‘The romance of certain old clothes’ by Henry James
in : Atlantic monthly,
vol. 21, February 1868, pages 209-220
the tale was first published in this prestigious American monthly; you can view the original online through the page images at the Cornell University Making of America site (select The Atlantic monthly and then the year)
A passionate pilgrim; and other tales / by Henry
James, Jr. –
Boston : James R. Osgood and Co., 1875. –
496 p. ; 19 cm.
— pages
contents: A passionate pilgrim; The last of the Valerii; Eugene Pickering; The madonna of the future; The romance of certain old clothes; Madame de Mauves
James’s first book publication, this collection appeared on 1875-01-31, in an edition of 1500 copies, each retailing at $2.00; copies were later (1878) bound by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. and imported to UK by Trübner & Co. of London
Stories revived : in three volumes / by Henry James. – Vol. 3. – London : Macmillan, 1885. – 269 p. ; 20 cm.
contents: Poor Richard; The last of the Valerii; Master Eustace; The romance of certain old clothes; A most extraordinary case
containing the first UK publication of the tale, only 500 copies of each volume of this edition were published; the set retailed at 31/6 (one and a half guineas) and was published on 1885-05-15; this collection was a mixture of recent tales and revised texts of some early stories which had not appeared previously in Britain
Stories revived / by Henry James. – Second series. – London : Macmillan, 1885. – 401 p. ; 20 cm. — pages 311-340
contents: A passionate pilgrim; Rose-Agathe; Poor Richard; The last of the Valerii; Master Eustace; The romance of certain old clothes; A most extraordinary case
reprinting the first UK publication, using the same type-setting, but with the contents rearranged over two volumes; published in 1885-11, this edition comprised 1000 copies retailing at 6/- per volume
for subsequent reprints of this tale
see the
relevant page
of my
index to Henry James’s tales in collections
in addition to the selected criticism listed below, this tale is discussed
(in greater or lesser detail) in the general works on James’s tales
and fiction, which I have listed on a
separate page;
those works are annotated here only when I’ve tracked them down and
they offer significant insights
‘The romance of old clothes in a fatal chest’
by Mary Y. Hallab
in : The Henry James review
vol. 16, no. 3, Fall 1995, pages 315-320
following the ‘Tintner’ model, seeks the sources of James’s inspiration here in (1) the folk story of the bride accidentally locked, unconscious, in a large chest, as retold in Ginevra by Samuel Rogers (in his collection Italy, 1822-1828) and in The mistletoe bough; or, the fatal chest, a play based on it by Charles A. Somerset (1834); and (2) early versions of the Cinderella story
‘Frank and Jim go boating : Henry James and the French new
wave’ by David Van Leer
in : Henry James on stage and screen / edited by
John R. Bradley. –
Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave, 2000. –
xi, 264 p. ; 23 cm. –
ISBN
includes an analysis of Jacques Rivette’s film Céline et Julie vont en bateau (1974), whose second ‘internal’ narrative is based on ideas from James’s novel The other house (1896) and this tale; finds (p. 94-95) great subtlety in James’s use of third-person narration, even in this early fiction
Henry James and the art of dress / Clair Hughes. –
Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave, 2001. –
x, 216 p., 4 p. pl. : ill. ; 23 cm. –
ISBN
introducing a chapter on James’s ghosts and the part played by their clothes in defining them, Hughes sees the rivalry of the sisters over the clothes as prefiguring other antagonistic female relationships in his works, which she has touched on in earlier chapters; she also examines the historical setting of the tale
selective bibliography and critical commentaries
© 2004
part of an etext edition of
The romance of certain old clothes
on
the Ladder : a Henry James website