The Woman in White Trivia

Wilkie Collins was really good friends with Charles Dickens. Collins wrote extensively for Dickens's periodical publications and served as an editor of his journal All the Year Round. The two even became relatives; Collins's younger brother married Dickens's daughter Kate in 1860. (Source.)

The Woman in White first appeared in Dickens's journal All the Year Round on November 26, 1859, which also happened to be the date of the final installment of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. In fact, the last lines of A Tale of Two Cities were on the page immediately preceding the opening of The Woman in White. Talk about a contrast. (Source.) 

Collins had to reissue The Woman in White in 1861 to correct some errors, namely the book's faulty timeline. Major "whoops" there, given how important the date of Laura's arrival in London is to the plot. But the errors aren't so surprising. After all, Collins was originally writing this novel for serial publication over the course of a year, and it's not like he could quickly fact-check what he'd previously written on a computer. (Source.)   

The Woman in White turned into a veritable media frenzy during its publication. It spawned a whole line of products (including perfume and bonnets), inspired some dances, and encouraged lots of people to name their babies Walter. It did not, however, start an all-white dressing craze. Pity, really. (Source.) 

Collins got fan mail from people wanting to know who the real-life inspirations were for Walter, Marian, and Laura so they could propose marriage. See, weird fixations on fictional characters have been around forever. (Source.) 

The Woman in White has never been out of print since it first appeared in serial form in 1859. (Source.) 

W.S. Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, wrote a musical parody of The Woman in White called A Sensation (1871). (Source.)