text:
Omar Little
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
See also: Omar Little and associates
Omar Little
First appearance
"The Buys" (episode 1.03)
Last appearance
"Clarifications" (episode 5.08)
Created by
David Simon
Portrayed by
Michael K. Williams
Information
Gender
Male
Family
Josephine (grandmother)
Anthony "No Heart" Little (brother)
Significant other(s)
Brandon Wright (season 1)
Dante (seasons 2 and 3)
Renaldo (seasons 4 and 5)
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama series The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. He is a notorious Baltimore stick-up man, frequently robbing street-level drug dealers. He is legendary around Baltimore for his characteristic duster under which he hides his shotgun, large caliber handgun and bulletproof vest, as well as for his facial scar, and his habit of hauntingly whistling "The Farmer in the Dell" when stalking the streets. When people see or hear him approaching, they run away and will often warn others by shouting "Omar comin'!" Omar has a strict moral code, which involves refusal to harm innocent people or use profanity, setting him apart from other street-level characters. Also his homosexuality and privately tender nature are in obvious contrast with typical notions of masculinity attached to violent criminals. He also cares for his grandmother and is seen escorting her to church on Sunday mornings.
Central throughout Omar's trajectory is his steady descent into intractable conflict with both the Barksdale and Stanfield organizations, initiated by his robberies. Omar is also noted for his close relationships with his partners, and with his guardian and ad hoc banker Butchie. The character is based on Baltimore area robber and hitman Donnie Andrews.[1] In "Clarifications", it is stated that Omar is 34 years old. Omar was orphaned at a young age, and raised by his grandmother Josephine, who is largely responsible for his strict moral code, despite his criminal occupation. He attended Edmondson High School in West Baltimore, a few years behind Bunk Moreland.
For more than ten years, Omar has made his living holding up drug dealers, and staying alive "one day at a time". He repeatedly demonstrates exceptional skill at surveillance and as a stick-up man and shooter, further contributing to his feared status as an efficient professional. Omar is highly intelligent and cunning, consistently executing well-laid plans, anticipating moves, and outsmarting his adversaries with effective strategic planning. He has a brother, "No Heart" Anthony, who was incarcerated for a jewelry store robbery in the early 1990s.
Contents
[hide]
1 Season One
2 Season Two
3 Season Three
4 Season Four
5 Season Five
6 Prequels
7 Production
7.1 Casting
7.2 Origins
8 Reception
9 References
Season One[edit]
After Omar, his boyfriend Brandon, and John Bailey rob a stash house, Avon Barksdale puts out a contract on the trio (doubling the reward once he discovers Omar is gay). Bailey is killed, and Brandon is tortured, mutilated, and killed for keeping silent on Omar's whereabouts. He is then left in a public place so as to be seen and quickly found. In response, Omar, emotionally distraught, cooperates with Detectives Jimmy McNulty and Bunk Moreland, providing key information leading to the arrest of Barksdale's soldier Bird, and agrees to be a witness against him at his trial (though it is unlikely that Omar was an actual witness to the crime). While meeting with the police, he observes information which he uses to exact further revenge against the Barksdale Organization, killing Stinkum and wounding Wee-Bey Brice. McNulty and Bunk are forced to mislead Cole, the detective assigned to Stinkum's murder, in order to protect Omar.
Omar even gets a shot at Avon himself, by giving stolen drugs to Eastside drug kingpin Proposition Joe for Avon's pager number. He tails Avon to Orlando's strip club, pages him and waits for him to emerge into the open. Avon narrowly escapes when Wee-Bey arrives and shoots Omar in the shoulder. Afterward, Stringer Bell offers Omar a truce, planning to kill him when he relaxes his guard. Omar (who has been wired up by McNulty for the meeting) realizes Stringer's duplicity and leaves town, temporarily relocating to New York City. In the last scene of the first season, he is seen robbing a drug dealer in the Bronx, merely saying that it's "all in the game, yo. All in the game."
Season Two[edit]
Omar returns to Baltimore with a new boyfriend, Dante. He quickly returns to his old business, targeting the Barksdales exclusively, and connects with Tosha and Kimmy, stick-up artists who join his crew.
Omar provides false testimony against Bird in open court as he had promised to do. Unabashed and unapologetic about who he is, he wins over the jury with his wit; when the Barksdales' shady attorney Maurice Levy attempts to discredit him by calling him a parasite who thrives on the drug trade, Omar fires back that Levy is essentially the same thing. In the end, the jury believes Omar's testimony, and Bird is sent to prison for life. Assistant State's Attorney Ilene Nathan promises Omar a favor as a thank you for his testimony. While waiting to be called to the witness stand, Omar helps the bailiff with a crossword puzzle clue, explaining that the Greek god of war is called Ares. He mentions that he was fascinated by Greek mythology in middle school.
Around this time, as Stringer Bell starts making business decisions on his own for the Barksdale operation, Avon hires Brother Mouzone from New York as new muscle. With the threat to his secret dealings apparent, Stringer arranges a meeting with Omar and tells him that Mouzone was the one who had tortured and killed Brandon. Omar finds Mouzone and shoots him once, but when Mouzone reveals that Omar had been given false information, Omar realizes he has been duped and lets Mouzone live, even calling the paramedics for him. He redirects his murderous intent at Stringer himself.[2][3]
Season Three[edit]
Omar and his crew continued robbing the Barksdale stashing houses, even though they are more difficult and risky than other potential targets. Tosha is killed during one such raid on a Barksdale house, and Omar contemplates giving up his war against the Barksdale organization. Bunk, investigating the deaths, makes Omar feel further guilt over the incident, giving a speech about how the neighborhood used to be closer-knit and with less violence. "And now all we got are bodies. And predatory motherfuckers like you." Bunk mentions that when he went to the scene he found children arguing about whose turn it was "to be Omar." As a way of making amends with Bunk, Omar arranges the recovery of Kenneth Dozerman's service pistol, which Bunk had been tasked with finding.
Under orders from Stringer Bell, two of Avon's soldiers open fire on Omar while he is taking his grandmother to church. Omar forces her into a taxi, but she loses her best hat in the gunfire. This blatant violation of the longstanding "Sunday truce" between rival gangs, combined with the risk Omar's grandmother was put in during the incident, leads Omar to rededicate himself to war with the Barksdales, though Kimmy opts out. Avon, outraged at Stringer, forces the men responsible for the attack to buy Omar's grandmother a new hat.
Meanwhile, Brother Mouzone captures Dante, and forces him to reveal Omar's hiding place. Dante gives in, in contrast with Brandon, who never cracked. Mouzone suggests an alliance against Stringer. Together, Omar and Mouzone ambush Stringer during a meeting with Andy Krawczyk and murder him. Brother Mouzone sets Dante free and returns to New York, while Omar is tasked with disposing of Mouzone's gun, as well as the shotgun that killed Stringer. Both weapons are later thrown into the harbor. Omar is shown to be suspicious of the severity of Dante's injuries and his release by Mouzone is the last time he is seen; it is implied that Omar left him for giving him up so easily.
Season Four[edit]
Omar feels dissatisfied with how easy work has become after the collapse of the Barksdale organization and worries that pursuing easy thefts would make him soft, ("How you expect to run with the wolves come night when you spend all day sparring with the puppies") so he and new boyfriend Renaldo pull a robbery of one of Marlo Stanfield's dealers, Old Face Andre, who runs a westside corner convenience store that was actually a drug front. At Proposition Joe's suggestion, they rob a poker game, not knowing that Marlo Stanfield is participating there. While committing the robbery, Omar makes a point to take a large ring from Marlo, who had earlier taken the same ring from Old Face Andre as a debt for money owed. Though Marlo vows revenge, his right-hand man Chris Partlow convinces him to take a subtler approach. Chris kills a deliverywoman during a staged robbery at Old Face Andre's store and instructs Andre to call the police and falsely implicate Omar as the culprit. Omar is subsequently jailed. During the arrest, he is robbed by Officer Eddie Walker, who takes the ring that Omar had stolen from Marlo. Before Omar is taken away in a police van, he is questioned by McNulty, who finds it out of character for Omar to have murdered an ordinary citizen not involved in the drug trade. While imprisoned in Baltimore City's Central Booking, Omar is recognized by other inmates he'd previously robbed, a number of whom want to kill him for the bounty that had been placed on his head. In retaliation for an attempt on his life, he brutally stabs an adversary in the rectum as a means of warning the other inmates not to attack him.
Omar reaches out to Bunk for help. Omar convinces Bunk that he would never kill a "citizen". After having Omar transferred to a safer prison in Harford County (calling in the favor from Ilene Nathan), Bunk and Vernon Holley revisit the crime scene and get Old Face Andre to recant his original statement. The charge against Omar is dropped and Bunk transports him out of Harford County with a warning: no more murders of anyone. Bunk threatens to bring up the unsolved murders at Omar's hands that he knew about, such as Stringer Bell, Stinkum, and Tosha if Omar was caught killing anyone else.
Omar learns that Marlo had framed him and was the one he had robbed at the card game. Omar demands that Proposition Joe help him rob Marlo, and Joe agrees to alert Omar when Joe's soldier Cheese is dropping off Marlo's package. Omar orchestrates an elaborate and successful hijacking of Joe's entire shipment of heroin as it enters port. As he had no wish to sell drugs on the street, he sells the heroin back to Proposition Joe. Although the heist makes Omar a lot of money, it has all of the drug kingpins ready to put a contract on his head.
Season Five[edit]
After the heist Omar and Renaldo move to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Marlo Stanfield has Butchie tortured and executed while failing to learn where Omar is hiding.[4] Word reaches Omar and he returns to Baltimore to punish those responsible. Omar ambushes Slim Charles and confronts him. Omar knows that Slim Charles' employer "Proposition Joe" Stewart knew of his connection to Butchie and believes Proposition Joe may have been responsible. Slim Charles is able to convince Omar of Proposition Joe's innocence and Omar targets Stanfield. Along with Butchie's friend Donnie, Omar decides to go after Stanfield's people as Stanfield himself has gone into hiding and Omar targets Monk.[4] Stanfield's soldiers spot Omar outside Monk's apartment and bait Omar and Donnie into an ambush. Once inside they are attacked by Chris Partlow, Snoop, Michael Lee, and O-Dog. During the shootout, O-Dog is wounded in the leg and Donnie killed by a gunshot to the head. Out of bullets, Omar is forced to jump from the fourth-story window, breaking his leg in the process.
