Edward Augustine Wyke-Smith (12 April 1871 – 16 May 1935)
[ was an English adventurer, ]mining engineer
Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...
and writer. He is known mainly for ''The Marvellous Land of Snergs
''The Marvellous Land of Snergs'' is a children's fantasy, written by E. A. Wyke-Smith and illustrated by the '' Punch'' cartoonist George Morrow. It was originally published in Britain by Ernest Benn in September 1927, and later published in t ...
'', a children's fantasy novel he wrote as E. A. Wyke-Smith, whose "snergs" provided inspiration for Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works '' The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawl ...
's creation of hobbits
Hobbits are a fictional race of people in the novels of J. R. R. Tolkien. About half average human height, Tolkien presented hobbits as a variety of humanity, or close relatives thereof. Occasionally known as halflings in Tolkien's writings, ...
.
Biography
Born Edward Augustine Smith, he "reclaimed older family name Wyke-Smith" by deed poll.[
After a time in the Horse Guards at ]Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...
, Wyke-Smith joined the crew of a windjammer
A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts that may be square rigged, or fore-and-aft rigged, or a combination of the two. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam ...
and sailed to Australia and the west coast of the United States. In the American West, he worked as a cowboy. Back in England, he studied mine engineering and later managed mines in Mexico, the Sinai, South America, Spain, Portugal and Norway. During the 1913 revolution in Mexico, he rescued his wife from the capital. He built a pontoon bridge across the Suez canal during the First World War.
According to John Clute, Wyke-Smith "began writing fantasy tales for his children as an apparent antidote to the experience of World War I."[ He wrote his first book, ''Bill of the Bustingforths'', at his children's request. He went on to write several others, both for children and adults.
]
Influence on Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
, author of ''The Hobbit
''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ''N ...
'' and ''The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...
'' is known to have read ''The Marvellous Land of Snergs'' to his children. He said, "I should like to record my own love and my children's love of E. A. Wyke-Smith's ''Marvellous Land of Snergs'', at any rate of the snerg-element of that tale, and of Gorbo the gem of dunderheads, jewel of a companion in an escapade."
The similarities between the races of snergs and hobbits have led to speculation that the book was a major inspiration. They are similar in their physical descriptions, their love of communal feasting, and their names, particularly Gorbo and Bilbo. In all the books there are also journeys through dangerous forests and caverns.
Works
Novels for children and adults
*''Bill of the Bustingforths'' (1921), illustrated by Winifred Smith (uncredited), frontispiece by George Morrow, endpaper map by Alfred Bestall
Alfred Edmeades "Fred" Bestall, MBE (14 December 1892 – 15 January 1986) wrote and illustrated ''Rupert Bear'' for the London ''Daily Express'', from 1935 to 1965.
Biography Early life
Bestall was born in Mandalay, Burma in 1892, where his p ...
The Marvellous Land of Snergs
''The Marvellous Land of Snergs'' is a children's fantasy, written by E. A. Wyke-Smith and illustrated by the '' Punch'' cartoonist George Morrow. It was originally published in Britain by Ernest Benn in September 1927, and later published in t ...
'' (1927), illus. Morrow
Short works
*"A Lecture on Libraries, Their Acquisition and Maintenance" (1919)
*"One Touch of Dickens" (1920)
*"An Antiseptic for Efficiency" (1921)
*"Conversation without Words" (1921)
*"Tales within Tales" (1922)
*"Reconstructing the Past" (1921)
*"My Lord's Affairs: A Mediaeval Story" (1923)
*"The Compleat Mushroomer: A Sequel to Isaak Walton's 'Compleat Angler'" (1928)
References
Other sources
* Douglas A. Anderson (annotations), J. R. R. Tolkien, ''The Annotated Hobbit'' (2002)
* Douglas A. Anderson ''Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy'' (2003)
External links
*
*
The Tolkien Collector review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyke Smith, Edward
1871 births
1935 deaths
20th-century English novelists
English children's writers
English mining engineers
English male novelists
English fantasy writers
English sailors
Cowboys
British military personnel of World War I
Place of birth missing
20th-century English male writers
Royal Horse Guards soldiers