in New York and Boston, where it was repeatedly rejected. Disheartened, Gunter shelved Mr. Barnes of New York and returned to scriptwriting, producing Prince Karl (1886) the following year. Whilst working on this production, Gunter read an unnamed bestseller (though given the year and bestseller status, it is highly likely this was Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Little Lord Fauntleroy) which he perceived to be so lacking in quality, that even his own ‘rubbish’[7] manuscript could garner similar sales. Founding the Home Publishing Company, Gunter paid to have 1000 copies of the novel printed, which were taken on sale by the American News Company, alongside popular bookstore Brentano’s and C.T. Dillingham Publishing. Although entirely unadvertised, the novel proved popular, with all three companies renewing their orders as sales figures continued to grow. As literary scholar James David Hart illustrates, it was ‘seen in innumerable hammocks, summer resorts, excursion boats (&) Pullman Palace cars,’[8] suggesting its popularity amongst upper and middle class Americans. Whilst it was unlikely that Mr. Barnes of New York sold the million copies claimed by Gunter, the commercial success of the novel is undisputable.

Despite these extensive sales, Gunter came under fire by literary critics for the novel’s theatrical presentation and outdated literary techniques. In one of the only surviving reviews, The New York Times was overwhelmingly negative, lampooning the novel’s theatricality: ‘The stage carpenter whistles, away fly the scenes, and presto, the theatrical footmen put on stage the necessary properties.’[9] These derisive utilisations of stage terminology and observations of theatrical spectacle were intended to ridicule Gunter’s earlier popularity as a playwright, though I concur that Gunter indeed ‘writes a romance, as he would a melodrama.’[10] As literary historian Carolyn Williams outlines, Victorian melodramas utilised six stock characters (hero, villain, heroine, servant, aged parental figure and sidekick) and universally revolves around a plot of love and murder, where the hero is duped by the Villain over his lover until a Coup de Théàtre reverses their fortunes.[11] Mr. Barnes of New York conforms to or draws obvious parallels to each of these tropes, from the operatic villainy of Count Musso Danella to the use of mistaken identity as a central plot point. Though the novel utilises non-melodramatic elements, it is understandable why critics aware of Gunter’s earlier works would dismiss his work under this elementary pretext.

Whilst these are valid observations on Gunter’s structuring of the novel, I would argue that these criticisms stem from the shifting literary preferences of the period. Though melodrama was popular in the mid-nineteenth century, by the time of the novel’s publication both melodramatic scriptwriting and its literary analogue, the sensation novel, were in decline.  Though not necessarily melodramatic in definition, sensation novels utilised similar tropes, characters and opulent locations to convey both ‘romance and realism’[12] in an exaggeration of both, reaching peak popularity within the same period as melodramatic plays with novels such as East Lynne (1861) by Mrs. Henry Wood or Great Expectations (1860–61) by Charles Dickens. Whilst titans such as Dickens sold ‘largely and continuously’[13] throughout the period, Sensation Novels were in rapid decline, with American Realists beginning to grace the bestseller lists more than two decades earlier with Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad (1869). The New York Times review highlights these shifting demographics, arguing ‘There is the servor in Mr. Barnes of New York, of the methods of fiction in use 35 years ago,’[14] placing it more akin to Alexander Dumas than Gunter’s contemporaries. It is perhaps these factors that led to the book’s gradual disappearance; critics considered the writing style outdated upon its publication, appealing to an American readership nostalgic for the Romanticism that had dominated the American literary scene for the majority of the 19^th century. As the Newark Sunday Call neatly summarises, ‘One may easily criticize the literary quality of Mr. Barnes of New York, but of the genuineness of its success there can be no doubt.’[15] The novel’s multiple adaptations and bestseller status attest to this success, yet the perceived lack of quality by both critics and Gunter himself suggest it appeased audiences not for its quality, but for its accessible Romantic nostalgia, appealing to demographics in repudiation of the often brutal reflections of American Realism.

