In this long rambling post, I'll explain how this project came about and offer some commentary on the books as well as other facts I've learned about WD.
First, some history of Warwick Deeping. He is best known for his 33rd book, Sorrell and Son, which was a worldwide success in the mid 1920's and was on the screen several times, originally as a silent film. It was also produced as a BBC mini-series in the mid 1980's.
Prior to his career as a novelist, Deeping briefly practiced medicine, following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. George Davidson Deeping. Early in his medical career (1903) he published his first novel, Uther and Igraine, and with the success of that novel, he gave up medicine and became a full time author.
Regarding his short stories, I've now identified well over 300 short stories, novellas, and essays that he never published in hard back book form. These works were only published in fiction magazines of the time such as The Story-Teller Magazine, The Strand, Cassells, and The New Magazine. Some also appeared in a variety of newspapers in the UK, US, and Australia.
Update - Six Volumes, comprising a collection of all of these "lost" stories are now available. See sidebar
Printed books available from AMAZON and E-Books from Expert Technology Studios, LLC
I assumed all of the Warwick Deeping novels would all be of a similar nature as the first three I had read, that of life in England in the 1920's and 1930's. I was to later learn that some of his early works were set in medieval times and some in the "rustic" times of the 1500s to late 1700s. I was to find the novels of the medieval times uninteresting to me.
I recall searching for about 6 months before I found anyone selling a copy of Three Rooms. For months, the only one listed anywhere was described as torn and missing the back cover and even so was priced too high for me. The first one I finally obtained at a reasonable price was printed in 1928 and has the description “cheap edition” actually printed on the frontispiece” of the book. It is cheaper looking than other Deeping volumes - it does have a hard cover but of thick paper in a dark black color and now frayed on the edges. The paper is of a very low quality, all yellowed (foxed) by this time. It is a small book and printed in much smaller font than other books, so as to reduce the number of pages and paper required. I was later to learn this "cheap edition" was commonly called the "shilling" versions, as to be described later.
Many of the later book covers were very colorful paintings. I only have a few that have intact jackets.
Below are Fantasia and Bluewater, the same novel with different UK and USA names.
Regarding the name differences, this is applicable to a number of his books and I am not sure why Deeping or the publishers used different names for U.S. and U.K releases. As I was first collecting, this duplication caused me to end up with two copies of some of them until I was able to develop a complete list of primary and AKA (Also Known As) names. I also found that many of his short stories appearing in magazines used different titles depending on the venue.
The most expensive book in my collection is Return of the Petticoat and my copy was the only one I ever saw listed for sale in the few years that I was acquiring the collection. This is the last one I read and I think a very unusual theme for its time (1907). It concerns a wealthy woman who became bored with the social constraints imposed on women and decided to live life disguised as a man. The German version of this book, Haute Adam, Morgan Eva (Today Adam, Tomorrow Eve) is very commonly found on Ebay, but of course, is printed in the German language, so I waited until the last to buy an English language version. I even looked for this book when we were in the UK in January 2008, hoping I'd find one in some book shop at a bargain price, but amazingly, in all the book shops I visited, they had NO Deeping at all! A few of the booksellers knew of him, but after his death in 1950, he dropped off the list of books in demand.
All total, I probably have about $700 invested, including postage, in the complete collection, or an average of under $10 per novel. The themes in many of the stories are timeless and I'd like future generations to read them, so I hope my heirs keep them around, and in fact read them at some point.
He seemed to have a fascination with scything. It is ancient to us now, but in Deeping's time it was the common form of cutting wheat and grass since powered tools were rare. Stories of men learning the difficult art of using scythes or just using them are in many of his novels and short stories. Deeping either was an expert with the scythe or perhaps had a friend or relative who had the skill or he just found it interesting. I've seen videos of people demonstrating scything and it is very impressive to see the sweeping motion taking out large areas of grass with apparently little effort. However, from Deeping's descriptions of men learning to scythe, it is not as easy at it looks. It takes much practice and stamina to become proficient in it.
Pet dogs are a very favorite theme and frequently the beloved dogs tragically die from accidents or sometimes from evil human actions. Cats appear often as somewhat passive pets and enjoy their “saucer of milk” but never suffer tragic deaths.
Fruit trees, orchards, flowers, and details of gardening, are another favorite theme. Quite often, he uses the horticultural and popular names of the large number of varieties of fruit trues and plants, as well as flowers. Apparently he was quite the amateur gardener (both ornamental and fruit) and he liked to put his knowledge of this subject into his works.
Deeping must have loved gorse and furze. I'd never heard of the plant but found it's a type of wild Ilex and most every novel has some descriptions of it growing in the wild. "Blazing Gorse" or "Gorse or furze in bloom" is a favorite expression. This photo is of Gorse in bloom on the southern coast of England.
Deeping traveled widely around Europe and he wove descriptions of various landmarks and cities into his stories. Here is a photo of the Rocher De La Vierge (Rock of the Virgin) off the shore of Biarritz, France. This was the scene of a battle to the death between John Lancaster and his lifelong enemy in Malice of Men. Deeping must have visited this place in one of his many travels to France as he describes it exactly as I've found it in photographs. This is a 1910 photo showing the bridge connecting the mainland to the rock with the statue of the Virgin Mary on the rock. In Deeping's day, the bridge was the wooden one shown in the 1910 photo, it has since been replaced with a steel structure.
A reader of this blog sent me a copy of this letter that showed Deeping had visited Biarritz in 1931, a few years before Malice of Men was published. The Hotel du Palais is still in business and is a five star hotel on the coast.
I learned quite a bit about late Victorian and Edwardian age in England from reading Deeping. The language context was interesting. For instance, there were sentences about "making love" to a woman, a term that in those days was used to describe flirtatious conversation.
"Wings" on cars puzzled me until I remembered that he was writing about cars in the mid to late 20's when styling changed to put coverings over the tires as compared to first generation autos that were really motorized wagons. The "wings" were the stylized shapes on the sides of the body that covered the upper portion of the tires.
Deeping very rarely re-used characters in his other novels, but I have noticed a few. As I was reading Old Pybus, I came across a scene where the young Mr. Pybus was visiting his friend "Kit", described identically as the "Kit" in the earlier novel, Sorrell and Son. He also visited "an ex-officer and his wife" who ran a tea and dancing business on the river, the exact scenario in the earlier novel Kitty, although the officer and wife weren't mentioned by name.
In The Dark House, John Richmond and his family later appear in minor roles in Slade, and also in The Cleric's Secret. A Dr. Baccus appears briefly in Shabby Summer AKA Folly Island and later as a major character in The Serpents Tooth. There is also a scene in Exiles where the main character goes to London for a vacation and on her return describes meeting a Dr. Hazzard, the primary character in Deeping's earlier novel Ropers Row.
Tea Time ! Tea Time ! It is everywhere, all the time, all day, all night, in any novel based later than the 1880's. Kettle on the boil, Indian, Ceylon, or China ? One lump or two ? Sounds like a great tradition - tea with cakes with icing. Home-made cake was most favored over the "store-bought" type. If you were not as well off, your tea was with bread and margarine - or with a bit more resources, you had butter.
"Being in Queer Street" - slang for being in trouble. "George, you aren't going to be in Queer Street, are you?" I've seen that expression in more than a few of his works.
Airplanes - Deeping disliked them. More than a few characters in novels complain about the noise of airplanes buzzing around. I originally thought that there may have been an airfield located close to Deeping's home and the noise from that annoyed him. However in one of his essays, I found this may have been because of his association of the airplane with the destruction he saw in the Great War :
We have had four phases of movements: The foot-and-hoof period, The bicycle period, The automobile, The airplane.
I have passed through three of these periods, and shared in them, while refusing to accept the fourth, perhaps because the airplane still suggests to me the loathsome bombing-bird of the war.
The custom of "whitening" the front steps of a home or hotel was interesting to me. Apparently, if your front steps were not whitewashed each morning, it reflected on your character. Of course, the "help" always did this type of work which required first washing the steps, and then painting on some type of whitewash made of chalk. When my wife and I visited Brighton, UK in early 2008, I looked for this in the homes and hotels along the oceanfront where we stayed, but no sign of it all - apparently long ago out of fashion. Rightly so, it was probably a lot of work to keep the front steps perfectly clean with people tracking in mud and dirt.
Smoking pipes was quite common among men. In his novels of life after the 1920's it was also common for women to smoke cigarettes.
I'd never heard of the term "scullery", but found it used often in his stories. It is a room off the kitchen where one did the washing and cleaning of dishes, apart from the cooking/baking area of a kitchen.
I also didn't realize the extreme class consciousness that existed in those times. For instance, if you were "well off", you must have at least one live in "girl" who was the housekeeper/cook and always called in a "charwoman" to help with the heavy annual housecleaning. Being "In Service" meant you were a housekeeper, maid, butler/valet, or chauffeur.
Visitors to homes either knocked at the back door or front, depending on their status. All tradespeople always went to the back, including apparently some of the medical doctors, where the rear door maid answered. It was the job of the "girl" to answer any knocks at the front door and if she felt you were out of place, you were directed to go to the back door! In the row houses in which there wasn't a back entry, the lower level or basement stairs was the entry for the trades as the kitchen was in the lower level.
