ABSTRACT
In 1840s, George Meredith acted as ‘writing master’ to a group of amateur writers: useful experience, perhaps, gained towards his later, virtually altruistic ‘coaching’ of inexperienced novelists, including the young Thomas Hardy, who had submitted work to Chapman & Hall. In 1909 he published an article in the Fortnightly Review, ‘George Meredith as Publisher’s Reader’, and, as Frank Mumby points out, that shows ‘not only how ready was he always to help and encourage an author whenever a manuscript pleased him, but also how extremely high was his standard of merit. In 1865 William Tinsley published Rhoda Fleming, his only novel by George Meredith. He had various early introductions including one to Charles Dickens, who published some of his poems and articles in Household Words. The second day of June 1865, in the year that William Tinsley published George Meredith’s Rhoda Fleming, was Thomas Hardy’s twenty-fifth birthday.
