The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tom Brown at Oxford, by Thomas Hughes

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Tom Brown at Oxford

Author: Thomas Hughes

Release Date: October 9, 2008 [EBook #26851] [Last updated: September 21, 2013]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM BROWN AT OXFORD ***

Produced by Robert E. Reilly

Tom Brown at Oxford

Thomas Hughes (1822-96)

Publishing history

First serialized ending in circa 1861 in MacMillan's Magazine (mentioned by the author in his preface, and Chapter 28 contains the author's footnote indicating that at least part of this chapter was not written earlier than 1859)

First published in 3 volume book form 1861 by Cambridge, London
(British Library)

2nd edition published 1861 by MacMillan & Co., Cambridge & London (British Library)

Published 1861 by Ticknor & Fields, Boston (Library of Congress)

May have been serialized by Ticknor & Fields in 1859 (parts offered on Amazon.com by an antique bookseller)

Published 1863 by Ticknor & Fields, Boston (Library of Congress)

Published 1865 by MacMillan & Co. (British Library)

Published 1870 by Harper Bros., New York (British Library)

Published 1871 by Harper Bros., New York (Library of Congress &
British Library)

Published 1879 by unknown, New York (Library of Congress)

Published 1881 by MacMillan & Co., New York (Library of Congress)

French translation published 1881 in Paris with added name
Girardin, Jules Marie Alfred who is possibly the translator(?)
(British Library)

Published circa 1888-92 by John W. Lovell, New York (Ebook transcriber's scanned copy)

Published 1888 by Porter & Coates, Philadelphia (Ebook transcriber's proofreading copy)

Published 1889 by MacMillan, London & New York (Library of
Congress)

Published 1890 by Lovell, Coryell & Co., New York (Library of
Congress)

Published 1905 in two volumes with Tom Brown's School Days
(British Library)

Published 1914 by T. Nelson & Sons (British Library)

Published 1920 by S.W. Partridge & Co., London (British Library)

Published 2004 as part of a five volume set entitled Victorian
Novels of Oxbridge Life, Christopher Stray editor, Thoemmes,
Bristol (British Library)

* * * * *

Scanned Book, Title Page recto

TOM BROWN AT OXFORD
By the Author of "Tom Brown's School Days"
New Edition
With Illustrations by Sydney P. Hall

New York John W. Lovell Company 150 Worth Street, Corner Mission Place

(Transcriber's Notes: Notice the author's name does not appear on the title page or on the cover, and in fact it is only given as T. Hughes at the end of his preface and nowhere else. Sydney Hall, 1842-1922, did portraits, newspaper and magazine illustrations, but oddly enough there are none to be found in the Lovell produced book, though the Porter & Coates edition has one unattributed woodcut)

Verso

Printed and Bound by
Donohue & Henneberry
Chicago

(Transcriber's Note: Donahue & Henneberry were in business 1871-99 doing book binding and printing for the cheap book trade at various addresses in Chicago's business district known as the Loop, mostly on Dearborn Street.)

* * * * *

Proofreading book Title Page recto

TOM BROWN AT OXFORD
By
Thomas Hughes
Author of "Tom Brown's School Days"

Philadelphia
Porter & Coates

(Transcriber's Note: the date 1888 is penciled in here on this page by a previous owner)

(Transcriber's Note: nothing on the verso, and one unsigned woodcut illustration opposite the recto)

* * * * *

Transcriber's Note:

A Short Summary, With Some Explanations of Concepts Presented by
Hughes, but Not Well Defined by Him, Being Apparently Well
Understood in His Day, but With Which Modern Readers May be
Unfamiliar.

This is the sequel to Hughes' more successful novel Tom Brown's School Days, which told about Tom at the Rugby School from the age of 11 to 16. Now Tom is at Oxford University for a three year program of study, in which he attends class lectures and does independent reading with a tutor. A student in residence at Oxford is said to be "up" or have "come up", and one who leaves is said to have gone "down".

The author weaves a picture of life at Oxford University in the 1840s, where he himself was at that time, at Oriel College, where he excelled in sports rather than academics. The University is made up of a number of separate colleges, and the students form friendships within and develop a loyalty to their own college. Tom's college, St. Ambrose, is fictional. The study programs available to the students are intended to prepare them for the legal, ecclesiastical, medical and educational professions. Students who do poorly might be expected to enter the diplomatic corps or the army or navy, though a son of the aristocracy might be thrust into a minor church role. To enter into business or manufacturing engineering or the research sciences would require an inheritance or family connection.

Latin was still taught because the best literature available to them was still the ancient Greek and Roman poets and philosophers, and the legal and medical professions still used it extensively, though the ecclesiastical and educational fields had largely abandoned it.

Tom finds that there is a social barrier between the wealthy students and the students that are there on the equivalent of a modern academic scholarship, or have to work as a graduate student tutor to earn their stipend. There were no sports scholarships at this time, though the author hints vaguely at one point that someday the idea could be explored.

There were no female students at this time. Tom becomes involved with a local barmaid. The barmaid being of a different social class than Tom, this relationship causes problems for both of them, and it is important for the modern reader to realize that such social distinctions were very real and inflexible in those days. The working class referred to the educated class as their "betters", meaning better educated and entitled to better respect, regardless of whether it was earned or deserved.

There were no dormitories and self-serve cafeterias as with modern colleges, instead meals were served in a dining hall by scouts, and each student gets what