PAUL HARDY
by
Robert J. Kirkpatrick
 |
| Paul Hardy, photo from 1895 |
Few children’s book illustrators had as illustrious an artistic family heritage as Paul Hardy, who was a prolific illustrator of both books and periodicals. He was particularly well-known for his work on
The Strand Magazine between 1890 and 1907, and the boys’ story paper
Chums between 1892 and 1935.
The first member of the Hardy family to make a name for himself as an artist was James Hardy (1801-1879) – originally a musician in the Royal Private Band of Music, he turned to portrait painting in around 1824. His eldest son, James Hardy junior (1832-1889) became well-known for his paintings of sporting dogs. Frederick Daniel Hardy (1827-1911), James Hardy junior’s cousin, gained a reputation for portraying the lives of families living in the cottages and houses of Cranbrook, in Kent. George Hardy (1822-1909), Frederick’s brother, was a skilled painter of cottage interiors. Heywood Hardy (1842-1933), a younger brother of James Hardy junior, was skilled in a variety of genres – portraits, animals, historical narrative paintings and, most notably, hunting scenes and horseracing.
Another brother of James Hardy junior was David Hardy (1837-1870), who followed in his father’s footsteps by painting cottage interiors. He suffered from ill-health from an early age, and had to supplement his income from painting by teaching. He married Emily Collins, herself an artist, the daughter of John M. Collins, another artist, in Devon in 1860. They went on to have five children, one of whom died in infancy, with the other four, most notably Paul Hardy, all becoming artists and illustrators. (For more on the Hardy dynasty, see
The Hardy Family of Artists by Kimber G. Hardy, ACC Art Books, 2017).
Paul Hardy was born on 2 August 1862 in Kingsdown, near Bath, and baptized as David Paul Frederick Hardy (although he always called himself Paul Hardy) on 9 August 1872 at St. Paul’s Church, Clifton, Bristol. His siblings were Norman Heywood (1863-1914), Beatrice Evelyn Elizabeth (1865-1935), and Mabel Dora (1868-1937).
When his father died, on 5 May 1870, the family was left in dire financial straits. A public appeal for funds was launched, with The Bristol Times and Mirror (11 May 1870) stating:
Mr David Hardy, Artist, of 15 Belle-Vue Crescent, Clifton, having died on Thursday, 5th last, leaving a widow and four young children quite penniless, the public are earnestly entreated to assist a subscription on behalf of the widow and orphans. The oldest child is only 7 years of age. Circumstances of a most distressing nature, and entirely beyond the poor artist’s control, have rendered this appeal necessary.
The appeal raised £286, from around 230 donations, a considerable sum at the time. The family subsequently moved to 5 Meridian Place, Clifton, along with Emily’s mother, Caroline Collins (a former governess), and by the time of the 1871 census were able to employ a servant. Emily began giving art lessons, her four children all being taught by her, as well as continuing to paint landscapes and portraits. In 1877 she became seriously ill, and Paul had to begin providing for the family. He started exhibiting his own work and teaching painting and drawing locally. In 1881 the family, still together, was living at 18 Meridian Place, Clifton, with Emily still recorded as a landscape painter, with Paul, his brother Norman and a boarder, Charles Palmer, also working as artists.
Hardy moved to Chelsea in 1886, where began to establish himself as an illustrator. His earliest known published work had appeared in
Garnered Sheaves: A Tale for Boys, written by Emma Pitman and published by Blackie & Son in 1883. In 1887 he began contributing to
Little Folks, and in 1888 he began a long association with Cassell & Co., providing illustrations for
Cassell’s Saturday Journal,
The Quiver,
Cassells’ Family Magazine,
Chums and
Cassell’s Magazine of Fiction. In 1890, he also began a long association with George Newnes, for whom he provided illustrations for
The Strand Magazine for the following 17 years. In particular, along with Sidney Paget, he illustrated many of the “Dick Donovan” detective stories, along with a handful of stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells. In December 1895
The Strand Magazine noted “No artist of
The Strand is better known to our readers, as his bold and striking work has appeared in almost every number since the magazine was started.”
Other periodicals for which Hardy worked at around this time included
The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News,
Good Words,
Sunday at Home,
The Magazine of Art,
Young England,
St. Paul’s Magazine,
The Minute and
St. James’s Budget.