He continues his mission around the city in search of Marlo, limping and supporting his weight on a makeshift crutch improvised from a broom. He terrorizes and robs many of Marlo's corners and shoots or kills several members of Stanfield's crew including Savino Bratton. Instead of keeping the drugs or money for himself, he destroys them each time to show that his motive is vengeance, not profit. At the scene of every action, Omar calls out loudly for Marlo to meet him on the streets.
Kenard follows Omar into a Korean-owned convenience store. Omar, seeing the small boy, pays no attention to him but Kenard shoots Omar in the side of the head, killing him. This is a reference to some of the foreshadowing in Season 3 when Kenard is witnessed by Bunk imitating Omar at the Barksdale stash house shootout. News of Omar's death is received with mild amusement and indifference. Bunk shows some sympathy, which he brushes aside when he learns Omar was once again "on the hunt". McNulty and Lester Freamon react with mere curious interest and instead focus on a list of names found on Omar's body. The newspaper makes no mention of the incident for lack of printing space.
An employee at the morgue believes the identification tag on Omar's body has been switched with that of a white male on the neighboring table and swaps the tags. In the series finale, Michael Lee is seen wielding a shotgun, carrying on with Omar's legacy, while robbing Vinson and shooting him in the leg.
Prequels[edit]
A brief prequel released before season five and on the season five DVD set features a young Omar, his brother Anthony, and an unidentified older boy planning and executing a robbery of a man at a bus stop in 1985 Baltimore. Even as a young boy, Omar shows remarkable intelligence, morality, and force of character by first questioning the value of robbing the man and then compelling the unidentified older boy (at gunpoint) to return the money. Anthony expresses tired amusement at Omar's actions, demonstrating his familiarity with his brother's forceful personality. Omar is shown with his characteristic facial scar, indicating that he somehow received it as a child.
At the end of this segment, the unidentified boy tells Anthony that his brother is not "cut out" for their line of work, an ironic foreshadowing of what would happen to Anthony some years later. After bungling a jewelry store heist, Anthony was pursued by police. Apparently sensing he was about to be caught, and unwilling to do hard time, Anthony put a gun to his chest and pulled the trigger. He survives the suicide attempt, however; only receiving a contact wound. After this incident, he earned the derisive nickname "No Heart" Anthony.
Production[edit]
Casting[edit]
Michael K. Williams received the part of Omar after only a single audition. Williams has stated that he pursued the role because he felt it would make him stand out from other African Americans from Brooklyn with acting talent because of its contradictory nature.[5]
Williams expressed that his relationship with and love of off-broadway New York theatres, such as the National Black Theater in Harlem gave him the skill set needed for his portrayal of Omar; in particular using the Meisner technique to create Omar from the ground up, immersing himself by researching details of inner city Baltimore. The role presented a particular challenge as it was the first major recurring television character he had played.[6]
Origins[edit]
David Simon has said that Omar is based on Shorty Boyd, Donnie Andrews, Ferdinand Harvin, Billy Outlaw and Anthony Hollie, Baltimore stickup men between the 1980s and early 2000s who robbed drug dealers.[7] Donnie Andrews later reformed, got married and helped troubled youths.[8] In season 4 of The Wire he plays one of the two men Butchie sends to help Omar in prison, in the episodes "Margin of Error" and "Unto Others" and Omar later meets up with him at Blind Butchie's in "That's Got His Own" while planning the big drug robbery. Andrews died at age 58 in New York City on December 13, 2012 after suffering an aortic dissection.[9]
Omar admits to an interest in Greek mythology in the season two episode "All Prologue".[10] Omar's nascent love of Greek mythology has some truth in real life; according to a passage The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, a non-fiction book written by David Simon and Ed Burns, children in Baltimore schools pay little attention to most classes and stories (as seen in the fourth season of The Wire), but are often interested by and appreciative of Greek mythology.[11]
An earlier version of the Omar Little character appears in a season 3 episode of NYPD Blue entitled "Hollie and the Blowfish". The episode, written by future-Wire creator David Simon, featured a character named Ferdinand Hollie, who, like Omar, was a stickup artist who made his living boldly and brazenly robbing (often-powerful) drug-dealers, but still lived his life by a code of honor, and was willing to cooperate with the police. Unlike Omar, Hollie's thefts were largely in support of his own drug addiction, and he is infected by HIV. No mention is made of Hollie's sexual orientation, but a reference is made of a deceased running partner who has died of AIDS. Hollie is killed by the end of the episode, and like Omar, is mourned by police who alternately worked with him and pursued him, with Detective Bobby Simone, at the end of the episode, beating up the detective who leaked the information that got Hollie killed.
Hollie shares his first name with Ferdinand Harvin, and his last name with Anthony Hollie, two real-life Baltimore stickup men that Simon has cited as inspirational sources for Omar Little.
Reception[edit]
For his portrayal of Omar, Michael K. Williams was named by USA Today as one of ten reasons they still love television. The character was praised for his uniqueness in the stale landscape of TV crime dramas and for the wit and humor that Williams brought to the portrayal.[12] Other commentators applauded the many dimensions of the character with his appearances in various story lines as "...a sawed-off shotgun toting terror, a vulnerable jailbird whose life lies in the balance, and a double crossing mastermind who outsmarts Baltimore's biggest drug dealers time and time again."[6] Omar was named as one of the first season's richest characters, not unlike the Robin Hood of Baltimore's west side projects, although his contradictory nature was questioned as a little too strange.[13] The Baltimore City Paper named the character one of their top ten reasons not to cancel the show and called him "arguably the show's single greatest achievement."[14] Little appeared in Comcast's list of TV's Most Intriguing Characters, with the website stating that "no character is more enigmatic and shocking than Omar".[15]
Williams has stated that he feels that the character is well liked because of his honesty, lack of materialism, individuality and his adherence to his strict code.[5] In January 2008 then-presidential candidate Barack Obama told the Las Vegas Sun that Omar was his favorite character on The Wire (which, in turn, is his favorite television show), adding, "That's not an endorsement. He's not my favorite person, but he's a fascinating character."[16]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Abramovitch, Seth (2012-12-15). "Reformed Hitman Who Inspired 'The Wire's' Omar Dies at 58". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2014-03-08. More than one of |website= and |work= specified (help)
Jump up ^ "Character profile - Omar". HBO. 2004.
Jump up ^ Dan Kois (2004). "Everything you were afraid to ask about "The Wire"". Salon.com.
^ Jump up to: a b Dan Attias (director); Ed Burns (story and teleplay), David Simon (story) (2008-01-27). "Transitions". The Wire. Season 5. Episode 4. HBO.
^ Jump up to: a b Joel Murphy (2005). "One on one with... Michael K. Williams". Hobo Trashcan. Retrieved 2006-07-21.
^ Jump up to: a b Francesca Djerejian (2008). "Michael K. Williams: Omar Never Scares". Hip Hop DX. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
Jump up ^ Richard Vine (2005). "Totally Wired". London: The Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
Jump up ^ Urbina, Ian (2007-08-09). "From Two Broken Lives to One New Beginning". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-11.
Jump up ^ Anderson, Jessica; Fenton, Justin (2012-12-14). "Donnie Andrews, inspiration for Omar character on 'The Wire,' dies". baltimoresun.com. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2014-03-08.
Jump up ^ David Simon, Ed Burns (2003-07-06). "All Prologue". The Wire. Season 2. Episode 6. HBO.
Jump up ^ The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, p.283
Jump up ^ Robert Bianco (2004-05-26). "10 Reasons we still love TV". USA Today. Retrieved 2006-07-21.
Jump up ^ Chris Barsanti (2004). "The Wire - The Complete First Season". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2006-07-20.
Jump up ^ McCabe, Bret; Smith, Van (2005-01-02). "Down to the wire: Top 10 reasons not to cancel the wire". citypaper.com. Baltimore city paper. Retrieved 2014-03-08.
Jump up ^ "TV's Most Intriguing Characters". Comcast. Retrieved 2014-03-08.
Jump up ^ J. Patrick Coolican (2008). "Obama goes gloves off, head-on". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
[hide]
v
t
e
The Wire
Characters
Police
Jimmy McNulty
Kima Greggs
Bunk Moreland
Lester Freamon
Ellis Carver
Herc
Roland Pryzbylewski
Leander Sydnor
Beadie Russell
Cedric Daniels
William Rawls
Ervin Burrell
Bunny Colvin
Jay Landsman
Stan Valchek
Lawyers
Rhonda Pearlman
Maurice Levy
Street-level
Omar Little
Bubbles
Cutty Wise
Johnny Weeks
Butchie
Stringer Bell
Avon Barksdale
Marlo Stanfield
Proposition Joe
Spiros Vondas
The Greek
Chris Partlow
Snoop
Wee-Bey Brice
Slim Charles
Sergei Malatov
Bodie Broadus
D'Angelo Barksdale
Poot
Monk Metcalf
Wallace
Kenard
Brother Mouzone
Docks
Frank Sobotka
Nick Sobotka
Ziggy Sobotka
Politics
Tommy Carcetti
Clarence Royce
Clay Davis
Norman Wilson
School
Michael Lee
Dukie Weems
Namond Brice
Randy Wagstaff
Journalists
Augustus Haynes
Scott Templeton
Alma Gutierrez
Other
Barksdale Organization
Omar Little and associates
Stanfield Organization
New Day Co-Op
The Greeks
Related
List of The Wire episodes
And All the Pieces Matter
Beyond Hamsterdam
"Way Down in the Hole"
Awards and nominations
Ed Burns
David Simon
Book:The Wire
Category:The Wire
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Omar_Little&oldid=829150892"
Categories:
Fictional assassinated people
The Wire characters
Fictional African-American people
Fictional career criminals
Fictional gangsters
Fictional homeless people
Fictional gay males
Fictional smokers
Fictional vigilantes
Fictional murderers
Fictional outlaws
Fictional characters based on real people
Fictional characters introduced in 2002
Fictional LGBT characters in television
Hidden categories:
Pages with citations having redundant parameters
Pages using deprecated image syntax
Pages using infobox character with unknown parameters
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
Languages
Español
Edit links
This page was last edited on 6 March 2018, at 23:24.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

