A

ABC BOOKS

AESOP
Supposed author of a celebrated collection of moral fables. Reputedly lived in mid-6th C BC on the island of Samos

AFRICA, BOOKS ON

AHLBERG, ALLAN
Children's writer. Many of his books illustrated by his wife Janet, whom he married in 1969

AIKEN, JOAN DELANO
Novelist and children's writer. Daughter of American poet Conrad Aiken. Stepdaughter of novelist, Martin Armstrong

AINSWORTH, WILLIAM HARRISON
Novelist (39 in total). Married the daughter of the London bookseller John Ebers

ALAIN-FOURNIER, HENRI ALBAN
Poet & novelist. Killed on the Meuse during WW1. His body was never found

ALCOTT, LOUISA MAY
Novelist. Daughter of A B Alcott. Lived most of her life in Boston

ALDIN, CECIL CHARLES WINDSOR
Book Illustrator, esp of comic and sporting scenes. Published his first drawing in The Graphic in 1891

ALDINGTON, RICHARD (EDWARD GODFREE ALDINGTON)
Novelist, Imagist Poet, Biographer and translator. One of the founders of Imagism in 1912 with his future wife Hilda Doolittle (they married 1913 and divorced 1937), and Ezra Pound.

ALDISS, BRIAN WILSON
Science Fiction Novelist. Poet Critic & Editor

ALLEN, CHARLES GRANT BLAIRFINDIE
Novelist, Philosopher and scientific writer. He married Caroline Bootheway in 1868 (she died of TB in 1871). His second wife, Ellen Jerrard, he married in 1873. Wrote about 30 novels. He died of liver disease.

ALLINGHAM, MARGERY LOUISE
Novelist & Playwright. Daughter of Herbert John Allingham. Married the Artist Philip Youngman Carter (died 1970) in 1927 and he illustrated the dustjackets of many of her books. He was also her literary adviser and unofficial collaborator. Creator of Mr Albert Campion & Magersfontein Lugg. She died of cancer

AMBRUS, VICTOR GYOZO LAZLO
Book illustrator. Came to England 1956. Worked extensively for OUP. Married to Glenys Ambrus, also a book illustrator

AMERICAN INDIANS

AMIS, KINGSLEY WILLIAM
Novelist. Married Elizabeth Jane Howard 1965 (divorced 1983)

ANDERSEN, HANS CHRISTIAN
Writer of fairy stories. Wrote 168 tales between 1835 & 1872. The most recent biography explores his homosexuality

ANDERSON, ANNE
Book illustrator. Born of Scottish parents in Argentina, but lived in Berkshire. Married the illustrator Alan Wright in 1912, and they collaborated on many children's books. She was also an etcher, watercolour artist & greeting card designer

ANTARCTIC BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPLETON, HONOR CHARLOTTE
Water colour painter and children's illustrator. Active 1900-1940

ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS

ARDIZZONE, EDWARD JEFFREY IRVING
Freelance illustrator. Official War Artist (1940-1945). British citizen 1921

ARIS, ERNEST ALFRED
Animal illustrator and watercolour artist

ARKHAM HOUSE, TITLES FROM 1939 - 1971

ARLOTT, LESLIE THOMAS JOHN
Broadcaster, writer (esp on cricket, wine & food) & poet

ARMS & ARMOUR

ARNOLD, MATTHEW
Poet, Critic and Educational Reformer. Son of Dr Arnold, headmaster of Rugby School. Married Frances Wightman in 1851

ARTHUR, KING : FICTION & POETRY

ASIMOV, ISAAC
Science Fiction Novelist. Brought up in USA from 1923 (naturalised 1928)

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL : WORLD CUP

ATLASES OF BRITAIN

ATTWELL, MABEL LUCIE
Illustrator of books and postcards. Married illustrator Harold Cecil Earnshaw in 1908. Lived at Fowey in Cornwall. A museum about her opened there in April 1996

ATWOOD, MARGARET ELEANOR
Novelist. Married to writer Graeme Gibson

AUDEN, WYSTAN HUGH
Homosexual Poet. Married Erika Mann in 1935. Travelled extensively in Europe, Iceland and China in 1930s. Fought in Spanish Civil War. Naturalised American 1938

AUNT (BOOKS WITH THIS TITLE)

AUSTEN, JANE
Novelist. Spent first 25 years at father's Hampshire vicarage. Unmarried. Possibly died of Addison's Disease

AWDRY, REV WILBERT VERE
Writer of children's books. Married Margaret Emily Wade in 1938

AYRTON, MICHAEL
Mazemaker, Painter, Engraver, Sculptor, Novelist, Essayist, Critic, Art Historian, Broadcaster, Stage-Designer, Cinema & TV film-maker and book illustrator. Died of a massive heart attack

B

BACON, SIR FRANCIS (LORD VERULAM & VISCOUNT ST ALBANS)
Statesman, philosopher and essayist. Inherited Gorhambury estate in Hertfordshire in 1601 from his elder brother

BADEN-POWELL, SIR ROBERT STEPHENSON SMYTH, 1ST BARON
Founder of the Boy Scouts. A trial camp was held on Brownsea Island in 1907 and in 1908 Scouting for Boys began to appear in parts. Commissioned in the Hussars, he studied woodcraft, reconnaissance & scouting whilst stationed in India. Fame came during the Boer War, he was involved in the defence of Mafeking. He married in 1912. Talented artist and sculptor

BAKER, DENYS VAL
Novelist & Writer, esp about Cornwall

BALLANTYNE, ROBERT MICHAEL
Writer of boys stories and water colour artist

BALZAC, HONORE DE
Novelist

BARING-GOULD, SABINE
Novelist, Essayist, Hymn Writer ("Onward Christian Soldiers") & Miscellanous Writer. Married Grace Taylor, a young mill-hand, in 1868. They had 15 children. Prolific writer - the British Museum catalogue lists more books by him in his era than any other author

BARRIE, J M (JAMES MATTHEW)
Playwright. Married Mary Ansell in 1894 (divorced 1909). In 1897 he met Sylvia Llewellyn Davies (daughter of George Du Maurier). She was married to a barrister and had several young children. When her husband died in 1907 Barrie assumed financial responsibility for them, and, when their mother died of cancer in 1910 he adopted them. He became devoted to his secretary, Lady Cynthia Asquith in later life

BATES, HERBERT ERNEST
Novelist & Short Story Writer. Lived at Little Chart in Kent 1931-1974

BAUM, LYMAN FRANK
Children's Writer

BAWDEN, EDWARD
Designer, Book Illustrator and water colour painter. An official War Artist in WW2

BAYNES, PAULINE DIANA
Book Illustrator. Married Fritz Gasch 1961

BEARDSLEY, AUBREY VINCENT
Illustrator & Writer. Art Editor of the Yellow Book for four issues. Then became Art editor of The Savoy (it contained his only published written work, three short poems and a short, highly erotic prose version of the Tannhauser story). Became a Catholic in1897. Died of TB

BEATLES

BECKETT, SAMUEL BARCLAY
Playwright, novelist & writer. Nobel Prize 1969. Went to Paris to teach in the late twenties but gave it up when he realised he wasn't suited to teaching. Travelled in Germany and undertook psychotherapy in London before settling in Paris in 1937. Active in the Resistance. From 1946 he wrote in French

BECKFORD, WILLIAM THOMAS
Writer of Oriental tales & Travel books who inherited the Fonthill estate in Wiltshire in 1770. He pulled down the existing house, Fonthill Splendens and in 1796 had the architect James Wyatt build Fonthill Abbey, a Gothic mansion, for him (it collapsed in 1825 !). His library was inherited by his son-in-law the 10th Duke of Hamilton, who had married Beckford's second daughter Susanna

BEE BOOKS

BEERBOHM, SIR MAX (HENRY MAXIMILIAN)
Artist, Book illustrator, Critic and writer. In 1910 married Florence Kahn, an American actress. They lived in Rapallo on the Italian Riviera. In 1956 he married Elisabeth Jungmann

BELLOC, JOSEPH HILAIRE PIERRE RENE
Writer. Moved to England in 1878 & naturalized in 1906. Catholic. Married Elodie Agnes Hogan in 1896

BEMELMANS, LUDWIG
Writer & Artist. Emigrated to USA 1914. Married Madeleine Freund in 1935. He died of cancer

BENNETT, ENOCH ARNOLD
Novelist & Dramatist. 1902 moved to France, married a Frenchwoman, Marguerite Soulie in 1907. Returned to live in England 1908 and lived with Dorothy Cheston for the rest of his life.

BENSON, EDWARD FREDERICK
Novelist. Father was headmaster of Wellington, and later became Archbishop of Canterbury. Brother of A C Benson. He lived in Lamb House, Rye, the former home of Henry James

BENTLEY, NICOLAS CLERIHEW
Book illustrator. Son of E C Bentley. Director of Andre Deutsch from 1950

BERESFORD, ELISABETH
Children's writer. Married broadcaster Max Robertson 1949 (later divorced)

BESANT, SIR WALTER
Novelist, Biographer. Founder of the Society of Authors. Married Mary Foster-Barham in 1874. Founded the Society of Authors in 1884

BETJEMAN, SIR JOHN
Poet & Architectural Writer. 1933 married Penelope Valentine Hester Chetwode. Knighted 1969. Poet Laureate 1972-1984

BEWICK, THOMAS
Wood Engraver with his brother John. Apprenticed to the Newacstle engraver Ralph Beilby. Called the restorer of wood engraving. Worked in black and white. His pupils included John Bewick, Robert Johnson, Charlton Nesbit, Luke Clennel & William Harvey

BIBLE, THE

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL BOOKS

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SERIES

BINYON, ROBERT LAURENCE
Poet, Playwright, Translator & Critic. Married Cicely Pryor Powell in 1904

BIRD BOOKS

BIRMINGHAM, GEORGE A
Novelist, Playwright and Humorist. Married Adelaide Wynne in 1889. A rector, he scandalized his protestant parishioners by learning Irish and joining the Gaelic League

BIRO, VAL (BALINT STEPHEN)
Artist, Writer and Illustrator. Came to Britain in 1939 to study art. He worked for the Sylvan Press, C & J Temple and John Lehmann. Designed dustwrappers

BLACK : TWENTY SHILLING SERIES, A & C COLOUR BOOKS

BLACKWOOD, ALGERNON HENRY
Novelist & Short Story Writer. Emigrated to America in 1889, returning to England in 1899. Lived in Switzerland 1908-14 and became an undercover agent during the First World War.

