C. D. Dimsdale

Still waiting...

I thought I was going to whisk through C. D. Dimsdale because, at first, I could find only a handful of mentions. He contributed a series on "legal luminaries" to Great Thoughts magazine in 1935 and wrote an article on swordsmanship and fencing in Chamber's Journal in 1939. He also contributed anonymously to Swift Annual 2 and had an article, 'Trees in Britain' in Girl Annual 4 (1956).

However, the British Library listed 'C. D. Dimsdale' as a pseudonym and a look in Atkinson's Dictionary of Literary Pseudonyms reveals it to be the pen-name of Rodolphe Louis Megroz (2 August 1891-30 September 1968), who also wrote as Roy Cumberland.

A good biographical sketch can be found at the University of Reading website, the University having purchased a collection of Megroz's papers in 1980. (Another collection of papers can be found at the Lilly Library, Indiana University.)

Based on his output, I'd say he was probably the author of one of the nature articles that appeared in Swift Annual 2. Just a guess -- but you'd only be disappointed if I didn't offer any theories.

Non-fiction
Walter de la Mare: A Study. London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1924.
A Talk with Joseph Conrad, and a criticism of his mind and method. London, Elkin Mathews, 1926.
Francis Thompson, the Poet of Earth in Heaven. A study in poetic mysticism and the evolution of love-poetry. London, Faber & Gwyer, 1927.
The Three Sitwells. A biographical and critical study. London, The Richards Press Ltd., 1927.
Shakespeare as a Letter-writer and Artist in Prose. A disquisition, two anthologies and a ramble. London, Wishart & Co., 1927.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Painter Poet of Heaven in Earth. London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1928.
Ronald Ross. Discoverer and creator. London, G. Allen & Unwin, 1931.
Joseph Conrad's Mind and Method. A study of personality in art. London, Faber & Faber, 1931; New York, Russell & Russell, 1964.
Rhys Davies. A critical sketch. London, W. & G. Foyle, 1932.
Modern English Poetry, 1882-1932. London, I. Nicholson & Watson, 1933.
Five Novelist Poets of To-day. London, Joiner & Steele, 1933.
English Poetry for Children. A tract for the times. London, Fenland Press, 1934.
A Guide to Poetry for Reciters and Teachers. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1934.
The Dream World. A survey of the history and mystery of dreams. London, John Lane The Bodley Head, 1939.
The Real Robinson Crusoe. Being the life and strange surprising adventures of Alexander Selkirk of Largo, Fife, mariner. London, Cresset Press, 1939.
Profile Art Through the Ages. A study of the use and significance of profile and silhouette from the stone age to puppet films. London, 1948.
Thirty-one Bedside Essays. Oxford, Pen-in-hand Publishing Co., 1949.

Non-fiction as C. D. Dimsdale
Babies. A miscellany of the literature of infancy. London, Golden Galley Press, 1948.
Come Out of Doors. A guide for nature lovers, illus. C. F. Tunnicliffe. London, Hutchinson & Co., 1951.

Verse
Personal Poems. London, E. Mathews, 1919.
The Story of Ruth. An idyll. London, E. Mathews & Marrot, 1927.

Others
For Father. A book of domestic letters, with extracts from diaries, histories and biographies, ed. R. L. Megroz. London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1928.
Letters of Women in Love, selected by R. L. Megroz. London, Thornton Butterworth, 1929.
Dramatic Verse, from Shakespeare and His Contemporaries. An anthology for verse-speakers and schools, ed. R. L. Megroz. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1935.
Modern Poems for Children. An anthology for school and home, ed. Isabel and R. L. Megroz. Wisbech, Cambs., Fenland Press, 1935.
A Treasury of Modern Poetry. An anthology of the last forty years, ed. R. L. Megroz. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1936.
The Lear Omnibus, filled up by R. L. Megroz. London, T. nelson & Sons, 1938.
The Book of Lear, ed. R. L. Megroz. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books (234), 1939.
The Cook's Paradise. Being William Verral's 'Complete System of Cookery,' published in 1759. With Thomas Gray's Cookery notes in holograph, introduction and appendices by R. L. Megroz. London, Sylvan Press, 1948.
Pedagogues Are Human. An anthology of pupils and teachers, grave and gay, from British and American fiction, biography, diaries, letters and verse, ed. and with an introduction and notes by R. L. Megroz. London, Rockliff, 1950.

Others (ghosted)
How to Play Snooker by Stanley Newman [with C. D. Dimsdale]. London, Sir I. Pitman & Sons, 1936.
Billiards and Snooker for Amateur Players by Horace Lindrum [with C. D. Dimsdale]. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books (119), 1937.


(* Who'da thought it, eh? So far we've had literary critics, radio scriptwriters, popular historical and crime novelists, prize-winning essayists, horror story anthologists... and all tucked away anonymously in a run of a single children's annual. Makes you wonder who else we're going to discover amongst the rest of the names.)