attrs: role class

values:
note
hatnote navigation-not-searchable

attrs: href class

attrs: href class title

values:
/wiki/The_Buys_(The_Wire_episode)
mw-redirect
The Buys (The Wire episode)

value: i

values:
/wiki/David_Simon_(writer)
mw-redirect
David Simon (writer)

values:
infobox
width:22em;border-spacing: 2px 5px;

values:
/wiki/Fictional_character
mw-redirect
Fictional character

values:
/wiki/The_Wire_(TV_series)
mw-redirect
The Wire (TV series)

values: Edmondson/Westside High School (Baltimore, Maryland)

values:
/wiki/Crossword_puzzle
mw-redirect
Crossword puzzle

values:
/wiki/Kenneth_Dozerman
mw-redirect
Kenneth Dozerman

values:
/wiki/Harford_County
mw-redirect
Harford County

values:
/wiki/Felicia_%22Snoop%22_Pearson
mw-redirect
Felicia "Snoop" Pearson

values:
/wiki/All_Prologue_(The_Wire_episode)
mw-redirect
All Prologue (The Wire episode)

values: List of awards and nominations received by The Wire

values: nowraplinks hlist collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: Category:Fictional characters based on real people

values: Category:Fictional characters introduced in 2002

values: Category:Fictional LGBT characters in television

values: Category:Pages with citations having redundant parameters

values: Category:Pages using deprecated image syntax

values: Category:Pages using infobox character with unknown parameters

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Omar_Little
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values:
suggestions
display: none; font-size: 13px;

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Omar_Little rootpage-Omar_Little skin-vector action-view