BLAKE, QUENTIN SAXBY
Book illustrator & Writer. The 1st Children's Laureate

BLAKE, WILLIAM
Artist, Poet, Mystic & Engraver. Apprenticed to the engraver James Basire 1772-9. Married Catherine Boucher in 1782 and, together they wrote, illustrated, printed and bound their own books. Blake perfected the process of illuminated printing

BLOCH, ROBERT
Science Fiction & Horror Novelist. Married Marion Holcombe in 1940 and Eleanor Alexander in 1964

BLOOMSBURY GROUP

BLUNDEN, EDMUND CHARLES
Poet & Critic. Married Sylvia Norman in 1933 & Claire Poynting in 1945

BLY, ROBERT ELWOOD
Poet, Editor & Translator. Married Carolyn McLean in 1955

BLYTON, ENID
The most successful Children's writer of the 20thC.

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE
Founded in 1793

BOER WAR

BOND, MICHAEL
Children's writer

BOOKER PRIZE
Leading British annual literary prize, launched in 1968 by the cash & carry firm of Booker McConnell for the best novel in English. In 1995 it was worth £20,000 (and in 1997). It is awarded for a novel first published between 1st October and 30th September in the year of the award. In 1999 it was £21,000. Each of the judges is expected to read well over 100 books for a fee of £3000. In 2003 it became the Man Booker Prize. The archive is held at Oxford Brookes University. In 2005 the Man Booker International Prize was inaugurated.

BOOKER PRIZE AUTHORS

BORROW, GEORGE HENRY
Author and Traveller who had an ear for languages. Became agent of the British & Foreign Bible Society. Married Mary Clarke in 1840

BOSWELL, JAMES
Lawyer and writer. Married Margaret Montgomerie in 1769. The Boswell papers were discovered at Malahide Castle in Scotland and sold to Yale University in 1949. He is buried at Auchinleck House

BOWEN, ELIZABETH (DOROTHEA COLE)
Novelist & short story writer. Spent much of her early life living with relatives in England because of her father's ill-health. Married Alan Cameron 1923

BOWLES, WILLIAM LISLE
Poet, Antiquary & Critic. Married Madgaden Wake in 1797. He achieved fame by calling Alexander Pope a second rank poet which provoked a war of words which even included Byron

BRADBURY, RAY (RAYMOND DOUGLAS)
Science fiction Novelist

BRADDON, MARY ELIZABETH
Sensation Novelist (probably the most successful Victorian woman in terms of sales) Poet, & Editor. Her books earned £2000 each in the 1860's. In 1861 she began living with the publisher John Maxwell (his wife was confined to a lunatic asylum) and then married him in 1874. She was stepmother to his five children and then had children of her own with him

BRADFORD, BOOKS ON

BRAND, MAX
Writer of westerns, detective stories and the Dr Kildare series. Died from a shell fragment in his chest whilst a War Correspondent in Italy

BRAZIL, ANGELA
Novelist. Remained single

BRENT-DYER, ELINOR M
Writer of nearly 100 girl's stories. Created the Chalet School Series

BRERETON, CAPT (LT COL) FREDERICK SADLEIR
Writer of boys stories. Cousin of Henty. Married Ethel Lamb in 1898 and Isobel Murdoch in 1953

BRIDGES, ROBERT SEYMOUR
Poet Laureate from 1913. Playwright & Critic. Married Monica Waterhouse in 1884

BRIGGS, RAYMOND (REDVERS)
Writer and illustrator of children's books. Married artist Jean Taprell Clark in 1963 (she died in 1973)

BRITAIN IN PICTURES SERIES

BRITISH MUSEUM
Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury

BRITTAIN, VERA MARY
Socialist and writer. Married Professor George E Catlin 1925

BRITTON, JOHN
Book illustrator, esp of steel engravings. Topographer. Worked with E W Brayley

BROCK, HENRY MATTHEW
Book illustrator & Landscape painter. Married his cousin, Doris Joan Pegram in 1912

BROCK, CHARLES EDMUND
Book illustrator & Portrait painter

BRONTE, CHARLOTTE
Novelist. Married one of her father's curates, Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls in 1854. She died from TB after only nine months of marriage. Nicholls lived with Rev Patrick Bronte until he died in 1865. He returned to Ireland and lived until 1906

BRONTE, EMILY JANE
Novelist. The family moved to Haworth parsonage in 1820. Died of TB

BRONTES, BOOKS ABOUT THE

BROOKS, EDWY SEARLES
Writer of Boy's Stories

BROWN, FREDERIC
Novelist

BROWN, GEORGE MACKAY
Novelist. Became a Catholic 1961

BROWNE, GORDON FREDERICK
Book illustrator. The younger son of H K Browne

BROWNING, ELIZABETH BARRETT
Poet. Spinal injury in a fall from a pony meant she never went to school. Secretly married Robert Browning in 1846. Her father never saw her again. They lived in Italy. Died of TB in her husband's arms and is buried in Florence.

BROWNING, ROBERT
Poet. Secretly married and eloped with Elizabeth Barrett in 1846. They lived in Pisa, Florence and Venice. After Elizabeth's death in 1861 he settled in London. Died of pneumonia in Venice. Buried in Westminster Abbey

BUCHAN, JOHN, 1ST BARON TWEEDSMUIR
Novelist, Poet, Biographer, Historian & statesman. Married Susan Gosvenor in 1907

BUCKLAND-WRIGHT, JOHN
Moved to England. Artist - self taught. Married Mary Anderson 1929. Lived in Paris 1930-9

BUKOWSKI, CHARLES
Poet & Novelist

BULLFIGHTING BOOKS, IN ENGLISH

BUNYAN, JOHN
Religious writer. Son a tinker. Drafted into military service in 1644. Became pastor of Baptist church in Bedford in 1655. Arrested in 1660 for preaching without a licence, he was imprisoned at Bedford, where he wrote 6 books. Released 1672 but put back in prison 3 years later

BURGESS, ANTHONY
Novelist, critic, reviewer, translator

BURKE, THOMAS
Novelist, Poet, Essayist & Short Story Writer (esp of stories set in London's East End)

BURLINGTON FINE ARTS CLUB

BURNET, GILBERT
Historian, Biographer & Theologist. Married twice

BURNETT, FRANCES ELIZA HODGSON
Novelist. Involved in Christian Science, Theosophy and Spiritualism. Emigrated with her family to the USA in 1865. Married Dr Swan Burnett 1873 (divorced 1898). Married Stephen Townsend (divorced 1901)

BURNS, ROBERT
Poet. Having got Jean pregnant he was pursued by her father and so he planned to escape to America. But his first book of poems made him money and famous. Married Jean Armour in 1788. He farmed and was an excise officer, but when his farm failed he moved to Dumfries. Hard drinking led to endocarditis of which he died

BURROUGHS, WILLIAM SEWARD
Writer. Homosexual. Drug addict 1944

BURROUGHS, EDGAR RICE
Novelist (esp science fiction, westerns, detectives, historical and adventure books). His books have sold well in excess of 36 million copies

BURTON, SIR RICHARD FRANCIS
Traveller, Explorer, Translator and writer. Married Isabel Arundell (1831-96). Explored Somaliland (1854), the Nile (1856-9) and in North America in 1860. British Consul in Brazil (1864-9), Damascus (1869-71), Trieste (1872-5). On the night of his death Isabel burned all his unpublished notes and 41 unpublished MSS, hoping to preserve her husband's reputation

BUTLER, GWENDOLINE
Crime Novelist. Married Lionel Butler, Professor of Medieval History at St Andrews, in 1949

BUTTERFLIES & MOTHS

BYRON, GEORGE GORDON NOEL, LORD
Romantic Poet. Lame from birth. Married heiress Anne Isabella Milbanke in 1815 (she left him 1816). Spent much of his life travelling in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey & Greece. Ostracised from England for having an incestuous affair with Augusta Leigh, his half-sister. Fought with the Greeks against the Turks. Died in Greece of malaria (or rheumatic fever)

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

D

DAHL, ROALD
Novelist and children's writer

DARWIN, CHARLES ROBERT
Naturalist and writer, Married his cousin Emma Wedgwood (1808-1896) in 1839. They had 10 children

DAVIES, WILLIAM HENRY
Poet, who spent many years tramping Britain & America. Lost his right foot jumping a freight train. A Civil List pension was granted him in 1911. Married Helen Payne in 1923

DE LA MARE, WALTER JOHN
Poet & Novelist. Huguenot descent. Married Constance Ingpen in 1899

DEFOE, DANIEL
Novelist, Journalist, Pamphleteer & Political Agent. Travelled as a merchant and probable spy round Britain & Europe before becoming a writer. Produced maybe 500 books

DEIGHTON, LEN
Novelist, Cookery writer & artist. Creator of Harry Palmer

DICK, PHILIP KENDRED
Science Fiction Novelist. Committed suicide

DICTIONARIES, BOOKS ON

DICTIONARY
The word dictionarius was used as early as 1225 for a list of Latin words, but was not generally in use in its modern sense until the 16thC

DISNEY, WALT (WALTER ELIAS)
Animator. His first film was "Alice in Wonderland" in 1923

DISRAELI, BENJAMIN, 1ST EARL OF BEACONSFIELD
British Prime Minister 1868 & 1874-80. Politician and novelist. Italian-Jewish parents. Married Mary Anne Wyndham Lewis in 1839

DOHERTY, PAUL C
Novelist of medieval crime books

DOMESDAY BOOK
Compiled in 1086, it was mainly a valuation of land and a register of who owned it.

DONNE, JOHN
Metaphysical poet and preacher. In 1601 entered parliament as MP for Brackley and married Ann More the same year

DOUGLAS, GEORGE NORMAN
Novelist & Travel writer. Made his home on the isle of Capri in the Mediterranean. Committed suicide.

