Monday, April 09, 2018

Frederick Foden cover gallery

Selected gallery of paperback covers by Frederick Foden. For more info. about Foden and his career as a writer of tough gangster yarns, see Forgotten Authors Volume 2.

Professor of Death [Star Detective]
Curtis Warren, nd (1950), 128pp, 9d. Cover by F.T.

Hick Town Dame
Barrington Gray, nd (Nov 1952), 128pp, 1/6.

The Twisted Trail
Brown Watson, nd (1957), 128pp, 1/6. Cover by Harold Johns

NOVELS AS NICK BARONI

No Price Sister
Curtis Warren, nd (c.1951), 111pp, 1/6. Cover by H. W. Perl

Pay Off
Curtis Warren, nd (1951), 111pp, 1/6. Cover by H. W. Perl

Sally
Curtis Warren, nd (1951), 111pp, 1/6. Cover by H. W. Perl

NOVELS AS JON HART

Frisco Boys
Curtis Warren, nd (Aug 1951), 111pp, 1/6. Cover by H. W. Perl

NOVELS AS JACK KELSO

The Trail of the Limping Wolf
Popular Fiction [Popular Detective Stories], nd (c.1946), 48p, 4½d.

The Murder of Colonel Neville
Popular Fiction [Popular Detective Stories], nd (c.1946), 48p, 4½d.

Smashing the Drug Ring
Popular Fiction [Popular Detective Stories], nd (c.1946), 48p, 4½d.

Diamond Cut Diamond
Popular Fiction [Popular Detective Stories], nd (c.1946), 48p, 4½d.

The Ghost Skier
Grayling Publishing [Mystery Thrillers 8], nd (c.1949), 32p, 4½d.

Diamonds Spell Death
Grayling Publishing [Mystery Thrillers 12], nd (c.1949), 32p, 4½d.

NOVELS AS MARK ROSS

Strange Money
Curtis Warren, nd (Sep 1951), 112pp, 1/6. Cover by H. W. Perl

Operator X
Curtis Warren, nd (Oct 1951), 112pp, 1/6. Cover by H. W. Perl

Last Card
Curtis Warren, nd (Jan 1952), 112pp, 1/6. Cover by H. W. Perl

Quiet City
Curtis Warren, nd (Jan 1952), 112pp, 1/6. Cover by H. W. Perl

NOVELS AS BRETT VANE

Good Time Lips
Curtis Warren, nd (1950), 128pp, 1/6.

Miss Pinki Pays Off
Curtis Warren, nd (1950), 128pp, 1/6. Cover by H. W. Perl

Smart Hussy
Curtis Warren, nd (1950), 112pp, 1/6. Cover by H. W. Perl

Private Doll
Curtis Warren, nd (1951), 128pp, 1/6.

Easy Living
Curtis Warren, nd (1951), 111pp, 1/6. Cover by H. W. Perl

Goodbye Honey
Curtis Warren, (Mar 1953), 160pp, 1/6. Cover by H. W. Perl

When Blondes Meet
Curtis Warren, May 1953 (Jul 1953), 160pp, 1/6.

Saturday, April 07, 2018

Paul Hardy


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

Friday, April 06, 2018

Comic Cuts - 6 April 2018

The text for the third volume of Forgotten Authors is finished, checked, spell-checked, resized, indexed and (in the case of the e-book version) reformatted. Mind you, even though I've gone over it and over it, the odd little glitch will still exist to trip me. Why, for instance, would three out of 204 footnotes, change font size when I copied them from one document to another. I swear I did nothing different during the writing stage, but somehow they were different to the other 201 footnotes.

Hopefully that and a dozen other minor glitches are fixed now, but there's always a possibility that one or two will creep through into the finished book.

As I'm writing this (Thursday) I haven't quite finished the cover, but hopefully it will appear at the top of the column. It follows the same format as the earlier two volumes; I'm not sure yet whether volume 4 will use the same central image or whether I'll change it for the next volume.

