About

Victorian Secrets is a small publishing house devoted to making the works of neglected Victorian writers available to the modern reader.

Although over 60,000 novels were published during the nineteenth century, only a very small number have remained in print. In some cases there’s a very good reason for that, but others have been undeservedly forgotten.

The elves at Victorian Secrets are busy sifting through the annals to find suitable treasures for publication. Please do contact them if you would like to bring their attention to a particular title. We do occasionally allow them to check their email.

In late-December 2011 we also started publishing new biographies of forgotten Victorian figures. First off the presses was David Waller’s The Perfect Man: The Muscular Life and Times of Eugen Sandow, which received much praise. Excited by this initial venture, we are now working on biographies of Jerome K. Jerome, Dame Clara Butt, and Madame Blavasky.

Apart from the elves, the people behind Victorian Secrets are:

Catherine Pope – Managing Director

Catherine is the founder of Victorian Secrets and is responsible for most aspects of its operation: typesetting, production, cover design, promotion, running the website, and being nice to editors.  She combines it with studying for a PhD on Florence Marryat (hence the outbreak of Marryat titles), and more gainful employment as a web developer.

Greta Depledge – Consulting Editor

Greta is a lecturer at the Faculty of Lifelong Learning, Birkbeck College and an associate lecturer for the Open University. She has also edited Her Father’s Name, The Dead Man’s Message, and The Blood of the Vampire for Victorian Secrets.  As an academic at large, Greta advises on the suitability of texts for publication.

Tanya Izzard – Company Secretary

Tanya manages the financial aspects of Victorian Secrets and looks after the important pieces of paper that Catherine would lose.  She also helps out with proof-reading and provides moral support when Photoshop doesn’t do what it’s supposed to.  Tanya is also studying for a (non-Victorian) PhD on ‘E M Delafield and the Feminist Middlebrow’.

You can also find out more about us on our frequently asked questions page.