DOYLE, RICHARD
Writer and book illustrator. Wrote and designed for Punch. Designed its cover. Son of John Doyle, who trained him

DRYDEN, JOHN
Poet and Dramatist. Married Lady Elizabeth Howard in 1663. Hostile to revolution of 1688 and thereafter mainly translated classics. Made Poet Laureate in 1668 (to 1688) for his adherence to the Stewart restoration. The family home from the 1550s was Canons Ashby, Daventry. Buried in Westminster Abbey

DU MAURIER, DAME DAPHNE
Novelist. 2nd daughter of Sir Gerald Du Maurier (actor) & grandaughter of George Du Maurier. Married Lieut-Gen Sir Frederick Browning in 1932

DUKES

DULAC, EDMUND
Book illustrator. Settled in London from 1906, becoming a naturalized subject in 1912

DUMAS, ALEXANDRE
Novelist. Wrote over 277 works

DUNSANY, LORD (EDWARD JOHN MORETON DRAX PLUNKETT), 18TH BARON
Dramatist, Chess Champion, Sportsman, Soldier, Adventurer and fiction writer. Married Beatrice Child Villiers in 1904. Lived a privileged life devoted to pleasurable pursuits, ie hunting, cricket, travel and sport, inheriting the Lord title from his father in 1899

DURRELL, LAWRENCE
Novelist & Poet. Lived in France

F

FAMILY HISTORY, TRACING

FANFROLICO PRESS
Founded by Jack Lindsay in 1927

FARJEON, ELEANOR
Children's writer & Poet. Jewish. Friend of Edward Thomas (1878-1917). Had a liaison with the scholar George Earle for over 30 years although he was already married. Became a Catholic 1951

FAULKNER, WILLIAM HARRISON
Novelist whose work depicts the American south. Nobel Prize 1949. Died probably from years of smoking and drinking

FEARN, JOHN FRANCIS RUSSELL
Science Fiction Novelist & writer of Westerns (36 between 1947 & 1956). Married Carrie Worth in 1956. He died of a heart attack

FEMINISM, BOOKS ON

FENN, GEORGE MANVILLE
Novelist (over 100 works), esp of stories for boys. Married Susanna Leake in 1855. Friend of Henty

FERRARS, ELIZABETH X
Crime Novelist. Wrote over 40 psycholoogical thrillers. Married botanist professor Robert Brown in 1940

FIELDING, HENRY
Novelist & playwright. Lived a life of excess. Married the wealthy Charlotte Cradock of Salisbury in 1734, and went through her money in 3 years. Plagued by gout and dropsy he went to Lisbon for his health but died there after two months

FITZGERALD, EDWARD
Poet & Translator. Married Lucy Barton in 1856 (separated). He is buried at Boulge (Suffolk) churchyard

FITZGERALD, FRANCIS SCOTT KEY
Novelist. Married Zelda Sayre in 1920. He had a long affair with Sheila Graham. He died of a heart attack

FLEMING, IAN LANCASTER
Novelist. Brother of Peter Fleming. Attached to Naval Intelligence in WW2. Married Anne Charteris (formerly Lady Rothermere) in 1952. Built his own house 'Goldeneye' in Jamaica. Died following heart problems

FLETCHER, JOSEPH SMITH
Novelist of historical novels and then detective fiction. Poet & historical writer about Yorkshire. Married Rosamond Langbridge

FOLIO SOCIETY
The Folio Society Ltd was founded in 1947 by Alan Bott, Charles Ede & Christopher Sandford. It sold books by mail order, offering a gift presentation volume as an inducement. It was based at 1-5 Poland Street, Oxford Street, W1 in 1950

FOLK BALLADS

FOLK SONG STUDIES, ENGLISH

FOLKLORE & FOLKSONG

FOLKSONGS, ENGLISH

FORD, FORD MADOX
Novelist, poet, critic and editor. Changed his name in 1919. Founded and edited the "London Review" and later, in Paris the "Transatlantic Review". Married Elizabeth Martindale in 1894

FOREMAN, MICHAEL
Children's writer & illustrator

FORESTER, CECIL SCOTT
Novelist. Married Katherine Belcher in 1926, divorced 1944. He remarried in 1947 (Dorothy Foster) and moved to Berkeley, California but was confined to a wheelchair with arteriosclerosis

FORSTER, EDWARD MORGAN
Novelist. Refused a knighthood in 1946. Probably homosexual. Lived at Hackhurst, Abinger Hammer, Surrey from 1902-45

FOULIS, T N
Edinburgh publishing house founded in 1903 by Thomas and Douglas A Foulis. By 1905 it had adopted the title of T N Foulis and was based at 3 Frederick Street. The firm slumped during WW1 and in 1924 was taken over by G T Marshall (Henley printers). The new company was called G T Foulis & Co

FRANCE, BOOKS ABOUT

FRANK, ANNE
Jewish diarist murdered by the Nazis in WW II. The Family hid away in their house in Prinsengracht in Amsterdam for two years until they were found and removed to concentration camps

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN
Statesman, Philosopher, Scientist, Man of Letters & Printer. Lived in London 1757-1762 & 1764 to 1775

FRASER, CLAUD LOVAT
Artist, Book Illustrator & Decorator, Theatre designer. Invalided out of the Army following being gassed at Loos, in WW1

FREEMAN, RICHARD AUSTIN
Novelist of scientific detective stories. Created the character of Dr John Thorndyke. Married Annie Edwards in 1887. Held medical appointments in West Africa before returning to England. Took up full-time writing in 1905 when he had to retire from medicine through ill-health. A member of the council of the Eugenics Society

FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION, BOOKS ABOUT THE

FROST, ROBERT LEE
Poet & author, especially of the New England rural scene. He married his childhood sweetheart, Elinor White in 1895, but of their children - one died young, one committed suicide and one ended up in an institution. Frost moved to England in 1912 and stayed for 3 years.

FULLER, ROY BROADBENT
Poet, novelist, & critic. Married Kathleen Smith in 1936. Father of poet, John Fuller

G

GALSWORTHY, JOHN
Novelist and playwright. Nobel Prize for Literature 1932. Married Ada Cooper, the divorced wife of his cousin in 1905, after they had had an affair. Refused a knighthood in 1918

GALT, JOHN
Novelist, Biographer & Poet. Became an unsuccessful merchant in London before travelling (for his health) in the Levant. Went to Canada 1826-9

GARDNER, ERLE STANLEY
Novelist. The most published American mystery author of his time (over 100 million books sold in his lifetime). Creator of Miss Bertha Cool & Perry Mason. Married Natalie Talbert in 1912, and when she died, Agnes Bethell in 1968

GASKELL, ELIZABETH CLEGHORN
Novelist. Unitarian. Home Educated. Brought up by an aunt in Knutsford, Cheshire. Married Manchester clergyman, William Gaskell, 1832. Met Charlotte Bronte in 1850 and began a firm friendship

GAY, JOHN
Poet and author. Bad with money he made and lost a fortune in the South Sea Bubble stock. On his death he was probably worth £3000. Buried in Westminster Abbey

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN

GIBBINGS, ROBERT JOHN
Writer, illustrator and wood engraver. Bought the Golden Cockerel Press from Harold Taylor in 1924, but was forced to sell it (to Christopher Sandford et al) during the depressed 1930's, in 1933. Shot in the throat at Gallipoli he was inavlided out as a Captain

GIBBS, SIR PHILIP ARMAND HAMILTON
Novelist, journalist and war-correspondent. Brother of A Hamilton Gibbs and Cosmo Hamilton. Married Agnes Rowland in 1898.

GIBRAN, KAHLIL
Poet, philosopher & artist. His family emigrated to USA in 1895. Single. Alcoholic, who died of cirrhosis of the liver

GILBERT, SIR WILLIAM SCHWENK
Dramatist & Artist. Collaborated with Arthur Sullivan (composer) on many comic operas

GILL, ARTHUR ERIC ROWTON
Sculptor, Engraver, Typographer, Writer and book illustrator. Married Ethel "Mary" Moore in 1904. They formed the nucleus of an artistic community at Ditchling in Sussex. Became a Catholic 1913, joining the Third Order of St Dominic. Gill kept a continuous diary from the age of 15 in which he recorded what he made, earned and spent, as well as all his sexual conquests. The diaries ran to 40 volumes

GINSBERG, ALLEN
Most famous of the Beat Poets. Homosexual. Moved to Paris

GISSING, GEORGE ROBERT
Novelist whose work deals with the degrading effects of poverty. Convicted and imprisoned for petty theft. friends sent him to America where he enedd up destitute in Chicago. Married Marianne Harrison in 1879 and then Alice Underwood in 1891. He separated from them both. Moved to France with Gabrielle Fleury in 1898 and he died of pneumonia in the south of France

GODDEN, MARGARET RUMER
Novelist, Playwright & Poet. Childhood in India. Catholic. Married Lawrence Sinclair Foster, a stockbroker, in 1934. When he became bankrupt in 1941 he left her. Married James Lesley Haynes Dixon in 1949 and returned to live in Rye.

GODWIN, WILLIAM
Political thinker, Biographer, Journalist & Novelist. Married Mary Wollstencraft who died giving birth to Mary (Shelley's 2nd wife). With his second wife Mary Jane Clairmont (1766-1841) they published childrens books (from 1805), esp by the Lambs. Became bankrupt 1822

GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON
Poet, thinker, novelist, dramatist, scientist, etc. Married in 1806

GOLDEN COCKEREL PRESS
In 1950 it was owned by Christopher Sandford & based at 1-5 Poland Street, Oxford St, W1. By 1994 it was based at 25 Sicilian Avenue, London WC1 and its two imprints were Associated Universities Presses & Cornwall Books

GOLDSMITH, OLIVER
Poet, dramatist and novelist. Disfigured aged 8 by smallpox. Travelled on the Continent (1753-6) before settling in London. Joined the circle of Dr Johnson. Lost money at the gaming tables. Died after taking a large dose of James's Powders.