This popular success spurred multiple adaptations of the novel; a theatrical production by Gunter himself and two silent films in 1914 and 1922. Whilst the silent films have all but been lost to history (The 1914 version is listed as ‘missing’ by the United States National Film Preservation Board[16] whilst the only known copy of the 1922 adaptation is a film print archived at the George Eastman Museum[17], not available for public viewing), Gunter’s theatrical adaptation ran successfully from October 15^th until December 1^st, 1888. Again, the only surviving review was that of The New York Times, who branded the production ‘a dramatic monstrosity’[18], though they noted that ‘the audience was suspiciously ecstatic in its enthusiasm’[19], suggesting that similar to Gunter’s other plays, the production was critically panned whilst audience responses were keen. Aside from cursory mentions in academic journals noting the novel’s success without further expository details, the novel, play adaptation and silent films have all but disappeared. Given the success Gunter enjoyed within his lifetime, two questions arise: How could a novel of such widespread success disappear so absolutely, and perhaps more importantly, does this success warrant academic rediscovery?

As previously discussed, a possible factor behind the novel’s public favour and subsequent disappearance is Gunter’s peculiar blend of writing styles. Upon examination, Gunter utilizes Romantic techniques and tropes throughout the novel, primarily through his choice of setting. Eminent Realist Nikolai Gogol dismissively categorises Romantic intent as to ‘produce “effects,” to invent scenes so outlandish they will momentarily astound and amaze the viewer.’^[20] Whilst egregiously reductive, this definition is perhaps apt in examining Gunter’s application of Romanticism, utilising a range of high profile foreign locales to seemingly entice a homebound American readership. Starting from “The Duel at Ajaccio”^[21] under the “white peaks of the Corsican Mountains,”^[22] Gunter leads his readership through a plethora of once exotic locales, from Parisian Salons to the casinos of Monte Carlo. Miss Anstruther, the English heroine and eventual fiancé of Barnes, even exclaims that she ‘is in the region of Romance!’^[23] whilst touring Corsica. Compounding these Romantic elements, Gunter also stresses to incorporate Gothic ones, repeatedly using ‘mediaeval’[24] to describe both ‘The barbaric romance of the old Corsican scene and the mediaeval picturesqueness of the native,’[25] alongside the murderous passions of the duellists themselves, embracing ‘the sanguinary code of a darker and more cruel age.’[26] These Gothic elements, whilst interesting, again would have aged the novel upon publication, utilising similar techniques to earlier American Dark Romantics such as Edgar Allen Poe or Nathaniel Hawthorne, both popular during Gunter’s childhood.

Whilst the intent of Gunter’s style of Romanticism is questionable, it is further undercut by the inclusion of melodramatic elements. As Morse Peckham outlines in his 1964 essay The Dilemma of the Century: The Four Stages of Romanticism, Romanticism was ‘a way of encompassing, without loss of tension, the contrarieties and paradoxes of human experience.’[27] By utilising melodramatic character archetypes, Gunter instead opts to simplify his characters and remove this developmental paradox. Barnes simply acts as the hero ‘who is moral, handsome and manly’[28] in the extreme, as the globetrotting gentleman marksman without moral qualm, whilst Count Musso Danella fills the morally vacuous shoes of the manipulative ‘villain’[29], complete with moustache to twirl. The plot itself is definitively melodramatic, a composite of love and murder that utilises a Coup de Théàtre through the revelation of Edwin’s true identity, which at once saves our heroes from faux pas and preserves their relative innocence as they literally sail off into the sunset. Whilst accessible, these melodramatic tropes make the novel predictable, preventing Gunter from utilising the moral ambiguity and intellectual introspection necessary for the development of profound Romantic characters. This does not stop it from accessing Romantic sentiment however; as literary historian Juliet John outlines, ‘Melodrama exists in a dialectical relationship to high Romanticism because it acts as a buttress to Romantic anxieties,’^[30] providing ‘reassuring answers’[31] to Romanticism’s difficult questions. Therefore, whilst the novel’s melodramatic elements do not necessarily detract from its Romanticism, Gunter’s liberal usage of established melodramatic plot devices and character tropes limit the novel, answering his own tentative questions about the nature of love, revenge and family with accessible cliché.

