Dublin University Magazine - Sheridan Le Fanu

Sheridan Le Fanu

Sheridan Le Fanu's first story appeared in the magazine in January 1835, the first of twelve instalments of the Purcell Papers, called The Ghost and the Bonesetter. His sister Catherine, who was sickly, also had articles published in the magazine a few years later (she died in 1841). In March and April 1843 he contributed Spalatro, the tale of an Italian bandit, probably influenced by the death of his sister. In 1846 Fanu's "The Watcher" was published in the magazine. Next to appear in the magazine were The Mysterious Lodger, anonymously, in 1850 and Ghost Stories of Chapelizod the following year.

In 1861 Le Fanu purchased the magazine from Cheyne Brady and assumed the editorship. From then until the end of the decade he wrote a number of stories, usually under his own name, serialised in the magazine and then appearing in book form.

When Le Fanu bought the magazine the main contributors were Percy Fitzgerald and L. J. Trotter, both of whom were versatile writers. The content was fiction, verse, geographical articles, folklore, literature - very little attention to politics, if any at all. Seven years later there are some new contributors: Patrick Kennedy, a Catholic bookseller who became a good friend of Fanu's, Fanu's daughter, Eleanor Frances, and Nina Cole, but the content remained much the same. His daughter joined Nina Cole, Annie Robertson and Rhoda Broughton (a niece) in having articles and then books published with his help.

Other authors whose works were published in the magazine included William Carleton, Mortimer Collins, Elliot Warburton, Thomas Meredith, David Masson, William Archer Butler, James Clarence Mangan and Samuel Ferguson.