GOLF BOOKS

GORE, CATHERINE GRACE FRANCES
Novelist & Dramatist. Married Capt Charles Arthur Gore of the Life Guards in 1823. Wrote over 70 novels of the "silver fork" variety (ie fashionable life)

GRAHAM, RIGBY
Printmaker, Painter & Book illustrator. Associated with the Orpheus Press, Pandora Press & Brewhouse Press (which he ran with Terry Hickman from 1963-83)

GRAHAM, ROBERT BONTINE CUNNINGHAME
Adventurer, story and travel writer. He travelled extensively in South America, hoping to make his fortune. He failed. In 1879 he married the Chilean poet, Gabriela de la Balmondiere

GRAHAME, KENNETH
Writer of Children's books. Married Elspeth Thomson in 1899. Died of a brain Haemorrhage

GRANT, MAXWELL
Novelist of mystery works. He also wrote books under his own name on games, psychic phenomena, true crime, puzzles and magic

GRAVES, ROBERT VON RANKE
Writer, author and poet. Son of the Irish Writer Alfred Perceval Graves & Amalia von Ranke. Married Nancy Nicholson. In 1929 he settled at Deya in Majorca with the poet Laura Riding. He left Majorca in 1936 and met and married Beryl Pritchard (1915-2003)

GRAY, THOMAS
Poet. Spent most his life in Cambridge colleges. Travelled with Horace Walpole on the Continent 1739-41

GREENAWAY, (CATHERINE) KATE
Artist and book illustrator. Single. Strongly influenced by John Ruskin from the 1880s

GREENAWAY, KATE MEDAL WINNERS
Awarded annually by the Library Association for book illustration published initially in the UK

GREENE, HENRY GRAHAM
Novelist, journalist and playwright. Converted to Catholicism 1926. Married Vivienne Dayrell-Browning 1927, but during their 67 years of marriage he had many affairs (with Catherine Walston, Dorothy Glover, Anita Bjork & Yvonne Cloetta). His papers are in Georgetown University

GREGYNOG PRESS

GRIGSON, GEOFFREY EDWARD HARVEY
Poet, Man of Letters and Critic. Married Frances Galt 1929 (died of TB 1937). Remarried 1937. Married Jane Grigson in 1950's

GRIMM, JACOB LUDWIG KARL
Philologist & Collector of Fairy Tales

GRUBER, FRANK
Novelist of westerns, thrillers and pulp stories. Married Lois Mahood in 1931

GRUELLE, JOHNNY (JOHN BARTON)
Children's writer & illustrator

GYPSY BOOKS

H

HALL, MRS SAMUEL CARTER
Novelist, Memorist, Children's writer, Playwright & Short Story Writer. Lived in England from 1815. Active worker for temperance, women's rights and hospitals. Married Samuel Carter Hall in 1824. Was anti-suffrage. Wrote for Sharpe's Magazine from 1845 & St James's Magazine 1861

HALL, JOSEPH
Poet and Religious Writer. Married Elizabeth Winiffe in 1603. As a bishop he complained about such posts being excluded from Parliament, and for his pains he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and stripped of his bishopric when he was finally released in 1647

HALLIDAY, BRETT
Novelist. Creator of Mike Shayne. A childhood accident meant he had to wear an eye patch for the the rest of his life. Enlisted in the US Cavalry aged 14 ! In 1953 he founded the Torquil Publishing Co with his first wife (they married 1946 & divorced 1961). Then married Helen McCloy, Kathleen Rollins, and finally Mary Savage

HALLIWELL-PHILLIPS, JAMES ORCHARD
Scholar (esp of Shakespeare), Antiquary & Collector of Nursery Rhymes. Married the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Phillipps

HANLEY, JAMES
Novelist, Playwright & Short Story Writer. Brother of Gerald Hanley

HARDY, THOMAS
Novelist & poet. Articled to an ecclesiastical architect 1856-61, and worked for a architect 1862-7. Married Emma Gifford in 1874 (she died 1912) and then Florence Dugdale in 1914. Buried in Westminster Abbey

HARPER, CHARLES G
Writer, Artist and illustrator

HARRIS, JOEL CHANDLER
Novelist & story writer

HARTE, (FRANCIS) BRET
Story writer & journalist. Buried at St Peter's, Frimley, Surrey

HARTLEY, JOHN
Writer of humorous Yorkshire dialect works. From c1866 he produced The Original Clock Almanack in the Yorkshire Dialect

HARVEY, JOHN
Novelist. Creator of the Nottingham policeman Charlie Resnick

HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL
Novelist & story writer. Married Sophie Peabody 1842. Lived in Rome & Florence 1857-9 and at Redcar in 1859.

HAYWOOD, ELIZA FOWLER
Novelist & Playwright. Married the Rev Valentine Haywood in 1711, but by 1721 she had left him and was living in London, working as a writer and actress. She ran her own publishing business for a while in the 1740s

HAZLITT, WILLIAM
Essayist and critic. Family moved to America 1783-1787. Returned and settled at Wem, in Shropshire. Married Sarah Stoddart in 1808. Married Isabella Bridgewater in 1824. Died of dysentry or cancer

HEANEY, SEAMUS JUSTIN
Poet. Nobel Prize for Literature 1995. Married Marie Devlin in 1965. Lives in Dublin

HEARN, PATRICIO LAFCADIO
Novelist, Orientalist, Philosopher & Travel Writer. Father was a Surgeon in the British Army and mother Greek. Emigrated to America in 1869, and then Martinique. In 1890 he moved to Japan, married into a Samurai family and became a Japanese citizen with the name of Koizumi Yakumo

HEMINGWAY, ERNEST MILLER
Novelist. He divorced Martha Gellhorn to marry journalist Mary Welsh in 1944. Nobel prize 1954. Committed suicide

HENTY, GEORGE ALFRED
Writer of boy's adventure stories. Blackie printed 3.5 million of his titles. Married Elizabeth Finucane in 1857 (d.1965) & Elizabeth Keylock (c1889). He edited the 'Union Jack' 1880-3 and 'Beeton's Boys' Own Magazine' 1888-90. He died on board his yacht moored in Weymouth harbour

HERBERT, SIR ALAN PATRICK
Humorous writer

HEYWOOD (ABEL) & SON LTD
Publishers of plays, dramas, guides, etc, founded in 1832. At 47-61 Lever Street, Manchester 1 in 1950

HIMALAYAS
Mountain range that stretches for 1600 miles

HISTORICAL NOVELS

HOBAN, RUSSELL CONWELL
Novelist, illustrator & children's writer. Married Lillian Aberman in 1944. She illustrated many of his books. Lived in London from 1969. Married Gundula Ahl in 1975.

HOCKING, SILAS KITTO
Evangelical Novelist. Married Esther Lloyd in 1876. Once said to be the most popular English novelist

HOCKING, JOSEPH
Novelist (over 80). Younger brother of Silas K. Married Annie Brown in 1887

HOGARTH, PAUL
Graphic Reporter, Writer, Printmaker & Illustrator. A Communist, he fought for the republicans in the Spanish Civil War. Married four times

HOLLYWOOD MUSICALS

HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL
Man of letters, novelist, story writer, biographer & poet. Anti-Calvinist. He also wrote a number of books on medicine and surgery. Married Amelia Jackson in 1840

HOOD, THOMAS
Poet, humorist, editor and punster. Married Jane Reynolds 1824. Fled to Germany in 1835 to escape his creditors. Returned 1840, receiving a civil pension in 1844. For most of his life he struggled with TB

HORLER, SYDNEY
Humorist and Crime Novelist. He wrote in many genres - football, boxing, science fiction, fantasy, etc

HORSE RACING

HOSPITALS

HOUSMAN, ALFRED EDWARD
Poet, Author and classical scholar. Brother of Laurence Housman.

HOUSMAN, LAURENCE
Playwright, poet and illustrator. Brother of A E Housman

HOWITT, MARY
Writer of books on natural history, esp for children & Poet. Brought up a Quaker. Married William Howitt in 1821. She translated many of Hans Christian Andersen's tales in 1846 and also Frederika Bremer

HUDSON, WILLIAM HENRY
Novelist, Travel writer and on rural life. Came to Britain 1874. Married Emily Wingrave in 1876.

HUGHES, TED (EDWARD JAMES)
Poet. Poet Laureate from 1984. Married Sylvia Plath in 1956 (committed suicide 1963). In 1970 he married Carol Orchard. Died of cancer

HUGHES, JAMES MERCER LANGSTON
Black Poet, Dramatist & Novelist

HUGHES, SHIRLEY
Children's Writer and freelance artist & illustrator. Married to architect John Vulliamy

HUGO, VICTOR MARIE
Poet, dramatist & Novelist. Headed the Romantic movement in France in early 19thC. Exiled to Jersey 1855-70 after opposing Louis Napoleon

HUME, FERGUSSON (FERGUS) WRIGHT
Novelist (In all wrote over 140 novels), born to New Zealand parents. Lived in England from 1888

HUNT, JAMES HENRY LEIGH
Poet and essayist. Fined and imprisoned (1813) for libelling the Prince Regent in "The Examiner". Leigh Hunt's London Journal was published from 1834-35

HUNTER, EVAN (BORN SALVATORE A LOMBINO)
Novelist. For Ed McBain books see under McBAIN

HUXLEY, THOMAS HENRY
Scientist & Surgeon. Went on the Expedition in HMS Rattlesnake to survey the waters of New Guinea and Australia in 1847-50. A champion of Darwin and inventor of the term 'agnostic'

HUXLEY, ALDOUS LEONARD
Novelist and writer. Son of Leonard Huxley. Brother of Julian Huxley. Married Maria (an active bisexual) in 1919. He was six feet four and a half inches tall ! From 1937 he lived in the USA

HYNE, CHARLES JOHN CUTCLIFFE WRIGHT
Novelist (46 books between 1892 & 1942) & Writer of Boys Stories. He also wrote 13 stories as Weatherby Chesney between 1898 & 1908. Married Elsie Haggas in 1897. Travelled in Mexico, Lapland, Morocco. He lived at Kettlewell-in-Craven, Yorkshire

L

LADYBIRD BOOKS LTD
Originally published by Wills & Hepworth Ltd, Loughborough. First issued, in a larger format, in 1914. Publishers at Beeches Road, Loughborough LE11 2NQ in 1989 & in 1994 &1997. In 1995 Penguin bought the imprint

LAMB, LYNTON HAROLD
Painter & Book Illustrator

LAMB, CHARLES
Essayist & Poet. Clerk in E India offices. Devoted life to sister Mary. Unstable. Wrote letters. Died from erysipelas after falling on a walk. Associated with the Lake Poets. Wrote many of his pieces for "The London Magazine" as Elia