This application of accessible Romanticism could account for the novel’s popular support, providing easy nostalgia in a then fluctuating American literary landscape. As Tim Edwards outlines in The Real Prayer and the Imagined: The War Against Romanticism, the Realist portrayals of the American civil war by Mark Twain and W. D. Howells, combined with the new exposure provided by pioneering war photographers such as Mathew Brody, served to ‘explode romantic and naïve notions about war,’[32] shattering Romanticised visions of warfare and calling into question the validity of the movement itself. Yet as this school of American Realism was on the rise, so too were its detractors. William Samuel Lilly, a literary critic of the period, labelled Realist texts in 1880 as ‘coarse studies from the shambles and latrines of human nature’[33]  whilst an 1879 edition of Harper’s Monthly lampooned Realist works as ‘lifelike, but so would be the reproduction of a cancerous sore or ulcer’[34]. Clearly, there was a backlash against the rise of Realism in favour of the Romantic texts which had long dominated the American literary market. By appealing to theses Romantic sentiments, Gunter’s work found a readership amassed from those nostalgic for a pre-civil war Romanticism or those in rejection of the dark themes or often confrontational style of American Realism.  By utilising this writing style, Gunter may have found a base of popular support, though simultaneously alienating critics already a decade into the bold and socially critical works of the American Realists.

Despite this bizarre writing style, I would argue Mr. Barnes of New York still deserves reconsideration by the academic community, on the grounds of its complex portrayal of internationalism and subtle yet powerful critique of excessive capitalistic attitudes. Beginning with Gunter’s observations on internationalism, I have previously highlighted the range of exotic locales as an element of Romanticism within the novel. Yet I would argue that Gunter’s deliberate focus on foreign culture and specifically, American entanglement with these foreign cultures through the analogue of Barnes, provide a fascinating insight into the fears and hopes for America’s progression into a world power.

From its foundation, American foreign policy had strong isolationist inclinations. George Washington advocated for distance with Europe in his 1796 farewell address, suggesting that the United States should ‘have with them as little political connection as possible.’^[35] American foreign policy continued in this vein throughout the 19^th century, from Jefferson’s stance of “Commerce with all nations, alliance with none”^[36] to the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, preventing any further European colonial efforts within North America. Yet by the turn of the century, this policy of isolationism had been entirely abandoned as the United States became embroiled in the 1898 Spanish-American War, marking the beginning of a century defined by American interventionism abroad. By examining the characters and attitudes within Gunter’s novel, we can observe this slow evolution of American doctrine, as Gunter presents not only shifting attitudes towards international involvement, but through the actions of Barnes, suggests how America should approach this involvement.

Whilst the novel relies on Romantic descriptions and exotic locales to provide the reader with an experience of international voyeurism, Gunter depicts two specific instances of American intervention into European affairs through the proxy of Barnes; the saga of the Vendetta and his pursuit of Enid. By studying the interplay between the American Barnes and the English heiress Enid, Gunter’s writing explores the shifting relationship between the two nations, exemplified by the merging of its aristocratic classes. Though united by a common language and heritage, Anglo-American relations remained relatively hostile throughout the 19^th century, such as the War of 1812 or the rising tensions created by the American Civil War (1861-1865), only resolved through arbitration in 1871 with payment of $15.5 million in gold bullion[37]. As historian Kathleen Burke summarises, ‘Commercial interests often brought them into conflict’[38] whilst cultural similarities afforded a strained peace. Yet by the turn of the century ‘Britain and the U.S had become partners,’[39] supporting each other against international backlash in both the Spanish-American War and The Second Boer War (1899-1902); what changed?

Gunter examines these shifting international dynamics through Enid and Barnes’ courtship. Beginning with Barnes, Gunter’s American is ‘a man who knew and understood both the world and himself pretty thoroughly’^[40], ‘blessed with an ample fortune’^[41] and one who is always ‘industriously smoking cigarettes.’^[42] Through these choice descriptions, Gunter creates at once a character who ‘had entrée to both English and American society,’[43] possessing the necessary wealth and knowledge to hold his own amongst European aristocrats, but one whom is distinctly different. By making Barnes an advocate of cigarettes, Gunter further imbues his American with Bohemian characteristics. Whilst cigar smoking was common amongst 19^th century gentry, the cigarette became a symbol of both the industrial proletariat and the Bohemian, medically feared to be the cause of the ‘unspeakable malaise’[44] and ‘insanity’[45], assumptions which would later influence Max Nordau’s social criticism in Degeneration (1892). The use of the cigarette, or smoking pipe, as short hand for ‘Bohemian’ is best exemplified through George du Maurier’s Trilby (1895), a bestseller that solidified Victorian ideas of ‘a bohemian subculture that rejects mainstream institutions’[46], not only through sexual liberation, but the intermingling of class practices, such as the aforementioned smoking of cigarettes. Barnes himself reflects this class transcendence, smoking both cigarettes and cigars, the vice of the gentry. The overall effect Gunter produces is that of a class chimera; through his wealth and knowledge, the American is welcomed amongst his European aristocratic contemporaries, whilst retaining a powerful individualism that transgresses his class status. It is unclear whether this is how Gunter perceives the American character, or if in fact this is a blueprint to his audience; an idealised American that transcends traditional European practices. Either way, Gunter establishes his American as markedly different from his British contemporaries. 