text:
Cardinality
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
For other uses, see Cardinality (disambiguation).
In mathematics, the cardinality of a set is a measure of the "number of elements of the set". For example, the set A = { 2 , 4 , 6 } {\displaystyle A=\{2,4,6\}} contains 3 elements, and therefore A {\displaystyle A} has a cardinality of 3. There are two approaches to cardinality – one which compares sets directly using bijections and injections, and another which uses cardinal numbers.[1] The cardinality of a set is also called its size, when no confusion with other notions of size[2] is possible.
The cardinality of a set A {\displaystyle A} is usually denoted | A | {\displaystyle |A|} , with a vertical bar on each side; this is the same notation as absolute value and the meaning depends on context. Alternatively, the cardinality of a set A {\displaystyle A} may be denoted by n ( A ) {\displaystyle n(A)} , A {\displaystyle A} , c a r d ( A ) {\displaystyle card(A)} , or # A {\displaystyle \#A} .
Contents
1 Comparing sets
1.1 Definition 1: |A| = |B|
1.2 Definition 2: |A| ≤ |B|
1.3 Definition 3: |A| < |B|
2 Cardinal numbers
3 Finite, countable and uncountable sets
4 Infinite sets
4.1 Cardinality of the continuum
5 Examples and properties
6 Union and intersection
7 See also
8 References
Comparing sets[edit]
While the cardinality of a finite set is just the number of its elements, extending the notion to infinite sets usually starts with defining the notion of comparison of arbitrary (in particular infinite) sets.
Bijective function from N to E. Although E is a proper subset of N, both sets have the same cardinality.
Definition 1: |A| = |B|[edit]
Two sets A and B have the same cardinality if there exists a bijection from A to B, that is, a function from A to B that is both injective and surjective. Such sets are said to be equipotent, equipollent, or equinumerous. This relationship can also be denoted A ≈ B or A ~ B.
For example, the set E = {0, 2, 4, 6, ...} of non-negative even numbers has the same cardinality as the set N = {0, 1, 2, 3, ...} of natural numbers, since the function f(n) = 2n is a bijection from N to E.
Definition 2: |A| ≤ |B|[edit]
A has cardinality less than or equal to the cardinality of B if there exists an injective function from A into B.
Definition 3: |A| < |B|[edit]
A has cardinality strictly less than the cardinality of B if there is an injective function, but no bijective function, from A to B.
For example, the set N of all natural numbers has cardinality strictly less than the cardinality of the set R of all real numbers , because the inclusion map i : N → R is injective, but it can be shown that there does not exist a bijective function from N to R (see Cantor's diagonal argument or Cantor's first uncountability proof).
If |A| ≤ |B| and |B| ≤ |A| then |A| = |B| (Schröder–Bernstein theorem). The axiom of choice is equivalent to the statement that |A| ≤ |B| or |B| ≤ |A| for every A, B.[3][4]
Cardinal numbers[edit]
Main article: Cardinal number
Above, "cardinality" was defined functionally. That is, the "cardinality" of a set was not defined as a specific object itself. However, such an object can be defined as follows.
The relation of having the same cardinality is called equinumerosity, and this is an equivalence relation on the class of all sets. The equivalence class of a set A under this relation then consists of all those sets which have the same cardinality as A. There are two ways to define the "cardinality of a set":
The cardinality of a set A is defined as its equivalence class under equinumerosity.
A representative set is designated for each equivalence class. The most common choice is the initial ordinal in that class. This is usually taken as the definition of cardinal number in axiomatic set theory.
Assuming AC, the cardinalities of the infinite sets are denoted
ℵ 0 < ℵ 1 < ℵ 2 < … . {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}<\aleph _{1}<\aleph _{2}<\ldots .}
For each ordinal α {\displaystyle \alpha } , ℵ α + 1 {\displaystyle \aleph _{\alpha +1}} is the least cardinal number greater than ℵ α {\displaystyle \aleph _{\alpha }} .
The cardinality of the natural numbers is denoted aleph-null ( ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} ), while the cardinality of the real numbers is denoted by " c {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}} " (a lowercase fraktur script "c"), and is also referred to as the cardinality of the continuum. Cantor showed, using the diagonal argument, that c > ℵ 0 {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}>\aleph _{0}} . We can show that c = 2 ℵ 0 {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}=2^{\aleph _{0}}} , this also being the cardinality of the set of all subsets of the natural numbers. The continuum hypothesis says that ℵ 1 = 2 ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{1}=2^{\aleph _{0}}} , i.e. 2 ℵ 0 {\displaystyle 2^{\aleph _{0}}} is the smallest cardinal number bigger than ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} , i.e. there is no set whose cardinality is strictly between that of the integers and that of the real numbers. The continuum hypothesis is independent of ZFC, a standard axiomatization of set theory; that is, it is impossible to prove the continuum hypothesis or its negation from ZFC (provided ZFC is consistent). See below for more details on the cardinality of the continuum.[5][6][7]
Finite, countable and uncountable sets[edit]
If the axiom of choice holds, the law of trichotomy holds for cardinality. Thus we can make the following definitions:
Any set X with cardinality less than that of the natural numbers, or | X | < | N |, is said to be a finite set.
Any set X that has the same cardinality as the set of the natural numbers, or | X | = | N | = ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} , is said to be a countably infinite set.
Any set X with cardinality greater than that of the natural numbers, or | X | > | N |, for example | R | = c {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}} > | N |, is said to be uncountable.
Infinite sets[edit]
Our intuition gained from finite sets breaks down when dealing with infinite sets. In the late nineteenth century Georg Cantor, Gottlob Frege, Richard Dedekind and others rejected the view that the whole cannot be the same size as the part. One example of this is Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel. Indeed, Dedekind defined an infinite set as one that can be placed into a one-to-one correspondence with a strict subset (that is, having the same size in Cantor's sense); this notion of infinity is called Dedekind infinite. Cantor introduced the cardinal numbers, and showed that (according to his bijection-based definition of size) some infinite sets are greater than others. The smallest infinite cardinality is that of the natural numbers ( ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} ).
Cardinality of the continuum[edit]
Main article: Cardinality of the continuum
One of Cantor's most important results was that the cardinality of the continuum ( c {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}} ) is greater than that of the natural numbers ( ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} ); that is, there are more real numbers R than whole numbers N. Namely, Cantor showed that c = 2 ℵ 0 = ℶ 1 {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}=2^{\aleph _{0}}=\beth _{1}} (see Beth one) satisfies:
2 ℵ 0 > ℵ 0 {\displaystyle 2^{\aleph _{0}}>\aleph _{0}}
(see Cantor's diagonal argument or Cantor's first uncountability proof).