LANDOR, WALTER SAVAGE
Writer and Poet. Married Julia Thuillier in 1811 (they separated in 1835). He inherited money and lived in many different places and countries in Europe. He was published by 28 different publishers between 1795 & 1863. He died in Italy

LANG, ANDREW
Man of letters, also wrote poems, fairy-tales and fiction. Trans Homer and Theocritus. Authority on folk-lore. Married Leonora Alleyne in 1875 and became a freelance writer

LARDNER'S CABINET CYCLOPAEDIA

LARKIN, PHILIP (ARTHUR)
Poet & Librarian

LAWRENCE, DAVID HERBERT
Poet, Painter and novelist. Miner's son. Playwright. 1912 eloped with Frieda Weekley, the German wife of his former languages tutor. They married 1914. They travelled extensively and built a ranch at Taos in New Mexico. Died in Vence, south of France, of TB. Lawrence claimed that his work sprang as much from Frieda as it did from himself

LAWRENCE, THOMAS EDWARD
Writer. Worked an archaeological digs in Syria, Mesopotamia, Egupt & Sinai 1910-14. Joined British Intelligence and from 1916 organised the Arabs in a revolt against the Turks. In 1922 he enlisted in the RAF under the name of Ross. When found out he was discharged and the rejoined as T E Shaw and stayed in until 1935. Killed in an accident on his Brough motor-cycle

LAWRENCE, JOHN
Artist and prolific Book Illustrator & Engraver

LE GALLIENNE, RICHARD THOMAS
Poet & Essayist. In 1891 married Mildred Lee (she died 1894 of typhoid). Moved to the USA in 1903 where he later married the actress Irma Hinton Perry, and they settled in the south of France in 1928

LE QUEUX, WILLIAM TUFNELL
Novelist who was obsessed with spies and promoting Patriotism (and thus anti-German feeling) before the First World War. After the War most of his novels were crime based. Travelled widely in North Africa, the Balkans, the Arctic and the Sudan

LEACOCK, STEPHEN BUTLER
Humorist. His parents emigrated to Canada in 1876. Married Beatrix Hamilton 1900 (died 1925)

LEAR, EDWARD
Poet and illustrator. Working as an illustrator from age of 15. Draughtsman with the Zoological Society from 1831. Drawing master to the Earl of Derby's children 1832-6. Toured extensively in Italy, Greece, Albania, Malta, Egypt, Holy Land, India, Ceylon. Died in San Remo

LEECH, JOHN
Book illustrator, esp of R S Surtees's work & Caricaturist

LESSING, DORIS MAY
Poet, Novelist, Playwright and short story writer. Lived on a farm in Rhodesia 1924-49 before settling in England. Married Frank Charles Wisdom 1939 (divorced 1943). Married Gottfried Lessing 1945 (divorced 1949)

LEVER, CHARLES JAMES
Novelist. Travelled in Europe 1822-7. Married Kate Barker in 1832 or 1833. Lived most of his life on the Continent

LEWIS, CLIVE STAPLES
Novelist, Poet (Under pseud of Clive Hamilton) & writer on Christianity

LEWIS, PERCY WYNDHAM
Novelist, poet & artist. Travelled in Europe becoming close friend of Augustus John. Returning to England in 1909 he became a professional apinter. In 1914 founded the Vorticist Movement and edited its paper Blast for the only two issues. Went blind in 1953

LEWIS, CECIL DAY
Poet & Critic. Poet Laureate 1968-1972. Married Constance King in 1928 (divorced 1951) and Jill Balcon in 1951. Wrote detective fiction as Nicholas Blake (SEE UNDER BLAKE). Father of Daniel (actor) & Tamsin (writer & broadcaster)

LINCOLNSHIRE
English County

LINDGREN, ASTRID
Children's Writer. Married Sture Lindgren 1931 (he died 1952)

LINDSAY, JACK
Prolific Novelist, Historian and translator. Son of Norman Lindsay. Settled in England 1926. Founded the Fanfrolico Press in 1927

LINKLATER, ERIC (ROBERT RUSSELL)
Novelist, Playwright & Biographer. Married 1933

LIVINGSTONE, DAVID
Medical missionary and explorer. Went to South Africa 1841 with the London Missionary Society. In 1853-4 he crossed Africa from west to east. Lead the Zambesi Expedition in 1858-64 in search for the source of the Nile. Crusader against the slave trade in Africa. Married Mary Moffat

LONDON, JACK (JOHN GRIFFITH)
Author of adventure tales. Took to drink. Committed suicide

LONDON, BOOKS ON

LONDON, UNIVERSITY OF
Founded in 1836. Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU. In 1995-6 it had 79.230 Internal students & 22.116 External students

LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH
Poet. Married Mary Potter in 1831 (died 1835) & Frances Appleton in 1843.

LORAC, E C R (EDITH CAROLINE RIVETT)
Crime Novelist

LOVECRAFT, HOWARD PHILLIPS
Novelist of ghost, horror and SF novels

LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL
Poet and Critic. Married Maria White in 1844 (died 1853) & Frances Dunlap in 1857. Editor of the "National Anti-Slavery Standard" 1848-52 & first editor of the "Atlantic Monthly" 1857-61

LYNCH, PATRICIA NORA
Children's Writer. Married R M Fox, Journalist & historian in 1922

LYTTON, 1ST BARON (EDWARD GEORGE EARLE BULWER LYTTON)
Novelist & playwright. Married an Irish girl, Rosina Doyle Wheeler, in 1827. They parted in 1836 but she persecuted him the rest of his life. Buried in Westminster Abbey

M

MACCARTHY, JOHN BERNARD
Playwright, Poet, Novelist & Short Story Writer

MACDIARMID, HUGH
Poet. Nationalist & Marxist. Leader of the Scottish literary renaissance. Married Margaret Skinner in 1918 (divorced 1932) & Valda Trevlyn in 1934

MACDONALD, GEORGE
Poet & Novelist. First Editor of the magazine Good Words for the Young. Awarded a Civil List pension in 1877 by Queen Victoria

MACDONALD, JOHN DANN
Novelist. Wrote 65 novels, selling over 70 million copies. Also had 500 stories published in magazines.

MACHEN, ARTHUR
Novelist & Writer. Married Amelia Hogg in 1887 (she died of cancer in 1899) & Dorothy Hudlestone in 1903. In London he worked as a publisher's clerk and tutor, catalogued occult books and did translations. From 1929 he lived in Amersham, Bucks, dying in a nursing home in Beaconsfield. He rarely made any money from his writing but has been very influential on horror fiction in the UK and America

MACKENZIE, SIR COMPTON
Novelist, Biographer, Essayist & critic. Captain in Royal Marines in WW1 and became Director of the Aegean Intelligence Service. Married Faith Stone in 1905, Christina MacSween in 1962 & her sister Lilian MacSween in 1965. For many years lived on the Isle of Barra, where he is buried.

MACLEISH, ARCHIBALD
Poet and dramatist. Married Ada Hitchcock in 1916. Lived in Europe 1923-8. Editor of Fortune Magazine in New York 1929-38

MACNEICE, FREDERICK LOUIS
Poet, Critic, playwright & translator & BBC Producer. Married Mary Ezra in 1930 (divorced 1937) & Hedli Anderson in 1942. Journalist in Spanish Civil War.

MAIS, STUART PETER BRODIE
Travel Writer & Critic

MAN, ISLE OF

MANN, THOMAS
Novelist. Left Germany 1933 for Switzerland, then moved to USA (became a US citizien in 1944) with his brother Heinrich. Nobel Prize 1929. Although probably homosexual in 1905 he married Katja Pringsheim. Two of his sisters and one of his sons committed suicide

MANNIN, ETHEL EDITH
Novelist, Essayist, Pacifist & Travel Writer. Lived in Connemara. Married J A Porteous 1920, and Reginald Reynolds in 1938

MARCHANT, BESSIE (ELIZABETH)
Writer of girls stories, especially about places abroad, although Marchant never left Britain ! Married Jabez Comfort, a clergyman, in 1889

MARRYAT, FREDERICK ('CAPT')
Novelist, Draughtsman and Caricaturist. Died of Haemoptysis

MARSH, RICHARD BERNARD HELDEMANN
Novelist of mysteries, thrillers, humour, horror and fantasy. Died of heart failure

MARTINEAU, HARRIET
Writer, Journalist (may have been the first female journalist) & Novelist. Involved in Unitarian Movement. Remained single. Deaf, plus no sense of smell or taste. Contributed to the Edinburgh Review and wrote over 1600 articles for the Daily News (1851-1866). From 1845 until her death she lived in Ambleside

MASEFIELD, JOHN (EDWARD)
Poet and novelist. Went to America aged 17 and worked at various jobs until 1897 when he returned to England. Married Constance de la Cherois Crommelin, a schoolteacher, in 1903. From 1909-10 he had a passionate affair with Elizabeth Robins and supported women's suffrage. Poet Laureate 1930-1967

MAUGHAM, WILLIAM SOMERSET
Novelist and short story writer. Homosexual. Married Syrie Wellcome in 1917 but the couple lived apart & divorced in 1928. His companion for most of his life was his secretary, Gerald Haxton (1892-1944) who had been prosecuted, but acquitted of an act of gross indecency in a London hotel. They lived on the French Riviera from 1928. After Haxton's death he lived with Alan Searle (1904-85)

MAXWELL, DONALD
Writer and illustrator

MAYNE, WILLIAM
Children's writer. Single living in the Yorkshire Dales. Composes music. Imprisoned for 2 years in 2004 for paedophilia

MEADE, L T
Novelist for girls. Wrote over 300 books. Lived in England from 1874. Married Alfred Toulmin Smith, a solicitor, in 1879 and they settled in London. Edited the magazine Atlanta for 6 years. Collaborated with Robert Eustace (a pseudonym for Dr Eustace Robert Barton) in five science fiction books (1898-1902) and with Clifford Halifax (a pesudonym for Dr Edgar Beaumont) on six crime novels

MEE, ARTHUR
Prolific Writer and Editor. Married Amy Fratson in 1897.