Despite this ‘entrée’ into both English and American aristocratic society, Barnes still faces the initial rejection from Enid as a ‘modern Faust,’[47] having to engineer a situation in order to gain her attention whilst pushing both his finances and his etiquette to the limit in garnering her affections. Here Gunter is perhaps making fun of international relations, reflecting British attitudes of imperialist superiority despite America’s growing financial and political power. This is exemplified by Enid and Barnes’ discussion of nationality in relation to marriage, where Enid summarises her views on non-British peoples: ‘I don’t like foreigners!’[48] Gunter expertly satirises American perceptions of the British imperial attitudes here, in which a British aristocrat espouses their dislike of foreign people, to a foreign person, whilst both traverse a foreign country. Compounding this satire is Gunter’s reversal of the then prevalent trend of transatlantic marriage during the latter 19^th century.  As historian Erin Blakemore outlines, marrying into English titles was an immediate way for Americans to ‘raise their social status’^[49], whilst the British aristocracy profited handsomely, with the equivalent of one billion pounds^[50] being injected into the British economy by the turn of the century. Whilst the Enid-Barnes pairing is primarily a romantic one, their interactions reflect the growing trend of the ‘dollar princess’^[51] that was altering the Anglo-American relationship, providing crucial historical insights into the growing bond between the two countries. Whilst Americans in this era are often categorised as isolationist, Gunter demonstrates through his novel that mutually beneficial internationalism was already an established force amongst the American aristocracy. 

Gunter’s attitudes towards American interventionism are more complex. Primarily displayed through the actions of Barnes at the duel on Ajaccio, Gunter demonstrates the potential dangers of American interventionism in Europe. The opening chapters follow Barnes’ efforts upon discovering a duel between an English officer and his French counterpart, attempting to delay and ultimately stop it. Gunter emphasizes Barnes’ role as a mediator, outlying his status to the English and French parties through a faux apology: ‘You must excuse an outsider speaking at such a moment, but outsiders generally see most of the game.’^[52] This double meaning of Barnes being both an outsider to the duel and an outsider to these Europeans distances him as not only a mediator, but an American attempting intervention. Gunter immediately corresponds these efforts with failure, as every action Barnes takes only serves to make the duel exponentially worse. For example, Barnes sights the weapons, discovering they shoot two feet to the left and thus the duellists will live. Yet the Englishman reveals how his intervention has unleashed the potential for death: ‘When you taught me how to miss my man, you also showed me how to hit him.’ ^[53] Barnes himself recognises his intervention has worsened the situation, ‘Cursing himself for the danger his experiment has placed upon these two men’s lives’^[54] as he ‘begins to have an idea his mediation has been a mistake.’^[55] Whilst done with the noblest intentions, Barnes’ attempting to intervene and stop the duel directly results in the fatal shooting of Andre de Belloc, creating the Vendetta that haunts Barnes throughout the rest of the novel.

Gunter’s deliberately negative representation of American interventionism in European affairs reflects American attitudes typical of the period. America’s foundation was, as historian Robert W. Tucker outlines, a radical break ‘from the practices and principles of the old European tradition,’^[56] seeking escape from the political and religious violence that raged in the continent. Whilst these attitudes evolved in the subsequent century, an article in The New York Times (February, 1893) outlines that Americans still viewed ‘Europe’s Old-World rivalries, internecine wars, and concomitant famines’^[57] as something to be avoided. Yet as the decade progressed, so too did ideas of American Nationalism, often in direct competition with the imperialist empires of Europe. By the end of ‘the nationalist nineties,’^[58] America had defeated Spain and acquired its territories, challenging longstanding European imperial interests through its support of Cuban independence and subsequently setting a new precedent for American international relations. Released a decade earlier, Gunter’s work reflects the growing calls for American intervention abroad, outlining the potentially benefits and dangers. Whilst Mr. Barnes of New York is clearly not advocating for Americans to avoid Europe altogether, with Barnes finding both love and adventure there, the result of Barnes’ actions suggest the futility of intervention; a possible parable to Gunter’s contemporaries hungry for their own ‘American empire.’[59]