A wealthy land owner with many workers living in the land owner's cottages would likely be part of a medical club so his workers had access to medical care.
In country practices, it was the practice for new MDs to "buy in" to an existing practice, so as to be accepted in the community and have an immediate source of goodwill and patients from the existing MD's practice. This buy-in would occur when one of the MDs in a practice retired or died.
Deeping had a fascination with "tramping", the term he applied to someone who took to the road and slept where ever the night found them. He wrote about this practice in more than a few novels where characters engage in this roaming when their finances run low. He also wrote about people spending the night with other homeless people on the benches along the embankment of the Thames River in London. Apparently the benches there were a popular place to spend the night for the homeless. I think that to learn all that he wrote about tramping that he must have engaged in this himself as part of his research.
Cleaning of boots was the job of the lowest porter (often called "boots") at any of the hotels or rooming houses. Women and men would leave their shoes outside the door at night to be cleaned and polished overnight. If the hotel was big enough to have more than one porter, then this job fell to the less senior person while the head porter received the most tips. This is probably not much different than the hierarchy today in modern hotels.
America - very little about America in Deeping's novels other than characters occasionally grumbling about "cheap American" items, such as lawn mowers, or other appliances. No scenes in America except for a brief visit of the leading character in Sackcloth to Silk AKA The Golden Cord, to New York as part of a publicity tour for one of his plays. I think Deeping visited America as part of filming of Sorrell and Son or perhaps for a book and film publicity tour.
Mentioned in several novels is the great American wheat invasion of the late 1870s in which cheaper imported American wheat destroyed the English farmers who couldn't compete in pricing. This is similar to our TV and radio manufacturing industries being destroyed when the lower cost but equal quality Japanese products arrived in the mid 1960s.
I learned a bit more about English money than I ever knew and believe the following to be correct:
2 farthings = 1 halfpenny
2 halfpence = 1 penny (1d)
3 pence = 1 thruppence (3d)
6 pence = 1 sixpence (a 'tanner') (6d)
12 pence = 1 shilling (a bob) (1s)
2 shillings = 1 florin ( a 'two bob bit') (2s)
2 shillings and 6 pence = 1 half crown (2s 6d)
5 shillings = 1 Crown (5s)
1 guinea = 21 shillings (1 pound, 1 shilling)
In the early 1900s, one person needed about 50 pounds a year for bare minimum housing and food.
Prior to reading Deeping, I had never heard of "Bathing Machines". This unusual device was mentioned in Caroline Terrace, set in the 1890s in the seaside town of Southfleet (modeled after Deeping's own hometown of Southend), east of London. The bathing machine was a necessary component of sea-side etiquette in the late 19th century. The seaside bathing areas for women were set apart from those reserved for men, to guarantee that the modest woman in her bathing costume would not be seen by the opposite sex.
The photo below is of bathing machines on the beach at Brighton in the 1890s, on the south coast of England. My wife and I have visited Brighton and the old pier on which this 1890 photo was taken is now a derelict skeleton of wood, having suffered a fire and burned to the waterline. A new one further east down the beach has replaced it. We went out on this pier which has an amusement park at the end. There was a good selection of fast food and excitement. I recall it was a beautiful day, in the low 60s with a brisk wind from the south.
Another unusual term I found in stories was char-a-banc. Deeping describes these in several stories. It is a French name for a multi-passenger, open touring vehicle. Originally these were horse drawn, later becoming motorized. Of course, these have now evolved into the covered motor-coaches of today.
# TITLE-YEAR
From a 1908 interview with Deeping that I found in a newspaper from Hastings, he tells the interviewer that he wrote Love Among The Ruins first and submitted it to Grant Richards who had it for a year before saying he wouldn't publish it. Deeping relates that he "thought out" the complete story one Sunday while at church! During the year that Grant Richards was considering Love Among The Ruins, Deeping wrote Uther and Igraine and also submitted it to Grant Richards. Richards then said he would publish both of them with Uther and Igraine the first to be published.
4 The Seven Streams-1905 - Another Medieval Romance.
6 The Return of the Petticoat-1907 - Back to contemporary times with an unusual theme for its post-Victorian era. A wealthy woman from Australia moves back from the old country and decides to live for a while disguised as a man on her own "gentleman's" farm in England. He (she) falls in love with her foreman and devises a clever way of solving the dilemma. I have a 1913 red cover version of this from Cassells. The frontispiece says it is a "REVISED" edition and I've learned it is slightly edited from the original 1907 version and deleted some references to a severed hand in a plate.
To gain some experience in the publishing world, I've published a reprint of this and it is for sale on Amazon.com. It is out of copyright protection in the U.S., Canada, and Australia as it was prior to 1923. I think it turned out well and offers one an opportunity to read this normally very expensive (if you can even find a copy) book. I'm quite surprised to see that I've sold a few of them with no marketing. Perhaps the "conflicted gender identity" keywords attract people in searches.
8 Bertrand of Brittany-1908 - Set in France in 1300s! When I first bought this, I skimmed it since it was not in contemporary times. After I'd finished my collection, I went back to read it for the 2nd time and enjoyed it. The Deeping Archives at Boston University contain the original handwritten manuscript of this on 8" x 16" folded sheets.
9 Mad Barbara AKA These White Hands-1908 - Set in the 1690's, I was initially set to not like it but after a few chapters I was absorbed in the story. I've noticed that there are now many vendors selling instant published versions of this now, since it is out of copyright (In the U.S anything published prior to 1923 is in the public domain) . UPDATE - As of January 2021, all of Deeping's worldwide copyrights have expired.
It's difficult to find anyone even listing the original book for sale and the copies you do see are the ones from US publisher, McBride, that was published in the 1930's under the These White Hands title. I have one of those copies and I also have a 1908 first edition with the Mad Barbara title that was published by Harper. It has a very ornate, embossed cover.
10 The Red Saint-1909 - Medieval romance. I have a first edition of this. Briefly skimmed it, and I can't recall anything of interest.
11 The Rust of Rome-1910 - Set in contemporary times. Benjamin Heriot, recently out of prison for a crime of violence, builds a house in the woods to get back to reality. An evil neighbor landowner with designs on the daughter of another neighbor creates the opportunity for Heriot to regain his self-confidence. This is now a very rare book and I was fortunate to find a very reasonably priced first edition copy of this early in my collecting.
The Deeping Archives at Boston University contains the original handwritten manuscript of this on 8" x 16" folded sheets. On the reverse side of this manuscript is part of a novel with the title "The Flame Invisible ". Upon examination, I determined that this was the novel "Lantern Lane". As will be described later, Deeping had a habit of writing new novels on the back side of the manuscripts of earlier ones.
12 Fox Farm AKA The Eyes of Love-1911 - A contemporary story of a man in loveless marriage that is befriended by young woman after he is blinded in an accident. They go on a "tramping" adventure with near fatal consequences, but with a typical Deeping ending. This was made into a film (silent) in 1922, Deeping's 2nd film adaptation of one of his works.
13 Joan of the Tower-1911 - Medieval romance. I have a first edition copy of this.
14 The Lame Englishman-1911 - a lame Englishman (malformed foot) fighting with the Italians in the early 1800s against the French. Too rustic for me, so I skimmed it and haven't tried to reread. I have a first edition of this. The Deeping Archives at Boston University contains the original holograph manuscript of this novel.
15 Sincerity AKA The Strong Hand AKA The Challenge of Love-1912 - This is Deeping's 2nd story about an MD and is set in contemporary times. A strong-willed, young MD takes up his first position working with an established MD in a small town. He discovers sicknesses caused by poor sanitation but runs against town politics in trying to improve conditions. I have a Cassell 1st edition of this book from 1912 that has the frontispiece painting by A.C. Michaels. These are very rare with the 1930 reprints with the alternate titles being more common. The Deeping Archives at Boston University contains portions of the original holograph manuscript of this novel.
16 The House of Spies-1913 - Cloak and sword romance set about 1813, with the threatened invasion of England by Napoleon. A mysterious house is occupied by a mad visionary, controlled by a French spy and his innocent daughter. I have a 1st edition copy of this book. It is in amazing shape for almost 100 years old.
17 The White Gate-1913 - Young girl of an alcoholic mother suffers a traumatic experience. Later, an older widower marries her and helps her understand life. Majority of the story takes place in first third of the story. To me, it seemed the rest of the story in the South of France was anticlimax. It is set in contemporary times as we have steamships carrying travelers across the English Channel and there is talk of the excitement of a visit to the city by an airplane. I have a first edition copy of this.
18 The Pride of Eve-1914 - Eve is an artist and paints illustrations of flowers for a wealthy horticulturist who is in a loveless marriage. Romance ensues, but he doesn't want to hurt his young daughter so he keeps the relationship at a fantasy level. Eve becomes involved in the emerging woman's rights movement with unexpected consequences. I've never seen a 1st edition of this offered for sale, mine is one of the "popular editions".
