This page list the published work of Harry Collingwood, the pseudonym for William Joseph Cosens Lancaster. The 44 novels and the stories are organised by year of first publication, but the tables can be sorted interactively.
1 | 1878 | The Secret of the Sands | 287+289 | Griffith and Farran - London | Nil | ||
2 | 1884 | The Pirate Island; a story of the South Pacific | 339 | Blackie and Son Limited | C. J. Staniland and J. R. Wells | 8 | |
2 | 1884 | Under the Meteor Flag: Log of a Midshipman during the French Revolutionary War | 326 | Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. | M. L. P. | 1 | |
4 | 1885 | The Voyage of the 'Aurora' | 307 | Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. | 1, 6 | ||
5 | 1885 | The Congo Rovers; a Story of the Slave Squadron | 352 | Blackie and Son Limited | 8 in Burt Ed. | ||
6 | 1886 | The Log of the Flying Fish; a story of Aerial and Submarine Peril and Adventure | 384 | Blackie and Son Limited | 12 | ||
7 | 1887 | The Rover's Secret; a tale of the Pirate Cays and Lagoons of Cuba | 352 | Blackie and Son Limited | 3 | ||
8 | 1888 | The Missing Merchantman | 352 | Blackie and Son Limited | 4 | ||
9 | 1892 | The Doctor of the 'Juliet' | 360 | Methuen | 5 | ||
10 | 1894 | The Cruise of the 'Esmeralda' | 384 | SPCK | 4 | ||
11 | 1895 | The Pirate Slaver; a story of the West African Coast | 384 | SPCK | |||
12 | 1896 | Jack Beresford's Yarn | 401 | SPCK | |||
13 | 1896 | The Log of a Privateersman | 376 | Blackie and Son Limited | 12 | ||
14 | 1897 | For Treasure Bound | 395 | Griffith Farran Browne & Co. Ltd | A front piece by Charles de Lacy? | 1 | |
15 | 1897 | The Homeward Voyage | 383 | SPCK | 4 | ||
16 | 1898 | A Pirate of the Caribbees | 343 | Griffith Farran Browne & Co. Ltd | |||
17 | 1898 | An Ocean Chase | 324 | Blackie and Son Limited | J. B. Greene | ||
18 | 1899 | The Castaways | Griffith Farran Browne & Co. Ltd | Percy F. S. Spence | |||
19 | 1906 | Across the Spanish Main | 351 | Blackie and Son Limited | 6 | ||
20 | 1906 | Dick Leslie's Luck | 383 | SPCK | |||
21 | 1907 | Geoffrey Harrington's Adventures | 511 | SPCK | 6 col. | ||
22 | 1907 | With Airship and Submarine | 376 | Blackie and Son Limited | |||
23 | 1908 | Blue and Grey | 317 | Cassell & Co. | E. S. Hardy | ||
24 | 1908 | A Middy in Command; a tale of the Slave Squadron | 384 | Blackie and Son Limited | |||
25 | 1908 | Under the Chilian Flag; a tale of war between Chili and Peru | 280 | Blackie and Son Limited | 1 | ||
26 | 1909 | Harry Escombe; a tale of adventure in Peru | 303 | Blackie and Son Limited | Victor Prout | ||
27 | 1909 | The Cruise of the 'Thetis'; a tale of the Cuban Insurrection | 367 | Blackie and Son Limited | 4 | ||
28 | 1910 | A Middy of the Slave Squadron | 352 | Blackie and Son Limited | |||
29 | 1910 | Overdue; the story of a missing ship | 287 | Blackie and Son Limited | W. H. Holloway | ||
30 | 1911 | A Middy of the King | 368 | Blackie and Son Limited | |||
31 | 1911 | The Adventures of Dick Maitland; a tale of unknown Africa | 288 | Blackie and Son Limited | Alec Ball | ||
32 | 1912 | Two Gallant Sons of Devon | 364 | Blackie and Son Limited | |||
33 | 1912 | A Strange Cruise | 296 | Blackie and Son Limited | 4 | ||
34 | 1913 | Through Veld and Forest | 351 | Blackie and Son Limited | |||
35 | 1913 | Turned Adrift | 295 | Blackie and Son Limited | 4 | ||
36 | 1914 | The Cruise of the 'Nonsuch' Buccaneer | 315 | SPCK | John Williamson | ||
37 | 1914 | The First Mate | 288 | Blackie and Son Limited | |||
38 | 1914 | A Chinese Command; a Story of Adventures in Eastern Seas | 352 | Blackie and Son Limited | |||
39 | 1915 | In Search of El Dorado | 312 | Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. | 4 | ||
40 | 1916No confirmation of publication date found in newspaper archives | Under the Ensign of the Rising Sun | 348 | Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. | Savile Lumley | 5 | |
41 | 1922 | The Strange Adventures of Eric Blackburn | 317 | Blackie and Son Limited | |||
42 | 1923 | The Wreck of the Andromeda | 288 | Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. | L Parker | ||
43 | 1923No confirmation of publication date found in newspaper archives | The Cruise of the 'Flying Fish', the Airship-submarine | 314 | Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. | M. L. P. | 2 | |
44 | 1925Published as a serial story in 1912.[1] | In the Power of the Enemy (published as serial in 1912) | 282 | Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. | M. L. P. | 4 |
This list of novels above is based on a range of sources including the British Library Catalogue for the author, the Wikisource page for the author, Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive, WorldCat, HathiTrust, Collingwood books available from the used books trade, and publishers catalogues and advertisements for the period. This list agrees with the list provided by Dizer, although he includes an omnibus edition as a separate work.[2] Years of first publication were taken from the British Library, but not all the novels were catalogued at the British Library and even when they were, there were gaps in the information as they did not always indicate:
As noted in G. A. Henty, it was common for some publishers, especially Blackie, to print not the year of publication, but the following one, so that they might look fresh for two Christmas buying seasons. This sometimes led to American editions having an earlier date than the UK edition as was the case for The Log of a Privateersman which has a date of 1896 for the Scribner edition in the US and 1897 for the Blackie edition in the UK.[3] However, this book was published in 1896 in the UK also and was reviewed in The Scotsman (A tale palpitating with perilous adventure, fighting at sea, storms, wrecks, and multitudinous hazards.. . . ) in October[4] and in St James Gazette (This is just the book to put into the hands of lads with a love for things nautical. . .) in November[5] of that year. Except where noted in the list above, the actual year of publication has been confirmed by contemporary reviews in the year of publication.