MELVILLE, HERMAN
Novelist & poet. In 1839 he shipped as a cabin boy to Liverpool and later sailed for the South Seas on the whaler "Acushnet" (1841). Jumping ship he had many experiences in the islands of the Pacific and returned to New York to write about them. Married Elizabeth Shaw in 1847

MEREDITH, GEORGE
Novelist, Journalist & poet. Married Mary Nicolls, a widow in 1849. She deserted him in 1858 and in 1864 he married Marie Vulliamy

MILLAR, HAROLD R
Painter & Illustrator who worked for Strand magazine, for which he illustrated stories by E Nesbit. His work appeared in Little Folks (1890 Cassell)

MILLER, HENRY VALENTINE
Writer. Lived in Europe 1930-1940

MILLER, ARTHUR
Jewish Playwright, Novelist & Short Story Writer. Married Mary Slattery in 1940 & Marilyn Monroe in 1956 (divorced 1961). He was brought before the House Committee on Un-American Acitivities in the 1950s but refused to name names. In 1962 he married Ingeborg Morath

MILLIGAN, SPIKE (TERENCE ALAN)
Comedy writer, Poet and Autobiographer

MILNE, ALAN ALEXANDER (AA)
Humorist, Novelist and Poet. Married Daphne de Selincourt in 1913. Their son, Christopher Robin, became the character in Milne's books

MILTON, JOHN
Poet & Pamphleteer. Married three times - in 1643 to Mary Powell (d1652), in 1656 to Catherine Woodcock (d1657) and 1662 to Elizabeth Minshull (she was 25 he was 55). Went blind in 1652.

MIND, BODY & SPIRIT, BOOKS ON .....

MITCHELL, GLADYS MAUDE WINIFRED
Crime Novelist. Creator of Dame Beatrice Bradley, psychiatric adviser to the Home Office

MITCHISON, NAOMI (MARY MARGARET)
Novelist & Writer. Daughter of Prof J S Haldane. A Fabian campaigner. Married Gilbert Mitchison (a Labour MP in 1945) 1916

MITFORD, MARY RUSSELL
Novelist, Playwright, Essayist & Poet. In 1797 she won a lottery prize of £20,000 that made her family financially secure for many years. From 1820 she lived the rest of her life in the Berkshire village of Three Mile Cross

MOLESWORTH, MRS MARY LOUISE STEWART
Children's novelist. Calvinist. Married Major Richard Molesworth in 1861, later divorced. She went to live in France. Published 100 books

MOORCOCK, MICHAEL (JOHN)
Science fiction Novelist

MOORE, GEORGE AUGUSTUS
Novelist & prose Writer. Wealthy upbringing, inheriting his father's 12,000 acre estate in Co Mayo. Became a Protestant and preferred to live in Sussex

MOORE, THOMAS
Romantic Poet, and Biographer. National songwriter of Ireland. Married Bessie Dyke, an actress, in 1811

MORISON, STANLEY
Writer on Typography and Printing. Book designer. On the staff of The Times, typographical adviser to CUP and the Monotype Corporation. Designed the Times Roman Font & Gollancz jackets in 1930's

MORRIS, WILLIAM
Poet and Craftsman. 1859 married Jane Burden. Established the Kelmscott (named after his house, Kelmscott Manor, near Lechlade) Press in 1890. Helped form the Socialist League in 1884

MORTIMER, SIR JOHN (CLIFFORD)
Barrister turned playwright, scriptwriter and novelist

MOTHER GOOSE

MOUNTAINEERING BOOKS

MUSIC HALL BOOKS

MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY

N

NABOKOV, VLADIMIR (VLADIMIROVICCH)
Novelist. Came to England during the Revolution, subsequently lived in Germany & France. 1940 emigrated to USA. Lived in Montreaux, Switzerland from 1959

NAPOLEONIC WARS

NASH, FREDERIC OGDEN
Humorous poet. Married Frances Rider Leonard 1931

NASH, PAUL
Artist. Elder brother of John Nash. Married Margaret Theodosia in 1914. Official war artist in WW1 & WW2

NESBIT, EDITH
Prolific Children's writer & Poet. Married Fabian Socialist, Hubert Bland (died 1914) in 1880 & Thomas Tucker in 1917.

NEW NATURALIST SERIES
Published by Collins from 1945

NEW YORKER, THE
Magazine first issued on 21st February, 1925. Founded and edited by Harold Wallace Ross (b1892 in the Rockies, died 1951). He was succeeded by William Shawn

NEWBERY, JOHN
Publisher & Bookseller. Began publishing in Reading (possibly with a partner called Micklewright) in 1740 (where he owned the Reading Mercury) and moved to London in 1744. The first publisher to produce children's books. Branched out into newspapers, magazines & a manufacturer of patent medicines. Published the periodical "The Public Ledger".

NEWBERY AWARDS 1922-1998
Awarded each year by the American Library Association for distinguished children's books

NEWSPAPERS : REGIONAL

NEWSPAPERS, BOOKS ON

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC
Scientist & Mathematician who formulated the theory of gravity & invented calculus

NIGHTINGALE, FLORENCE
Nurse and writer. Single. In 1853 Superintendent of a hospital for invalid women in London. She volunteered for the Crimean War, taking 38 nurses to Scutari in 1854. By her mothods she drastically reduced the mortality rate in the hospital. £5000 was raised for her to establish a training hospital for nurses at St Thomas's & at King's College Hospital

NISTER, ERNEST
Printer & Publisher based in Nuremberg. Set up a London office in1888 under the direction of the writer Robert Ellice Mack

NOBEL , ALFRED BERNHARD
Industrialist who created a Dynamite empire (his fortune was estimated at £2m on his death) and created the Nobel Prizes in 1901 (there are five prizes in all - Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine & Peace). In 1998 each Prize was worth £600,000 (although they amount varies from year to year)

NONESUCH PRESS, THE
Private Press set up in 1923 by Sir Francis Meynell. At Standard Road, Park Royal Road, London NW10 in 1950. By 1994 it was part of Reinhardt Books Ltd

NOYES, ALFRED
Poet who, unusually, managed to live by his poetry (only Tennyson had achieved this previously). Married Garnet Daniels in 1907 (died 1926) & Mary Wild-Blundell in 1927. Became a Catholic in 1927

NYE, ROBERT
Novelist, Poet & children's writer. Married artist and psychologist, Aileen Campbell, in 1968

P

PAPE, FRANK CHEYNE
Prolific Book illustrator. Married Agnes Stringer

PARKER, ERIC FREDERICK MOORE SEARLE
Novelist & writer of books about dogs, shooting, fishing & cricket. Illustrator. Married Ruth Messel in 1902.

PATMORE, COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON
Poet & Essayist. Married Emily Augusta Andrews in 1847 (she died 1862). Became a Catholic in 1864. In same year married Marianne Caroline Byles (d. 1880). Married for third time in 1881 to Harriet Robson. He died of angina

PEAKE, MERVYN LAWRENCE
Novelist & Illustrator. Parents medical missionaries. In 1933 he moved live to Sark, where he lived in a colony of artists for 2 years. Married Maeve Gilmore 1937. Suffered a nervous breakdown during wartime military service. Died after a long illness (Parkinson's Disease)

PELICAN BOOKS
Non-fiction books issued by Penguin Books from May 1937. By 1938 each new volume was issued in a print run of 50.000 +

PENGUIN BOOKS : HISTORY
Publishers founded in 1935 by Allen Lane in the crypt of Holy Trinity Church, Euston Rd. Near the end of 1937 they moved to new premises at Harmondsworth, Middlesex. became a public company in 1956. In 1997 at 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ. Owned in 1997 by Pearson Media Group

PENGUIN BUILDINGS OF ENGLAND

PENGUIN CLASSICS, IN PRINT 1994

PENGUIN SPECIALS

PERRAULT, CHARLES
Author, Poet & Folklorist. Maybe assisted by his son Pierre (1678-1700)

PETERS, ELLIS
Historical novelist. Creator of Brother Cadfael. Single. Pacifist. Spoke & Translated Czech

PHILLPOTTS, EDEN
Novelist (much of his work was based around Dartmoor), Playwright & Poet. Published over 250 books. Married Emily Topham in 1892 & Lucy Webb in 1929

PHIZ
Watercolourist & Illustrator, especially of Charles Dickens novels (after death of Robert Seymour). Married Miss Reynolds in 1840. An illness (probably polio) in 1867 left him partially blind and paralysed.

PICASSO, PABLO RUIZ Y
Artist. Settled in Paris 1901. 1907 developed Cubism with Braque. Designed ballets for Diaghilev 1917

PINNOCK, WILLIAM
Hampshire schoomaster who became a London bookseller. He wrote elementary textbooks for children.

PINTER, HAROLD
Playwright of Jewish parents. Married Vivienne Merchant (divorced) and Antonia Fraser in 1980

PIPER, JOHN EGERTON
Writer & Artist. Married Eileen Holding & in Myfanwy Evans (who in 1937 became his second wife)

PLAIDY, JEAN
Historical novelist. Married G P Hibbert. It is said she used 17 or more pseudonyms.

