It Is Never Too Late to Mend was published by Richard Bentley in 1856 in three volumes, and it made Reade famous. The novel intertwines two stories: one set in an English prison, the other in the Australian goldfields, connected by the character of George Fielding, a young farmer who emigrates to Australia after being ruined by a dishonest moneylender, and his friend Thomas Robinson, a reformed thief.
The prison sections are the heart of the book and the source of its power. Reade had spent months researching conditions in English prisons, reading official reports, visiting jails, and collecting testimony from former inmates. His portrait of the sadistic governor Hawes — who uses the crank, the shot drill, solitary confinement, and starvation as instruments of discipline — was based on documented cases, and the novel’s graphic descriptions of prison brutality caused a sensation. The chaplain Eden, who opposes Hawes and tries to reform the prisoners through kindness and education, represents the humanitarian position that Reade championed.
The Australian sections provide the adventure component: gold mining, bushrangers, frontier justice, and the rough democracy of the diggings. Reade’s research into Australian conditions was as thorough as his prison research — he drew on published accounts, emigrants’ letters, and official reports — and the goldfield scenes have a vivid authenticity.
Collecting It Is Never Too Late to Mend
First edition (Richard Bentley, London, 1856): Three volumes, cloth. A significant Victorian first.
Market values:
- First edition, three volumes: $200–$600
- Single-volume editions: $15–$40