Some of the information from sources such as WorldCat has been verified by examining scans of books and:
Year ! | Title | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1878 | The Secret of the Sands | |||||||
2 | 1884 | The Pirate Island | |||||||
3 | 1884 | Under the Meteor Flag | |||||||
4 | 1885 | The Voyage of the 'Aurora' | |||||||
5 | 1885 | The Congo Rovers | |||||||
6 | 1886 | The Log of the Flying Fish | |||||||
7 | 1887 | The Rover's Secret | |||||||
8 | 1888 | The Missing Merchantman | |||||||
9 | 1892 | The Doctor of the 'Juliet' | |||||||
10 | 1894 | The Cruise of the 'Esmeralda' | |||||||
11 | 1895 | The Pirate Slaver | |||||||
12 | 1896 | Jack Beresford's Yarn The British Library Catalogue notes that their copy of the book was destroyed in the Second World War. | |||||||
13 | 1896 | The Log of a Privateersman | |||||||
14 | 1897 | For Treasure Bound | |||||||
15 | 1897 | The Homeward Voyage | |||||||
16 | 1898 | A Pirate of the Caribbees | |||||||
17 | 1898 | An Ocean Chase | |||||||
18 | 1899 | The Castaways | |||||||
19 | 1906 | Across the Spanish Main | |||||||
20 | 1906 | Dick Leslie's Luck | |||||||
21 | 1907 | Geoffrey Harrington's Adventures | |||||||
22 | 1907 | With Airship and Submarine | |||||||
23 | 1908 | Blue and Grey | |||||||
24 | 1908 | A Middy in Command | |||||||
25 | 1908 | Under the Chilian Flag | |||||||
26 | 1909 | Harry Escombe | |||||||
27 | 1909 | The Cruise of the 'Thetis' | |||||||
28 | 1910 | A Middy of the Slave Squadron | |||||||
29 | 1910 | Overdue | |||||||
30 | 1911 | A Middy of the King | |||||||
31 | 1911 | The Adventures of Dick Maitland | |||||||
32 | 1912 | Two Gallant Sons of Devon | |||||||
33 | 1912 | A Strange Cruise | |||||||
34 | 1913 | Through Veld and Forest | |||||||
35 | 1913 | Turned Adrift | |||||||
36 | 1914 | The Cruise of the 'Nonsuch' Buccaneer | |||||||
37 | 1914 | The First Mate | |||||||
38 | 1914 | A Chinese Command | |||||||
39 | 1915 | In Search of El Dorado | |||||||
40 | 1916 | Under the Ensign of the Rising Sun | |||||||
41 | 1922 | The Strange Adventures of Eric Blackburn | |||||||
42 | 1923 | The Wreck of the Andromeda | |||||||
43 | 1923 | The Cruise of the 'Flying Fish', the Airship-submarine | |||||||
44 | 1925 | In the Power of the Enemy |
In some cases, as with Griffith & Farran and, the UK publishers seem to have distributed the books under their own imprint in the United States through an agent. E. P. Dutton acted for Griffith & Farran. SPCK worked through E. and J. B. Young initially, and later through E.S. Gorham. The books published by Blackie in the UK were often published by Scribner and Welford in the US. This firm was set up by Charles Scribner and Charles Welford specifically to import or reprint foreign books[6] (almost entirely from England), and were the largest such firm in the US.[7] In January 1891, Scribner & Welford was subsumed under Charles Scribner's Sons[8] which then took over publishing the Collingwood Blackie novels in the US. Other publishers were also involved in publishing Collingwood's work in the US, particularly A. L. Burt who produced cheap editions sometimes with fewer illustrations. Piracy was also a problem in the US market. Dizer states that of the five copies of The Congo Rovers he holds, three are pirate editions.[9] Given the mix of importation, local publishing, and piracy, it is difficult to build a definitive list of us editions.