On 28 July 1886 Hardy married Ida Mary Wilton Clarke, born in Gloucester in 1862, the daughter of a banker, and working as a sculptress, at St. Matthias Church, Earls Court, Kensington. The couple subsequently moved to 17 Avenue Road, Bexleyheath, Kent, where they had their only child, Gordon Paul Umfreville, born in 1894.
By then, Hardy had also established himself as a book illustrator. He worked for a large number of publishers, in particular Jarrold & Sons, Collins, the Religious Tract Society and Blackie & Son.
By the time of the 1901 census Hardy and his wife had moved to “Northbourne”, Chobham, Surrey. A few years later they moved to Queen’s Road, Cheltenham, and by 1911 they were at Arundel House, Tisbury, Wiltshire, employing two servants. The house was put up for sale in 1912, and the Hardys moved to Storrington, Sussex.
At around this time Hardy was having an affair with Alice Dudeney, the wife of the mathematician Henry Ernest Dudeney. Hardy had illustrated Alice’s novel
The Battle of the Weak, or Gossip’s Green, in 1906, and Henry’s book
The Canterbury Puzzles and Other Curious Problems in 1907. When the affair started is not known – however, in her diaries Alice noted that it had ended in 1905, and then resumed in 1910. Her husband subsequently began flying into jealous rages, and Alice fled the marital home, which at that time was a large country house called Littlewick Meadow, in Surrey, and moved with her daughter Marjery to Angmering, in Sussex. The Dudeneys were reconciled in 1916, after Marjery had left for Canada to get married. It is not known exactly why the affair ended – while Alice kept a diary she wrote nothing in 1914 and 1915.
As an artist, Hardy exhibited very little, although he did show at the Royal Academy in 1890 and 1899, and at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. (His wife exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1890 and 1898). His main work, therefore, remained illustration. He continued to contribute to periodicals, with his work appearing in
The Ludgate Monthly,
The British Workman,
The Gentlewoman,
The Wide World Magazine,
Black and White,
The Illustrated London News,
Pearson’s Weekly,
The Penny Magazine,
The Boy’s Own Paper,
The Girl’s Own Paper,
The Girl’s Realm,
The London Magazine,
The Penny Pictorial Magazine,
The Captain,
C.B. Fry’s Magazine,
The Scout,
Young Britain,
Great Thoughts,
The Rambler,
The New Magazine,
The Red Magazine,
Boys’ Life,
The Jabberwock and
The Burlington Magazine.
Most of his illustrative work for book publishers was for children’s historical and adventure stories. He also illustrated many re-issues of classic novels such as Charlotte Brontë’s
Shirley, Jane Austen’s
Northanger Abbey, Trollope’s
Barchester Towers, Charles Reade’s
The Cloister and the Hearth, and several novels by Walter Scott and Alexandre Dumas. He illustrated at least 170 books during his lifetime.
As an illustrator, Hardy’s style was not to everyone’s taste. Simon Houfe, in his
Dictionary of 19th Century British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists (1996) described him as a “prolific but unexciting purveyor of adventure”, whereas Brian Doyle, in his
Who’s Who of Boys’ Writer and Illustrators (1964) wrote that “Hardy’s work was at once distinctive and accomplished. The villainous characters who formed his pirate crews were faithfully portrayed and completely authentic, as were the nautical details of the old-fashioned ships he drew ... His characters invariably had staring eyes, turned-down mouths and were seldom inactive or in repose.”
Hardy was also a highly-skilled metalworker, reflecting his particular interest in historical armour. For many years he was an adviser to the Armoury Department at the British Museum, and also at the auctioneers Sotheboys. He also made replicas of old suits of armour (he was photographed wearing one of his re-creations in
The Strand Magazine in 1895) and other items, including a model galleon commissioned by the Mond Nickel Company in 1924, which was shown at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924/1925. A smaller version of this, also made by Hardy, is now in the Toronto Museum in Canada.
In 1932 Hardy was awarded a Civil List pension of £80 “in recognition of his work as a black and white artist and his contribution to the study of mediaeval arms and armour.” Seven years later he was granted a Royal Academy pension of £50. He died on 2 January 1942, at The Cottage, Church Street, Storrington, and was buried in the local St. Mary’s churchyard. He left an estate valued at £1,106 (around £45,000 in today’s terms). His wife died at 45 Church Street, Kidlington, Oxfordshire, on 3 March 1955 (leaving an estate worth just £241), and she was buried alongside her late husband.
