Oscar Wilde, Edward Heron-Allen, and the Palmistry Craze of the 1880s

Oscar Wilde's "Lord Arthur Savile's Crime: A Story of Cheiromancy" (1887) has been praised as a parody of a murder mystery.¹ It could also be called a black comedy about the importance of palm readers. Wilde wrote this story when palmistry was a craze and Edward Heron-Allen, friend to Wilde, was a celebrated scholar-practitioner of the ancient science. He popularized palmistry as a contemporary science, presented a methodology for reading palms, used a specialized vocabulary, and addressed the duties and dangers of being a palm reader. A handful of scholars have observed that Heron-Allen influenced Wilde's story about palmistry.² However, the observation has only been made in passing, often reduced to a footnote. This article explores social history and analyzes elements from Wilde's story more thoroughly to advance the claim that Heron-Allen indeed influenced Wilde.

When "Lord Arthur Savile's Crime: A Story of Cheiromancy" first appeared in May 1887, palmistry was all the rage. On both sides of the Atlantic men and women gazed at the lines of their hands and searched for clues about the future. Heron-Allen single-handedly, not to resist the obvious pun, ignited this fad. According to Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper (Christmas Number, 1886), the rebirth of the ancient subject of palmistry was due to Heron-Allen: "The science of palmistry, or making people believe you can read their lives in the lines of their hands, is of venerable antiquity; but the clever accomplishments of its young English professor, Mr. Ed. Heron-Allen, have revived it into a kind of fashionable craze."³ The New York Times declared: "It is through him and his books that all London society has so suddenly taken up this 'fad,' so that wherever you go young ladies demand to see what kind of a line of life your hand reveals and if its wrinkles mask some ghastly secret."⁴

Who was Edward Heron-Allen (Fig. 1)? Born in England on 17 December 1861, he died on 26 March 1943, a man of means who practiced as a solicitor in Soho, London, until he retired from the law on his fiftieth birthday. Known for his idiosyncrasy of never wearing a color of any kind, he nonetheless lived a kaleidoscopic life. Heron-Allen made significant contributions to many diverse subjects. Who's Who documents his wide-ranging scholarly pursuits: "Persian Literature; Marine Zoology; Meteorology; Heraldry; Bibliography; Occasional Essays and Scientific Romances; Auricula and Asparagus Culture."⁵ He published books on these subjects and many others, including violin making, Buddhism, the Egyptian Nefer sign, a purple sapphire (written under the pseudonym of Christopher Blayre), a "cheetah girl" (a slim volume, privately printed, about the offspring of a woman and a cheetah), and of course palmistry. He was an early champion of the Boy Scout movement, and during World War I was known as "The Black Commissioner," receiving special permission from General Baden-Powell, Chief Scout, to wear black from hat to puttees. Heron-Allen joined the staff of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (MI7b) at the War Office in May 1918, where he dealt specifically with aerial propaganda. In 1919, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society for his work on foraminifera (microscopic marine organisms).

Heron-Allen's contributions to the field of palmistry are rich and varied. He provided a historical overview of the subject and a practical handbook. In addition to writing books, he conducted private séances and lectured. He preferred to use three ancient terms, all starting with the Greek word cheiro, which means "hand": cheiromancy (divining the future by looking at the lines of the hand), cheirognomy (the shape the hand), and cheirosophy (hand wisdom or knowledge).⁶ Cheiromancy is in fact an ancient subject discussed by classical authors. Aristotle recognized the important functions of the hand, his "History of Animals" describing various parts of the hand and observing lines to predict longevity.⁷ An ancient axiom informs all studies of cheiromancy: "Know Thyself."

Heron-Allen's first palmistry book was published in 1883, Cheiromancy: or...