 Rare and unusual books! |  |
Rare and unusual books! | |
| Book Title: | Jack Harkaway's Schooldays |  |
| Author: | Edwin J. Brett | |
| Publisher: | 'Boys Of England' Office, London. | |
| Year: | 1879 | |
| Large 8to. original black cloth binding, considerable wear to extremities, front board detached, shaken, foxed throughout, missing 2 colour prints, originally enclosed loose as 'free extras', o/w good. | ||
| Bound volume containing three complete series of Harkaway stories:
Jack Harkaway's Schooldays, 192 pp, ND; Jack Harkaway After Schooldays: His Adventures Afloat And Ashore, 176 pp., 1879; Jack Harkaway At Oxford, 186 pp, 1882. Jack Harkaway was the creation of Bracebridge Hemyng (1829-1904), first appearing in Jack Harkaway's Schooldays (1871). Hemyng, a barrister who decided to fill in the time between his briefs (which were not as numerous as he had hoped) by writing fiction, proved to be successful at it, creating popular serials and penny dreadfuls. Writing under the pseudonym, Edwin J. Brett, his biggest hit was Jack Harkaway, who proved to be so popular that Hemyng continued writing stories about Harkaway, and later his children, until his death, over 30 years later. There are stories of news agents fighting with each other in the street outside the publisher's office in order to be first to get copies of a new Harkaway, so great was the demand by the readers. They were pirated in America, but the publisher then invited Hemyng to move to America, which he did, and was successful enough to be able to afford a "palatial residence" on Staten Island. | ||
| Price: £79.99 | ||
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