Of his siblings, the best-known was Beatrice Evelyn Elizabeth Hardy. As an artist, and known as Evelyn Stuart Hardy, she illustrated dozens of books (she was particularly associated with the publishing firm of Ernest Nister), mainly fairy stories and books for young children, including a few she wrote herself. She also contributed to numerous periodicals, including
Little Folks,
The Gentlewoman and
The Penny Magazine. She died, unmarried, in Cuckfield, Sussex, in 1935. Norman Heywood Hardy moved to London in the late 1880s and as a consequence of his early interest in anthropology, and his early artistic work in that field, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Society in 1890. After exhibiting in several London galleries, he emigrated to Australia in 1892, where he worked for several years as an artist with
The Sydney Mail. He later travelled widely – China, Egypt, Ceylon, Africa – before ending up working for the Metroplitan Museum in New York. He died in 1914. Mabel Dora Hardy became better-known as Dorothy Hardy. She illustrated a wide range of books, but was particularly noted for her paintings of horses. She married Kenneth Elwyn Roberts in 1908, and after he died in 1916 she spent the rest of her life in Kensington, where she died in 1937.
PUBLICATIONS
Books illustrated by Paul Hardy
Garnered Sheaves: A Tale for Boys by Emma Raymond Pitman, Blackie & Son, 1883
Our Pets: Original Verses by Sale Barker, George Routledge & Sons, 1887
Little Peter: A Christmas Morality for Children of Any Age by Lucas Malet, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1888
That Bother of a Boy by Grace Stebbing, Jarrold & Sons, 1889
Jacqueline’s Message: A True Tale of the French Revolution of 1789 by L.E. Weeks, Jarrold & Sons, 1889
Elias Trust’s Boys: A West Country Story by Margaret Surrey, Jarrold & Sons, 1889
Cassell’s Illustrated Almanac and Companion, Cassell & Co., 1890
Noah’s Ark: A Tale of the Norfolk Broads by Darley Dale, Frederick Warne & Co., 1890
Clive’s Conquest: A Story for Children by Evelyn Everett-Green, Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1890
Wingfold Manor, or How Frank Sedgewick Found a Friend by Daniel Darlinghurst, Jarrold & Sons, 1890
Sayings and Doings in Fairyland by D.S. Sinclair, Jarrold & Sons, 1890
Lord Lynton’s Ward by Helena Brooks, Jarrold & Sons, 1890
The Bible in Spain by George Borrow, Collins, 1890
The Biography of a Locomotive Engine by Henry Frith, Cassell & Co., 1891
Jeanette, or The Charity that Encourages a Multitude of Sins by Lucy Taylor, Religious Tract Society, 1891
The False Character by F.E. Reade, S.P.C.K., 1891
A String of Stories by A.R. Hope Moncrieff, George Cauldwell, 1891
Millicent Simonds, or Through Cleansing Fires by Frances Sweyn, Religious Tract Society, 1891
Mrs Glen’s Daughter by F.E. Reade, S.P.C.K., 1891
Bo-Peep: A Treasury for the Little Ones by Mary Ellen Edwards, Cassell & Co., 1891
A Jacobite Exile by G.A. Henty, Blackie Sons, 1893
The Great Shadow, and Beyond the City by Arthur Conan Doyle, J.W. Arrowsmith, 1893
The Refugees: A Tale of the Huguenots by Arthur Conan Doyle, Longmans, Green & Co., 1893
From Clue to Capture: A Series of Thrilling Detective Stories by Dick Donovan (i.e. J.E.P. Muddock), Hutchinson & Co., 1893
Archie’s Secret, or Side by Side by Mary Kemble Martin, Religious Tract Society, 1893
The Antiquary by Walter Scott, A. & C. Black, 1893
Keith’s Trial and Victory by Evelyn Everett-Green, Sunday School Union, 1894
Round the Red Lamp by Arthur Conan Doyle, Methuen & Co., 1894
The Ball of Fortune by Charles E. Pearce, Blackie & Son, 1894
Just Like A Girl by Penelope Leslie, Blackie & Son, 1894
Vassia, or a Russian Boy’s Eventful Journey by Mary Emily Ropes, Sunday School Union, 1894
The Heir of Sandyscombe by K.M. Eady, Sunday School Union, 1894
Jim and Napoleon by Lydia Phillips, Religious Tract Society, 1894
A Dozen All Told, Being a Set of Twelve Stories by various authors, Blackie & Son, 1894
Anne of Geierstein, or The Maiden of the Mist by L.B. Picard, A. & C. Black, 1894
The Surgeon’s Daughter, and Castle Dangerous by Walter Scott, A. & C. Black, 1894
The Story of the Sea, Cassell & Co., 1894 (in weekly parts) (with other artists)