Friday is, if all goes to plan, uploading day and the books – both print and 'e' – should be available by the weekend or early next week.

The book contains a dozen essays, although the first covers the history of two people whose businesses were intertwined. The essay is based on one of the first things I ever wrote about penny dreadfuls, fifteen or so years ago, and pulling the piece apart in order to concentrate on Edward Viles didn't make any sense. Think of it as an essay with a bonus forgotten publisher as well as the usual forgotten author.

George Hamilton Teed is one of my favourite two Sexton Blake writers – the other being Gwyn Evans, who was the subject of my book The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet, which was published six years ago. It was the notion of including Teed that led to a wholesale rethink of the contents of volume 3. For reasons you'll discover when you read the book, including Teed meant that I needed to include the very mysterious Michael Storm, the mysteries swirling around whom led to decades of speculation among Blake scholars. And to include one Michael Storm meant I had to include another Michael Storm because they were related.

By then I had a Michael Storm section in the book, so I decided to include Michael Storme (with an 'e') because some work by the second Michael Storm has been credited to Michael Storme in the past and I was able to prove that the credit was wrong while I was researching Storm 2.

As with all the volumes, a few of the authors originally appeared here on Bear Alley; another essay appeared as a chapbook back in 2001 and another appeared on a chat group in... 2001? 2003? A long time ago. But a lot of the material is brand new and, even where I've tackled an author in the past, the piece has been thoroughly overhauled and expanded.

Random scans this week are a quartet of books with the word Forgotten in the title. Being obvious isn't always a bad thing...


Thursday, April 05, 2018

Commando issues 5111-5114

Brand new Commando issues are out today! See our Commandos brawling in desert dustups, targeting U-Boats with torpedo bombs in a Beaufort, excavating Roman treasures in Italian-occupied Abyssinia, and scrapping with spies off the coast of West Africa. It’s all in a day’s work for our heroes!

5111: A Tank Called Tempest
It may sound like the first line of a joke, but when an Australian, a Kiwi, a South African, and an English soldier were all stranded in a single tank in the North African desert, there was only one punchline the troops had in mind… Originally intended as a propaganda piece to showcase Commonwealth nations working together, the troublemaking quartet soon get separated from their lines, leaving them at each others’ – and Jerry’s throats.
    Jaume Forns’ steadfast attention to different nationals’ uniforms is put to the test in this George Low tale, which takes the Commando trope of bickering foes come friends and cranks it up to eleven.

Story: George Low
Art: Jaume Forns
Cover: Ian Kennedy

5112: Low-Level Ace
Pilot Officer Bob Tanner flew his Beaufort so low that sometimes his crew “thought they were in a submarine”! But his men always trusted him, even when the waves licked at the undercarriage of their aircraft. A man who didn’t trust Tanner, however, was Pilot Officer Paul Scott. Pranks between airmen were one thing, but when Tanner uncovered a Nazi spy in the area and a turncoat among his superiors, jealously soon took hold of Scott, turning rivalry to resentment…
    Joining the commemoration of the Royal Air Force’s 100 years of service, this Gold issue reprint focuses on the exploits of a Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber. Low-Level Ace sees one of Commando’s most the dynamic pairings of writer and interior artist, CG Walker and CT Rigby, paying an excellent homage to the bravery and determination of those who serve in the RAF.

Story: CG Walker
Art: CT Rigby
Cover: Union Studio
Originally Commando No. 480 (June 1970).

5113: Danger in the Dark
Danger Doyle is back! This time, he and his reluctant secret agent partner, Ned Finch, are shipped off to Italian-occupied Abyssinia for some well-deserved “time-off”. But as with everything to do with British Intelligence Organisation Omega, Danger and Ned are not so shocked to realise that there was an ulterior motive to their little holiday break in war torn Africa, as our hapless duo face-off against fascism, and find some rather interesting artefacts along the way.
    In the second instalment of writer Stephen Walsh and artist Keith Page’s Danger series, the antics are upped even higher as Ulysses ‘Danger’ Doyle adds to his list of life-saving accolades, while Ned continues to roll his eyes and prays that one day he might just catch a break.

