George Alfred Henty: The Story of An Active Life.

FENN, G. Manville. [George Alfred Henty].

$300.00

Item Number: 122474

London: Blackie and Son Limited, 1907.

First edition of Fenn’s biography of highly popular 19th century novelist George Alfred Henty. Octavo, original cloth decorated in gilt, illustrated with 11 plates including frontispiece portrait of Henty. In near fine condition. Ownership inscription. A sharp example of this rare title.

Prolific English novelist and war correspondent George Alfred Henty is best known for his historical adventure stories that were very popular and commercially successful in the late 19th century. Henty wrote 122 works of historical fiction throughout his career, including The Dragon & The Raven (1886), For The Temple (1888), Under Drake's Flag (1883) and In Freedom's Cause (1885) and was considered the most popular boy's author of his day. His publisher, Blackie and Son, estimated in February 1952 that they were producing about 150,000 Henty books a year at the height of his popularity, and stated that their records showed they had produced over three and a half million Henty books (Feather, The Age of the Novel, 2006).