The Whispering Winds and the Tales That They Told by Mary H. Debenham, Blackie & Son, 1895
Afloat in a Gipsy Van by Ernest R. Suffling, Jarrold & Sons, 1895
In a Stranger’s Garden: A Story for Boys and Girls by Constance Cuming, Blackie & Son, 1895
The Gitleen by Edith Johnstone, Blackie & Son, 1895
Battles of the Nineteenth Century, Cassell & Co., 1895 (in weekly parts) (with other artists)
The Art Bible, George Newnes, 1895 (in monthly parts) (with other artists)
For Glory and Renown by D.H. Parry, Cassell & Co., 1895
The Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryatt, George Routledge & Sons, 1895 (re-issue)
A Dangerous Conspirator by Mrs G. Norway, Jarrold & Sons, 1896
The Story Hunter, or Tales of the Weird and Wild by Erenst R. Suffling, Jarrold & Sons, 1896
Barker’s Luck by Bret Harte, Chatto & Windus, 1896
Under the Foeman’s Flag: A Story of the Spanish Armada by Robert Leighton, Andrew Melrose, 1896
The Wreck of the Wager, and Subsequent Adventures of Her Crew by John Byron, Blackie & Son, 1896
The Top Brick off the Chimney by Jennie Chappell, Blackie & Son, 1896
The Green Mountain Boys: A Story of the American War of Independence by Eliza F. Pollard, S.W. Partridge & Co., 1896
A Dangerous Conspirator by G. Norway, Jarrold & Sons, 1897
“Rogues of the Fiery Cross”: A Fighting Tale of Fighting Days by S. Walkey, Cassell & Co., 1897
A Polar Eden, or The Goal of the “Dauntless” by Charles R. Kenyon, S.W. Partridge & Co., 1897
An Africaner Trio: A Story of Adventure by J.H. Spettigue, Blackie & Son, 1897
The Voyage of the “Avenger”, or In the Days of Dashing Drake by Henry St. John, Jarrold & Sons, 1898
Brave Deeds of Youthful Heroes by various authors, Religious Tract Society, 1898
The Reign of Princess Naska by Amelia Hutchison Stirling, Blackie & Son, 1898
Kidnapped by Pirates by S. Walkey, F. Warne & Co., 1898
Twin Pickles: A Story of Two Australian Children by Ellen Campbell, Blackie & Son, 1898
Florence Godfrey’s Faith: A Story of Australian Life by E.R. Pitman, Blackie & Son, 1898
Shirley by Charlotte Brontë, George Newnes, 1898 (re-issue)
A Loyal Little Maid by Sarah Tytler, Blackie & Son, 1899
Peacocks: or What Little Hands Can Do by Winifred Percy Smith, Blackie & Son, 1899
Silverlocks and the Three Bears by (anon.), Graham & Matlack, 1899
Foul Play by Charles Reade, Collins, 1900
Mignonne, or Miss Patricia’s Pet by Jennie Chappell, Blackie & Son, 1900
A Pair of Them by J.H. Spettigue, Blackie & Son, 1900
Sons of the Sea: Stories of Adventure by Gordon Stables and Sheila Braine, John. F. Shaw & Co., 1900
The Laughing Man by Victor Hugo, Collins, 1900
For the Old School by Florence Coombe, Blackie & Son, 1901
Queen Charlotte’s Maidens by Sarah Tytler, Blackie & Son, 1901
An Ocean Adventurer, or The Cruise of the Orb by Walter Page Wright, Blackie & Son, 1901
A Trek and a Laager: A Borderland Story by Jane H. Spettigue, Blackie & Son, 1901
Arthur’s Inheritance, or How He Conquered by Emma Leslie, Blackie & Son, 1901
Kings and Vikings: Stories from Irish History by W. Lorcan O’Byrne, Blackie & Son, 1901
In the Dictator’s Grip: A Story of Adventure in the Pampas and Paraguay by John Samson, Blackie & Son, 1901
A Handful of Rebels: The Escapades of Five Young Pickles by Raymond Jacberns, Jarrold & Sons, 1901
The Life of the Century, George Newnes Ltd., 1901 (in fortnightly parts) (with other artists)
Tony Maxwell’s Pluck by Geraldine Mockler, Blackie & Son, 1902
Under the Spangled Banner: A Tale of the Spanish-American War by F.S. Brereton, Blackie & Son, 1903
Dick Chester: A Story of the Civil War by G.I. Witham, Blackie & Son, 1903
The Story of Susan by Mrs Henry Dudeney, William Heinemann, 1903
Poor Jack by Frederick Marryatt, Blackie & Son, 1903 (re-issue)
What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge, Blackie & Son, 1903 (re-issue)
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, Blackie & Son, 1903 (re-issue)
The Princess of Balkh: A Tale of the Wars of Aurangzebe by Michael Macmillan, Blackie & Son, 1904
Children of Kings by W. Lorcan O’Byrne, Blackie & Son, 1904
Martin Rattler, or A Boy’s Adventures in the Forests of Brazil by R.M. Ballantyne, Blackie & Son, 1904 (re-issue)
