Dornford Yates was the pseudonym of the English novelist Cecil William Mercer (7 August 1885 – 5 March 1960), whose novels and short stories, some humorous tales (the 'Berry' books) and some serious thrillers (the 'Chandos' books), were best-sellers in the period between the First and Second World Wars.
Cecil William Mercer | |
---|---|
Born | Walmer, Kent | 7 August 1885
Died | 5 March 1960 Umtali, Southern Rhodesia | (aged 74)
Pen name | Dornford Yates |
Occupation | Author |
Nationality | English |
Alma mater | University College, Oxford |
This categorization of Yates's books is based on the list that appears in his last published work, B-Berry and I Look Back.[1] All are full-length novels except where noted. Almost all of the tales in the short story collections were also published separately, often in slightly different form and with different titles in The Windsor Magazine:[2] see the corresponding book article for details.
'Berry' books
editThe 'Berry' books are comic novels and short stories narrated in the first person by Boy Pleydell. They feature the family group of Berry Pleydell (Boy's cousin), Daphne Pleydell (Boy's sister and Berry's wife), Jonathan 'Jonah' Mansel (Boy's cousin) and Jill Mansel (Boy's cousin and Jonah's sister).
Title | Year of first publication |
First edition publisher |
Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
The Brother of Daphne | 1914 | Ward Lock & Co | Short stories, originally published in The Windsor Magazine[3] | [4] |
The Courts of Idleness | 1920 | Ward Lock & Co | Short stories, originally published in The Windsor Magazine[5] | [6] |
Berry and Co. | 1921 | Ward Lock & Co | Short stories, originally published in The Windsor Magazine[7] | [8] |
Jonah and Co. | 1922 | Ward Lock & Co | Short stories, originally published in The Windsor Magazine[9] | [10] |
Adèle and Co. | 1931[3] | Hodder and Stoughton | Novel. Prepares for some of the events in Red in the Morning. | [11] |
And Berry Came Too | 1936 | Ward Lock & Co | Short stories, originally published in The Windsor Magazine | [12] |
The House That Berry Built | 1945 | Ward Lock & Co | Novel | [13] |
The Berry Scene | 1947 | Ward Lock & Co | Short stories | [14] |
As Berry and I Were Saying | 1952 | Ward Lock & Co | Fictionalised memoirs | [15] |
B-Berry and I Look Back | 1958 | Ward Lock & Co | Fictionalised memoirs | [16] |
'Chandos' books
editThe 'Chandos' books are adventure novels narrated in the first person by Richard William Chandos. They often feature Jonathan Mansel (from the 'Berry' books), George Hanbury, and their respective menservants Bell, Carson and Rowley.
Title | Year of first publication |
First edition publisher |
Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Blind Corner | 1927 | Hodder and Stoughton | Published in abridged form in Short Stories magazine as "The Treasure of the Well". Its writing is satirized in the ‘Berry’ story “Letters Patent” (found in the story collection “Maiden Stakes”). | [17] |
Perishable Goods | 1928 | Hodder and Stoughton | Sequel to Blind Corner | [18] |
Blood Royal | 1929 | Hodder and Stoughton | Novel, set in the fictional Principality of Riechtenburg. | [19] |
Fire Below | 1930 | Hodder and Stoughton | By Royal Command in the US.[20] Sequel to Blood Royal.[3] | [21] |
She Fell Among Thieves | 1935 | Hodder and Stoughton | Novel. Serialised in Woman's Journal. | [22] |
An Eye for a Tooth | 1943 | Ward Lock & Co | Novel, set immediately after the events of Blind Corner. | [23] |
Red in the Morning | 1946 | Ward Lock & Co | Were Death Denied in the US.[20] Follows on directly from Gale Warning. References events from Adele & Co. | [24] |
Cost Price | 1949 | Ward Lock & Co | The Laughing Bacchante in the US.[20] Sequel to Safe Custody. References events from Blind Corner. | [25] |
Other Volumes
editTitle | Year of first publication |
First edition publisher |
Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Anthony Lyveden | 1921 | Ward Lock & Co | Originally published in The Windsor Magazine | [26] |
Valerie French | 1923 | Ward Lock & Co | Sequel to Anthony Lyveden. Originally published in The Windsor Magazine | [27] |
And Five Were Foolish | 1924 | Ward Lock & Co | Short stories, originally published in The Windsor Magazine | [28] |
As Other Men Are | 1925 | Ward Lock & Co | Short stories, originally published in The Windsor Magazine | [29] |
The Stolen March | 1926 | Ward Lock & Co | Fantasy novel, originally published in The Windsor Magazine | [30] |
Summer Fruit | 1929 | Minton, Balch & Company, New York | US omnibus edition of Anthony Lyveden and Valerie French[20] | [31] |
Maiden Stakes | 1928[3] | Ward Lock & Co | Short stories, originally published in The Windsor Magazine. Includes the 'Berry' story Letters Patent, which satirises the creation of the ‘Chandos’ story Blind Corner | [32] |
Safe Custody | 1932 | Hodder and Stoughton | Serialised in The Saturday Evening Post (as Your Castle of Hohenems) | [33] |
Storm Music | 1934 | Hodder and Stoughton | Serialised in Woman's Journal and in Woman's Home Companion (as Bright with Peril) | [34] |
She Painted Her Face | 1937 | Ward Lock & Co | Serialised in Woman's Journal and in Woman's Home Companion (as Counterfeit Coin) | [35] |
This Publican | 1938 | Ward Lock & Co | Serialised in Woman's Journal as She Knew Not Mercy. Published as The Devil in Satin in the US[20] | [36] |
Gale Warning | 1939 | Ward Lock & Co | Serialised in Woman's Home Companion. First person narrative by John Bagot, includes Chandos and Mansel as characters. Part of the plot is continued in ‘Red in the Morning’. | [37] |
Shoal Water | 1940 | Ward Lock & Co | Serialised in Blue Book as When the Devil Drives. First person narrative by Jeremy Solon. Includes Mansel as a character. | [38] |
Period Stuff | 1942 | Ward Lock & Co | Short stories, some originally published in The Windsor Magazine and others in The Strand Magazine | [39] |
Lower than Vermin | 1950 | Ward Lock & Co | Novel | [40] |
Ne'er-Do-Well | 1954 | Ward Lock & Co | Yates's only detective story.[3] First person narrative by Chandos, includes Mansel as a character | [41] |