The continuum hypothesis states that there is no cardinal number between the cardinality of the reals and the cardinality of the natural numbers, that is,
2 ℵ 0 = ℵ 1 {\displaystyle 2^{\aleph _{0}}=\aleph _{1}}
However, this hypothesis can neither be proved nor disproved within the widely accepted ZFC axiomatic set theory, if ZFC is consistent.
Cardinal arithmetic can be used to show not only that the number of points in a real number line is equal to the number of points in any segment of that line, but that this is equal to the number of points on a plane and, indeed, in any finite-dimensional space. These results are highly counterintuitive, because they imply that there exist proper subsets and proper supersets of an infinite set S that have the same size as S, although S contains elements that do not belong to its subsets, and the supersets of S contain elements that are not included in it.
The first of these results is apparent by considering, for instance, the tangent function, which provides a one-to-one correspondence between the interval (−½π, ½π) and R (see also Hilbert's paradox of the Grand Hotel).
The second result was first demonstrated by Cantor in 1878, but it became more apparent in 1890, when Giuseppe Peano introduced the space-filling curves, curved lines that twist and turn enough to fill the whole of any square, or cube, or hypercube, or finite-dimensional space. These curves are not a direct proof that a line has the same number of points as a finite-dimensional space, but they can be used to obtain such a proof.
Cantor also showed that sets with cardinality strictly greater than c {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}} exist (see his generalized diagonal argument and theorem). They include, for instance:
the set of all subsets of R, i.e., the power set of R, written P(R) or 2R
the set RR of all functions from R to R
Both have cardinality
2 c = ℶ 2 > c {\displaystyle 2^{\mathfrak {c}}=\beth _{2}>{\mathfrak {c}}}
(see Beth two).
The cardinal equalities c 2 = c , {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}^{2}={\mathfrak {c}},} c ℵ 0 = c , {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}^{\aleph _{0}}={\mathfrak {c}},} and c c = 2 c {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}^{\mathfrak {c}}=2^{\mathfrak {c}}} can be demonstrated using cardinal arithmetic:
c 2 = ( 2 ℵ 0 ) 2 = 2 2 × ℵ 0 = 2 ℵ 0 = c , {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}^{2}=\left(2^{\aleph _{0}}\right)^{2}=2^{2\times {\aleph _{0}}}=2^{\aleph _{0}}={\mathfrak {c}},}
c ℵ 0 = ( 2 ℵ 0 ) ℵ 0 = 2 ℵ 0 × ℵ 0 = 2 ℵ 0 = c , {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}^{\aleph _{0}}=\left(2^{\aleph _{0}}\right)^{\aleph _{0}}=2^{{\aleph _{0}}\times {\aleph _{0}}}=2^{\aleph _{0}}={\mathfrak {c}},}
c c = ( 2 ℵ 0 ) c = 2 c × ℵ 0 = 2 c . {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}^{\mathfrak {c}}=\left(2^{\aleph _{0}}\right)^{\mathfrak {c}}=2^{{\mathfrak {c}}\times \aleph _{0}}=2^{\mathfrak {c}}.}
Examples and properties[edit]
If X = {a, b, c} and Y = {apples, oranges, peaches}, then | X | = | Y | because { (a, apples), (b, oranges), (c, peaches)} is a bijection between the sets X and Y. The cardinality of each of X and Y is 3.
If | X | < | Y |, then there exists Z such that | X | = | Z | and Z ⊆ Y.
If | X | ≤ | Y | and | Y | ≤ | X |, then | X | = | Y |. This holds even for infinite cardinals, and is known as Cantor–Bernstein–Schroeder theorem.
Sets with cardinality of the continuum
Union and intersection[edit]
If A and B are disjoint sets, then
| A ∪ B | = | A | + | B | . {\displaystyle \left\vert A\cup B\right\vert =\left\vert A\right\vert +\left\vert B\right\vert .}
From this, one can show that in general the cardinalities of unions and intersections are related by[8]
| C ∪ D | + | C ∩ D | = | C | + | D | . {\displaystyle \left\vert C\cup D\right\vert +\left\vert C\cap D\right\vert =\left\vert C\right\vert +\left\vert D\right\vert \,.}
See also[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cardinality.
Wikidata has the properties:
cardinality of the group (P1164) (see uses)
cardinality of this set (P2820) (see uses)
Aleph number
Beth number
Countable set
Counting
Ordinality
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Cardinal Number". MathWorld.
Jump up ^ Such as length and area in geometry. – A line of finite length is a set of points that has infinite cardinality.
Jump up ^ Friedrich M. Hartogs (1915), Felix Klein; Walther von Dyck; David Hilbert; Otto Blumenthal, eds., "Über das Problem der Wohlordnung", Mathematische Annalen, Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 76 (4): 438–443, doi:10.1007/bf01458215, ISSN 0025-5831
Jump up ^ Felix Hausdorff (2002), Egbert Brieskorn; Srishti D. Chatterji; et al., eds., Grundzüge der Mengenlehre (1. ed.), Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer, p. 587, ISBN 3-540-42224-2 - Original edition (1914)
Jump up ^ Cohen, Paul J. (December 15, 1963). "The Independence of the Continuum Hypothesis". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 50 (6): 1143–1148. doi:10.1073/pnas.50.6.1143. JSTOR 71858. PMC 221287  . PMID 16578557.
Jump up ^ Cohen, Paul J. (January 15, 1964). "The Independence of the Continuum Hypothesis, II". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 51 (1): 105–110. doi:10.1073/pnas.51.1.105. JSTOR 72252. PMC 300611  . PMID 16591132.
Jump up ^ Penrose, R (2005), The Road to Reality: A Complete guide to the Laws of the Universe, Vintage Books, ISBN 0-09-944068-7
Jump up ^ Applied Abstract Algebra, K.H. Kim, F.W. Roush, Ellis Horwood Series, 1983, ISBN 0-85312-612-7 (student edition), ISBN 0-85312-563-5 (library edition)
show
v
t
e
Set theory
Axioms
Choice
countable
dependent
Constructibility (V=L)
Determinacy
Extensionality
Infinity
Limitation of size
Pairing
Power set
Regularity
Union
Martin's axiom
Axiom schema
replacement
specification
Operations
Cartesian product
Complement
De Morgan's laws
Disjoint union
Intersection
Power set
Set difference
Symmetric difference
Union
Concepts
Methods
Cardinality
Cardinal number (large)
Class
Constructible universe
Continuum hypothesis
Diagonal argument
Element
ordered pair
tuple
Family
Forcing
One-to-one correspondence
Ordinal number
Transfinite induction
Venn diagram
Set types
Countable
Empty
Finite (hereditarily)
Fuzzy
Infinite
Recursive
Subset · Superset
Transitive
Uncountable
Universal
Theories
Alternative
Axiomatic
Naive
Cantor's theorem
Zermelo
General
Principia Mathematica
New Foundations
Zermelo–Fraenkel
von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel
Morse–Kelley
Kripke–Platek
Tarski–Grothendieck
Paradoxes
Problems
Russell's paradox
Suslin's problem
Burali-Forti paradox
Set theorists
Abraham Fraenkel
Bertrand Russell
Ernst Zermelo
Georg Cantor
John von Neumann
Kurt Gödel
Paul Bernays
Paul Cohen
Richard Dedekind
Thomas Jech
Thoralf Skolem
Willard Quine
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cardinality&oldid=851009000"
Categories:
Cardinal numbers
Basic concepts in infinite set theory
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
አማርኛ
العربية
Беларуская
Čeština
Dansk
Deutsch
Eesti
Ελληνικά
Español
Euskara
فارسی
Français
한국어
Հայերեն
हिन्दी
Hrvatski
Íslenska
Italiano
Қазақша
Lietuvių
Magyar
Македонски
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk
Norsk nynorsk
Piemontèis
Polski
Português
Русский
Shqip
Simple English
Slovenčina
Slovenščina
Српски / srpski
Suomi
Svenska
தமிழ்
ไทย
Українська
Tiếng Việt
Võro
中文
34 more
Edit links
This page was last edited on 19 July 2018, at 13:07 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