To Win or To Die: A Tale of the Klondyke Gold Craze by George Manville Fenn, S.W. Partridge & Co., 1904 (re-issue)
It’s Never Too Late to Mend by Charles Reade, Collins, 1904
The Life and Voyages of Captain James Cook by C.G. Cash (ed.), Blackie & Son, 1905
God’s Bairn: A Story of the Fen Country by Dorothea Moore, Blackie & Son, 1905
The Romance of War by Wilkie Collins, Collins, 1905
Kenilworth by Walter Scott, Blackie & Son, 1905 (re-issue)
The Interpreter: A Tale of the War by G.J. Whyte-Melville, Collins, 1905 (re-issue)
The Talisman: A Tale of the Crusades by Walter Scott, Blackie & Son, 1905 (re-issue)
Barriers Burned Away by Edward Payson Row, Collins, 1905 (re-issue)
The Regent’s Daughter by Alexandre Dumas, Collins, 1905 (re-issue)
The Battle of the Weak, or Gossips Green by Mrs Henry Dudeney, Cassell & Co., 1906
Sir Guy’s Trust: A Romance of Coeur de Lion’s Reign by M. Andrews, S.W. Partridge & Co., 1906
The Knight of the Cave by W. Lorcan O’Byrne, Blackie & Son, 1906
A Ruler-in-Chief by Raymond Jacberns, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1906
In Wild Maratha Battle: A tale of the Days of Shivaji by Michael Macmillan, Blackie & Son, 1906
Christmas Songs and Carols, Ernest Nister, 1906
The Lays of Ancient Rome by Lord Macaulay, Ernest Nister, 1907 (re-issue)
The Last of the Peshwas by Michael Macmillan, Blackie & Son, 1907
The Falcon King, or The Story of the Anglo-Norman Invasion of Ireland by W. Lorcan O’Byrne, Blackie & Son, 1907
A Girl of the Fortunate Isles by Bessie Marchant, Blackie & Son, 1907
Decoyed Across the Sea: The Tale of a Tangle by Robert Overton, Frederick Warne & Co., 1907
Comrades in Camp and Bungalow by Edith E. Cuthell, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1907
The Canterbury Puzzles and Other Curious Problems by Henry Ernest Dudeney, William Heinemann, 1907
The Happy League: A Story for Children by Leslie Moore, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1908
Half-hours with the Highwaymen: Picturesque Biographies and Traditions of the “Knights of the Road” by Charles G. Harper, Chapman & Hall, 1908
Chronicles of Service Life in Malta by Mrs Nina Stuart, Edward Arnold, 1908
Feats on the Fiord by Harriet Martineau, Blackie & Son, 1908 (re-issue)
Ministering Children by Maria Louisa Charlesworth, S.W. Partridge & Co., 1908 (re-issue)
Coaches and Coaching by Leigh Hunt, Sisley, 1908 (re-issue)
Two Tapleby Boys by Mrs Neville Cubitt, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1909
Christabel, or The Freaks and Fancies of Three Little Folk by Katherine Wright Latham, Blackie & Son, 1909
The Motor Maid by C.N. & A.M. Williamson, Hodder & Stoughton, 1909
The Smugglers: Picturesque Chapters in the Story of Ancient Craft by Henry Noel Shore and Charles Harper, Chapman & Hall, 1909
Holiday House; A Book for the Young by Catherine Sinclair, Blackie & Son, 1909 (re-issue)
Blown Away from the Land: An Adventure in the Mediterranean by David Ker, Blackie & Son, 1910
One Term: A Tale of Manor House School by N. Theodora Cornish, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1910
Christabel in France, or The Further Adventures of Three Little Folk by Katherine Wright Latham, Blackie & Son, 1910
A Medley of Sport by various authors, Gibbings & Co., 1910
The Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn by Henry Kingsley, Collins, 1910 (re-issue)
The Betrothed by Walter Scott, Collins, 1910 (re-issue)
Castle Dangerous by Walter Scott, Collins, 1910 (re-issue)
The Chronicles of the Canongate by Walter Scott, Collins, 1911 (re-issue)
Phil’s Cousins: A Holiday Tale by May Wynne, Blackie & Son, 1911
A Woman Worth Winning by Effie Adelaide Rowlands, Daily Mail (“Sixpenny Novels”), 1911
The Adventures of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, G. Bell & Sons, 1911 (re-issue)
Boys of the Border: A Tale of the Days of Henry the Second by George R. Bennett, Blackie & Son, 1912
The Three Midshipmen by W.H.G. Kingston, Blackie & Son, 1912 (re-issue)
Tom Brown’s Schooldays by Thomas Hughes, Charles H. Kelly, 1912 (re-issue)
The Fortunes of Nigel by Walter Scott, G. Bell & Sons, 1914 (re-issue)
Hereward the Wake by Charles Kingsley, G. Bell & Sons, 1914 (re-issue)
Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings by Edward Bulwer Lytton, G. Bell & Sons, 1914 (re-issue)
Mark Seaworth: A Tale of the Indian Ocean by W.H.G. Kingston, Blackie & Son, 1914 (re-issue)
The Last Days of Pompeii (Adapted for use in schools) by Edward Bulwer Lytton, G. Bell & Sons, 1914 (re-issue)
The Golden Lattice by H.B Elliott (ed.), Jarrold & Sons, 1915
An Everyday Romance by Raymond Jacberns, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1915
In a Stranger’s Garden: A Story for Boys and Girls by Constance Cuming, Blackie & Son, 1915
César Birotteau by Honoré de Balzac, Collins, 1916 (re-issue)
Through the Gates: A Brief Summary of British History by Bessie Hawkins, Educational Co. of Ireland Ltd., 1920(?)
The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reade, Collins, 1920 (re-issue)
The Laughing Man by Victor Hugo, Collins, 1920 (re-issue)
The Last of the Barons by Edward Bulwer Lytton, G. Bell & Sons, 1920 (re-issue)
The Smugglers: Picturesque Chapters in the History of Contraband by Lord Teignmouth and Charles G. Harper, Cecil Palmer, 1923
The Tower of London (adapted for use in schools) by William Harrison Ainsworth, G. Bell & Sons, 1924 (re-issue)
Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope, Collins, 1925 (re-issue)
Taking the Bastille by Alexandre Dumas, Collins, 1926(?) (re-issue)
Mr Pickwick’s Second Time on Earth by Charles George Harper, Cecil Palmer, 1927
Martin Luther by Estelle Ross, George G. Harrap & Co., 1927
Stories of Adventure and Discovery for the Story Hour by Ada M. Marzials, George G. Harrap & Co., 1928
A Fight for Education: The Story of Booker Washington’s Early Days (an abridgement of “Up from Slavery” by Booker T. Washington, George G. Harrap & Co., 1939
A Leader of Africa: Stories from the Life of James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey by Edwin Smith, George G. Harrap & Co., 1940
Re-issues of classic novels by Collins – dates not known
The Forty-five Guardsmen by Alexandre Dumas
The Conspirators by Alexandre Dumas
The Queen’s Necklace by Alexandre Dumas
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
The Lion of Flanders by Hendrik Conscience
Kate Coventry by G.J. Whyte-Melville
Richelieu: A Tale of France by G.P.R. James
The Countess de Charby by Alexandre Dumas
Quentin Durward by Walter Scott
The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott
“A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Griffith and Farran), translated from the French of Jules Verne, is a compound of wild imagination and sound science. An adventurous uncle and his nephews descend the crater of a volcano of Iceland, and reach a central sea, where they encounter majestic geysers, pre-historic men and animals, mushroom forests, and other marvels. After many strange and fearful adventures their raft floats for days and nights on a boiling stream which courses furiously through the bowels of the earth, the water changes to lava, the wind to an “incandescent blast,” and, finally, they are shot out unharmed upon the slopes of Stromboli. The engravings are by Rion (sic), and excellent.” (The Times, 25 December 1871)
“The pill of science was never more seductively sugared over than in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (Sampson Low), translated from the French of Jules Verne, the author of A Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Boys will be delighted with this wild story, through which scientific truth and the most frantic fiction walk cheek by jowl. The chief personage is a certain Captain Nemo, commander of the Nautilus, a cigar-shaped vessel which can stream to the bottom of the Atlantic, carry down supplies of oxygen and compressed air, which is served out to the crew like grog. She explores the depths of the ocean, and her wonderous discoveries and doings shrivel into nothing the results expected from the Challenger expedition. This monster of the deep can lie at anchor 100 fathoms under the waves, lighting the black waters for a league by means of an electric lantern flaming at her bows. The scientific men on board of her take note of the strange creatures that rub their noses against the plate-glass windows of the cabin, and now and then Captain Nemo