Story: Stephen Walsh
Art: Keith Page
Cover: Keith Page

5114: The Waiting Game
As RAF Pilot Officer Bob Barnes cruised the West African coast, he scanned the wave bands on his radio. He never expected to tune into a U-Boat’s frequency, but when he overhears a Morse Code message and plots the course, the bearings lead north-east of Cape Town —inland. Either the Jerries had started putting wheels on their submarines or something else was afoot, and Jimmy was about to find out just what that was…
    Another celebration of the centenary of the Royal Air Force, KP MacKenzie’s ‘The Waiting Game’, like ‘Low-Level Ace’, focuses on bombers targeting U-Boats, but this time from the perspective of a navigator in a Catalina. Jose Maria Jorge’s interior art is just as thrilling as the story, while Ian Kennedy’s exhilarating cover has the Catalina almost bouncing off the waves as it gives chase to the fleeing U-Boat!

Story: KP MacKenzie
Art: Jose Maria Jorge
Cover: Ian Kennedy
Originally Commando No. 2734 (February 1994).

Wednesday, April 04, 2018

Rebellion Releases (2000AD)

Rebellion releases for 4–5 April 2018

2000AD Prog 2075
Cover: Simon Coleby
JUDGE DREDD: THE DEATH WATCH by Rory McConville (w) Paul Marshall (a) Dylan Teague (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
JAEGIR: IN THE REALM OF PYRRHUS by Gordon Rennie (w) Simon Coleby (a) Len O'Grady (c) Ellie De Ville (l)
SINISTER DEXTER: THE DEVIL DON'T CARE by Dan Abnett (w) Steve Yeowell (a) John Charles (c) Annie Parkhouse (l)
ANDERSON, PSI DIVISION: UNDERTOW by Emma Beeby (w) David Roach (a) Jose Villarrubia (c) Simon Bowland (l)
STRONTIUM DOG: THE SON by John Wagner (w) Carlos Ezquerra (a) Ellie De Ville (l)

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files #31
Rebellion ISBN 978-1781-08631-5, 5 April 2018, 288pp, £19.99.
In the next installment of the best-selling series, the galaxy’s number one bounty hunter, Trapper Hag, has escaped his Iso-Cube prison with only one thing on his mind – the death of Judge Dredd! Meanwhile, the miniature robotic garden guardians, the Banzai Battallion help Dredd foil a kidnapping and Hogwash college’s greatest pupil – Harry Snotter – makes the mistake of visiting Mega-City One.

Monday, April 02, 2018

Dail Ambler cover gallery

This is a selected gallery of covers for books by Dail Ambler.  For the most part, her books are very scarce and if anyone has copies of books by Dail Ambler, Danny Spade and her various other pen-names I'd love to get scans – creases and nicks are no problem – which can be used to expand the gallery.

A full listing of Dail Ambler's novels and other works (she also wrote plays, for TV and was a scriptwriter for movies, including the infamous Beat Girl) is available in Forgotten Authors Volume 1.

NOVELS AS DAIL AMBLER

Not Killed—Just Dead!
Scion, (Jan) 1952, 112pp, 1/6. Cover by Roger Davis

The Lady Says When
Scion no.36799, (Sep) 1952, 112pp, 1/6. Cover by Oliver Brabbins

Hold That Tiger!
Scion, (Sep) 1952, 112pp, 1/6. Cover by Roger Davis

What's With You?
Scion, (Oct) 1952, 128pp, 1/6. Cover by Roger Davis

Desert Guerillas
New English Library 0680-8, May 1971, 128pp, 25p.

The Virgin Collector 
New English Library 0715-4, Sep 1971, 30p.

