# The Gothic Lineage, 1764–1910

> A sourced, interactive timeline of Gothic and Victorian fiction, 1764 to 1910: authors as lifelines, books as knots, influence as threads.

Canonical page: https://lineageofshadows.com/

An interactive, sourced timeline of Gothic and Victorian fiction: every author a lifeline, every book a dated knot, every date and fact cited.

The Gothic Lineage sets Gothic and Victorian novels and tales on one true-scale timeline, from The Castle of Otranto to The Phantom of the Opera. Each author is drawn as a thread from birth to death and each work as a knot at its first public appearance, so overlaps can be read at a glance. Every date, fact and quotation on the site carries a source id resolved in the bibliography; quotations are checked against Project Gutenberg texts.

## The timeline (28 works, 23 authors)

- 1764 · [The Castle of Otranto](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/castle-of-otranto/) by Horace Walpole. Novel. First appeared 24 Dec 1764 (volume, London).
- 1794 · [The Mysteries of Udolpho](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/mysteries-of-udolpho/) by Ann Radcliffe. Novel. First appeared 1794 (volume, G. G. and J. Robinson, London).
- 1796 · [The Monk](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-monk/) by Matthew Lewis. Novel. First appeared Mar 1796 (volume, John Bell, London (148 Oxford Street)).
- 1818 · [Frankenstein](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/frankenstein/) by Mary Shelley. Novel. First appeared Jan 1818 (volume, Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, London (Finsbury Square)).
- 1819 · [The Vampyre](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-vampyre/) by John Polidori. Short story. First appeared 1 Apr 1819 (story, The New Monthly Magazine, London).
- 1820 · [Melmoth the Wanderer](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/melmoth-the-wanderer/) by Charles Maturin. Novel. First appeared 1820 (volume, Archibald Constable and Company (Edinburgh) and Hurst, Robinson and Co. (London), Edinburgh and London).
- 1839 · [The Fall of the House of Usher](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/fall-of-the-house-of-usher/) by Edgar Allan Poe. Short story. First appeared Sep 1839 (story, Burton's Gentleman's Magazine).
- 1841 · [Murders in the Rue Morgue](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/murders-in-the-rue-morgue/) by Edgar Allan Poe. Short story. First appeared Apr 1841 (story, Graham's Magazine).
- 1845 · [Varney the Vampire](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/varney-the-vampire/) by James Malcolm Rymer or Thomas Peckett Prest. Novel. First appeared 1845–1847 (serial, Weekly penny parts (no periodical title), London).
- 1847 · [Jane Eyre](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/jane-eyre/) by Charlotte Brontë. Novel. First appeared Oct 1847 (volume, Smith, Elder & Co., London).
- 1847 · [Wuthering Heights](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/wuthering-heights/) by Emily Brontë. Novel. First appeared Dec 1847 (volume, Thomas Cautley Newby, London).
- 1859 · [The Woman in White](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-woman-in-white/) by Wilkie Collins. Novel. First appeared 26 Nov 1859 – 25 Aug 1860 (serial, All the Year Round, London).
- 1868 · [The Moonstone](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-moonstone/) by Wilkie Collins. Novel. First appeared 4 Jan 1868 – 8 Aug 1868 (serial, All the Year Round, London).
- 1871 · [Carmilla](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/carmilla/) by Sheridan Le Fanu. Novella. First appeared Dec 1871 – Mar 1872 (serial, The Dark Blue).
- 1886 · [Jekyll and Hyde](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/jekyll-and-hyde/) by Robert Louis Stevenson. Novella. First appeared 5 Jan 1886 (volume, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York).
- 1887 · [Sherlock Holmes](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/sherlock-holmes/) by Arthur Conan Doyle. Story canon. First appeared Nov 1887 (in one issue of Beeton's Christmas Annual, London); serial Sep 1914 – May 1915 in The Strand Magazine.
- 1890 · [Dorian Gray](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/) by Oscar Wilde. Novel. First appeared Jul 1890 (in one issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine (July 1890 issue), Philadelphia and London).
- 1890 · [The Great God Pan](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-great-god-pan/) by Arthur Machen. Novella. First appeared 13 Dec 1890 (in one issue of The Whirlwind).
- 1895 · [The Time Machine](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-time-machine/) by H. G. Wells. Novella. First appeared Jan–May 1895 (serial, The New Review, London).
- 1896 · [Island of Doctor Moreau](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/island-of-doctor-moreau/) by H. G. Wells. Novel. First appeared 1896 (volume, William Heinemann, London).
- 1897 · [The Beetle](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-beetle/) by Richard Marsh. Novel. First appeared 13 Mar 1897 – 19 Jun 1897 (serial, Answers, London).
- 1897 · [The War of the Worlds](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/war-of-the-worlds/) by H. G. Wells. Novel. First appeared Apr–Dec 1897 (serial, Pearson's Magazine, London).
- 1897 · [Dracula](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/dracula/) by Bram Stoker. Novel. First appeared 26 May 1897 (volume, Archibald Constable & Co., Westminster).
- 1897 · [The Invisible Man](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-invisible-man/) by H. G. Wells. Novel. First appeared 12 Jun 1897 – 7 Aug 1897 (serial, Pearson's Weekly, London).
- 1898 · [The Turn of the Screw](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/turn-of-the-screw/) by Henry James. Novella. First appeared 27 Jan 1898 (serial, Collier's Weekly, New York).
- 1899 · [Heart of Darkness](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/heart-of-darkness/) by Joseph Conrad. Novella. First appeared Feb–Apr 1899 (serial, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Edinburgh and London).
- 1901 · [The Hound of the Baskervilles](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/hound-of-the-baskervilles/) by Arthur Conan Doyle. Novel. First appeared Aug 1901 – Apr 1902 (serial, The Strand Magazine, London).
- 1909 · [The Phantom of the Opera](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/phantom-of-the-opera/) by Gaston Leroux. Novel. First appeared 23 Sep 1909 – 8 Jan 1910 (serial, Le Gaulois, Paris).

