As Gissing's
fame grew, so did his association with a number of well-known figures in the
journalistic and literary worlds, notably Thomas Hardy, J. M. Barrie, Edmund
Gosse, and Edward Clodd.
Edward Clodd was well known for hosting parties at his
house. The 'Lotus' was Clodd's boat. In a letter to Clara Collet dated 6 June
1895, Gissing wrote; "I was inveigled into writing certain vers d'occasion
on the last day of our holiday. Seven copies were made, & each signed by
all of us."
"The "Lotus" on a sunny
reach,
And friends aboard her, frankly human,
Chatting o'er all that time can teach
of heaven and earth , of man and woman.
An eddy in the silent flow
of days and years that bear us - whither?
We know not, but 'tis well to know
We spent this sunny day together.
G.G.
Aldeburgh, Whitsuntide, 1895
This verse, though written by Gissing, is a copy in the
hand of Edward Clodd, banker, popular anthropologist and friend of Gissing. The
short verse is initialled G.G. and dated at Aldeburgh, Whitsuntide. The
MS is signed by L.F. Austin, George Gissing, Grant Allen, George Whale, Clement
Shorter, Benjamin Richardson and Edward Clodd.
Although Gissing was never one to
promote his own literary achievements, others were. Frederic Harrison
(1831-1923), the positivist and author, thought very highly of Gissing and had
engaged him as a tutor to his two elder sons in 1880.
He writes "I have watched your growing success and
reputation - which, if it has not proved very lucrative, is solid and
increasing. You are undoubtedly reckoned in the first line of the higher order
of living romancers, & I do not doubt that your fuller recognition is to
come... They [his sons] will never forget you, but look back on your teaching
with gratitude."
Gissing and H. G. Wells first met on 25
November 1896, at the Omar Khayyám Club dinner at Frascati's, Oxford Street. In
this first letter of invitation from Wells to Gissing, Wells writes
"If Mr. George Gissing can tear himself from the
pleasant Epsom home at any time he will find a fervent admirer in a
charming house (a little defective as to the roof & water pipes) &
picturesque (if insanitary) surroundings at Worcester Park...he [Gissing] will
be fed & given drink, tea, lemonade, or alcoholic fluids as he may prefer,
& he will be conversed with in a genial but respectful tone. But as Mr.
H.G. Wells rarely washes and is commonly unshaven and dirty about the cuffs, it
will be refined behaviour on the part of Mr. Geo. Gissing if he abstains from
any aggressive neatness of costume. (There is some accommodation for bicycles).
Contains a note in Gissing's hand, "The first letter I received from H.G.
Wells." They maintained their friendship until Gissing's death in
1903.
During 1897, Gissing travelled to Italy,
where he wrote his first critical work Charles Dickens: a Critical Study, a
book which was published a year later in 1898 and remains an authoritative and
important study on Dickens. Gissing had been an attentive reader of
Dickens since his childhood.
Later that year, he travelled south, recording
experiences that became his travel book By the Ionian Sea (1901), and
collecting material for his long-planned sixth-century historical romance,
Veranilda, which was published posthumously in 1904
Source: The University of Manchester