POE, EDGAR ALLAN
Poet & Story Writer. Married his cousin Virginia Clemm in 1836 (she was 13 at the time). They lived in poverty in New York and Virginia died in 1837. Creator of Le Chevalier C Auguste Dupin. Died of alcohol-related disease, or possibly rabies

POGANY, WILLY
Illustrator. Lived in London 1906-1914 and then went to USA where the quality of his work declined. Worked as a set designer on several classic films, incl Boris Karloff's "The Mummy"

POLITICAL CARTOONS

POPE, ALEXANDER
Poet & Satirist. Lame from birth. Roman Catholic (this prevented education at any high level and thus he was largely self-educated) & Tory. Translating Homer and Editing editions of Shakespeare gave him a very modest income. Settled in Twickenham in 1718

POPES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

POTTER, (HELEN) BEATRIX
Children's writer. C of E. Engaged to Norman Warne (son of the publisher) but he died. She spent more time in the Lake District and married solicitor, William Heelis in 1913. Her books made the publishers Warne very wealthy and successful. After 1913 she wrote less, turning her time to breeding sheep and farming. Over 4000 acres were bequeathed to the National Trust. The Beatrix Potter Gallery at Hawkshead displays many of her original illustrations

POUND, EZRA WESTON LOOMIS
Imagist Poet & Writer. Married Dorothy Shakespear in 1914. Noted for his translations of Provencal, Latin, Chinese, French & Italian poets. Supported Franco in Spanish Civil War. Lived in London 1908-20, Paris 1920-4 & Rapallo, Italy 1924-45. From 1946 to 1958 he was held on a treason charge in a mental asylum near Washington DC, for making radio broadcasts supporting Mussolini during the war. Founder, with Wyndham Lewis, of "Blast" in 1914

POVERTY & WEALTH

POWYS, JOHN COWPER
Writer & Novelist. Brother of Llewellyn & TF. Lectured widely in the United States 1904-34

PRESIDENTS OF THE USA

PRIESTLEY, JOHN BOYNTON
Prolific Critic, Essayist, Broadcaster, Novelist and Playwright. Married Jacquetta Hawkes

PRIME MINISTERS (BRITISH) SINCE 1721

PRITCHETT, SIR VICTOR SAWDON
Novelist, Critic & Biographer

PUBLIC SCHOOLS, BOOKS ABOUT ENGLISH ... CHRONOLOGICAL

PUSHKIN, ALEXANDER SERGEYEVICH
Wrote in many forms - lyrical poetry, narrative verse, daram, folk-tales, and short stories. He was exiled to the Caucasus. Married Natalya Gonacharova 1831. Killed by a Frenchman, Baron Georges d'Antes in a duel defending his wife's honour

R

RACISM, BOOKS ON
Slavery was outlawed in Britain in 1807 and made a capital offence in 1824. Abolitionist writers were William Wilberforce, Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Benger, Hannah More, Henry Brougham & Susannah Watts

RACKHAM, ARTHUR
Artist and book illustrator, esp of fairy-tales. Married Edyth Starkie in 1903

RAILWAY BOOKS OF THE 19THC

RALEIGH OR RALEGH, SIR WALTER
Explorer, Courtier, Statesman, Historian & Poet. Married Elizabeth Throckmorton in 1593. Imprisoned in the Tower after the failure of his expedition to find El Dorado, his estates were confiscated on the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. Released in 1615. He was executed (beheaded) in the Tower in 1618 for being an 'agent of Spain'

RAMPANT LIONS PRESS
Based in Cambridge

RAMSAY, ALLAN
Poet and Bookseller. Married Christian Ross in 1712. Owned a bookshop in Edinburgh and established the first lending (circulating) library in Scotland in 1726 (or more likely 1728)

RANSOME, ARTHUR MICHELL
Novelist and children's writer. Married Ivy Walker in 1909 but it didn't last. During 1915 he was in Russia where he fell in love with Trotsky's secretary, Evgenia Shelepin. They married 1924

READ, SIR HERBERT EDWARD
Poet, Novelist and Art Critic. Married Evelyn Roff & Margaret Ludwig

REEVES, JAMES
Poet, critic and children's writer

RENDELL, RUTH
Novelist. Married Donald John Rendell in 1950, and then remarried him in 1977

RHYS, ERNEST PERCIVAL
Poet, Novelist, Editor & Playwright. First editor of the Everyman Series. With the Publisher Joseph Mallaby Dent, they dreamed up the series in 1906. By 1910 they had published 500 titles. Rhys wrote of 130 introductions for the series. Married Grace Little 1891

RICHARDS, FRANK
Children's writer. Creator of Billy Bunter

ROBERTS, SIR CHARLES GEORGE DOUGLAS
Poet, Novelist & Children's Writer, esp of animal stories. Married Mary Fenety in 1880, and Joan Montgomery 1943. He wrote nearly 70 books. He moved to England in 1911 and served as an army officer in WW1, despite being in his mid-fifties. He returned to Canada in 1925

ROBIN HOOD
Legendary medieval outlaw, hero of numerous ballads and stories.

ROBINSON, CHARLES
Book illustrator & Cartoonist. Son of wood engraver Thomas Robinson & elder brother of W Heath Robinson

ROBINSON, WILLIAM HEATH
Cartoonist and book Illustrator, esp known for his fantastically humorous drawings of machines. Son of wood engraver Thomas Robinson, brother of Charles & Thomas.

ROHMER, SAX
Novelist & Short Story Writer. Married Elizabeth Knox in 1909. He made a fortune from his books being turned into films

ROLFE, FATHER FREDERICK WILLIAM
Writer, Blackmailer, Con Man, Pauper and Pederast. Failed schoolmaster, painter and photographer. Literary genius. (See "the Quest for Corvo" by A J A Symons 1934). From 1908 he lived in Venice

ROSSETTI, CHRISTINA GEORGINA
Religious Poet. Younger sister of poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. High Church. Home educated. Single and suffereing poor health, she lived most her life with her mother, Frances Polidori Rossetti. She turned down various offers of marriage because of religious differences. Wrote "In the Bleak Midiwnter"

ROSSETTI, DANTE GABRIEL
Poet & Artist. Brother of Christina. Married Elizabeth Siddal in 1860 (died 1862). A founder member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL

ROWSE, ALFRED LESLIE
Historian, Poet, Biographer & Essayist

RUGBY UNION

RUSKIN, JOHN
Author and art critic. Inherited a large fortune from his father, a sherry importer. Married Euphemia Chalmers Gray in 1848, dissolved 1855, when she married John Millais. Became friends with Kate Greenaway in 1880s and had a big influence of her life and work. In 1871 set up his Press at Orpington in Kent. It was run by George Allen, an engraver.
Lived at Brantwood, Coniston in the Lake District from 1872-1900. Buried in Coniston churchyard

RUSSELL, BERTRAND ARTHUR WILLIAM, 3RD EARL RUSSELL
Philosopher, Mathematician, Essayist. Nobel Prize 1950. Married Alys Pearsall Smith. His second wife was the feminist writer Dora Winifred Black (1894-1986). They divorced in 1934 and he married Patricia Spence in 1936.
Imprisoned in WW2 for his Pacifism

RUSSELL, GEORGE WILLIAM
Poet, painter, mystic and Irish patriot. Married Violet North 1898. Friend of W B Yeats, who introduced him to theosophy

S

SACKVILLE-WEST, VICTORIA (VITA)
Novelist & Poet. Only child of the 3rd Lord Sackville. Married the diplomat Harold Nicolson 1913. Had a passionate affair with Violette Trefusis in 1918, who married Denys Trefusis in 1919 to suppress the scandal. She lived at Sissinghurst in Kent

SAROYAN, WILLIAM
Novelist, Short Story Writer, Playwright

SASSOON, SIEGFRIED (LORRAINE)
Poet. Noted for his hatred of war. Served in WW1. Became a Catholic 1957. Married Hester Getty in 1933

SAUNDERS, HILARY ST GEORGE
Crime Novelist & Historian. Died of asthma

SAVILLE, LEONARD MALCOLM
Children's writer

SAYERS, DOROTHY LEIGH
Novelist & detective writer. Creator of Lord Peter Wimsey. Married Oswald Arthur Fleming in 1926. In 1947 she stopped writing detective novels and concentrated on translating Dante and lecturing on philosophy, medieval literature and religion. In 1922 she worked for Benson's Advertising Agency and coined the phrase "My Goodness, My Guinness". Lived at Witham in Essex from 1929

SCARRY, RICHARD MCCLURE
Children's writer and illustrator

SCIENCE FICTION, SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

SCOTLAND, BOOKS ON

SCOTT, SIR WALTER
Novelist, Poet & Biographer. Associated with the Borders. Married Charlotte Charpentier in 1797. In 1826 bankrupt as a result of his publishing partner and for sinking money into the Ballantyne's printing business (a total of £130.000). He worked for the rest of his life to clear his debts. Lived at Abbotsford from 1812

SEARLE, RONALD WILLIAM FORDHAM
Cartoonist, Caricaturist, Illustrator, designer, Publisher and humorist. Married Kaye Webb in 1948 (dissolved 1967) & Monica Koenig in 1967. Searle lived in Paris from 1961 and moved to the south of France in 1977. See Willans

SENDAK, MAURICE BERNARD
Children's Writer and illustrator

SEUSS, DR
Children's writer and illustrator with German background

SEXUALITY, BOOKS ON

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM
Actor, Poet & Dramatist. Little known up to 18. Married a farmer's daughter, Anne Hathaway in 1582. Went to London, Globe Theatre as actor and playwright. 38 Plays in total. 36 Printed in the First Folio of 1623. He is the most published author in history.

SHAW, GEORGE BERNARD
Dramatist, wit, and socialist. Left Ireland to live in London in 1876 and didn't return for 30 years. In 1898 he married Charlotte Payne-Townsend (1857-1943). Nobel Prize 1925. Lived in the new rectory at Ayot St Lawrence in Hertfordshire from 1906 (it was renamed Shaw's Corner after 1946) until his death.

SHELLEY, MARY
Novelist and poet. Daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft & William Godwin. Met and eloped to the Continent with Percy B Shelley 1814 and they married in 1817, but Shelley drowned in 1822

SHELLEY, PERCY BYSSHE
Romantic Poet. Married Harriet Westbrook in 1811 (drowned herself in the Serpentine in 1816). He left her in 1814 after meeting Mary Godwin, and they eloped to Italy. They married in 1816. Accidentally drowned while sailing near Spezzia in Italy

SHEPARD, ERNEST HOWARD
Children's book illustrator

SHERWOOD, MRS MARY MARTHA
Writer. Evangelical Christian. Married her cousin Capt Henry Sherwood in 1803 and went to India with him until 1816. Wrote over 350 books, tracts and pamphlets

SHIRE PUBLICATIONS LTD
Publisher. Cromwell House, Church St, Princes Risborough, Aylesbury, Bucks in 1994

SILLITOE, ALAN
Novelist & Poet. Married Ruth Fainlight in 1959. Lived in Majorca, on his RAF pension, for six years

SIMENON, GEORGES JOSEPH CHRISTIAN
Crime Novelist. Used 17 pseudonyms and claimed to have slept with over 1000 women. Lived in Paris

SIMON, ANDRE LOUIS
Writer on gastronomy. Married Edith Symons in 1900

SIMS, GEORGE ROBERT
Novelist, Poet & Playwright. Married Florence Wykes in 1901. He was hugely successful. His play "Lights O'London", first performed in 1881, was said to have earned him £72,000 by 1894

