Herbert George Jenkins (1876 – 8 June 1923) was a

British writer British literature is literature from the United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. This article covers British literature in the English language. Anglo-Saxon (Old English) l ...

and the owner of the publishing company Herbert Jenkins Ltd, which published many of

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

's novels.

Biography

Jenkins' parents came from

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

and, according to his obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', he was educated at Greyfriars College. He began work as a journalist and then spent some 11 years at

The Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adul ...

before founding his own publishing house in 1912. (Subscription required for online access) He remained unmarried and died at the age of 47, on 8 June 1923 after a six-month-long illness, in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it me ...

, London.

As publisher

In 1912 Jenkins founded his own publishing company: Herbert Jenkins Limited. Its offices were in a narrow, 19th-century building with five floors in Duke of York Street, just off

Jermyn Street Jermyn Street is a one-way street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster in London, England. It is to the south of, parallel, and adjacent to Piccadilly. Jermyn Street is known as a street for gentlemen's-clothing retailers. Hist ...

in London. It was a successful business from the start because of Jenkins' unique ability (at the time) to cater for the ever-changing public taste. He also had a good eye for new talent, not being discouraged if a manuscript had been rejected by other publishers. His publicity methods were innovative, too; with arresting advertisements and

dust jacket The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back boo ...

s, and a monthly publication called ''Wireless'', which was widely circulated among his readers. Jenkins' first publication was

Willie Riley William Riley (23 April 1866 – 4 June 1961) was an English novelist. He was born in Laisterdyke, Bradford. He wrote 39 books using the name W. Riley, mostly fiction and mostly published by Herbert Jenkins Ltd. After an education at Bradf ...

's first novel ''

Windyridge ''Windyridge'' is a 1912 novel by English writer Willie Riley, the first of his 39 published books. It sold half a million copies, stayed in print until 1961, and was republished in 2010 with an extended introduction by David Copeland (). The bo ...

'', and the firm went on to publish most of Riley's 39 books, ending with ''The Man and the Mountain'' in 1961, the year of Riley's death. In 1915 Jenkins published A. S. Neill's first book, '' A Dominie's Log'', launching his career as a famous teacher and writer of books on education. Herbert Jenkins Ltd published many of

's novels, starting with '' Piccadilly Jim'' in 1918. By the 1950s—long after Jenkins' death—the company was still being run as a 1930s business might have been. In 1964 it merged with Barrie & Rockcliffe to form Barrie & Jenkins, which continued to publish Wodehouse's novels, but specialised in books about ceramics, pottery and antiques. In 1969 the company published the first of

George MacDonald Fraser George MacDonald Fraser (2 April 1925 – 2 January 2008) was a British author and screenwriter. He is best known for a series of works that featured the character Flashman. Biography Fraser was born to Scottish parents in Carlisle, England, ...

's popular ''

The Flashman Papers ''The Flashman Papers'' is a series of novels and shorter stories written by George MacDonald Fraser, the first of which was published in 1969. The books centre on the exploits of the fictional protagonist Harry Flashman. He is a cowardly Bri ...

'' novels after it had been rejected by many other publishers. Barrie & Jenkins had a short commercial history and was taken over by Hutchinson, who were themselves taken over by Century and then by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

(now owned by Bertelsmann). It continues to exist as a specialist imprint mainly for hardback editions within the Random House stable.

Book series

The following series were issued the Herbert Jenkins publishing company: * Fireside Library * Green Label Novels * Herbert Jenkins' Colonial Library * Herbert Jenkins Shilling Library * "Reason Why" Series * Splendid Library * To-Day Library

As a writer

Although Jenkins is best known for his light fiction, his first book was a biography of

George Borrow George Henry Borrow (5 July 1803 – 26 July 1881) was an English writer of novels and of travel based on personal experiences in Europe. His travels gave him a close affinity with the Romani people of Europe, who figure strongly in his work. Hi ...

. He was an admirer of the poet and visual artist

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

and conducted research into his trial for high treason and the location of his lost grave, (Subscription required for online access) writing a book on him in 1925. His most popular fictional creation was Mr. Joseph Bindle, who first appeared in a humorous novel in 1916 and in a number of sequels. In the preface to the books,

T. P. O'Connor Thomas Power O'Connor (5 October 1848 – 18 November 1929), known as T. P. O'Connor and occasionally as Tay Pay (mimicking his own pronunciation of the initials ''T. P.''), was an Irish nationalist politician and journalist who served as a ...

said that "Bindle is the greatest Cockney that has come into being through the medium of literature since Dickens wrote ''Pickwick Papers''". The stories are based on the comedic drama of life at work, at home and all the adventures that take place along the way. Jenkins also wrote a number of short stories about Detective Malcolm Sage, which were collected into one book in 1921. Sage has been compared to both

Hercule Poirot Hercule Poirot (, ) is a fictional Belgian detective created by British writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-running characters, appearing in 33 novels, two plays ('' Black Coffee'' and ''Alibi''), and more ...

and Sherlock Holmes in his style of detective work. Three of the Sage stories were included in Eugene Thwing's 10-volume collection of vintage detective stories, ''The World's Best 100 Detective Stories'' (1929). As was the norm at the time, many of his fictional works appeared first in

pulp magazines Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

. Two of his novels and several of his short stories were made into short movies.

List of works

According to a bibliography compiled by the English Department at the Canadian

Mount Royal College Mount Royal University (MRU) is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. History Mount Royal University was founded by Alberta provincial charter by the Arthur Sifton government on December 16, 1910 and officially opened on September 8, ...

, Jenkins wrote the following works: * 1912 ''The Life Of George Borrow'' * 1916 ''Bindle: Some Chapters in the Life of Joseph Bindle''
a.k.a. ''Bindle: The Story Of A Cheerful Soul'' * 1917 ''The Night Club'' * 1918 ''Patricia Brent, Spinster'' * 1919 ''The Adventures of Bindle'' * 1919 ''The Rain-Girl: A Romance Of Today'' * 1920 ''John Dene Of Toronto – A Comedy Of Whitehall'' * 1921 ''Malcolm Sage, Detective''. * 1922 ''The Return of Alfred'' * 1924 ''Mrs. Bindle: Some Incidents from the Domestic Life of the Bindles'' * 1924 ''Bindles on the Rocks'' * 1925 ''William Blake: Studies of his Life and Personality'' * 1928 ''The Stiffsons and other Stories'' * 1932 ''Bindles omnibus''

References

External links

Herbert Jenkins
at the

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Golden Age of Detection (gadetection.pbworks.com) * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Herbert George 1876 births 1923 deaths 19th-century English people 20th-century English male writers 20th-century British short story writers 20th-century English novelists Alumni of Greyfriars, Oxford English male novelists English male short story writers English mystery writers English short story writers