19 The Shield of Love AKA King behind the King-1914 - Set in 1600s, I'd never have read any more Deeping if this was the first book I'd found! It is a smallish book, maybe 200 pages at most. I tried several times, but couldn't get past the first part of it. The reviews of it in newspapers of the time are favorable.
20 Marriage by Conquest - 1915 - English life in Sussex in the early 18th century. As with others of the "rustic" genre, it is not my favorite time period but after getting through first few chapters I found it was an interesting story. In this book, an innocent and trusting Richard Lombard inherits an estate and unwittingly becomes a pawn in a love affair between his wealthy lady neighbor and a nearby evil estate owner. I have a rare first edition of this.
21 Unrest AKA Bridge of Desire-1916 - Set in a contemporary period, a wealthy playwright living in a villa on the coast in Italy, foolishly becomes involved with another woman. His wife believes in him and waits for him to play out his fantasy. This was made into a film (silent) in 1920, and was Deeping's first novel on the screen. Like other film versions of his novels, the story-line has been modified somewhat from the book. I have a 1st edition copy of this book with the title Unrest.
I've found the ending of this novel is based on the short story, The Bridge Of Pain, that was in Cassell's Magazine, August 1914. This story has different character names, but the same story-line of the errant husband being injured in a fall from a bridge on the villa's property as he tries to return to his wife.
22 Martin Valliant-1917 - Castles, bows and arrows - A story of a monk in perhaps the 1700's and way too rustic for me but I did manage to read it through one time. I suppose Deeping wrote this while or before serving in the Medical Corps in France as it was published during the Great War. I have a "near" first edition of this by Cassells. It is the 2nd printing in March 1917 with the first edition in January. Even this is rare as all you normally see are the U.S. version from McBride or the 1928 reprints by Cassell.
23 Valour-1919 -Deeping's first novel based on WW I - a look into the carnage of trench warfare. I had my copy of this on a trip to France and was reading it while in Toulouse. I have a very rare 1st edition copy of this, at least I've never seen another offered for sale. Most versions are the 1930 republished version from McBride that was published in the U.S.
There was a short story version of this published under the same title Valour in The New Magazine for September 1917, a year or so before the novel release. It is the same but "different" in that scenes are omitted and others expanded upon. The characters are the same and the story line is the same - branded as a coward, the soldier regains his respect by heroic action in battle.
24 Countess Glika-1919 - A collection of 5 medium length stories . The first story, Countess Glika is a contemporary (for its time) spy novel, the next 3 stories (The Red Shirt, The Girl on the Mountain, and The Lady of the Terrace ) are all set in the Mediterranean area (Italy and France). The last one, Bitter Silence, concerns a man who didn't volunteer for WWI service for very good reasons but was treated as an outcast by the village and his love interest, for his apparently unpatriotic behavior. All of these stories had first appeared in various issues of The Story-Teller Magazine prior to publication of the book. I have a very rare 1st edition copy of this book.
25 Second Youth AKA The Awakening-1919 - Set in contemporary times, a young attorney from a wealthy family marries, only to find his wife is an iceberg, interested only in using his family's money and climbing the social ladder. Living a boring and loveless life in his small town, he leaves his wife, joins the war in France and finds a new life with purpose and meets a new romantic interest. I have a first edition, 1919 copy of this, published by Cassell. Somewhere I read where Deeping said that he'd written most of this while in France in the Great War.
26. The Prophetic Marriage - 1920 Set in contemporary times, an orphaned young man is mentored by a wealthy entrepreneur who wants him to take over his large business enterprise. His one admonition - Whatever you do, don't marry until you are established in business ! Of course, the young man immediately falls in love with a money-craving vixen who destroys his life, business, and future career with his mentor. After a divorce and joining the war in France, he finds his true character as an officer and also meets a French woman. I have a 1st edition of this book.
In the Warwick Deeping archives at Boston University, the original manuscript is not there but there is a small notebook in which Deeping has planned the story with character names, concepts, etc.
27 Lantern Lane-1921 - Back to old times again, the early 1700s. Fairfax loses his confidence and a budding romantic interest when he is branded a coward for shirking a challenged sword duel. The London plague offers opportunity for him to prove his real self. Dueling with swords was a nasty way to resolve disputes! The Deeping Archives at Boston University has portions of the handwritten manuscript of this with the original title of The Flame Invisible.
28 The House of Adventure-1922 - Interesting story of WW I soldier and his life in small French village just after end of the war. Descriptions of the tragedy of destruction of lives and property in the small village. There was a story with the same name in The Story-Teller Magazine for October 1921. It is a shorter version of the novel, beginning at Chapter III of the novel. The characters and the storyline are very similar but with a somewhat different ending that in the novel.
The Deeping Archives at Boston University have portions of the handwritten manuscript of this story. They describe it as "fragments of an unpublished novel" - an error made by the BU archivist.
29 Orchards AKA The Captive Wife-1922 - Back to "rustic" times again in 1700s. It is centered about a wealthy estate owner and his arranged marriage to a much younger woman during the times of one of the English civil wars. Like some of the other ones of this genre, I skimmed it the first time, but recently re-read it and saw all of Deeping's skills in developing the characters. I have a rare 1st edition of this from Cassells with the Orchards title.
30 The Secret Sanctuary or The Saving of John Streton-1923 - This is actually the complete title, not an alternate one as with other books. Excellent story of a "shellshocked", WW I veteran returning home and finding he is unable to cope with his sometimes violent temper. Nearly killing a man when in an uncontrollable meltdown rage, his wealthy family buys him land in the woods to be alone with nature in a cabin he builds and hopefully, recover his mental health. A red haired vixen living nearby takes interest in him and when he shuns her, begins a campaign to humiliate him. His violent uncontrollable temper surfaces again and only with help of another woman does he find a solution to his problem. I have a red cloth cover 1923 first edition version of this from Cassell.
There is a short story, "The Case of John Streton" that was published in The New Magazine for January 1923, prior to the release of the novel. It is similar but "different." Many scenes in the novel are not there, for instance the encounter with the red haired vixen, but the character names are the same and it has the same concept of John Streton living in the woods to regain his mental health. It is not merely an edited version of the novel, as the beginning of this short story has more of the conversation between Streton's father and Streton's doctor discussing the proposed treatment of living in the woods.
Related to the novel, I have a copy of a February 13, 1924 letter from Deeping's London based agent, Hughes Massie and Co. The letter was written by Sidney Sanders, managing agent of Hughes Massie and Co. (but based in the New York Office) to Mr. Chambers of Bobbs Merrill Co. also in New York. Bobbs Merrill Co. was a major publisher and apparently was about to publish Deeping's The Secret Sanctuary in the U.S. They were going to use the title Sanctuary. The letter was primarily about a review copy of Three Rooms that was enclosed, but mentioned that he was glad to hear that Deeping had made the alterations to Sanctuary that they had requested and that they were satisfactory. He relates that when they respond to the request to publish Three Rooms, he would send along a contract for both books. As we will see later, Bobbs Merrill flatly rejected Three Rooms and therefore The Secret Sanctuary was most likely not published either, as I've never seen any Deeping works published by Bobbs Merrill Co. What changes Deeping made to The Secret Sanctuary that were not in the version already published by Cassell's, I don't know. What is surprising about this is that publisher requested and Deeping agreed to make changes ! Deeping was still two books away from his blockbuster Sorrell and Son, so he didn't have the bargaining power that he had later.
In this same letter, Sidney Sanders also relates that he gave a copy of Orchards to Chambers in Dec 1923 and that it was one of Deepings "costume" novels. He proposed bringing it out as a series of Deeping's other "costume" novels under a pseudonym, beginning with Orchards. Imagine, Deeping even considering publishing under a pseudonym! Sanders thought with a certain amount of publicity that it would do well with the Sabatini public. The offering to publish Deeping under a pseudonym again shows the relatively weak commercial position Deeping was in at this time. Incidentally, the Sabatini public referred to Rafael Sabatini, an Italian born writer of the time who also wrote English historical romance novels, apparently what Sanders called "costume" novels. More on the reaction of Bobbs Merrill Co. to Three Rooms in the review of that novel.
32 Three Rooms - 1924 - A somewhat shabby 39 room hotel in the southern coast of France is home to many characters exiled from England. A young woman, her mother who is chasing the last blooms of her youth, an unwell man trying to recover his health and courage, a wealthy, older, businessman looking for a young wife, and many others. The story centers around the young woman, Fefine, and her struggle to overcome the dominance of her mother.
I have a first edition of this novel from Cassell. Deeping tried to find a U.S. publisher for this, to no avail, as will be described later.
I found a newspaper clipping in an Australian paper from 1924 in which Deeping relates that he stayed at a hotel on the Rivera which was the model of the Hotel d' Esperance in the novel:
Continuing with the letters from Hughes Massie and Co. to Bobbs Merrill Co, offering them Three Rooms : Mr. Chambers of Bobbs Merrill Co. responds immediately on February 14, 1924, saying they will get busy with consideration of Three Rooms. Interestingly, he immediately dismisses the idea of Orchards, saying he doesn't see a considerable American public for it. But he says he will submit the suggestion of pseudonym publication to the directors and see how they feel about it.