SITWELL, DAME EDITH
Poet. Sister of Osbert and Sacheverell. Experimenter with Verse form

SITWELL, SIR OSBERT
Poet and critic. Invalided from WW1 in 1916

SITWELL, SACHEVERELL
Poet and Critic. Married Georgia Doble in 1925

SMART, CHRISTOPHER
Poet. He edited and contributed to John Newbery's magazine "The Midwife". In 1753 he married Newbery's stepdaughter, Anna Maria Carnan. He was imprisoned for debt in 1747, his wife left him and Newbery disowned him. Thomas Carnan was to help him but he died. Entered a mental asylum from 1756-1763, which led him to constant public prayer and the production of most of his religious poetry. Died in the King's Bench prison

SMOLLETT, TOBIAS GEORGE
Novelist. All his work is satirical and full of coarse humour. He travelled the world as a ship's surgeon and died on the continent. Also translated Cervantes

SOCIOLOGY, BOOKS ON

SOUTHEY, ROBERT
Lake Poet, Translator and historian. Poet Laureate from 1813. Married Edith Fricker in 1795 (died 1837) & Caroline Bowles in 1839. Brother in law of Coleridge. Buried at Crosthwaite churchyard in Cumbria, his grave was restored by the Brazilian Government as a 'thank-you' for his History of Brazil

SPARK, MURIEL SARAH
Novelist & Poet. Converted to Catholicism. Married S O Spark whilst she was in Africa in 1938 (dissolved)

SPENDER, STEPHEN HAROLD
Poet. Married Agnes Pearn in 1936 & Natasha Litvin in 1941. Homosexual. Lived in Germany. Fought in Spanish Civil War. Son of Edward Harold Spender

SPENSER, EDMUND
Poet. Married Machabyas Chyld in 1579 (died 1591) and Elizabeth Boyle in 1594. Called the 'poet's poet'. Went to Ireland in 1580 and wrote much of his work there in Kilcolman Castle (Cork) which was burnt in an insurrection in 1598. Buried in Westminster Abbey

SPRAGUE DE CAMP, LYON
Science Fiction Novelist. Married Catherine (d.1999) in 1939 and much of his work was co-written with her

ST DOMINIC'S PRESS
Private Press based at Ditchling in Sussex and founded by the artist Eric Gill

STABLES, DR WILLIAM GORDON
Prolific writer of Boy's Stories, Animal Books, health books and Historical Novels. Married Theresa McCormack in 1874. Produced an average of 4 books per year for 30 years. He appeared often in Fleet St in full highland dress, and toured England in a horse-drwn caravan called "The Wanderer", complete with valet and coachman

STANLEY, HENRY MORTON
Explorer and author & amateur artist. Born John Rowlands, he was orphaned and brought up in the St Asaph Workhouse 1847-56. Adopted by a New orleans cottonbroker, Henry Stanley. Served in the Confederate army 1861-2. became a roving journalist in Asia Minor, Abyssinia & Africa. Married the artist and illustrator Dorothy Tennant in 1890

STEADMAN, RALPH IDRIS
Author, Cartoonist, Caricaturist, Illustrator & Novelist

STEIN, GERTRUDE
Writer and novelist, poet and literary experimentalist. Lesbian. Moved to France 1903 and spent rest of her life with Alice B Toklas from 1907. Friend of Picasso & Braque

STERNE, LAURENCE
Novelist, Traveller and humorist. A born philanderer, he married Elizabeth Lumley in 1741 and it was an unhappy union. Led a wandering, unconventional life and died in poverty. Although buried in London his remains were interred in 1969 and reburied at Coxwold in Yorkshire

STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS (BALFOUR)
Novelist. The son of a prosperous civil engineer. Married a divorced American, Fanny Osborne (nee Van de Grift), in 1880. They lived in Switzerland and France until ill-health (probably TB) forced him to Samoa in 1890 where he died of a brain haemorrhage

STOBBS, WILLIAM
Prolific writer and illustrator of children's books. Married to Joanna Stubbs

STOKER, BRAM (ABRAHAM)
Novelist. Married Florence Balcombe in 1878. He died of syphilis

STOWE, HARRIET ELIZABETH BEECHER
Novelist. Married Calvin Ellis Stowe in 1836. Although not herself an Abolitionist her supporters were

STRANG, HERBERT
Pseud of George Herbert Ely (1866-1958) & C James L'Estrange (1867-1947) who were staff members of the Oxford University Press. They published fiction, textbooks and non-fiction for both boys and girls. Sometimes they collaborated with John Aston, George Lawrence & Richard Stead

STREATFEILD, NOEL
Children's writer

STREET, MAJOR CECIL JOHN CHARLES
Novelist & Writer. He lived in Seaford, Sussex and died in Eastbourne. His Miles Burton pseudonym remained a secret until the 1960s

STYLES, FRANK SHOWELL
Mountaineer, Children's Writer & Novelist, esp of crime

SUFFOLK
English County

SUFFRAGETTES

SURREY

SUSSEX

SWIFT, JONATHAN
Prose Satirist. English parents. Came to England 1688 and took Anglican orders. A Whig at first, then became a Tory (1710). Retired to Ireland 1714. Esther Johnson (Stella)(1681-1728) figured very importantly in his life but it is unknown if he ever married her. It has been said that in his will he left £11.000

SWINBURNE, ALGERNON CHARLES
Poet & Critic. From 1879 lived with Theodore Watts-Dunton. He is buried at Bonchurch on the Isle of Wight

SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON, THE YOUNGER
Poet, Essayist, Critic, Historian & Biographer. Married Catherine North 1864. Homosexual. Probably died of TB

SYMONS, JULIAN GUSTAVE
Novelist, Crime Novelist, critic, Biographer and poet. Brother of A J A. Married

T

TAGORE, SIR RABINDRANATH
Poet, Novelist, Philosopher & Dramatist. Born into a family of religious and social reformers, musicians & artists. Married Mrinalinidebi in 1884. Tried to blend east and west in his works. Nobel Prize 1913 (first Asian recipient). Came to England 1878. Composed over 200 songs. Exhibited his paintings worldwide. Published over 60 works. Resigned his knighthood in 1919 in protest against British policies in the Punjab

TALBOT, ETHEL
Children's Writer of Guide, School and Adventure stories

TARRANT, MARGARET WINIFRED
Artist and Book illustrator. Daughter of artist Percy Tarrant

TATE, JOHN ORLEY ALLEN
Poet, novelist, and critic. Married Caroline Gordon, a novelist, in 1924, Isabella Gardner (poet) in 1959, & Helen Heinz in 1966

TAYLOR, JAMES BAYARD
Poet, Novelist & Traveller. Married Mary Agnew in 1850 (died 1850) and Marie Hanson 1857

TENNIS, WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONSHIPS

TENNYSON, ALFRED, LORD, 1ST BARON
Poet. Poet Laureate 1850 and that same year married Emily Sellwood. Buried in Westminster Abbey

THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE
Novelist & ilustrator. Journalist all his life, having lost most of his money gambling. Contributed to Punch and edited 'Cornhill'. Married Isabella Shawe in 1836, but she went mad in the 1840s. Had an unfortunate love affair with his best friend's wife, Jane Brookfield.

THAMES, RIVER

THOMAS, DYLAN MARLAIS
Poet. Married Caitlin Macnamara 1937. An alcoholic, he died in the USA on a lecture tour

THOMAS, PHILIP EDWARD
Poet & Prose Writer. Married Helen Noble in 1899. Killed by a shell at Arras in WW1

THOMPSON, FRANCIS JOSEPH
Catholic Poet & Essayist. Intimate of the Meynells who rescued him from poverty and opium addiction

THOREAU, HENRY DAVID
Essayist, Poet and nature lover. Rebelled against society and lived in a solitary hut at Walden pond, near Concord, cultivating a small plot of land, observing nature and reading and writing (1845-7). Went to prison for one night rather than pay a poll tax to support war and slavery. Died of TB. Only two books published in his lifetime

THURBER, JAMES GROVER
Humorist, Writer & Cartoonist. Worked for The New Yorker from 1933-1961. Blind in one eye from a childhood accident

TITANIC, THE

TOLKIEN, JOHN RONALD REUEL
Novelist and fantasist

TOLSTOY, LEO NIKOLAYEVICH, COUNT
Writer and philosopher. Fought in Crimean War. Of noble family, but freed his serfs and refused to take advantage of his wealth. Married 1862

TOURTEL, MARY
Writer and illustrator. Creator of Rupert Bear. Written by her husband, H B Tourtel, a sub-editor on the Daily Express. She drew the strip for the paper from 1921-1935 when her failing eyesight forced her to hand over to A E Bestall

TRANTER, NIGEL
Historical Novelist, Children's Writer and writer on the Scottish countryside and architecture

TRAVELLER'S LIBRARY, THE

TREASE, ROBERT GEOFFREY
Children's writer. Married Marian Boyer

TREVOR, WILLIAM
Novelist

TROLLOPE, FRANCES MILTON
Novelist & Travel Writer. Married Thomas Anthony Trollope, a barrister, in 1809. They moved to America (1827-30) where he failed as a shopkeeper. Returned to England when her husband died. Spent her last 20 years in Florence. Anthony Trollope was her 3rd son

TROLLOPE, ANTHONY
Novelist. Married Rose Hesletine 1844

TUBB, E (EDWIN) C (CHARLES)
Science Fiction Novelist. Married Iris Kathleen Smith 1944

TUNNICLIFFE, CHARLES FREDERICK
Writer, Illustrator and artist

TUPPER, MARTIN FARQUAR
Poet, Novelist, Playwright & Prose Writer. Married his cousin, Isabelle Devis, in 1835. Inherited and lived at Albury House in Surrey. A terrible stutterer in his early life he turned to poetry and achieved great fame (Especially in America), but today he is barely read or remembered. All his works are out of print.

TWAIN, MARK
Humorist, novelist, travel writer, riverboat pilot, & publisher. 1870 married Olivia Langdon and moved to live in Hartford, Connecticut, where he wrote most of his books. In 1894 he was made bankrupt after bad investments. He went back to lecturing and re-made his fortune

TYNAN, KATHARINE
Poet & Novelist. Married barrister H A Hinkson in 1893 (d.1919). She disapproved of the Easter Rising and the Republican movement

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