Three Men for the Job
Robert Hale (hardcover), 1975.

NOVELS AS ACE CAPELLI

The Big Time
Kaye Publications, (1949), 1/6. Cover by F.T.

Dames Like Dough
Kaye Publications, nd (1950), 112pp, 1/6. Cover by F.T.

Yellow Babe
Kaye Publications, nd (1950), 116pp, 1/6. Cover by F.T.

NOVELS AS JOHNNY GRECCO

Manhattan Massacre (ascription uncertain)
B. Kaye Agency, nd (1950), 116pp, 1/6. Cover by F.T.

NOVELS AS NAT KARTA

Some Dame!
Scion no.41999, (Mar) 1953, 127pp, 1/6.

NOVELS AS LARRY O'BRIEN

Swan Song for Paula
World Distributors, 1950.

NOVELS AS DANNY SPADE

The Dame Plays Rough
Scion, (Oct 1950), 128pp, 1/6. Cover by Ferrari

The Lady Holds a Gun
Scion, (Mar 1951), 128pp, 1/6.

Waterfront Rat
Scion, (Apr) 1951, 128pp, 1/6. Cover by Gilmore

Move Fast, Brother!
Scion, (May) 1951, 128pp, 1/6. Cover by Gilmore

Strong Arm Stuff
Scion, (Feb) 1952, 112pp, 1/6.

Calling Mr. Spade
Scion, (May) 1952, 112pp, 1/6. Cover by Mendoza?

NOVELS AS HANS VOGEL

Jittery Dame
Scion no.506/2/53, (Mar) 1953, 128pp, 1/6. Cover by Roger Davis

Sunday, April 01, 2018

Eagle Times v.31 no.1 (Spring 2018)

I haven't seen a copy of Eagle Times for probably a decade – since the days of Howard Corn editorship. The look of the magazine hasn't changed a bit in all that time, the editors creating a wonderful scrapbook of all things Eagle through a series of articles that, for the most part, centre on the famous comic from the Fifties and Sixties.

After thirty years and 121 issues, you would have thought the comic had been filleted to death and every tasty morsel of information dissected and pored over. Not so. There are still fascinating articles by the likes of Alan Vince, in this issue discussing the lost opportunities of those early Dan Dare stories, exploring ideas that were dropped into the stories but never really led anywhere, some of them plot points for stories that were never written.

David Busfield takes a look at the Hillman Minx and the Austin-Healey 100, using the Eagle's famous cut-away drawings to introduce the cars and their Dinkey Toys equivalents. Alastair Crompton, meanwhile, looks at the city of Mektona (from Dan Dare) and compares it to other fictional and real cities.

Will Grenham explores a couple of side alleys to the Eagle comic: one is the 'Flint of the Flying Squad' stories of PC-49 creator Alan Stranks, which were broadcast on the wireless in 1951-52 and spawned a nice comic strip series in the pages of the Daily Express with art by George Davies... and there's a little piece on Davies that introduces some of his other work. Greham's second  article looks at the unpublished Frank Bellamy adaptation of H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines which includes scans of all three episodes in colour.

Elsewhere in this issue, there's a brief obit. for Gerald Palmer, a look at the new Dan Dare series from Titan, a short story based on the adventures of PC-49, plus a look at movies contemporary to Eagle (this issue features part 5: 1960-62 and offers a couple of paragraphs on the likes of Assignment Outer Space and The Cape Canaveral Monsters as well as one genuine classic, The Day of the Triffids.

Anyone who has fond memories of the Eagle, or perhaps even a few lapsed Eagle Times readers, might want to give the magazine a try. Technically, the quarterly magazine is the journal of the Eagle Society, with membership costing £29 in the UK, £40 (in sterling) overseas. You can send subscriptions to Bob Corn, Wellcroft Cottage, Wellcroft, Ivinghoe, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire LU7 9EF; subs can also be submitted via PayPal to eagle-times@hotmail.com.

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