Wife Apparent | 1956 | Ward Lock & Co | Originally intended to be called Lady in Waiting but the title was changed after the dust-cover had been printed due to another book with that title being published.[42] First editions had the title over-printed with an explanatory note from the author | [43] |
Other works
editTitle | Year of first publication |
First edition publisher |
Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Temporary Insanity | 1910 | Punch | Uncollected short story, published 25 May 1910. The attribution to Yates appears in the June half-yearly index for Volume CXXXVIII (5 January to 29 June 1910)[44] | [45] |
Like A Tale That Is Told | 1910 | Red Magazine | Uncollected short story, published 15 July 1910 (Volume VI issue 31) | |
The Babes In The Wood | 1910 | Pearson's Magazine | Uncollected short story, published September 1910 (Volume XXX issue 177). The first story to feature 'Berry & Co' | |
Rex-v-Blogg | 1912 | Pearson's Magazine | Uncollected short story, published February 1912 (Volume XXXIII issue 194) | |
What I Know | 1913 | Mills & Boon | Ghost-written for C. W. Stamper (1876-1956), who acknowledges Yates' contribution in the foreword[46] U.S. title King Edward As I Knew Him | [47] |
Valerie | 1919 | The Windsor Magazine | Uncollected short story, published October 1919 (volume L issue 298) | |
Eastward Ho | 1919 | (Unpublished) | Musical comedy, written with Oscar Asche | [3] |
Court Cards | 1927 | The Windsor Magazine | Uncollected short story, published December 1926 (volume LXV issue 384) | |
The Real Thing | 1937 | The Windsor Magazine | Uncollected short story, published April 1937 (volume LXXXV issue 508). Reprinted in Twelve Tales of Murder edited by Jack Adrian, Oxford University Press 1998 | |
Adventure in Publishing | 1954 | Ward Lock & Co | Preface to The House of Ward Lock 1854 to 1954 by Edward GD Liveing. | [48] |
The Best of Berry | 1989 | J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd | A selection of stories from The Courts of Idleness, Berry & Co, Jonah & Co, Maiden Stakes and And Berry Came Too, edited by Jack Adrian |
Publishers
editThe eight books originally published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton were re-issued by Ward Lock in 1943.
References
edit- ^ Yates, Dornford (1958). B-Berry And I Look Back. Ward Lock & Co. Opposite title page.
- ^ Smithers 1982, p. 233.
- ^ a b c d e f Smithers 1982, appendix.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995523". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ Smithers 1982, pp. 82, 93.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995525". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ Smithers 1982, p. 98.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995517". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ Smithers 1982, p. 107.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995530". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995509". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 14 April 2020. The British Library gives the date as "[1932]" but both the H&S and the later Ward Lock editions state that it was first printed in July 1931.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995510". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995529". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995519". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995514". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995516". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995520". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995537". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995522". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Macdonald, Kate (2015). Novelists Against Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 226. ISBN 978-1137457714.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995527". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995541". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995526". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995538". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995524". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995513". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995549". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995512". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995515". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995545". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "Library of Congress online Catalog for item 29007960". catalog.loc.gov. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995533". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995540". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995547". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995542". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995548". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995528". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995544". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995536". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995532". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995535". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ Yates, Dornford (1956). Wife Apparent. London: Ward Lock. (Untitled explanatory note).
- ^ "British Library details for item 003995550". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "Index: Articles". Punch. 29 June 1910. p. 486.
- ^ "Temporary Insanity". Punch. 25 May 1910. p. 392.
- ^ Usborne, Richard (April 1982). "The Ghost of Dornford Yates". Literary Review. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ "British Library Item details". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ "British Library Item details". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
Bibliography
edit- Smithers, AJ (1982). Dornford Yates. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-27547-2.
External links
edit- Dornford Yates at Library of Congress, with 43 library catalogue records
- Works by Dornford Yates at Project Gutenberg
- Works by Cecil William Mercer at Faded Page (Canada)
- Works by or about List of works by Dornford Yates at the Internet Archive
- Works by Dornford Yates at Open Library
- Dornford Yates – ABfaR
- The Life and Works of Dornford Yates – ibooknet