Next we see an internal letter of Bobbs-Merrill Company on February 25, 1924 to Mr. Chambers from some unknown editor, initials HHH. It states that there is enclosed a copy of a review of Three Rooms by Mrs. Spurance (apparently a staff reviewer). HHH states that "it sounds like a death notice, doesn't it ? ". Handwritten on this is a reply from Mr. Chambers to HHH saying " It will be a great relief to the selling organization if we don't tie up with Deeping. I suggest you handle it."
There is in the correspondence files, a 3 page typewritten critique by Mrs. A.A. Spurance. It isn't too favorable! She criticizes Deeping's flowerly descriptions. She states in the last paragraph. " To reject a well written, truthful story because of an excess of nature descriptions, because of its sameness, because it might be greatly cut without any loss of truthful portrayal, or any hitch in the story's movement, may seem hypercritical. Perhaps it is. Stories of this sort reach the public libraries but why any reader should purchase such a book is not plain. It would be as difficult to advertise as to sell, for it lacks saliency, novelty, humor, intricacy of plot, rapidity of movement, dramatic action.
Finally, we see the rejection letter dated March 1, 1924. From HHH to Mr. Sanders at Hughes Massie and Co. it states that " Three Rooms is a heartbreaking disappointment ! It seems to lack all the qualities that make a book salable. We would not know how to advertise it ; we would not know how to present it to the trade. It's a sweeping indictment, but it lacks dramatic action, rapidity of movement, intricacy of plot, saliency, novelty, and humor. It is of course, well written and is true to life as most of us know it. It has atmosphere, the descriptions have charm, and the characters are knowable. But there must be more than this if a story is to take hold. Knowing as you do my admiration for SANCTUARY, you will appreciate the sincerity of my disappointment, the pain with which I write this letter.
Word too has just come to me of the attitude of our road salesmen ; their feeling that it will be almost impossible to revive interest in Deeping ; that even such an excellent book as SANCTUARY would fail to get a fair chance with the trade. In the light of all these circumstances we feel the only thing we can do, with justice to Deeping and ourselves, is to withdraw from the negotiations and return you the manuscript, which we do with the utmost regret."
So, we see Bobbs Merrill and Co., turning down U.S. publication of both The Secret Sanctuary and Three Rooms ! Indeed they didn't want Deeping at all.
They missed their chance of being Deeping's exclusive U.S. publisher by just one novel, as the U.S. publisher Alfred Knopf later picked up Deeping's Sorrell and Son a year later and the millions of dollars they made off Deeping's works as his U.S. publisher after that is history. Certainly, Mr. Chambers and H.H.H, just a year later seeing the incredible success of Deeping with Sorrell and Son, must have regretted the decision to dismiss him based on the review of Three Rooms by a lone staff reviewer. No doubt, neither Mr. Chambers nor H.H.H. had read Three Rooms and relied on the word of the staff reviewer. One wonders what Mrs. Spurance, the reviewer, thought a year later when she also saw the success of Sorrell and Son and his "flowery descriptions" being overwhelmingly accepted by the U.S. audience.
33 Suvla John-1924 - A WW I soldier survives an attempted murder by his jealous friend who leaves him for dead on the night of the evacuation at Suvla Bay. His wife and family think he was killed while at war. He recovers in a Turkish prison and after the war, he is released and covertly returns home to find that the man who tried to kill him has since married his wife! His new name is taken from Suvla, a city in the islands off Turkey that was the scene of some treacherous WW I conflicts.
In an interesting twist on this, there is a 20 page story with the same title published in The Story-Teller Magazine for February 1924. When I first saw this title, I assumed it was an exact, but abbreviated version of the book since they both appeared in 1924. The concept is the same - a soldier is thought by his family to have been killed at Suvla Bay - but the names of many of the characters are different as are many of the scenes and the final outcome. It is odd that this was published in the same year as the novel with them being so different. Perhaps it is another case like Paradise Incorporated that evolved into Bluewater, in which Deeping submitted the shorter story a year or so earlier and then later decided to expand on it for a novel.
In a correspondence I've seen in the Warwick Deeping archives that is dated Oct 27 1932, he tells someone in a letter that “Sorrell was suggested by a porter I saw at a provincial hotel. A dark, sensitive delicate looking creature who raised my curiosity. All the rest is imaginative.”
There is also a 4 act play of this novel. I've seen the original of this at the Deeping Archives and it is somewhat different than the novel. It begins with Sorrell working at the Angel Hotel which doesn't happen until several chapters into the novel. Then, at the hotel, he meets Roland who in the play he knew as a wartime friend and fellow officer. This was not the case in the novel. In the play, Roland already owns the Pelican Hotel and offers Sorrell a job as second porter while in the novel Roland has not yet opened the Pelican Hotel. The rest of the play follows the storyline with some changes and reduction in dialog. I suspect this play was actually the script for the first film version but I've never seen any versions of these films and can't confirm that assumption.
The interior page shows the first printing at 1925 with no reprint dates, so I'm confident this is indeed a 1st edition. As seen in another photo, subsequent editions are always identified with the original publication date and the list of the various impressions. This first edition has typos and odd sentence structures in a few places which I see were corrected by the time of the 6th edition.
There are some differences in the novel and the film version.
A serialized version of this story was published in the US magazine McClures, starting in October 1926, under the title The New Eve. Under the title Doomsday, it was also serialized in weekly installments over a 3 month period in the London Daily express, ending in Oct 1926.
Another interesting artifact I've found is a leather version of the U.S. publisher Knopf's edition of this. Other than the signed version leather version of Old Pybus that I have (described later), I know of no other leather editions of Deeping's books. I've not seen this book, just a photo on E-bay, perhaps it is a limited signed version.
36 Kitty-1927 - The story was described earlier in this post. In addition to the original Knopf U.S. edition of this book, I do have a 1st edition Cassell version of it.
A film was made of this in 1929. It is listed as the first British "Talkie" but it was silent with sound only in the last 15 minutes of it ! The film version is a bit different from the novel - Alex Greenwood marries Kitty before going to war as an infantry officer and is injured in a shell burst and returns an invalid. However, in the film, he has not yet married Kitty when he ships out to France and is invalided in an airplane crash.
37 Old Pybus-1928 - A bookshop owner in London becomes estranged from his two wealthy and ambitious sons after they refused to enlist in The Great War. As the story opens, he is now elderly and is serving as a porter in a hotel some two hours away from London. He meets the teen-aged grandson that he never knew and they find they have a common interest in books and writing. It is not until much later that they learn they are related.
I found that this story was also offered in a serialized version in the same year as the novel in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper under the title Three Generations. In the portions I can see from Google Newspaper, it is taken directly from Old Pybus with no changes. I'm sure it appeared in other papers. Deeping must have done quite well in earnings from these many syndicated publications.
I have copy 375 out of 500 of a 1929 limited edition with leather cover and Deeping's signature on the inside cover. This was published by Cassells and my copy is in exceptionally good condition. This leather, signed edition type of book, was only used on this one novel, as far as I can learn. As mentioned, there was a leather edition in the U.S. of Doomsday but I don't know if it was signed.
39 Exiles-1930 - Story of a group of English exiles living in an Italian resort town of Tindaro on the Mediterranean. No doubt this is based on some town that Deeping had visited, or in which he might have had a villa. I can't find any real town by that name in Italy although he has used that town name in other short stories. I didn't find this story particularly interesting, but it was apparently a successful novel in its time - a best seller in 1930 - based on book reviews I've read.
40 Short Stories of Warwick Deeping AKA Stories of Love, Courage, and Compassion, -1930 - Collection of 50 short stories and 3 novellas. Some have titles similar to later Deeping novels as well as character names. For instance, in Six Months to Live, there is a governess with the name of Una Summerhayes, which is similar to the name of the lead character Elsie Summerhayes, a governess in Two Black Sheep, published a few years later. In both stories, Miss Summerhayes is working for a very disagreeable character, a Mrs. Pym. In the short story there are two children, in the novel, just one.
41 The Ten Commandments AKA The Road-1931 - A young woman is paralyzed in an auto accident and the event results in a romance with a WW I veteran living nearby. She lives with her mother and sister in a house alongside a bridge on a main road to London and they run a roadside tea room (tea time, tea time !). This was published as a serialized version in the magazine Physical Culture in Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct 1931.
Update - I found even more twists to this story. About 1 year after the publication of Paradise Incorporated in Redbook, Deeping published a revision of this in the English periodical Weldon's Ladies Journal. This version was now titled Bluewater, but was nothing like the later novel Bluewater, other than the setting in the seaside town. The Weldon's Ladies Journal version was presented in 12 installments from April 1935 to March 1936. This story begins very much the same as Paradise Incorporated with only some additions and revisions. By the time of the 3rd installment in the June 1935 edition, Deeping begins to make very major changes, introducing new characters and changing the actions of some of the existing characters. I noticed he also toned down some of the language for use in the more conservative English publication as compared with that in the U.S. version of Paradise Incorporated. For example, the word "Damn" was replaced with "Blasted."