Though Gunter’s Romantic stylings and international focus may have distanced him from the majority his Realist contemporaries, they are united in their social observations of gilded age decadence and financial disparity. Whilst not as outspoken about the corruption and greed affecting society as the forbearing work of Henry Adams’ Democracy (1880) or Mark Twain’s Gilded Age (1873), Gunter subtly demonstrates not only these corrupting attitudes within Europe, but within the American himself. Whilst ‘his dress from its elaboration, almost to the point of affliction’[60] initially led me to believe Gunter was merely mocking Dandy culture, Gunter’s observations extend beyond aesthetic observation, instead highlighting the corruption Barnes perpetuates through his utilisation of wealth to control the actions and perceptions of others. For example, he bribes the train guard with a ‘gold twenty franc piece’^[61] in order to prevent Enid acquiring any dinner, planning instead ‘to starve (her) into better acquaintance with his virtues.’^[62] The cruelty Barnes inflicts upon his fellow passenger, combined with the deep irony of the line, create a character who is clearly at ease with abusing others, through ‘The power of American gold’^[63] in order to further his own objectives under the guise of courtship.

Whilst these observations of corruption in the Gilded Age are far from unique to Gunter, his direct comparison of American behaviours to those of Imperial powers enriches his work with a self-perceptive criticism of developments within his homeland. For example, A British officer abuses his financial advantage to bribe a team of fishermen earlier in the novel, chartering them as transport for an illegal duel. As he leaves, ‘He shakes the British gold in their faces with one hand and steers with the other.’^[64] This combination of elements, taking control of the vessel whilst shaking his financial advantage in the peasant fishermen’s faces creates a perfect caricature of the ‘Beautiful demon of money’^[65] repeatedly criticised in the Gilded Age, utilising finance and status to engage in morally questionable behaviour. During the finale, Barnes utilises an eerily similar technique himself to bribe a Felucca captain into taking him to Corsica by promising to ‘double their money’^[66], pushing his ‘ragged, half naked crew at work with a will.’^[67] Whilst the exchange is framed humorously, the ominous choice of adjectives such as ‘ragged’ and ‘half naked’ infers the true poverty of the sailors aboard. This creates a far darker dynamic in the scene, with Barnes exploiting the poverty of these peoples in order to achieve his own objective, identical to the English officer. This choice of structuring demonstrates not only how Gunter viewed this this corruption as widespread, but it’s perpetuation by Barnes arguably demonstrates an America in decline, backsliding into the European style corruption the nation was founded to avoid.

Whilst these examples focus on the aristocracy, Gunter expands on what historian Richard White terms ‘the corruption that was a part of Gilded Age life,’^[68] with his depictions of the proletariat. For example, the Inn-Keeper Mateo, on hearing of the upcoming duel, is ‘excited at the thought of blood, (though) never forgets business’^[69], as the duellists ‘might want some breakfast also. They might be hungry before they kill each other.’^[70] This matter-of-fact evaluation of profit in the face of a customer’s death upon his doorstep is shocking to the point of humour to the reader, a Marxist satire of supposed gilded age values. However, questions of accuracy arise in these depictions. Whilst there was undoubted high profile corruption, such as the multiple instances of federal corruption during Ulysses S Grant’s presidency^[71] or the perceived excess of the so-called ‘Robber Barons’[72] of Wall Street, it is arguable the Gunter was more accurately reflecting, as literary historian Laura Vorachek outlines, the ‘fear that the human condition was declining permeat(ing) fin-de-siècle culture.’^[73] Whether these criticisms stem from a genuine disgust with Gilded Age culture or are merely an incorporation of populist elements, they present a fascinating introspection of American self-perceptions during the period, revealing the anxieties of a culture undergoing rapid social and economic change.

