Mary Gresley, and an Editor's Tales

First published in 1871, ‘Mary Gresley, and an Editor’s Tales’ is a collection of short stories from popular author Anthony Trollope. Each story is narrated by a kindly editor, recalling encounters from his long career. The title tale follows the story of young Mary, a girl with literary ambitions but no real talent. Engaged to an invalid curate who disapproves of her writing, she nevertheless persuades the sympathetic editor that she must support her household with her writing, and so he endeavours to help her. Other stories in the collection include ‘The Spotted Dog’, ‘The Turkish Bath’ and ‘Mrs Brumby’. Anthony Trollope (1815 – 1882) was a Victorian writer and author of 47 novels. He also wrote an autobiography, short stories and plays, travel articles, reviews and lectures. A prolific writer, he made no secret of the fact that money was his motivation for writing – an admission which raised eyebrows among his literary contemporaries at the time. The amount of works Trollope authored are testament to his belief in hard work. His first successful novel was The Warden followed by its sequel, Barchester Towers. The Chronicles of Barsetshire are perhaps his most well-known series of novels, though many of his works have been adapted for TV and radio, starring many familiar faces such as Alan Rickman, David Tennant, Bill Nighy and Tom Hollander. Alongside his literary career, Trollope also worked for some time for the Post Office and is credited with the introduction of the iconic post box to Britain. A memorial to Anthony Trollope was unveiled in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey in 1993.