Books and Writers

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C

CAINE, SIR THOMAS HENRY HALL
Novelist, Playwright & Non-Fiction writer. Phenomenally successful, made a fortune from his novels. Left school at 14 to join an architect's office but left in 1870 to live in the Isle of Man and help his schoolteacher uncle.
He moved back to Liverpool and began to write. He made pregnant in 1884 Mary Chandler (aged 14) and later married her

CALDECOTT, RANDOLPH
Illustrator. Died of rheumatic fever in Florida

CALDECOTT AWARD, 1938-1974
Awarded each year by the American Library Association for an American children's picture book published in the preceding year

CANALS

CAPE, JONATHAN
Publishers founded in 1921 at Gower Street by Herbert Jonathan Cape (1879-1960). At 30 Bedford Square, WC1 in 1950. 32 Bedford Square, WC1B 3EL in 1989. At 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA in 1997

CARLYLE, THOMAS
Prose writer and Essayist. Married Jane Welsh 1826

CARMAN, WILLIAM BLISS
Poet & Essayist. In 1897 met Mary Perry King and lived with the King family until his death

CARNEGIE MEDAL
Named after Andrew Carnegie. Awarded annually since 1936 for an outstanding book for children written in English and published initially in the UK during the preceding year.

CARR, JOHN DICKSON
Crime Novelist. Married Clarice Cleaves in 1932 and they moved to live in England, where Clarice came from

CARROLL, LEWIS
Novelist. Clergyman (ordained 1861)

CARTER, NICK
Detective-cum-agent. The books were written by many different writers over the years.

CARTOONS

CASSELL & CO LTD
Publishers founded in 1848 by John Cassell. In 1852 at La Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill. At 37-38 St Andrews Hill, EC4 in 1950. At Artillery House, Artillery Row, SW1P 1RT in 1989. At Villiers House, 41-47 Strand, London WC2 in 1994. At 125 Strand, London WC2R 0BB in 1997. Branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington & Toronto.

CASTLES OF ENGLAND & WALES

CATHER, WILLA SILBERT
Novelist, Poet & Short Story writer. Died of a Cerebral haemorrhage

CERVANTES, SAAVEDRA MIGUEL DE
Novelist & Dramatist. Only two of his plays survive. Enlisted in the army of Philip II. Captured by Barbary pirates in 1575 he was ransomed in 1580. Back in Madrid he took up dreary administrative posts, was imprisoned for debt many times,

CHAPBOOKS
The best collections are in the British Museum, Bodleian Library & Cambridge University Library. Harvard College Library has a fine collection

CHASE, JAMES HADLEY
Novelist of crime stories

CHAUCER, GEOFFREY
The first great English Poet, the father of English Poetry (Dryden). Married Philippa de Roet c 1366. Page at court to Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster. Squire and apprentice knight serving in France with Edward III. Controller of the Wool Custom in London 1374-86. In Parliament as Knight of Kent. Royal Clerk of Works under Richard II. Buried in Westminster Abbey

CHESS BOOKS : 15THC TO 20THC

CHESS BOOKS 1749-1875

CHESTERTON, GILBERT KEITH
Essayist, Novelist, and poet. Became a Catholic in 1922. Also a competent amateur artist who illustrated several books by Hilaire Belloc. Married Frances Blogg in 1901. From 1909 to 1935 he lived at Overroads in Beaconsfield

CHEYNEY, PETER
Novelist and Crime novelist. Badly wounded at the 2nd Battle of the Somme in WW1

CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATED CLASSICS

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, BOOKS ON

CHRISTIE, AGATHA
Prolific Crime novelist. Married Col. Archibald Christie 1914. Divorced 1928. Married Max Mallowan (an archaeologist) 1930

CHURCHILL, SIR WINSTON LEONARD SPENCER
Novelist and statesman. Son of Lord Randolph Churchill. Nobel Literature Prize 1953. Married Clementine Ogilvy Hozier in 1908. Prime Minister 1940-5 & 1951-5.

CLARE, JOHN
Labourer who became a poet. Married Martha Turner in 1820. Spent the last 27 years of his life in asylums and died in St Andrew's County Asylum, Northampton

COBBETT, WILLIAM
Political Writer, Reformer, Writer on Agriculture and traveller. Founded the Weekly Political Register (1802-35), and The Porcupine (violently anti-French). He became a bookseller in Philadelphia and in London

COLERIDGE, SAMUEL TAYLOR
Lake Poet & Critic. Married Sara Fricker in 1794. Addicted to opium in his later years

COLLINS, WILLIAM WILKIE
Practically the first English novelist to deal with the detection of crime. Son of William Collins, the landscape painter. Creator of Sergeant Cuff. He never married but Caroline Graves was his constant companion. Addicted to opium from 1862

COLUM, PADRAIC
Poet, Novelist, Biographer and Dramatist. Married Mary Maguire in 1912, they went to the USA 1914 and remained there for the rest of their lives