In the Deeping Archive's at Boston University, the archivist has incorrectly listed this as an unpublished novel. Deeping's holograph of this has the title Twilight of The Gods over the cross-out I Who was Dead. The final published title of The Man Who Went Back doesn't appear on the holograph.
57 Corn in Egypt-1942 - Written in the first person, an accountant receives an inheritance and abandons city life to take up life on Blackthorn Farm, a place with a sad past. Fate brings along Will Lavender, a 50ish man of the land who teaches Correy how to run a farm. Prince Charles, the Cairn terrier, brings love and happiness. Chance meeting with daughter of the former owner leads to a romance. Set in early 20s to early part of WW II with farm life looking like the right choice for survival in the midst of WWII food and supply shortages. In Deepings's top five, in my opinion.
Although not published until 1953, it was apparently completed by April 1947. In the Deeping Archives, there is contained a letter from his agent (didn't record the name), dated April 21 1947 about The Man in Chains. She states that " A copy of it being sent to you. And all the good luck to it on the book side."
Another explanation is that some editor decided in which order to publish these posthumous novels.
3. A Christmas Victory - one of the stories in Fireside Omnibus, a collection of 52 stories from different authors, all with a Christmas theme. This story originally published in The Strand Magazine, in Dec 1934.
After I completed my book collection, I became aware of large number of Deeping's short stories that were published in British fiction magazines. He did publish several books that were collections of short stories but these in the fiction magazines were original ones that were never published in book form.
See the sidebar ! This has turned into a massive undertaking with over 200 of these now collected into six volumes at 600 pages each. Finding these stories involved locating sources of the original magazines, many of which are quite obscure.
I was assisted in this very massive research and collection effort by Debra Buchholtz, Ph.D. in Oxford, England. I have copyright approval by the Deeping estate to publish these, so these are now available worldwide via Amazon US and Amazon Europe.
There will also be a Volume VII. From our research, we know of 5 or so additional titles yet to be found. Because Warwick Deeping left no detailed list of his stories or of his magazine publications, finding the publications containing the remaining stories is solving a very challenging puzzle.
His use of alternate titles is the common issue. Dr. Buchholtz and I knew there was a title of a novella called Ace of Hearts and finally located a source in a rare 1921 edition of Cassell's Winter Annual. This story was found to be the same as Broken Wings that we'd found earlier in our search. This appeared in The New Magazine for May 1926.
Now Available ! Lower Cost E-Book versions in .pdf form are available from Expert Technology Studios LLC. Delivered as .pdf files to your email.
The Bunch Of Violets ( novella)
The Disappearance of Capt. Jelllicoe
Dynamite
No Money In It
Sappho
Gull Point
The Raiders
The Deserter
Missing
Sergeant Bliss
The Deserted Village
Pauline
Tod Explodes
The Fever Of Youth ( Novella)
The Boredom Of Lord Seth
Joan Hurd
The Eagle's Claw
Two Women
Mother Corot Intervenes
The Girl With The Basket
The Gleaning Of Ruth Venner
Crossed Purposes And Crossed Swords
The Return Of The Pilgrim
A Night Adventure
Flogged Through the Fleet
The Love Story Of Cherry
Jilly
An Old Woman
The Grave In The Garden
Which ? (That is the actual title with the question mark)
Conflict
Poor Mr. Mortimer
The Power Of Concrete Things
The Smiling Bronze
Transfiguration
Rescue
Pride's Pawnbroker
The Island
The Mysterious Mr. Brown
The Pharaoh
The Sun Lady
Ishmael
Mr. Indifference
That One-Legged Devil
The Golden Bull (novella)
Something Doing
Two Old Men
Speed
The Prince On Hire
Twins
The Child and The Man
Uncle Gee Whiz
The Rejuvination Of Raxby
The Woman's Part (a precusor story to the novel Doomsday)
The Ace Of Hearts AKA Broken Wings (novella)
The Exile
Robin Hood
Jim and Bill
Merrow's Wife
I Can 'Op It
The Secret Wife
Two Innocents
Life's Three Best Things (essay)
Can Married Happiness Endure ? (essay)
What is Ahead of A Young Man Today? (essay)
Marriage Under The Microscope (essay)
A Plain Talk (essay)
Spirit Of Christmas (essay)
VOLUME VI
What Is The Key To Making The Best Of Life ?
VOLUME VII
Deeping appeared in a few obscure magazines. Here is one from 1932 entitled "The Help Yourself" Annual. This was a fundraiser for a London Hospital. The story in this is one that was in one of his book collections, "Out of The Sea".
UPDATE ON UPCOMING VOL VII
A discovery - In our research at British Library, we thought we'd reviewed every single copy of The Story Teller Magazine. Unexpectedly, I found a photo of the May 1932 edition and it showed that a Deeping story was present! In looking back at our notes, the May 1932 edition was not viewed in our research since the British Library had it restricted for viewing due to its poor condition. At the time, the curator said there was NO Deeping story in it, but there WAS one, as evidenced by the front cover photo I found. After much persuasion with the new curator in the periodical section at BL, they graciously (for a price) made a copy of the story from their microfilm copy made in 1970 (before the condition was too bad to allow viewing). The title is "Woman At the Gate" and it is a LONG one, running over 60 book pages which puts it in the category of a novella. Based on the title and the time period, at first I thought it might be a precursor of his novel "Woman at the Door" which was published two years later in 1934. It is, but only very very slightly. Both stories center around the romance that ensues between a visitor to a small town who encounters the wife of an abusive husband. But the differences are significant and it is a good story. This will be in Volume VII.
SCHOLARLY RESEARCH
For her Ph.D. dissertation, Mary Grover, Ph.D., published a comprehensive study of Deeping in 2008, "The Ordeal Of Warwick Deeping: Middlebrow Authorship and Cultural Embarrassment". It has much additional information that I did not know and have not necessarily included here. It is a worthwhile addition to any Deeping collector's library.
If not for Mary's assistance, I'd have never located the Warwick Deeping copyright holder (name not disclosed for privacy reasons), and was then able to get permission to publish the "Lost Stories" collection.
UPDATE: In reviewing this and other items for sale by the same bookseller, it seems Miss Greenwood was quite active in attempting to produce screenplays from the works of popular authors of the time. From her letters to other authors of the time, there seemed to be an element of deception in her approach to gaining tentative approval to develop a screenplay. As far as I can tell, she never produced any.
AFTERGLOW
Deeping died at age 72 and coincidentally a total of 72 books were eventually published under his name up to the mid 1950s. With the new "Lost Stories", collection, it is now 78 books.
There is no information in the internet of Mrs. Deeping's life after his death, other than she lived for another 21 years. I did find a notice in a English medical journal stating that he left about 34,000 English pounds. This would be about $5 million (in 2008) based on the price of gold in 1950 and exchange rate of pounds to dollars in 1950.
I learned that the Deeping estate in Weybridge, (Eastlands), was donated by Mrs. Deeping to the National Trust in 1959 and is now leased to a family and is not open to the public. There is a portrait, apparently still in the house, of Mrs. Deeping that was painted in 1936 by James Penniston. It is titled "Portrait of the Testator", an odd title, at least in the contemporary meaning of the word - not sure what it meant in England in 1936. She seems sad in the painting.
PORTRAIT OF THE TESTATOR
Eastlands was built in the early 1700's and one of the residents before Warwick Deeping was the actress Frances "Fanny" Kemble, a famous British actress and author in the early and mid nineteenth century.
This is a 1922 photo of Deeping in front of Eastlands, not long after he purchased the property.
This is a contemporary photo of Eastlands, now occupied by new residents.
Update - A blog reader, Mr. Tom Wingate Vachon posted a comment with much more information on Eastlands as well as Warwick and Maude Deeping. I've reproduced that information here.
I lived in Weybridge much of my youth, not far from Eastlands. As an undergrad - in English & and History of Art at UKC - one dissertation I wrote was on the history of Eastlands. It's not quite right that Fanny Kemble owned Eastlands. The family went there on vacation to be out in the country. In those days, wrote the actress, it was a "three hours' drive" away from central London. They loved the yellow gorse, purple heather and the smell of pine trees. The house was smack in the middle of the heath. You still can get a sense of that heath to this day as Eastlands still has open areas and an old woodland about it.
Deeping could have been stimulated by interesting royal history in the close environs of Eastlands. Just up the hill, in the mid-1830s, a small but striking domed RC chapel was to be built by a James Taylor of Greenwich. He had come to Weybridge Park, to Waterloo Cottage (later renamed Waverley Cottage) to live out his last years in the countryside. The chapel was his family mausoleum, too. Taylor died in 1846. But, in 1848, his family received the exiled King Louis-Philippe d'Orleans and Queen Marie Amelie there to hear Mass. They resided close to Weybridge at Claremont, Esher, Queen Victoria's favourite childhood 'home'. In 1850 the Taylor crypt was used for the king's tomb. In time, some 13 members of the exiled Orleans were buried there. None are now. The last, Victoire, Duchesse de Nemours (a first cousin of both Victoria & Albert) was exhumed and taken to the Orleans mausoleum at Dreux in 1980 or thereabouts.