and his friends put on their submarine armour, and, taking a walk along the ocean bed, explore a coral forest or ransack an ancient wreck. The Nautilus passes close to the hull of the Vengeur, and Captain Nemo repeats the fable which tells how the crew nailed the colours to the mast, and went down with their ship sooner than surrender. As a matter of history, the Vengeur surrendered in the ordinary way, but the story of her sinking with all hands to the shout of “Vive la République!” is too firmly planted in the French mind to be uprooted by any evidence. But M. Verne professes to teach, not naval, but natural history, and this he does in a delightful manner. The wild adventures of Captain Nemo and his men in their submarine vessel, how they explored the city of Atlantis, gathered the gold of the Vigo galleons, and did many other wonderful things, will fascinate young readers, who in the midst of their wonder and excitement will learn, without at all suspecting that they are being taught, a great deal about the swimming and creeping and growing things that inhabit the lands and waters of the great deep. They must not, however, take all M. Verne’s natural history for gospel, for he does not stop at the boundary of existing knowledge, but in the freest and easiest manner clears up every mystery in the earth and water under it. His speculations are attractive even to older folk; some day half his marvels may come true, and then this voyage of the Nautilus will be quoted as a remarkable forecast of scientific discovery. At present it is an excellent boy’s book, and as we turn over its pages to the last wild picture of the Nautilus caught in the Maelstrom we devoutly wish we were a boy to enjoy it again.” (The Times, 24 December 1872)
“From the Earth to the Moon (Sampson Low), and The Fur Country (Sampson Low), are translation of two of M. Jules Verne’s wild and wondrous books. These tales are very popular in France, and as the love of the marvellous is no stronger in French than in English boys, they will, no doubt, be well appreciated by the latter, especially as they are full of pictures. As for From the Earth to the Moon, it is enough to give one brain fever to read it. All through his reckless heaping up of impossibilities the author preserves a quiet matter-of-fact air, and his thousand and one frantic imaginings are put on paper in cool, collected, and minute descriptions, which fairly make the reader gasp. When the narrative is at its maddest, the sense of reality is still perfect, though frightfully bewildering, and the clever imposture is kept up by the continual addition of those small realistic touches which encompass a story with an atmosphere of absolute truth. M. Verne’s books are certainly exceedingly clever, and deserve all imaginable success. Their sensation is at once terribly thrilling and absolutely harmless. The materials of his tales of mystery are perfectly innocent, and though they play fast and loose with facts in a manner which might make a savant’s hair stand on end, they really teach a great deal in an easy and agreeable way. Scientific extravaganzas such as these before us are not only much better food for boys’ minds than the sensational love-stories we often see them reading, but boys themselves like them better. The account of the manufacture of the great gun which shot to the moon a hollow projectile carrying passengers; the incidents of the aerial voyage; and the manner in which, after coursing round the satellite at a short distance from its surface, the intrepid travellers managed to shoot themselves back again to their own world, will hold young readers in breathless delight. They will be disappointed, though, to find that the adventurers do not actually set foot on lunar soil, and, really, after having got his people so far, M. Verne might as well have allowed them to land fairly on the satellite, instead of skimming round it. The Fur Country is not quite such a Munchausen story; nevertheless, a good number of impossibilities are related with consummate gravity. The author shows a perfect familiarity with Arctic phenomena, and his wild tale is again strewed with useful knowledge.” (The Times, 20 December 1873)