COMBE, WILLIAM
Satirical Poet, Hack writer, Translator, Ghost writer, Editor, a fabricator of letters (esp those to or by Laurence Sterne). Employed as a propagandist by the Pitt Govt from 1788-1806. Married Maria Foster in 1777 & Charlotte Hadfield in 1795. He was imprisoned for debt on more than one occasion

COMPLEAT IMBIBER SERIES

COMPOSERS, BRITISH

CONAN DOYLE, SIR ARTHUR
Novelist & Science Fiction writer. Married Louise Hawkins (1885) and when she died, Jean Leckie (1907). Spiritualist

CONRAD, JOSEPH TEODOR JOZEF KO
Novelist. Parents exiled to France for political reasons. Became a seaman in Marseilles in 1874, and in 1878 joined the British Merchant Navy, becoming a Master Mariner in 1886, the same year he adopted British citizenship. In 1893 he left the Navy and began to write. Married Jessie George in 1896. He died of a heart attack at his home in Kent

COOKSON, CATHERINE
Best selling novelist. In 1940 married Thomas Henry Cookson, a teacher. In 1994 she was the most borrowed author from UK libraries

COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE
Novelist who produced stirring adventure stories. Squire pioneer

COPPARD, ALFRED EDGAR
Novelist, short story writer & Poet

CORELLI, MARIE
Romantic novelist. By 1895 it was rumoured she was earning £10,000 per novel. For a short while, in terms of sales, she was the most popular novelist in Britain. She bought a home in Stratford so as to compare herself with Shakespeare and succeeded in becoming known as 'The Swan of Avon'. Died of heart disease

COWARD, NOEL PIERCE
Actor, composer and playwright

COWPER, WILLIAM
Religious poet & Hymn Writer. Lived with the minister Morley Unwin from 1765, and with Mary Unwin once her husband had died in 1767. Suffered mentally from 1763 and was finally confined in an asylum at St Albans

CRAIK, DINAH MARIA MULOCK
Novelist, Poet & Essayist. Married George Lillie Craik, a partner in Macmillan publishing house, in 1865. Died of a Heart attack

CRANE, WALTER
Book Illustrator, textile, card and calendar designer. Apprenticed to a London wood engraving firm, subsequently forming a successful partnership with the printer, Edmund Evans. Shared William Morris's artistic and political beliefs.

CRAWFORD, FRANCIS MARION
Novelist. Brother of Mrs Hugh Fraser. Reputedly spoke 16 languages and travelled extensively. He was the most successful American novelist of his time. Married Elizabeth Berdan in 1884. He lived in Sorrento from 1885

CREASEY, JOHN
The most prolific Crime Novelist ever. He wrote over 560 mysteries, thrillers, Westerns and Action Books. Creator of Commander George Gideon. He used over 20 pseudonyms. Founded the Crime Writer's Assoc in 1953. He married four times

CREELEY, ROBERT WHITE
Poet of the Black Mountain group. Novelist & storywriter. Lost the use of his left eye in an accident before he was five years old. Married Ann MacKinnon in 1946 (divorced 1955), Bobbie Hawkins in 1957 divorced 1976) & Penelope Highton in 1977. Died of Pneumonia

CRESSWELL, HELEN
Children's writer

CRICKET BOOKS

CRIME FICTION

CRIME WRITER'S ASSOCIATION
Founded in 1953 by John Creasey & Nigel Morland

CROFTS, FREEMAN WILLS
Novelist and Crime Novelist. Creator of Inspector French of Scotland Yard, a diligent, plodding solver of crimes. Married Mary Canning in 1912

CROMPTON, RICHMAL
Children's writer & Novelist. Single. Contracted polio in 1923 and was forced to give up teaching and write full-time

CROMWELL, OLIVER
Puritan Soldier, Statesman and writer. Married Elizabeth Bourchier in 1620. When war broke out in 1642 he was recognised as the leading force in Parliament. Became Commander-in-Chief in 1650 and Lord Protector in 1656. He died of a fever. In 1661 his body was disinterred and hanged on the gallows at Tyburn

CROSSLEY-HOLLAND, KEVIN JOHN WILLIAM
Poet, writer, Translator, Broadcaster & Children's Writer (esp retelling of Anglo-Saxon legends)

CROWLEY, EDWARD ALEISTER
Novelist, poet and author of books on the occult & witchcraft. He climbed in the Alps and led expeditions to K2 and Kanchenjunga in 1902 & 1905 respectively. Founded his own order, the Silver Star, and was subsequently expelled from Italy after rumours of drugs, orgies and death rites

CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE
Caricaturist and book illustrator. Strong supporter of the Temperance movement

CULT NOVELS

CUMBRIA & THE LAKE DISTRICT

CUNDALL, JOSEPH
Writer, Photographer & London publisher, esp of children's books. He employed many of the best artists of the day as illustrators. Married Sarah Ranson in 1845 (d.1868) & Emily Anne Thompson (d.1911). At his death he left £1142 10s 9d

CUSTER, GENERAL GEORGE ARMSTRONG
Cavalry commander in the American West. Killed at the Battle of Little Bighorn in June 1876 when the Sioux overhwhelmed 264 cavalrymen. Following his death his wife Elizabeth (1842-1933) wrote books about their life together