The table below chronicles discrepancies encountered in three major MacDonald sources:

  • George MacDonald and His Wife (1924) by Greville MacDonald (abbreviated GMAW)
  • An Expression of Character: The Letters of George MacDonald (1994) by Glenn Sadler
  • George MacDonald (1987) by William Raeper

This list includes discrepancies among these three resources as well as discrepancies between these resources and outside resources. It is not comprehensive and will be expanded as additional discrepancies are found.

In most cases, the table does not clarify which facts are correct or incorrect; it merely notes inconsistencies.

GMAW Page #Greville MacDonaldSadler Page #Glenn SadlerRaeper page #William RaeperAdditional SourceAdditional Commentary
193“In 1851, the year my father went to Arundel, Scott was appointed Principal of Owens College”“In October 1850 Scott became the first principal of Owens College, later Manchester University” (Newell, DNB)
301n“Related in Carroll’s own words in his Life by Collingwood (p. 83). I was probably five years old, and the year 1861.”In ‘Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll,’ S.D. Collingwood places this incident in ch. 2 “1850-1860,” and implies that it took place in 1860.Dodgson’s guess at Greville’s age was wrong, regardless of if it was 1860 or 1861. Collingwood references one of the lost letters of C.L. Dodgson, so date verification isn’t possible.
302“he introduced Arthur Hughes, the Rosettis, and Maddox Browne to my parents”Spelling errors: Rossetti (two Ss), & Ford Madox Brown: one D in Madox, no E at end of Brown.
342“he asked my father’s opinion upon a story he had written and named Alice’s Adventures Underground, illustrated with pen-and-ink sketches by himself and minutely penned in printing characters.”Correct title is ‘Alice’s Adventures under Ground.’ (Greville also consistently calls the final edition ‘Alice in Wonderland’ instead of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’)
345“Portions of his letters help intimacy with these days. Than such a change of air and scene, nothing could do him more good.”
345-46Robert Falconer was born 15 July 1862. Greville says they moved from Tudor Lodge to Earles Terrace September 1862. Last line on 346 says RF born at Earles Terrace, but there is a note that says that line was removed (supporting idea that Greville got that wrong).
353“Maurice, with F.D. Maurice for his godfather, was born on February 7, 1864, and Bernard Powell, whose godmother was Mrs. La Touche, came on September 28, 1865.”
361“But Good Words for the Young was too good to succeed, in spite of contributors such as Charles Kingsley, William Gilbert, W. R. S. Ralston, and George MacDonald.”
367“For already was she carrying out Ruskin’s ideas among the dilapidated houses and tenants he had bought for her in Paradise Row, Marylebone. . .”
368“Good Words for the Young made its first appearance in 1869.”
411-12GMAW gives the date as “[February 25, 1871].”Sadler copies Greville’s exact information,
467“In 1874 also was published ‘England’s Antiphon,’ illustrated by Arthur Hughes.”
475Letter254Sadler copies letter from GMAW, but swaps the “from” and “to.” Greville says GMD wrote this letter to Louisa (in Nervi) from The Retreat. Sadler puts Palazzo Cattaneo, Nervi as the return address.Contextually, it makes more sense that George was away from home.
483Greville lists Mary’s birthday as April 27, 1878.281nSadler lists Mary’s birthday as April 28, 1878 in a footnote.
Kingsley letters in Sadler are misattributed (re: KJJ or AV?)
43“If Dr. Arnold’s plan could be carried out—which it never could till all men, or nearly all, are not mere Christians”“If Dr. Arnold’s plan could be carried out—which it never could till all men, or nearly all, are not merely Christians” (John McNeil transcript from Beinecke)
48Timeline says, “1862: MacDonald meets Charles Dodgson [Lewis Carroll]”Highly unlikely. Possibly referring to meeting in person? But that would contradict Greville’s “our relationship dates from Tackleway” and assumes GMD didn’t meet CD when he “claimed acquaintance” with Greville and Mary in 1860-61?