Mr. Barnes of New York is indeed a peculiar novel. From its unlikely founding, outside of the control or influences of the publishing house, it grew to a phenomenon before fading into absolute obscurity. Whilst Gunter’s strange blend of Romantic and Melodramatic writing styles in combination with its reliance on nostalgic Romanticism arguably make the novel irrelevant, the cultural insights it provides into a period of immense national change are invaluable. Observations on the burgeoning Anglo-American relationship and its speculations on international interventionism are an incredible precursor not only to the following decade, but the following century of American foreign policy. Compounding this, Gunter’s unique critique of gilded age corruption examines not only the excesses of the rich, but the prevalent culture and attitudes that allowed it to flourish on American soil. As a whole, the novel is undoubtedly flawed; yet it’s signposting of America’s introduction as an internationalist world power merits it worthy of contemporary rediscovery.

Bibliography

Adams, Charles Francis. 1912. "The Trent Affair". The American Historical Review17 (3):540.

Angulo Chen, Sandie. 2019. "How American Dollar Princesses Changed British Nobility – Ancestry Blog." Ancestry Blog. https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/how-american-dollar-princesses-changed-british-nobility/.

Blakemore, Erin. 2019. "How American 'Dollar Princesses' Invaded British High Society." HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/american-heiress-marry-british-aristocrat.

Burk, Kathleen. “From Many, One.” History Today 69, no. 1 (January 2019): 28-45.

Eckes, Alfred. “From Queen Victoria to Truman to Trump.” Vital Speeches of the Day 85, no. 5 (May 2019):146-151.

Edwards, Tim. “The Real Prayer and the Imagined: The War against Romanticism in Twain, Howells, and Bierce.” Journal of Transnational American Studies 1 Issue 1 (2009). https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.100bb6c842ef4519b0acbd8e8a94f510&authtype=sso&custid=s8993828&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Gunter, Archibald Clavering. Mr. Barnes of New York. London: Forgotten Books, 2012.

Hart, James David. The Popular Book: A History of America's Literary Taste. New York: Oxford University Press, 1950.

Higham, John. Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2002.

Jefferson, Thomas. “From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Lomax, 12 March 1799,” Founders Online, National Archives, last updated April 11, 2019, accessed 1 May, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-31-02-0056

Jessen, Nathan. Populism and Imperialism: Politics, Culture, and Foreign Policy in the American West, 1890-1900. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2017.

John, Juliet. Dickens’s Villains: Melodrama, Character, Popular Culture. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003.

Lily, William Samuel. ‘The Age of Balzac.’ Contemporary Review XXXVII (1880).

Ludwig, Bremer.  Tobacco, Insanity and Nervousness. Gloucester, Wentworth Press: 2016.

Maurice, Arthur Bartlett. ‘Best Sellers of Yesterday.’ The Bookman Vol 32 (1910).

Mott, Frank Luther. Golden Multitudes: The Story of Best Sellers in the United States. New York: Macmillan, 1947.

Peckham, Morse. “The Dilemma of a Century: The Four Stages of Romanticism” Essays in Romanticism Vol 17 Issue 1 (2009): 7-26.

Proffer, Carl R. “Gogol's Definition of Romanticism” Studies in Romanticism Vol. 6, No. 2 (Winter, 1967): 120-127.

Quinn, Adam. US Foreign Policy in Context: National Ideology from the Founders to the Bush Doctrine. London: Routledge, 2009.

Shaw, Karl. Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know: The Extraordinary Exploits of the British and European Aristocracy. London, Little Brown Book Group: 2017.

Stern, Kimberly J. “Rule Bohemia: The Cosmopolitics of Subculture in George Du Maurier’s “Trilby.”’ Victorian Literature and Culture Vol. 38, No. 2 (2010): 547-570.

Tillotson, Kathleen. Introduction to The Woman in White. Dover Publications: New York, 1969.

Tipple, John. "The Anatomy of Prejudice: Origins of the Robber Baron Legend." Business History Review Vol 33 No. 4 (1959): 510-523.

Tucker, Robert W. & David C. Hendrickson. Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Twain, Mark. and Charles Dudley Warner. The Gilded Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Vorachek, Laura. ‘Mesmerists and Other Meddlers: Social Darwinism, Degeneration, and Eugenics in Trilby’ Victorian Literature and Culture Vol. 37, No. 1 (2009): 197-215.