key: html

type: local

value: div

attrs: id class

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

value: a

attrs: id class lang

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

attrs: class href

values: mw-jump-link #mw-head

values: mw-jump-link #p-search

values:
/wiki/Cardinality_(disambiguation)
mw-disambig
Cardinality (disambiguation)

values:
note
hatnote navigation-not-searchable

attrs: href title

value: b

value: mi

value: mo

attrs: fence stretchy

values: false false

value: mn

values: vertical-align: -0.838ex; width:12.722ex; height:2.843ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.338ex; width:1.743ex; height:2.176ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.838ex; width:3.037ex; height:2.843ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.838ex; width:4.947ex; height:2.843ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.838ex; width:8.054ex; height:2.843ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.671ex; width:3.679ex; height:2.509ex;

values: checkbox button toctogglecheckbox toctogglecheckbox display:none

attrs: alt src width height class srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values:
/wiki/Even_number
mw-redirect
Even number

values:
/wiki/Natural_numbers
mw-redirect
Natural numbers

values:
/wiki/Axiomatic_set_theory
mw-redirect
Axiomatic set theory

values: vertical-align: -0.671ex; width:20.476ex; height:2.509ex;

values: \aleph _{0}<\aleph _{1}<\aleph _{2}<\ldots .

values: vertical-align: -0.338ex; width:1.488ex; height:1.676ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.671ex; width:4.805ex; height:2.509ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.671ex; width:2.704ex; height:2.509ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.671ex; width:2.475ex; height:2.509ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.338ex; width:0.905ex; height:1.676ex;

values:
/wiki/Fraktur_(script)
mw-redirect
Fraktur (script)

values: {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}>\aleph _{0}}

values: vertical-align: -0.671ex; width:6.478ex; height:2.509ex;

values: {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}=2^{\aleph _{0}}}

values: vertical-align: -0.338ex; width:7.234ex; height:2.676ex;

values: {\displaystyle \aleph _{1}=2^{\aleph _{0}}}

values: vertical-align: -0.671ex; width:8.804ex; height:3.009ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.338ex; width:3.231ex; height:2.676ex;

values: Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the axiom of choice

values: Edit section: Finite, countable and uncountable sets

values:
/wiki/Countably_infinite
mw-redirect
Countably infinite

values:
/wiki/Dedekind_infinite
mw-redirect
Dedekind infinite

values: Edit section: Cardinality of the continuum

values: vertical-align: -0.671ex; width:12.937ex; height:3.009ex;

values: {\displaystyle 2^{\aleph _{0}}>\aleph _{0}}

values: {\displaystyle 2^{\aleph _{0}}=\aleph _{1}}

values:
/wiki/Real_number_line
mw-redirect
Real number line

values:
/wiki/Proper_subset
mw-redirect
Proper subset

values:
/wiki/Proper_superset
mw-redirect
Proper superset

values:
/wiki/Tangent_function
mw-redirect
Tangent function

values:
/wiki/One-to-one_correspondence
mw-redirect
One-to-one correspondence

values: vertical-align: -0.671ex; width:11.741ex; height:2.676ex;

values: 2^{\mathfrak {c}}=\beth _{2}>{\mathfrak {c}}

values: {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {c}}^{2}={\mathfrak {c}},}

values: vertical-align: -0.671ex; width:6.609ex; height:3.009ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.671ex; width:7.623ex; height:3.009ex;

values: {\mathfrak {c}}^{\aleph _{0}}={\mathfrak {c}},

values: vertical-align: -0.338ex; width:6.909ex; height:2.343ex;

values: {\mathfrak {c}}^{\mathfrak {c}}=2^{\mathfrak {c}}

values:
/wiki/Cardinal_arithmetic
mw-redirect
Cardinal arithmetic

values: vertical-align: -1.005ex; width:30.88ex; height:3.843ex;

values: vertical-align: -1.005ex; width:33.922ex; height:3.843ex;

values: vertical-align: -1.005ex; width:25.134ex; height:3.509ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.838ex; width:20.451ex; height:2.843ex;

values: vertical-align: -0.838ex; width:31.612ex; height:2.843ex;

attrs: alt src width height style srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values:
/wiki/Friedrich_M._Hartogs
mw-redirect
Friedrich M. Hartogs

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.1007/bf01458215

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.worldcat.org/issn/0025-5831

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.1073/pnas.50.6.1143

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.jstor.org/stable/71858

attrs: alt src title width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values:
/wiki/PubMed_Identifier
mw-redirect
PubMed Identifier

