Books: The boys' own historian

A Victorian literary phenomenon returned to bookshelves | George Grant

When I was growing up, the great historical epics of G.A. Henty were already becoming difficult to find. But whenever I ran across one in our local library I quickly checked it out, rushed home, and read it-usually without putting it down. In the years since, I have haunted dusty antiquarian book shops in an effort to collect as many of these gems as possible. Now though, thanks to the wise editors at Preston/Speed-a small independent publisher in Mill Hall, Pa.-the books are returning to print for the edification and education of a whole new generation.

Often called "the boys' own historian" or "the prince of the story-tellers," Mr. Henty was a Victorian literary phenomenon whose 144 books and myriad short stories have long enthralled adults and children alike. His fiercely accurate narratives range across the whole spectrum of human achievement, highlighting the greatest characters and the most decisive moments in history. Other writers have succeeded admirably in capturing a single culture or era-Mary Renault in ancient Greece, Ellis Peters in medieval England, Walter Scott in Jacobite Scotland, Cecelia Holland in Teutonic Europe, or Andrew Lytle in the ante-bellum South-but Mr. Henty was equally adept at telling the story of the Crimean War as of the Peloponnesian War, of the Franco-Prussian conflict as of the Norman conquest, of the adventures of the Conquistadors as of the trials of the Pharaohs. Apparently, his virtuosity knew no bounds. Indeed, the first three of these beautifully bound reprints give ample evidence of his remarkable range.