In addition, Weybridge had a few remnants of the Tudor Palace, Oatlands Palace, still extant. (Situated in the vale below the Duke of York's Georgian-style house.) A long wall and an arch within it are still standing. Most of the lovely red bricks were used in the C18th to line the new canals in the area.
In the early C19th Eastlands was owned by a local baker, a Mr James Eastland. The property was rented from him by the Kembles. As he was reluctant to get rid of a sandy mound in front of the house, it was converted by his creative tenants. Fanny's brother used it as "a fort". It is said to have been fashioned like an earthern amphitheatre for their amateur dramatics. A swell in the ground is still there. (A 'real' and large earthern amphitheatre exists at Claremont.)
Mrs. Deeping was an eccentric. Her portrait, as you see, shows her in a green dress. Her Rolls (or big car) was the same colour and her chauffeur had his uniform dyed...in the same colour! There was a vat for this out at the back.
Warwick's own big cars would have been appreciated in the locality. He was living only a few hundred yards from Brooklands Racing Track, the first circuit in the world. Opened in c.1907, I believe. On race days the roar from the many cars would have reached Eastlands. (Parts of the impressive concrete banking are still to be seen.) Fancy cars went through Weybridge the whole time.
Deeping also could have appreciated a fellow dog enthusiast in the area. Fanny Kemble, returning to the Weybridge area as an adult, stayed at Oatlands Park, the ex-home of the Duke and Duchess of York (then owned by friends of hers). The, again, eccentric Duchess had a famous pet cemetery there, which Fanny returned to. Years later, the Deepings would have seen it as well for sure. While mostly composed of dogs, the house pet collection had included monkeys and birds. Pet tombstones still survive (one says "Craft"), but now are placed flat in the lawn and relocated. Originally standing up by pathways nearby the famous two-floor grotto, the latter was demolished post-WW II by an unenlightened council, and the dogs' gravestones (most of them?) moved.
Footnote - The nearby racetrack may have been the inspiration for Deeping's short story, The Power Of Concrete Things. This story is the tale of a very wealthy and strong willed woman who, to the dismay of the locals, demolished a beautiful woodland area to build the first circular concrete racetrack in England. She turns the once quiet area into a busy commercial attraction with resulting accidents and drama.
MORE HISTORY
A Blog reader sent me this photo of Warwick Deeping and wife Maude Deeping in the early years of his writings, about 1908. This was when they lived in "Green Gore", a farmhouse near Battle.
There was an interview with Deeping in 1908 published in Cassell's magazine in which there appears a photo of the cottage in which they lived. The caption calls this "Gate Cottage" in Battle, so it must be the same as "Green Gore". In the article, it is described as a farmhouse. This looks like much more than a "cottage." By 1908, Deeping had 7 novels published and well well off financially.
Deeping in Egypt during WWI
Deeping wrote many of his short stories while in the Royal Medical Corps in The Great War. While Deeping was in the war, his wife assumed the work of getting his short stories and novels published and corresponding with agents and publishers.
Here are some postcards she wrote to James Pinker, Deeping's one time agent. The first one concerns a short story that was being placed with Tillotsons. Tillotsons was a syndicator of stories and other material for newspapers worldwide. I've found all the Deeping stories that were placed in Australian newspapers - at least all those in newspapers that have been digitized. They do keep adding new newspapers so there are a few more titles that may show up some day. I'm still looking for three that were listed in the credits for his works. These are "Sharks", " The Professor's Secret" and "A Night of Surprises". Update - I found " A Night of Surprises" in an obscure newspaper in Scotland, dated 1923. This is about 10 pages and will be in Volume VII. The other two remain elusive.
Note the address at the time - 44 Elphinstone Rd, Hastings, England. I've been told there is a house at that address that looks as if it might be the same one from 1918. A recent newspaper clipping I ran across describing the 1904 wedding of Warwick Deeping and his wife mentioned that she was the only daughter of a Captain and Mrs. Merrill of 44 Elphinstone Rd, Hastings. So, this was her parent's home and she most likely was living with her parents while Deeping was away in Turkey and then France in the Great War.
The following letter was sent from their previous residence in Battle, and the cottage was called Green Gore.
In the same collection of Pinker's letters, Newman Flowers, Deeping's long time publisher at Cassell, takes Pinker to task for not requiring the author Steven McKenna to remove what Flowers considers offensive material about Warwick Deeping from McKenna's new novel. I don't know what McKenna novel was in question or anything concerning the offensive comment.
A reader sent me this photo of Deeping and his wife, Maude at start of an automobile trip in 1928. I thought Deeping would be driving a Rolls as that is what his characters who are wealthy always drive, but this looks like a top-of-the line 1927 Buick. Note the "wings" on the car - the covering over the wheels. Apparently United States' car makers had U.K. export models since Deeping's is a right hand drive. At $4000 new in the U.S., this was a very expensive car compared to the $600 or so for a Ford Model T 4 door Sedan. Buick was a high end brand, on par with Cadillac in reputation. Note the two spare tires on his Buick. In the 1920's, traveling on country roads meant long distances between repair shops and two spares allowed you more margin. Deeping and his wife apparently liked to take motoring trips.
This is better - 6 years later in 1934 he has a Hooper coach body on a Daimler chassis with straight eight 25 HP. Hooper built many of the cars for the various Royal Families in Europe and elsewhere in the world (Emperor of Japan), so this was top of the line. Hooper was particular about who they would accept as a client since each body and interior was customized and they wanted to maintain their image of selling only to wealthy clients. Deeping's car probably is in someone's collection today but there is no internet record of it.
This car was actually a limousine with sliding glass partition between front and rear. Deeping probably had a chauffeur by this time but in the photo it looks like he would also drive it, as he is standing by the driver's door (right hand drive of course)
I found this photo of a 1935 Daimler with Hooper body in California that is one of 6 built so it may have been part of the build for Deeping. This one in the photograph is quoted as being unmodified, so since it is black, it isn't Deeping's Daimler-Hooper, which was a fawn color. The owner of this car listed the original price as 1700 pounds in 1935. A British pound in 1935 is about 58 times more valuable than today so that is about 100,000 pounds and in U.S. dollars, probably $150,000 today - a very expensive car bought only by the wealthy.
WARWICK DEEPING ARCHIVES
With a reservation, they can be viewed in the 5th floor of the main BU library on Commonwealth Avenue in downtown Boston. The collection is in storage off-site so it must be brought in by request.
For instance, they had several pages of A Woman's War that they described as fragments of an unpublished novel. They also listed many other works as unpublished or fragments of unpublished works but again they were incorrect. For instance, the entire contents of I Live Again are in 4 separate folders and each listed as unpublished novels. I can understand this error since the 4 sections in in that book had a title, but they would not appear in any list of all of his works.
One observation -- the ink that Deeping used has greatly faded and is very light in many of the manuscripts. I trust BU has made scans or photographs of these as it will not be very many years in the future before it will be impossible to read them.
He must have employed someone who was very familiar with his handwriting to type his originals. There are some of these double spaced type-written manuscripts along with the original holographs. In many cases to the left of a line in the holograph, he would print out the word, such as a name of a character or city so that it was clear to the typist what he meant. He had a very difficult to read long hand and tended to compress letters together in many of his words.
To prepare the originals, he used un-ruled, plain 16 x 13 inch sheets, folded to make a book with 8" x 13" pages. In some manuscripts he had the sheets cut so they were 8" x 13" pages and the book was sewn together with string in the upper left hand corner. You can still see the holes he punched in the papers for the strings.
Deeping was rather frugal as he re-used nearly all these gathering of folded sheets, using the reverse side of some of the works for the composition of further works ! There was considerable time lag between the original composition and the re-use in most cases. For instance, the original 1908 Betrand of Britany has two short stories written 10 years later on the opposite side - the short stories Oriana of The Bungalow and The Sacred Snakes.
With the exception of one item, none of his works have dates on them.
Also missing are the manuscripts of virtually all of his nearly 300 short stories with only a very few holographs in the archive of such stories.
There IS one holograph of a short story named Blackthorn Farm - An Amateur in Arcady, that I thought at first was a new short story I had not seen. In reading the very difficult to read writing, I soon realized it was the first 3 chapters of the novel Corn in Egypt. Apparently he originally wrote Blackthorn Farm as a short story and then expanded it into the novel. I've never seen the title Blackthorn Farm ever published in any magazine or newspaper.
AUDIO RECORDINGS
I found an advertisement in an old New York area newspaper about an unusual radio broadcast on October 16, 1932. It was narrated by Warwick Deeping and prerecorded in London on the old aluminum transcription discs and sent by mail to be broadcast in New York. Since it was on the NBC network it was heard on other stations in the U.S. It was a 15 minute essay entitled " A Message of Hope", and was on a program called International Radio Forum. From this press release, you can see it was about "silver linings" in the 3 years of the Depression following the stock market crash in 1929. I presume Deeping read this essay, if so, it may be the only voice recording of Warwick Deeping.