White, Richard. ‘Information, Markets, and Corruption: Transcontinental Railroads in the Gilded Age.’ Journal of American History, Volume 90, Issue 1 (June 2003): 19-43.

White, Ronald C. American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant (New York: Random House Publishing Group, 2016): 541.

Williams, Carolyn. "Melodrama" The New Cambridge History of English Literature: The Victorian Period, ed. Kate Flint. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012): 194.

‘Mr. Barnes Of New York / Maurice Costello’ The Library of Congress. Last modified 1 May, 2017. Accessed 3 February, 2019. http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.7715/default.html

‘Mr. Barnes Of New York [Motion Picture]’, The Library of Congress. Last modified 1 May, 2017. Accessed 4 February, 2019. http://lcweb2.loc.gov:8081/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.1181/default.html

Guide to the Archibald Clavering Gunter Plays 1880s-1890s’ University of Chicago Library,. Last modified July 18, 2000. Accessed March 3, 2019, https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.GUNTERPLAYS#idp148718280

“What Chicago People Read.” Daily Chronicle. 4 July, 1893.

“A Gift to the Red Cross.” New York Times. 23 February, 1893.

“Editor’s Literary Record”, Harper’s Monthly LIX (1879).

“New Books.” The New York Times, 1 May, 1887.

“Hope For the Unrecognized.”  Newark Sunday Call. May 13, 1888.

‘Stock Characters’ An Octoroon. Last updated 11 November, 2015. Accessed 4 March, 2019, https://octoroonc1.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/stock-characters/

---

[1] Arthur Bartlett Maurice, ‘Best Sellers of Yesterday’, The Bookman 32 (1910): 55.

[2] Frank Luther Mott, Golden Multitudes: The Story of Best Sellers in the United States (New York: Macmillan, 1947): 311.

[3] ‘Hope For the Unrecognized’, Newark Sunday Call, May 13, 1888, 12.

[4] Guide to the Archibald Clavering Gunter Plays 1880s-1890s’ University of Chicago Library, last modified July 18, 2000, accessed March 3, 2019, https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.GUNTERPLAYS#idp148718280

[5] ‘Guide to the Archibald Clavering Gunter Plays 1880s-1890s’ University of Chicago Library, last modified July 18, 2000, accessed March 3, 2019, https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.GUNTERPLAYS#idp148718280

[6] ‘Hope For the Unrecognized’, Newark Sunday Call, May 13, 1888, 12.

[7] ‘Hope For the Unrecognized’, Newark Sunday Call, May 13, 1888, 12.

[8] James David Hart, The Popular Book: A History of America's Literary Taste (New York: Oxford University Press, 1950): 189.

[9] “New Books”, The New York Times, 1 May, 1887, 14.

[10] “New Books”, The New York Times, 1 May, 1887, 14.

[11] Carolyn Williams, "Melodrama" The New Cambridge History of English Literature: The Victorian Period, ed. Kate Flint. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012): 194.

[12] Kathleen Tillotson, Introduction to The Woman in White (Dover Publications: New York, 1969): 23.

[13] “What Chicago People Read,” Daily Chronicle, 4 July, 1893, 17.

[14] “New Books”, The New York Times, 1 May, 1887, 14.

[15] ‘Hope For the Unrecognized’, Newark Sunday Call, May 13, 1888, 12.

[16] ‘Mr. Barnes Of New York / Maurice Costello ‘, The Library of Congress, last modified 1 May, 2017, accessed 3 February, 2019, http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.7715/default.html

[17] ‘Mr. Barnes Of New York [Motion Picture]’, The Library of Congress, last modified 1 May, 2017, accessed 4 February, 2019,, http://lcweb2.loc.gov:8081/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.1181/default.html

[18] “New Books”, The New York Times, 1 May, 1887, 14.

[19] “New Books”, The New York Times, 1 May, 1887, 14.

[20] Carl R. Proffer, “Gogol's Definition of Romanticism” Studies in Romanticism Vol. 6, No. 2 (Winter, 1967): 124.

[21] Archibald Clavering Gunter, Mr. Barnes of New York, (London: Forgotten Books, 2012): 3.

[22] Gunter, 4.

[23] Gunter, 167.

[24] Gunter, 8.

[25] Gunter, 3.