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16578557

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.1073/pnas.51.1.105

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.jstor.org/stable/72252

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16591132

values:
reflist mw-references-wrap
list-style-type: decimal;

attrs: alt src width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values:
navbox-image
7
width:1px;padding:0px 0px 0px 2px

values:
/wiki/Subset_and_superset
mw-redirect
Subset and superset

values: nowraplinks collapsible collapsed navbox-inner mw-collapsible mw-collapsed mw-made-collapsible

values: Category:Basic concepts in infinite set theory

values:
catlinks mw-normal-catlinks
catlinks mw-normal-catlinks
interface

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Cardinality
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: portal navigation p-wikibase-otherprojects p-wikibase-otherprojects-label

values: የስብስብ ብዛት – Amharic

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-am
display: none;

values: أصلية – Arabic

values: Магутнасць мноства – Belarusian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-be
display: none;

values:
https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohutnost
Mohutnost – Czech
cs
cs
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-cs
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-da
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-et
display: none;

values: Πληθικότητα – Greek

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-el
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-eu
display: none;

values: کاردینالیتی – Persian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fa
display: none;

values: 집합의 크기 – Korean

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ko
display: none;

values: Բազմության հզորություն – Armenian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-hy
display: none;

values: गणनांक – Hindi

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-hr
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-is
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-it
display: none;

values: Жиын қуаты – Kazakh

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-kk
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-lt
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-hu
display: none;

values: Кардиналност – Macedonian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-mk
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-nl
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-no
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-nn
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-pms
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-pl
display: none;

values: Мощность множества – Russian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sq
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-simple
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sk
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sl
display: none;

values: Кардиналност – Serbian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sr
display: none;

values:
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahtavuus
Mahtavuus – Finnish
fi
fi
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fi
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sv
display: none;

values: எண்ணளவை – Tamil

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ta
display: none;

values: ภาวะเชิงการนับ – Thai

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-th
display: none;

values: Потужність множини – Ukrainian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-uk
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-vi
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fiu-vro
display: none;

values: All languages (initial selection from common choices by you and others)

values: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Cardinality rootpage-Cardinality skin-vector action-view


