Original Gosse Document Collections
and Biographies

Document Collections.

Inheriting his father's estate following the death of his step mother Eliza in 1900, Edmund Gosse reputedly auctioned off most of his father's possessions, including books, diaries, papers and drawings; thus putting them into the hands of private collectors. Since then, some of these have been donated to museums and university libraries.

  1. Folio of original drawings held at the Horniman museum London . See some of the original coloured drawings sent to printers to illustrate his seaside books.
  2. The letters and notebook collection at Brotherton Library, University of Leeds . A wonderful collection for the student, includes amongst other things, the collection of letters to Charles Kingsley, Gosse's “Aquarium note book” and Emily Gosse's diary.
  3. Cambridge University Library. A fine collection of letters and documents.
  4. Edinburgh University Library. A collection of letters and notes to W. A. Lloyd.
  5. The British Library, London. A fantastic collection of artefacts and books, donated by Jennifer Gosse.

 I am aware of a number of letters and other Philip Gosse items not available to the public, perhaps you have a letter or notebook, something that nobody else is aware of, if you have, why not email me.

Journals. - I have not  investigated every journal which published the work of P. H. Gosse, simply because there are too many. Of those I have, I  found most to be usually numbered in an overly complicated manner, and some, with later re-binding of two volumes into one, numbers have often been changed to years. In the case of Home Friend, which I was particularly keen to see so that I might read the Seaside Pleasures articles, I came across all kinds of problems. Most of the journals for the middle classes were published either fortnightly or monthly, with a compendium of six or twelve issues being bound together and released again as a numbered volume, but the Home Friend was for the first two years issued weekly, and then changed to monthly. Although not reading them all, I have noted all of the articles, essays and letters Gosse submitted to journals during his "Seaside Years" in the "Seaside Diaries".

The Annuls and Magazine of Natural History was published as a numbered monthly journal, again with every six issues being released as a volume. The page numbers of each monthly issue run concurrently through each volume, before starting again, but the issue number runs concurrently through the series. (Twenty volumes consisting of 120 numbered issues making up a Series). Volume 1 of the Second Series contains issue numbers 1-6, Jan-June 1848, pages 1-474. With this information you can work out what issues are in what volume or year. I have published the Contents pages in this section so that students can easily identify the early papers of Warington and Gosse regarding their aquarium experiments; allowing the correct reference should they require them to be copied. A potted history of the Annals has recently been posted on the internet at Zootaxa.
The Zoologist is different again, although issued monthly with two compilation volumes per year, the page numbers run concurrently through a series of volumes, leading to four figure page numbers. Sadly, with so many contributors, it was impossible for me to copy the contents pages of the Zoologist volumes covering Gosse's seaside years in the way I have with the Annals, but I am investigating other means of publishing them.
   Whilst investigating the journals, I also looked at the "Penny Weekly's" but although I found plenty of aquarium articles, I only collected those of particular interest to me, or relevant to my research into Gosse, Warington and Lloyd.
   Interestingly, when I was searching for Gosse's articles on Lundy, I discovered two volumes of Home Friend in Bristol University Library, both rebound and listed as simply 1853. Ironically, one had a note inside the cover which stated they had been originally purchased because of the Lundy articles, and upon the death of the owner, had been presented to the university. It is not my intention to follow up any more journals for this site, as it will end up full of lists, but if you think I might be able to help you find a particular aquarium article, do not hesitate to contact me.
 

A number of Biographies of P. H. Gosse have been written over the years, the first by his son Edmund Gosse, 1849-1928, entitled - The Life of Philip Henry Gosse F. R. S . Routledge & Keegan Paul Ltd, London. 1890. It was later re-published by Heinemann as - The naturalist of the seashore: The Life of Philip Henry Gosse. I have used chapter IX of this book, Work at the Seashore 1852-1856, pp235/270,  as the foundation of this site.

Father & Son , a study of two temperaments. E. Gosse. William Heinemann, London , 1907. First published anonymously, Edmund Gosse acknowledged it as his work in 1908; after it had achieved success both in England and America.  The book, a controversial account of Edmunds youth and correspondence with his father when he first left home, is remembered today as his most memorable work, sadly surviving longer, and published in more languages, than any other work by either Philip or Edmund Gosse.

Philip Henry Gosse. A bibliography . R. B. Freeman & Douglas Wertheimer, 1980. Dawson & Sons , England . ISBN 0-7129-0935-4. This well researched book listing all of Gosse's published work is the result of D. Wertheimer's doctoral dissertation "Science and the Crucible" Toronto University 1977. My "Seaside Diaries" would have been impossible to compile without the assistance of this work.

Gosse. The life of Philip Henry Gosse . L. R. Croft, 2000. Elmwood Books, England . ISBN 0-946019-09-6. “Sets out to challenge Edmund Gosse's portrayal of his father.” and succeeds. Not only is this a well researched and challenging book, it is also most informative of the religious aspects of Gosse's life; a topic I have chosen to ignore; including a chapter revealing "Omphalos".  This, along with the  lists of Important Dates, Manuscript sources and Printed Sources make it essential reading for the serious student.

Glimpses of the Wonderful . The life of Philip Henry Gosse 1810 - 1888 . Ann Thwaite, 2002. Faber & Faber, London . ISBN 0-571-19328-5. An interesting and easily read book that follows her equally successful biography of Philip Gosse's son, Edmund Gosse . A literary Landscape. 1984 Martin Secker & Warburg, London . ISBN 0-436-52146-6. These two books combined, give the full story from both sides, inevitably drawing the reader to make their own conclusions about the truth of "Father and Son".

Emily Gosse . A life of faith and works. R. Boyd, 2004. Olivet Books, England . ISBN 0-9548283-0-5. From a different perspective, read the tracts and poems of Emily Gosse to gain an insight into the life and beliefs of the Gosse family.