Volume 1

Dictionary of anonymous and pseudonymous English literature / Samuel Halkett and John Laing.

  • Samuel Halkett
Date:
1926-[1962]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dictionary of anonymous and pseudonymous English literature / Samuel Halkett and John Laing. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    T. Wilson, the writer of Tales about America and Australia, Tales about Asia and Africa, etc. Accustomed as we now are to undisguised literary collaborations through acquaintance with such works as Liddell and Scott’s Greek Lexicon, and Besant and Palmer’s Jerusalem, it may come as a surprise to learn that in pseudonymous literature a considerable amount of co-operation is concealed under what, on a title-page, indicates the name of a single individual. Thus “ Michael Field” is the pen-name assumed by Katherine Harris Bradley and Edith Emma Cooper (an aunt and her niece) and appears on the title-page of all their works, Anna Ruina, Poems of adoration, etc. Similarly, “ J. Freeman Bell” conceals Israel Zangwill and L. Cowen, authors of The Premier and the painter (1889). Finally, something may be said of witticisms in pseudonymous literature. “ One Short ” is Alfred Short, who composed (in verse) Adventures and sketches at New Brighton (1888). “A. D. Sector” [A Dissector] is A. O. Garrison, the writer of Christian Science dis¬ sected (1903). “Col. D. Streamer,” a modification of “ Coldstreamer ” represents Harry Graham, Captain in the Coldstream Guards, author of Ballads of the Boer War (1900), and similar collections. “ A Veiled politician ” is a lady, Mrs Bevan, of Birmingham, who issued The path to peace in 1913. In 1819, there appeared A Peep at the Wiltshire Assizes . . . written “by one who is but an attorney”: it was the work of George Butt. A brochure entitled Alphabetical fancies, rhymed riddles, and local lays “ by two idle Bees,” is the joint production of Alfred Hall Browne and Amelia Browne (1891). During the eighteenth century in particular, there appeared some pamphlets and other prints presenting formidable rows of capital letters at the point on the title-page where either the name of the author, or some clue for finding it, is usually given. But the number of letters in such cases is so large that one must be prepared for much more than the author’s initials. The total is baffling to the uninitiated, and the facetiousness is evident. During the year 1720, a well-known writer sent forth a volume bearing the title, Miscel¬ laneous works, comical and diverting . . . by T. R. D. J. S. D. O. P. I. I., these letters stand for “The Reverend Doctor Jonathan Swift, Dean Of Patrick’s In Ireland.” A controversial pamphlet was issued in 1737, entitled, An Enquiry into the meaning of Demoniacks in the New Testament, by T. P. A. P. O. A. B. I. T. C. O. S.: these capitals are to be read as “ The Precentor And Prebendary Of Altham Boreale In The Church Of Salisbury,” i.e., Dr Arthur Ashley Sykes. A like conundrum was set before the public in 1754, being An Inquiry into the grounds and nature of the several species of ratiocination ... by A. G. O. T. U. O. C., letters which are to be interpreted as “ A Gentleman Of The University Of Cambridge,” viz., Owen Manning, A final illustration, reserved for the close, as more trying than others