The Library of Congress has over 150,000 of NBC's recordings but they tell me the transcription disc is not there. A cursory check with the British Library also does not show any BBC archives from that era with that name. There must be a written transcript of this someplace but it doesn't show up in any searches. It may have been published in a newspaper as Deeping's essays were most often published in that venue. I've never seen any essay that would seem to be associated with this.
I've not ever seen any reference to any scholarship or foundation set up by Deeping, especially at his alma mater, Trinity College at Cambridge. This is odd, since he seemed to have high respect for Trinity College, as many of his novels have scenes where characters are attending this University. Apparently he kept his charitable contributions private.
INTERESTING FINDING
I saw in an E-bay listing where the Warwick Deeping family Bible was sold at an estate sale in 2013. It originally belonged to Deeping's father, George Deeping and you can see in the frontispiece where Deeping's father recorded George Warwick Deeping's birth along with that of his sisters. These photo's came from a dealer's E-Bay listing.
The Bible was from the mid 1800's, and is leather bound and in very good condition. Deeping's father was a well-to-do doctor and this was no doubt a very expensive Bible for its time. Its appearance after all these years attests to its high quality. Deeping often wrote of characters living a Christian life and referencing their Bibles or quoting phrases from the Bible. This was probably the very Bible that came to his mind when he visualized this.
It sounds like a line from the Casey Kassem Top 40 hits radio show, but there are many dogs dying in Deeping's works. This photo is of Deeping, from the cover of Short Stories of Warwick Deeping, with a Cairn Terrier, name unknown, but probably the same as one in one of his novels - could it be Prince Charles, from Corn in Egypt ? With his obvious love of dogs, I find it strange that he'd so often portray such sad incidents.
The list : Doomsday, Corn in Egypt, Old Mischief, Woman at the Door, The Rust of Rome, Man in Chains, Bertrand of Brittany, The Old World Dies, The Wood (One of the short stories in Two in a Train) and Fox Farm.
More Updates : It is more likely the dog's name in the Deeping book cover photograph is Royal. This picture appeared in The Bystander Magazine in 1930, about the time of the book cover photo and it reports this Cairn Terrier's name was Royal.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI have a 1906 copy of Uther and Igraine I am going to let go but I don;t have a clue what it is worth or who might be interested. If you know someone who is interested please let me know. Thank you cp.morgan@hotmail.com
I've read Malice of Men, and agree with you that it is a very good story. Also liked Corn in Egypt. Hope to get some more of his books.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled across a copy of Mr Gurney and Mr Slade in a second-hand bookshop on Thursday. I didn't buy it (but now I wish I had) but took a photo of it as I was intrigued by the title - there is a village called Gurney Slade about 5 miles from where I live!
ReplyDeleteI shall have to take a trip back now.
Very interesting blog - thanks. :-)
I've read Sincerity this year...it's an awsome book!
ReplyDeleteHello. Please write me at morganwallace AT gmail DOT com, as I would love to know what Cassell magazines (The New Magazine, Cassell's Magazine of Fiction, or The Story-Teller) that you have covering 1915 through 1916. I'm searching for various stories by another author, and found your site; thought you might be able to assist me...I hope. Cordially, Morgan
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed! I've read quite a bit of Deeping and like him- except when he gets on a didactic hobbyhorse. His best work deserves the popularity. I've got a rather nice note from him- part of it is a brief form letter- cordial but impersonal- but then he adds a lengthy postscript which negates the purpose of saving time: "You will have to forgive me for writing only a few words as- like Sorrell- I'm a very busy man. I am glad you loved him as I did."
ReplyDeleteHave you ever tried the novels of William J. Locke? Unlike Deeping his stock in trade is the gloriously improbable plot- like a downtrodden college professor who suddenly inherits money and a title, then walks through the park to encounter a distraught young girl- who turns out to be a harem girl who has been brought to London for an arranged marriage- and who has escaped.
i was/am amazed that abooksnyone ,other than myself ever heard of deeping.i discovered him in a thrift shop in 1968.and picked up ten of his novels for 1.00 simply because i liked his very unusual name..then i "fell in love". i had about 35 of his books at one time bit lost them all in storage.i think it is lovely that there is another deeping lover out there.
ReplyDeleteDid you know 'Warwick Deeping' was a Royal Navy boat built in Hull in 1934 (down the road from where my Dad was born). It was sunk by Germans in 1940 off St Catherine's Point, Isle of Wight, England (where we live and near by where I bought my first Warwick Deeping book - Sorrell & Son). It's ships bells and artefacts are in the New Maritime Museum at Arreton Barns in Arreton, Isle of Wight. Best wishes, Carol Bridgestock
DeleteWow, more Warwick Deeping fans! I was just googling him as I am thinking of selling my Deeping books to de-clutter. Now I want to re read them before posting any ads. I also have a new mission. To read all of the other romantic books he wrote, as I only have a dozen or so Deeping books. Not sure as the box has been packed away for ten years. I loved the flowery descriptions, reminds me of all the black and white films we love to watch.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your informative and enjoyable Warwick Deeping page.
The books I have are yellowed pages, stained, some have torn covers. I think I have more in another box, but I just dug these ones out.
ReplyDeleteSackcloth into Silk
The Man Who Went Back
The Road
Joan of the Tower
The White Gate
Three Rooms
Old Pybus
Two Black Sheep
Hi There! I want to buy a 1909 copy of The Return of the Petticoat. Since you are a collector, how much are you willing to pay for it just to get an idea. Is it a collectors item? I don't want to be ripped off.:)Kind Regards, Mirka(South Africa)
ReplyDeleteI have very much enjoyed reading your research and thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAre any of the stories available on audio tape or cd /mp3 etc ?
Blog Author:
ReplyDeleteSorrell and Son is the only one I've ever seen on cd or tape
Mexico City - Dec.2 2014
ReplyDeleteA fascinating blog. Thank you. I lived in Weybridge much of my youth, not far from Eastlands. As an undergrad - in English & History of Art at UKC - one dissertation I wrote was on the history of Eastlands.
It's not quite right that Fanny Kemble owned Eastlands. The family went there on vacation to be out in the country. In those days, wrote the actress, it was a "three hours' drive" away from central London. They loved the yellow gorse, purple heather and the smell of pine trees. The house was smack in the middle of the heath. You still can get a sense of that heath to this day as Eastlands still has open areas and an old woodland about it.
Deeping could have been stimulated by interesting royal history in the close environs of Eastlands. Just up the hill, in the mid-1830s, a small but striking domed RC chapel was to be built by a James Taylor of Greenwich. He had come to Weybridge Park, to Waterloo Cottage (later renamed Waverley Cottage) to live out his last years in the countryside. The chapel was his family mausoleum, too. Taylor died in 1846. But, in 1848, his family received the exiled King Louis-Philippe d'Orleans and Queen Marie Amelie there to hear Mass. They resided close to Weybridge at Claremont, Esher, Queen Victoria's favourite childhood 'home'. In 1850 the Taylor crypt was used for the king's tomb. In time some 13 members of the exiled Orleans were buried there. None are now. The last, Victoire, Duchesse de Nemours (a first cousin of both Victoria & Albert) was exhumed and taken to the Orleans mausoleum at Dreux in 1980 or thereabouts.
In addition, Weybridge had a few remnants of the Tudor Palace, Oatlands Palace, still extant. (Situated in the vale below the Duke of York's Georgian-style house.) A long wall and an arch within it are still standing. Most of the lovely red bricks were used in the C18th to line the new canals in the area.
In the early C19th Eastlands was owned by a local baker, a Mr James Eastland. The property was rented from him by the Kembles. As he was reluctant to get rid of a sandy mound in front of the house, it was converted by his creative tenants. Fanny's brother used it as "a fort". It is said to have been fashioned like an earthern amphitheatre for their amateur dramatics. A swell in the ground is still there. (A 'real' and large earthern amphitheatre exists at Claremont.)
Mrs. Deeping was an eccentric. Her portrait, as you see, shows her in a green dress. Her Rolls (or big car) was the same colour and her chauffeur had his uniform dyed...in the same colour! There was a vat for this out at the back.
Warwick's own big cars would have been appreciated in the locality. He was living only a few hundred yards from Brooklands Racing Track, the first circuit in the world. Opened in c.1907, I believe. On race days the roar from the many cars would have reached Eastlands. (Parts of the impressive concrete banking are still to be seen.) Fancy cars went through Weybridge the whole time.
Deeping also could have appreciated a fellow dog enthusiast in the area. Fanny Kemble, returning to the Weybridge area as an adult, stayed at Oatlands Park, the ex-home of the Duke and Duchess of York (then owned by friends of hers). The, again, eccentric Duchess had a famous pet cemetery there, which Fanny returned to. Years later, the Deepings would have seen it as well for sure. While mostly composed of dogs, the house pet collection had included monkeys and birds. Pet tombstones still survive (one says "Craft"), but now are placed flat in the lawn and relocated. Originally standing up by pathways near by the famous two-floor grotto, the latter was demolished post-WW II by an unelightened council, and the dogs' gravestones (most of them?) moved.