177-78Letter to Charles Dodgson, bracketed date [August 31, 1871]: GMD agreeing to introduce CD to Sir Noel Paton. Footnote (178) says “In a letter to MacDonald, dated May 16, 1868, Paton “describes in detail with great modesty and good sense his reasons for refusing to undertake the task of illustrating the sequel to Alice”How could Paton refuse to illustrate Through the Looking Glass 3 years before GMD agrees to introduce CD to GMD? (TtLG published Dec. 1871—it’s absurd to think Dodgson would have been looking for an illustrator 4 months before publication, right? But how could Sadler write 1871 and in the same letter write 1868??)
264“When [Mary] was about ten he frequently took her to the theater in London.”Raeper says CD took Lily and Mary to the Olympic Theatre to see the Terrys.The Victorian Web says Kate Terry was at the Olympic from 1865-1866, which would put Mary at 12-13.
170“Dodgson [. . .] first met two of the MacDonald children, Greville and Mary, at the studio of Alexander Munro, the sculptor, in London.”This event occurred in 1861. Dodgson’s own journals say of this event, “I claimed their acquaintance,” which indicates he already knew them, and Greville says the MacDonald-Dodgson friendship dated “from the days of Tackleway,” placing their real first meeting likely between 1857-59.
173Quote from Greville: “I remember that first reading well, and also my braggart avowal that I wished there were 60,000 volumes of it.”Raeper gives this citation as GMAW 342, which is the page where Greville describes this incident in GMAW. But this actual quote comes from Reminiscences of a Specialist, page 15.
234“She [Octavia Hill] was desperately in need of a holiday and, partly at Ruskin’s suggestion, was delighted to join the MacDonalds in their jaunt to Bude in North Devon. Devon was not quite Scotland. . .”Bude is in north Cornwall, not Devon. I haven’t looked far, but I don’t immediately see any record of the border shifting after the 1860s (to give plausibility to Raeper saying it was in Devon).
264-65Raeper copies Ruskin’s letter from 24 June 1868, when Ruskin went home after watching a play without having eaten anything. This is in direct context of the Boat Races, where—Raeper says—“there was no doubt that the main attraction of the day was the play – even more so than the race.”The 1868 boat race took place on 4 April 1868 (and traditionally always in March or April). In GMAW, Greville gives completely different context for that letter to Ruskin: the “annual entertainments given to Octavia Hill’s poor tenantry [. . .]” (GMAW 380-81). This is an unusual situation where it seems to me that Raeper is wrong, and Greville’s account is more likely??
282 & note 26 on 410Talking about Ruskin, “He and MacDonald and Maria La Touche had a number of tentative reunions in the 1880s, about ten years after Rose’s death, and though they met as friends, with affection and some regret, the shadow of the dead girl lay forever between them.” “Maria La Touche visited the MacDonalds at Bordighera in Italy in 1885. MacDonald sent Ruskin a copy of his novel What’s Mine’s Mine in 1886. GMD to Ruskin, 23 June 1886: ‘You think my highlanders impossible: they do not seem so to me; my own brothers who died both before thirty, were in my mind as I wrote. They were capable of all I say.’ MacDonald also sent Ruskin a copy of A Threefold Cord on 20 July 1886.”This feels very misleading. Raeper’s statement suggests that the three of them got together. Does sending a book with a note count as a “tentative reunion”? Also, there is no mention of La Touche and Ruskin ever interacting again, which is (I would argue) the heavy implication of his statement. BUT I’ve just found pp. 25-26 of The Letters of a Noblewoman personal recounting by Margaret Ferrier Young which references a purportedly relatively congenial meeting between Ruskin and La Touch in 1884ish.
GMAW Page #Greville MacDonaldSadler Page #Glenn SadlerRaeper page #William RaeperAdditional SourceAdditional Commentary