Chapman, John (1821-1894)

John Chapman owned various publishing businesses and after meeting George Eliot through their mutual friends, the Brays, he convinced her to join him in editing the Westminster Review in 1851. She had already won his admiration through her translation of D.H. Strauss' Das Leben Jesu, which was published anonymously through one of Chapman's earlier forays into publication. In addition, Eliot had also published 'Poetry and Prose from the Notebook of an Eccentric' serially in the Coventry Herald and Observer.
Eliot boarded at Chapman's home when she first moved to London to work for the Review and may have had a brief affair with him, to the irritation of Chapman's wife and mistress. After a short period during which she returned to Coventry, Chapman convinced her to return to his London home, apparently promising that their relationship would henceforth be strictly professional.
A testament to their close friendship, Chapman was one of the few people Eliot told about her relationship with Lewes before leaving for Germany with him. In the years of George Eliot's rising fame, Chapman pushed to discover and then revealed to others that Mary Ann Evans was actually George Eliot, the secret author of Adam Bede. This betrayal drew the ire of Lewes and others who had gone to great lengths to protect Eliot's identity from a biased and harshly judgmental public.

George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org

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