I had not heard of this author until this evening when I checked out one of his books currently featured on Project Gutenberg . After reading a page I wanted to know more . I Goggled Mr. Deeping 's name and found your blog. Very interesting story...his and yours! Thank you for posting!
ReplyDeleteI have not yet read any Warwick Deeping, indeed I have only just learned of his existence, thanks to a book that I picked up on a whim in a library that was selling off unwanted titles.
ReplyDeleteThe book is "Bestseller" (1972) by Claud Cockburn. It gives accounts of around a dozen bestselling British novels from the 1900-1939 period. "Sorrell and Sons" is one of them.
I wish you well with your project; I think it's great that people are doing this kind of thing.
So happy to find this article/blog about Warwick Deeping! I have ten books in Norwegian after my parents, and I have read those over and over again since I were a young girl. (58 now, so...) Love them!
ReplyDeleteThank you SO much for putting together this website. I go back to it over and over as I build my own Deeping collection. So far I have about 40 or so and he is by far my favorite author. (Though I also collect Francis Brett Young, William J Locke and Howard Spring). Deeping always makes me feel good, his books are true comfort reads.
ReplyDeleteBy the way I just bought vol 1and 2 of the lost stories. What an amazing venture , thank you so much for helping to get Deeping published again, hopefully it will reawaken interest in his work.
Love your site!!
WD was a friend of the family...he served in France with my Dr. Gfather (RAMC) and kept in touch after my Gf died in the Flu epidemic of 1926. I believe John Gurney's MC was based on my GF's award. I see Mrs. D in her green dress. MY Gmother said that she always wore green, dressed her chauffeur in green, owned green cars and in fact always carried lots of 1 pound notes - which were of course green! WD seems (in books) to like soft blue for gates, in books anyway. I've been re-reading our 50 copies for 60 years, and like best Suvla John - which reminds me of certain Maurice Walsh stories.
ReplyDeleteJD-R
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this - I feel less of an eccentric in loving WD's books. There are some on Archive.org. including Two Black Sheep which although ridiculously melodramatic is a genuine page-turner.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, cuppa, anyone?
Hi - fascinating blog as I am reading 'Mr gurney and Mr Slade' at present and living in Southend which, incidentally, is east of london not west as stated. You may be interested to know the guinea is still used in high class bloodstock auctions (race horses) and some fine art auctions. The sovereign was also in use and I believe had the same value as a guinea. However, being made of gold, it is now worn as jewellery and worth considerably more than twenty-one shillings (or £1.10 in decimal currency which, incidentally, did much damage to basic numeracy in British schools. We had to calculate our pocket money in base 4, base 12 and base 20 (if you were very rich!)). Keep up the good work - regards Joe M.
ReplyDeleteHi, joemoe again. Bit of an error in my last comment. A guinea would be worth £1.05 in decimal currency - not £1.10 as originally stated. Sorry about that. Keep up the good work - regards Joe M
ReplyDeleteI just read his novel TWO BLACK SHEEP and looking for background I was excited to find this page. Wonderful stuff! I have a great interest in early 20th Century obscure bestsellers (rrhorton.blogspot.com) ... I knew I would encounter a Warwick Deeping novel eventually.
ReplyDeleteWould it be OK if I included your TWO BLACK SHEEP pictures in my blog post on it?
Thanks,
Rich Horton
What a wonderful blog. Thank you. I've never read any Deeping, but I certainly will now.
ReplyDeleteHello, I have enjoyed reading your blog. I have a Cassell 1st edition of Joan of the Tower from 1911 that has the frontispiece painting by A.C. Michaels. I have been considering selling it do you by chance know of the best way to do that? I was thinking about listing it on Ebay as I know no alternatives. Thank you for your time, Teresa
ReplyDeleteYes, Ebay or Etsy.com will work
DeleteI am downsizing and would give my Warwick Deeping books to anyone who would pay shipping. I tried to donate them to the library fair but the lady taking donations said that she wasn't interested in old books written by an author she'd never heard of. I tried to tell her who Warwick Deeping was but she pushed me aside to welcome someone carrying a box of James Paterson books.
ReplyDeleteThe Commandments
The Dark House
Doomsday
Eyes of Love
Folly Island
I Live Again
The Man on the White Horse
Old Pybus
Old Wine and New
Roper's Row
Smith
Sorrell and Son
Two Black Sheep
The Woman at the Door
Some impressive research here. Perhaps a few good quotes [perhaps of an aphoristic nature] wouldn't go amiss as well.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to figure out why The Awakening is so often given a "guessed at" publication date in the 1930s. That doesn't make any sense to me, and here's why... in The Editor; The Journal of Information For Literary Workers, Volume 53, pages 123 & 124, in the first issue of July 1920, Warwick Deeping said, “For five years I was involved in the War. Out of it came new inspiration, a book of molten metal called ‘Second Youth’, written while I was in France.” Mr. Deepings reference was to World War I, which ended November 11, 1918. Second Youth was published in 1919. So, did it really take 10 more years to get 'The Awakening' published in the USA? Thank you in advance for any insight you can offer!
ReplyDeletePrior to the big success with Sorrell and Son in late 1925, he had no primary US publisher and not many of his 32 earlier books were picked up in the US.
DeleteSeeing the success in the UK of Sorrell and Son, Knopf took it on and eventually republished many of his earlier works, often with alternate titles.
I've not seen a US copy of that title to verify the date, but its quite possible what with all his newer works being published, that it took 7 or 8 years after Sorrell and Son to add that title. I think Grosset and Dunlop was the US publisher of that title, not sure why it wasn't Knopf. I'm sure Deeping gave Knopf first choice for his pre Sorrell works but for whatever reason tbey didn't republish all of these early works.
Kitty was an early part of my mother's collection about 5 years after we arrived in US from England, post WWII. Picked up a copy recently-- in thrift store-- to see if I recalled the story from the '50s. So far, do not. Enjoyed reading your extensive research and will be looking for more Deeping. I enjoy his style of writing, which dates me terribly! This site well done and thank you.
ReplyDeleteDear Sir,
ReplyDeleteA fascinating story. Thank you for sharing.I am a talking book publisher in the UK. I recorded 'Sorrell and Son'-an absolutely beautiful book. I am looking for another Deeping title annnnnd purcchased 'Seven Men Came Back' from Abe Books.
Unfortunately it is far too long.I would like to ask for some recommendatios please. I would value your advice recommennnnnding a Deeping title but would prefer a book about 200 pages long.Could you help me please. Very best wishes and thanks in advance,
Peter Joyce
I have a copy of Sincerity. I admit I have not read every word but haven't seen a reference to this book. Do you have a copy as I don't want this book
ReplyDeleteI beg your pardon. I finally managed to do a search and found that Sincerity was first published in 1912, mine is a Cheap sedition reprinted in1933
ReplyDeleteThe Man Who Went Back was reprinted in a science fiction magazine titled Famous Fantastic Mysteries - December 1947 not Amazing Stories - I have an extra copy and would be honored to send it to you gratis - you can reach me at jmstine@aol.com and if you sent your address will send magazine in exchange for the pleasant two hours i have had reading about your adventures collecting and reading WD, I felt we had become friends - Grosset and Dunlap were a cheap edition reprint company filling the niche once filled by paperbacks - note: the book length novels in U.S. magazines such as Women's Home Journal or Sat. Eve. Post paid $8-12,000 USD for said works
ReplyDeleteDear Sir/Madam
ReplyDeleteThank you for the most thorough and erudite study of
Deeping's life and works !!
I got hooked on Deeping when my late Father lent me his copy of "three rooms".
I agree with you that the "swashbuckling novels" are a bit dull, but others are more likeable.
I love Deeping's descriptive gift of flora and fauna and his fantastic knowledge of flowers.
As I am an Englishman of 77 years I am totally familiar with words like "skullery" ( we called it a "pantry" when I was young.
Your appraisal of our old Pounds Shillings and Pence is totally accurate ( guineas are still used
in limited areas such as horse-racing and auctions).Pounds Shillings and Pence changed to Pounds and New Pence on 15 February 1971 .I was working in a Bank on changeover day !!
Concerning words and expressions, certain of these used in the novels are a little archaic in England today, e.g. "maugre means "despite"( French word is"malgre " )My dad used the expression "at all events" as in the novels ; we say "in any event" nowadays. Also, I never heard anyone say "she stood at gaze" whereas we would say "she stood gazing".I am sure there are others : they are "of an age". Once again, many thanks for the hours and monetary expense you lavished on this extraordinary collection !!]
Fascinating! I am ploughing my way through various novels after I noted in my Dad’s wartime diary that he’d been reading “No hero - this!”; I share your taste and prefer Deeping’s 20th century novels.
ReplyDeleteHaving read through a lot of your blog can I just correct you on the road in Hastings where the Deepings once lived. It is Elphinstone Road.