[26] Gunter, 23

[27] Morse Peckham, “The Dilemma of a Century: The Four Stages of Romanticism” Essays in Romanticism Vol 17 Issue 1 (2009): 24.

[28] ‘Stock Characters’ An Octoroon, last updated 11 November, 2015, accessed 4 March, 2019, https://octoroonc1.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/stock-characters/

[29] Gunter, 200.

[30] Juliet John, Dickens’s Villains: Melodrama, Character, Popular Culture (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003): 47.

[31]Juliet John, Dickens’s Villains: Melodrama, Character, Popular Culture (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003): 47.

[32]Tim Edwards, “The Real Prayer and the Imagined: The War against Romanticism in Twain, Howells, and Bierce”, Journal of Transnational American Studies Vol 1 Issue 1 (2009): 71.

[33] W.S Lily, ‘The Age of Balzac’, Contemporary Review XXXVII (1880): 1004.

[34] ‘Editor’s Literary Record’, Harper’s Monthly LIX (1879): 309.

[35] Adam Quinn, US Foreign Policy in Context: National Ideology from the Founders to the Bush Doctrine. (London: Routledge, 2009): 52. 

[36] “From Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Lomax, 12 March 1799,” Founders Online, National Archives, last updated April 11, 2019, accessed 1 May, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-31-02-0056

[37] Charles Francis Adams, "The Trent Affair," American Historical Review (1912): 551.

[38] Burk, Kathleen. “America: the Last Empire” History Today 69, no. 1 (January 2019): 31.

[39] Alfred Eckes, “From Queen Victoria to Truman to Trump.” Vital Speeches of the Day 85, no. 5 (May 2019): 147.

[40] Gunter, 5.

[41] Gunter, 5.

[42] Gunter, 11.

[43] Gunter, 5.

[44] Bremer Ludwig, Tobacco, Insanity and Nervousness (Gloucester, Wentworth Press: 2016): 7.

[45] Bremer Ludwig, Tobacco, Insanity and Nervousness (Gloucester, Wentworth Press: 2016): 7.

[46] Kimberly J. Stern, “Rule Bohemia: The Cosmopolitics of Subculture in George Du Maurier’s “Trilby”’,

Victorian Literature and Culture Vol. 38, No. 2 (2010): 548.

[47] Gunter, 38.

[48] Gunter, 68.

[49] Erin Blakemore, ‘How American 'Dollar Princesses' Invaded British High Society’ History, last updated 15 April, 2019, accessed 28 April 2019, https://www.history.com/news/american-heiress-marry-british-aristocrat

[50] Karl Shaw, Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know: The Extraordinary Exploits of the British and European Aristocracy (London, Little Brown Book Group: 2017): 103

[51] Sandie Angulo Chen, How American Dollar Princesses Changed British Nobility, Ancestry, last updated 25 January, 2016, accessed 13 April, 2019, https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/how-american-dollar-princesses-changed-british-nobility/

[52] Gunter, 25.

[53] Gunter, 27.

[54] Gunter, 28.

[55] Gunter, 23.

[56] Robert W. Tucker, David C. Hendrickson ‘Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson’ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990): 9.

[57] “A Gift to the Red Cross,” New York Times, 23 February, 1893: 10

[58] John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2002): 68.

[59] Nathan Jessen, Populism and Imperialism: Politics, Culture, and Foreign Policy in the American West, 1890-1900 (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2017): 1

[60] Gunter, 5.

[61] Gunter, 54.

[62] Gunter, 55.

[63] Gunter, 210.

[64] Gunter, 30.

[65] Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996): 447.

[66] Gunter, 165.

[67] Gunter, 165.

[68] Richard White, ‘Information, Markets, and Corruption: Transcontinental Railroads in the Gilded Age’ Journal of American History, Volume 90, Issue 1 (June 2003): 22.

[69] Gunter, 25.

[70] Gunter, 11.

[71] Ronald C. White, American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant (New York: Random House Publishing Group, 2016): 541

[72] John Tipple, "The Anatomy of Prejudice: Origins of the Robber Baron Legend." Business History Review Vol 33 No. 4 (1959): 521.

[73]Laura Vorachek,’Mesmerists and Other Meddlers: Social Darwinism, Degeneration, and Eugenics in Trilby’

Victorian Literature and Culture Vol. 37, No. 1 (2009): 197.