[ Collins / Hide and Seek ]
Wilkie Collins was a popular English author of novels, short stories, and plays, one of which he co-wrote with his mentor and very good friend Charles Dickens. While Edgar Allan Poe is often credited with inventing the detective story, Collin's 1868 novel The Moonstone is widely regarded as the first detective novel.
Hide and Seek mentions a Newfoundland several times early on. In Chapter 4:
On a shady seat, among the trees, Mrs. Joyce is just visible, working in the open air. One of her daughters sits reading on the turf at her feet. The other is giving the younger children a ride by turns on the back of a large Newfoundland dog, who walks along slowly with his tongue hanging out, and his great bushy tail wagging gently. A prettier scene of garden beauty and family repose could not be found in all England, than the scene which the view through the Rectory window now presents. The household tranquillity, however, is not entirely uninterrupted. Across the picture, of which Vance and the luncheon-table form the foreground, and the garden with Mrs. Joyce and the young ladies the middle-distance and background, there flits from time to time an unquiet figure. This personage is always greeted by Leo, the Newfoundland dog, with an extra wag of the tail; and is apostrophized laughingly by the young ladies, under the appellation of "funny Mr. Blyth."
I've yet to see a 19th-Century novel mention a Newfie's drool or shedding, but Collins does make note of one phenomenon well-known to those of us who share their lives with Newfs:
Leo drops down lazily on the rug inside the window, with a thump of his great heavy body that makes the glasses ring.
There are 2 more mentions of Leo the Newf in Chapter 4:
The rector bursts out laughing; the young ladies follow his example; the Newfoundland dog jumps up, and joins in with his mighty bark. Mrs. Joyce sits silent, and looks at Vance, and sympathizes with him.
. . . .
The varying expressions of the three; the difference in their positions, the charming contrast between their light, graceful figures and the bulky strength and grand solidity of form in the noble Newfoundland dog who stood among them; the lustrous background of lawn and flowers and trees, seen through the open window; the sparkling purity of the sunshine which fell brightly over one part of the group . . . .presented together a picture which it was a luxury to be able to look on, which it seemed little short of absolute profanation to disturb.
Leo is mentioned one last time in Chapter 5:
In a shady place, just visible among the trees, the rector's daughters, and little Mary, and the great Newfoundland dog were all sitting together on the grass. The two young ladies appeared to be fastening a garland of flowers round the child's neck, while she was playfully offering a nosegay for Leo to smell at. The sight was homely and simple enough; but it was full of the tenderest interest . . . .