text:
Charles Edward Mudie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Charles Edward Mudie
Charles Edward Mudie by Frederick Waddy (1872)
Born
(1818-10-18)18 October 1818
Chelsea, London
Died
28 October 1890(1890-10-28) (aged 72)
Nationality
British
Occupation
Publisher, book seller, lending library proprietor
Charles Edward Mudie (18 October 1818, in Chelsea – 28 October 1890), English publisher and founder of Mudie's Lending Library and Mudie's Subscription Library, was the son of a second-hand bookseller and newsagent. Mudie's efficient distribution system and vast supply of texts revolutionized the circulating library movement, while his "select" library influenced Victorian middle-class values and the structure of the three-volume novel. He was also the first publisher of James Russell Lowell's poems in England, and of Emerson's Man Thinking.
Contents
[hide]
1 Early life
2 Mudie's Lending Library
2.1 Expansion
2.2 Censoring Material
3 Notes
4 Sources
5 Cultural References
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
Early life[edit]
Charles Edward Mudie was born in 1818 to Scottish parents in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. He received most of his education by assisting his father in his newspaper shop until he was twenty-two.[1] In 1840, Mudie opened his first shop on Upper King Street, Bloomsbury.[2]
Mudie's Lending Library[edit]
Mudie originally opened his circulating library to give the public greater access to nonfiction works—which took up nearly one third of his stock—but the market value of the novel brought Mudie financial success.[3] In 1842, he began to lend books to students at the University of London, charging subscribers one guinea per year for the right to borrow one volume of a novel at a time.
Expansion[edit]
This proved so successful that in 1852 he moved his "Select Library" to larger premises at 509, 510 & 511 New Oxford Street,[4] at its junction with Museum Street and Hart Street, just a few yards south of the British Museum.[5] Mudie's soon had outlets on Cross Street in Manchester and on New Street in Birmingham.
Sketch of the interior of Mudie's Lending Library, 509, 510 & 511 New Oxford Street, London.
London book deliveries were carried out by vans, and the expansion of railroads and trains allowed people to order books across the country. International orders were also issued and shipped abroad in tin boxes.[6] Mudie's also exported books using watertight boxes, some of which were reported to have survived shipwreck.
Mudie was able to offer publishers advance purchase of three or four hundred copies of their new books and obtained corresponding discounts. The company's withdrawn books were offered for sale at £5 for a hundred volumes in 1860.[5]
Censoring Material[edit]
Since the cost of novels in the Victorian era was such that most middle-class English people could not afford to purchase novels privately, popular lending libraries like "Mudie's" had a strong influence over the public—and thus over authors and publishers. Mudie's demands that fiction novels be suited to the middle-class family controlled the morality, subject and scope of the novel for fifty years.[7] His "select" books were carefully chosen with these considerations in mind; once the Mudie Library considered a book unfit for its customers, other libraries followed suit. The rise of the three-volume novel can be directly attributed to this influence, and Mudie's refusal to stock "immoral" books and "novels of questionable character or inferior quality",[8] such as George Moore's A Modern Lover (1883), A Mummers Wife (1885) and A Drama in Muslin (1886), also had an effect on the direction of Victorian literature.
George Moore criticized the moral and structural power the circulating library system had on literary distribution. His response to censorship was to issue a number of polemics against circulating libraries, the most popular being Literature at Nurse, or Circulating Morals. He confronted Mudie on why the librarian refused to sell A Modern Lover. Mudie's response:
"Your book was considered immoral. Two ladies from the country wrote to me objecting to that scene where the girl sat to the artist as a model for Venus. After that I naturally refused to circulate your book, unIess any customer said he wanted particularly to read Mr. Moore's novel."[9]
Mudie was also crucial in the success of scientific volumes – In November 1859 he bought 500 copies of the first publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species.[10] In fact, much of Darwin's own reading was obtained from Mudie's nonfiction collection. His five-guinea annual subscription allowed him to borrow a parcel of up to six recently published books a month.[11]
In 1860, the company's New Oxford Street premises were substantially enlarged, and new branches of the business were subsequently established in other English cities such as York, Manchester and Birmingham.[nb 1] In 1864 Mudie's was converted into a limited company. [13] On August 18, 1871, directors of Mudie's Select Library (Limited) controlled the English and Foreign Library (formerly known as Hookham's).[14] Mudie's library continued into the 1930s.[15] The decline of Mudie's eventually came as a result of the rising number of government-funded public libraries, which offered similar services at a much reduced rate.
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ Competitors of Mudie's in London in the 1870s included circulating libraries of Bolton, Day, Miles, Rolandi, W.H. Smith & Sons, and United.[12]
Sources[edit]
Mudies Select Library, illustration in London Society, 1869
Trafficking in Literary Authority: Mudie's Select Library And The Commodification Of The Victorian Novel, L Roberts – Victorian Literature and Culture, 2006 – Cambridge Univ Press
A Victorian Leviathan: Mudie's Select Library, Guinevere L. Griest, Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. 20, No. 2, 103–126. Sep. 1965
Anonymous (1873). Cartoon portraits and biographical sketches of men of the day. Illustrated by Frederick Waddy. London: Tinsley Brothers. pp. 72–73. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
Cultural References[edit]
Mudie's Library is mentioned in the H. G. Wells classic, The Invisible Man: "We crawled past Mudie's, and there a tall woman with five or six yellow-labelled books hailed my cab, and I sprang out just in time to escape her, shaving a railway van narrowly in my flight. I made off up the roadway to Bloomsbury Square, intending to strike north past the Museum and so get into the quiet district."
Virginia Woolf refers to Mudie's Library several times in her 1922 novel Jacob's Room. From chapter 9: "Time is issued to spinster ladies of wealth in long white ribbons. These they wind round and round, round and round, assisted by five female servants, a butler, a fine Mexican parrot, regular meals, Mudie's library, and friends dropping in."
The manga Emma, which takes place in Victorian England, features Mudie's Lending Library
· In "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde, first produced in 1895, young Cecily Cardew, ward of a well-to-do gentleman living in Hertfordshire, speaking to her teacher Miss Prism about "memory" says that "it usually chronicles the things that have never happened, and couldn't possibly have happened. I believe that Memory is responsible for nearly all the three-volume novels that Mudie sends to us." Act II, Sc. 1.
In the first of Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels, 'Can You Forgive Her?', Alice newly arrived at Matching Priory, replies to Jeffrey Palliser:
'"I have amused myself by reading.” “Ah; they never do that here. I have heard that there is a library, but the clue to it has been lost, and nobody now knows the way. I don’t believe in libraries. Nobody ever goes into a library to read, any more than you would into a larder to eat. But there is this difference;—the food you consume does come out of the larders, but the books you read never come out of the libraries.” “Except Mudie’s,” said Alice. “Ah, yes; he is the great librarian.'
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Curwen, Henry (1873-01-01). A History of Booksellers, the Old and the New. Chatto and Windus, Publishers.
Jump up ^ London Circulating Libraries, London: The Times, 2 September 1913
Jump up ^ "Mudie's Select Library and the Form of Victorian Fiction". www.victorianweb.org. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
Jump up ^ "London". Hodson's Booksellers, Publishers and Stationers' Directory. London: W.H. Hodson. 1855.
^ Jump up to: a b Priestland, Neal (2 July 2008). "Bromley House Library 1816 to 1916 "M"". Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
Jump up ^ Sutherland, John (2014-10-13). The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-86332-8.
Jump up ^ http://www.victorianweb.org/economics/mudie.html
Jump up ^ Spiegel, Nancy (2011 May). Circulating libraries: library history and architecture. Retrieved from: http://news.lib.uchicago.edu/blog/2011/05/05/circulating-libraries/ (Links to an external site.)
Jump up ^ Moore, George (10 December 1884). "The New Censorship of Literature". Pall Mall Gazette.
Jump up ^ Browne, E. Janet (2002), Charles Darwin: vol. 2 The Power of Place, London: Jonathan Cape, p. 89, ISBN 0-7126-6837-3
Jump up ^ Browne, Janet (2011-05-18). Charles Darwin: The Power of Place. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-79368-3.
Jump up ^ "Circulating and Lending Libraries", Handbook to London as It Is, London: John Murray, 1879
Jump up ^ Chisholm 1911.
Jump up ^ Guinevere L. Griest (1965). "A Victorian Leviathan: Mudie's Select Library". Nineteenth-Century Fiction. 20. JSTOR 2932540.
Jump up ^ Hendrik Edelman (2001). "Circulating Libraries and Reading Rooms". In David H. Stam. International Dictionary of Library Histories. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p. 55. ISBN 1-57958-244-3.
Attribution
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Mudie, Charles Edward". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Further reading[edit]
Catalogs
Mudie's Select Library. (1860), Catalogue of new and standard works in circulation at Mudie's Select Library, London: Mudie, OCLC 12062366
1865
Mudie's Select Library. (1907), Catalogue of Dano-Norwegian, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Swedish and Spanish works in circulation at Mudie's Select Library, London: Mudie's
Mudie's Select Library. (1907), Catalogue of the principal English books in circulation at Mudie's Select Library, London: Mudie's
1911
About Mudie's
"Mudie's." Leisure Hour, 1861
"Going to Mudie's." London Society v.16, no.95, Nov. 1869.
Clarence Gohdes. British Interest in American Literature During the Latter Part of the Nineteenth Century as Reflected by Mudie's Select Library. American Literature, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Jan. 1942), pp. 356–362
Guinevere L. Griest (1970), Mudie's circulating library and the Victorian novel, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-15480-4, 0253154804
Boase, George Clement (1894). "Mudie, Charles Edward". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mudie's Library.
Pratt Institute. Bookplate of Mudie's Select Library
Flickr. Mudie's Library label in a 1928 collected edition of Sherlock Holmes stories, published by John Murray
New York Public Library. Portrait of Mudie
Authority control
WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 80463650
LCCN: no2013035429
ISNI: 0000 0000 5775 4381
GND: 136054277
SNAC: w6gf18h2
[hide]
v
t
e
Books
Production
Authors
Binding
By date
Decade
Year
Covers
Jackets
Design
Editing
Illustration
Literature
Printing
History
Incunabula
Publishing
By country
Typesetting
Consumption
Awards
Bestsellers
Bibliography
Bibliophilia
Bibliotherapy
Bookmarks
Bookselling
Blurbs
Book towns
Shops
Censorship
Clubs
Collecting
Digitizing
Fairs
Furniture
Bookcases
Bookends
Libraries
Legislation
Lists
Print culture
Reading
Literacy
Reviews
Other
By country
Brazil
France
Germany
Italy
Pakistan
UK
US
Formats
Audiobooks
E-books
Genres
Children's
Fictional
History of books
Historians
Intellectual property
ISBN
Outline
Terminology
Types
Category
Commons
Portal
WikiProject
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Edward_Mudie&oldid=819055058"
Categories:
1818 births
1890 deaths
English publishers (people)
English librarians
People from Muswell Hill
Members of the London School Board
English booksellers
Hidden categories:
CS1: Julian–Gregorian uncertainty
EngvarB from August 2014
Use dmy dates from August 2014
Articles with hCards
Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference
Articles incorporating Cite DNB template
Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata
Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers
Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers
Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers
Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers
Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
Deutsch
Italiano
Edit links
This page was last edited on 7 January 2018, at 04:25.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

value: span

value: th

attrs: colspan style

value: tr

value: img

value: td

values:
/wiki/Guinea_(British_coin)
mw-redirect
Guinea (British coin)

values:
/wiki/New_Oxford_Street
mw-redirect
New Oxford Street

values:
/wiki/Hookham%27s_Circulating_Library
mw-redirect
Hookham's Circulating Library

values:
reflist mw-references-wrap
list-style-type: decimal;

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.jstor.org/stable/2932540

values: wikisource:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mudie, Charles Edward

values: Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.worldcat.org/oclc/12062366

values:
nofollow
external text
https://viaf.org/viaf/80463650

values:
nofollow
external text
http://isni.org/isni/0000000057754381

values:
nofollow
external text
https://d-nb.info/gnd/136054277

values: nowraplinks hlist collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: Category:Members of the London School Board

values: Category:Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference

values: Category:Articles incorporating Cite DNB template

values: Category:Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Charles_Edward_Mudie
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values: portal navigation p-wikibase-otherprojects p-wikibase-otherprojects-label

values:
suggestions
display: none; font-size: 13px;

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Charles_Edward_Mudie rootpage-Charles_Edward_Mudie skin-vector action-view