## The same moment: 1897

In 1897, The Beetle, The War of the Worlds, Dracula and The Invisible Man first appeared. Nine of its 23 writers were alive, from Henry James at 53 or 54 to Gaston Leroux at 28 or 29.

## Context events

- 14 Jul 1789: Storming of the Bastille. The fall of the royal prison in Paris launched the French Revolution. Sources: S-adj-bastille-britannica, S-adj-bastille-ta.
- Jan 1803: Aldini galvanises hanged George Forster (also Foster). Giovanni Aldini ran electrical experiments on an executed murderer's body at Newgate. Sources: S-ev-forster-wellcome, S-ev-forster-executedtoday.
- Jun 1816: Villa Diodati ghost-story contest. In a wet, ungenial summer, Byron's circle was kept indoors beside Lake Geneva and Byron proposed that each write a ghost story. Sources: S-frankenstein-1831-gutenberg, S-polidori-diary-gutenberg.
- 1827 – Jan 1829: Burke and Hare murders, Edinburgh. In 1827 and 1828 two men killed people in Edinburgh's West Port and sold the bodies to Dr Robert Knox's anatomy school. Burke was executed in January 1829. Sources: S-ev-burkehare-wellcome, S-ev-burkehare-theline.
- 29 Sep 1829: Metropolitan Police begin patrols. Peel's new force took to London's streets after the 1829 Act. Sources: S-ev-metpolice-ta, S-adj-metpolice-heath, S-adj-metpolice-historicuk, S-ev-metpolice-amdigital.
- 20 Jun 1837: Victoria becomes queen. An eighteen-year-old inherited the crown when William IV died. Sources: S-ev-victoria-gazette, S-ev-victoria-royaluk.
- 1 May 1851: Great Exhibition opens. The Crystal Palace displayed British industry and empire to six million visitors. Sources: S-ev-greatex-britannica, S-ev-greatex-rct.
- 1857: Matrimonial Causes Act creates divorce court. Divorce moved from Parliament to a civil court, operating from January 1858. Sources: S-ev-divorce-ta, S-ev-divorce-parliament.
- 1858: The Great Stink. In the summer of 1858 the sewage-choked Thames drove MPs from Westminster and forced funding for Bazalgette's sewers. Sources: S-ev-stink-londonmuseum, S-ev-stink-hansard.
- 24 Nov 1859: Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species. Darwin's book on evolution by natural selection was published. Sources: S-ev-origin-dcp, S-ev-origin-dcp-letter.
- 10 Jan 1863: First London Underground line opens. The Metropolitan Railway ran steam trains beneath the streets from Paddington to Farringdon. Sources: S-adj-underground-britannica.
- 15 Nov 1884 – 26 Feb 1885: Berlin Conference and Congo Free State. European powers set rules for carving up Africa and recognised Leopold II's Congo claim. Sources: S-ev-berlin-britannica, S-ev-berlin-history-state.
- 1885: Criminal Law Amendment Act (Labouchere). Section 11 criminalised any 'gross indecency' between men, in private too; it was later the law used against Wilde. Sources: S-ev-cla-parliament, S-ev-cla-ta.
- 31 Aug 1888 – 9 Nov 1888: Whitechapel murders. Five women were killed in London's East End, their bodies found between 31 August and 9 November 1888. Sources: S-ev-whitechapel-britannica, S-ev-whitechapel-londonmuseum.
- Apr 1895 – 25 May 1895: Oscar Wilde tried and imprisoned. After a hung jury, a second trial ended on 25 May with two years' hard labour. Sources: S-ev-wilde-ta-explore, S-ev-wilde-argus.
- 1895: Nordau's Degeneration in English. Max Nordau's attack on decadent art and artists, translated from the German, appeared in English in 1895 and had reached a fifth New York edition within the year. It casts modern art as a symptom of degeneration. Sources: S-adj-nordau-appleton.
- 8 Nov 1895: Röntgen discovers X-rays. Röntgen noticed a new penetrating radiation in Würzburg and reported it in late December, with news spreading in January 1896. Sources: S-ev-xray-nobel, S-ev-xray-pmc, S-ev-xray-sciencemuseum.
- 28 Dec 1895: Lumières' first paid film screening. In the basement of a Paris cafe the brothers showed short films to a paying crowd. Sources: S-adj-lumiere-mcgill, S-adj-lumiere-herodote, S-ev-lumiere-malaymail, S-ev-lumiere-hoi.
- 22 Jun 1897: Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Eleven colonial prime ministers attended the queen's thanksgiving procession through London. Sources: S-ev-jubilee-rct, S-ev-jubilee-royaluk.
- 22 Jan 1901: Victoria dies; Edward VII accedes. Victoria died at Osborne House after over sixty-three years on the throne, and her son became king the same day. Sources: S-ev-victoria-gazette, S-ev-edward-gazette, S-ev-victoria-royaluk.