The Young George Du Maurier

Svengali

George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier was born on 6th March 1834 in Paris. Du Maurier was brought up believing his aristocratic grandparents fled France during the Revolution, leaving vast estates behind in France. However, his grandfather was only a tradesman who left Paris in 1789 to avoid charges of fraud and changed the family name to du Maurier. He studied art in Paris before moving to Antwerp, Belgium where he lost the sight of his left eye. On consulting an oculist in Düsseldorf, Germany, he met his future wife, Emma Wightwick. On 3rd January 1863, he married Emma at St Marylebone, Westminster. Over the next few years they had five children and several house moves. He joined the satirical magazine Punch in 1865 and drew two cartoons a week. Du Maurier commonly made fun of the affected manners of Victorian society, the bourgeoisie and members of the expanding middle class. As well as his black-and-white cartoons for Punch, he freelanced for several other periodicals: Harper's, The Graphic, The Illustrated Times, The Cornhill Magazine, and the religious periodical Good Words. His reputation was such that he was also asked to illustrate several novels. Owing to his deteriorating eyesight, du Maurier reduced his involvement with Punch in 1891. The family moved to Hampstead, and du Maurier began work on his life as a novelist. His first, 'Peter Ibbetson' (1891), was a modest success on publication and later adapted to a film, and an opera. His second novel 'Trilby' appeared in 1894. Its publication coincided perfectly with the gothic horror revival and the book was hugely popular becoming the best-selling book of 1895. The story of the poor artist's model Trilby O'Ferrall, transformed into a diva under the spell of the evil musical genius Svengali, created a sensation. It spawned soap, songs, dances, toothpaste, and even the city of Trilby in Florida, to be named after its heroine. The soft felt hat with an indented crown that was worn in the London stage production is still known as a trilby. His third novel, a long, mainly autobiographical piece, 'The Martian', was published after his death in 1898. George du Maurier died on 8th October 1898 at age 62 in Hampstead, London.

George Du Maurier - Trilby: The Bestseller of 1895

Trilby is a novel by George du Maurier and one of the most popular novels of its time. Published serially in Harper's Monthly in 1894, it was published in book form in 1895 and sold 200,000 copies in the United States alone. Trilby is set in the 1850s in an idyllic bohemian Paris. Though it features the stories of two English artists and a Scottish artist, one of the most memorable characters is Svengali, a rogue, masterful musician and hypnotist. Trilby O'Ferrall, the novel's heroine, is a half-Irish girl working in Paris as an artists' model and laundress; all the men in the novel are in love with her. The relationship between Trilby and Svengali forms only a small, though crucial, portion of the novel, which is mainly an evocation of a milieu. Luc Sante wrote that the novel had a "decisive influence on the stereotypical notion of bohemia" and that it "affected the habits of American youth, particularly young women, who derived from it the courage to call themselves artists and 'bachelor girls, ' to smoke cigarettes and drink Chianti

Trilby

English Society, Sketched by George Du Maurier

The Martian

George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (6 March 1834 - 8 October 1896) was a Franco-British cartoonist and author, known for his cartoons in Punch and for his novel Trilby. He was the father of actor Sir Gerald du Maurier and grandfather of writers Angela du Maurier and Dame Daphne du Maurier. He was also the father of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and grandfather of the five boys who inspired J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan.Early life:George du Maurier was born in Paris, the son of Louis-Mathurin du Maurier and Ellen Clarke, daughter of Regency courtesan Mary Anne Clarke. He was brought up to believe that his aristocratic grandparents fled France during the Revolution, leaving vast estates behind in France, to live in England as �migr�s. However, du Maurier's grandfather, Robert-Mathurin Busson, was actually a tradesman who left Paris in 1789 to avoid fraud charges, and later changed the family name to du Maurier.Du Maurier studied art in Paris, and moved to Antwerp, Belgium, where he lost vision in his left eye. He consulted an oculist in D�sseldorf, Germany, where he met his future wife, Emma Wightwick. He followed her family to London, where he married Emma in 1863. The couple settled in Hampstead around 1877, first in Church Row and later at New Grove House.They had five children: Beatrix (known as Trixy), Guy, Sylvia, Marie Louise (known as May) and Gerald.

Peter Ibbetson

The Young George Du Maurier, a Selection of His Letters, 1860-1867, Edited by Daphne Du Maurier...

George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier was a French-British cartoonist and author, known for his cartoons in Punch and also for his novel Trilby.