The following apology appeared in September 1910 in book trade publications: Messrs. James Henderson and Sons, Ltd., of Red Lion House, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C., beg to apologise to Messrs. Blackie & Son, Ltd., Publishers, of London and Glasgow, for having unwittingly published a story named "The Cruise of the Flying-Fish," by "Colin Dawson," the same having been copied by its ostensible author from the "Log of the Flying-Fish," written by Harry Collingwood, and being a grave infringement of Messrs. Blackie & Son, Ltd., copyright in that work. Messrs. James Henderson & Sons, Ltd., deeply regret the circumstances and have caused the infringing work to be withdrawn from circulation.[10]
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states that Lancaster wrote more than fifty books for boys,[11] Current listings of Titles by Harry Collingwood on the British Library, Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive, Abe Books (a rare books retailing service), the list provided by Dizer, and Wikisource list only 44 in total, and two of these are nearly identical, with To Treasure Bound being an slightly edited reissue of The Secret of the Sands. Additional potential titles are:
Some titles are known by more than one name. For example, In Search of El Dorado (1915) is sometimes knows as A pair of Adventurers in Search of El Dorado. Under the Ensign of the Rising Sun (1916) is also known as Under a Foreign Flag. There is also room for confusion among the titles. The First Mate (1914) is subtitled The Story of A Strange Cruise but this should not be confused with A Strange Cruise (1912). There is also at least one omnibus volume containing With Airship and Submarine (1908), Two Gallant Sons of Devon (1913), and A Chinese Command (1915).
Leisure Lyrics by a busy man by William John Lancaster is frequently misattributed to WJC Lancaster. However, a quick perusal of the text shows that the author of Leisure Lyrics used the initials WJL, was a long-time employee of the Prudential Assurance Company,[20] had several children, and lived in Putney. These facts fit William John Lancaster rather than WJC Lancaster.
Many of Lancaster's novels were reprinted multiple times. The WorldCat page for The Pirate Island lists 26 different print editions for that title held by libraries, one of the most popular of his novels. This does not mean that there are 26 different print editions held by libraries as data entry errors can read to duplicated entries for the same text. However, there are at least 16 distinct editions listed. WorldCat libraries hold editions issued by Blackie of London in 1885, 1893, 1902, 1905, 1923, and 1934 (in which year there were two editions with different illustrators, presumably a cheaper black and white edition and a more expensive colour one). The British Library holds three of these Blackie editions. WorldCat aggregates the holdings of libraries, so it is perfectly possible that there were other editions that are not currently held in libraries, either not having been purchased by them, or having been lost or disposed of in the last hundred and thirty years. The WorldCat page for The Rover's Secret shows 20 print editions for that title.
Normally the reprinted books bore the same title as the original and had a completely identical text. For Treasure Bound (1897) is an exception to this rule. It is a single volume re-issue of “The Secret of the Sands or the ‘Water Lily’ and her crew” (1879), the first book by Lancaster. The 1879 edition, published by Griffith and Farran, was in two volumes. Most of the chapters in For Treasure Bound are the same as in The Secret of the Sands, word for word. Most of the changes are in the restructuring and tightening of Chapter Three. One change throughout the book is the replacement of "etc." with "etcetera". The subtitle for Chapter 12 (Chapter 2 of Volume 2 in the original) was changed from A Miracle to A Mirage. Other than this, the two books have the same plot, characters, dialogue, incidents etc.
Demonstrating the complexity of the multiple editions, The Secret of the Sands was also issued as a New Edition in a single volume by Griffith, Farran, Okeden, & Welsh in 1888, but seems to have exactly the same text as the 1879 edition. For Treasure Bound was reissued in 1910 as a New Edition with illustrations in colour by no less an artist than Walter Ernest Webster. Neither the 1879 nor the 1888 editions of The Secret of the Sands had any illustrations. The 1888 edition of For Treasure Bound had a frontispiece, and the 1910 edition had four colour plates and a full colour inset in the front cover.
The Robinsonade, the castaway or desert island genre of fiction influence by Robinson Crusoe, developed rapidly as part of the mid-Victorian writing boom.[21] Boehmer states that Motifs of shipwreck, resourceful settlement and cultivation, treasure, slaves and the fear of cannibalism resurfaced time and again in boy's stories. Baker and Womak note that other Victorian writers such as Marryat, Ballantyne, and W. G. Kingston also presented the protagonists of their novels with challenges such as surviving shipwreck, fighting with savages or pirates.[22] Collingwood's plots include not only these elements of the Robinsonade, but also his own hobbies, such as sailing and yacht-design,[23] in the novels. Note that grey cells in the following table mean that no copy of the book is to hand to check the plot, and the plot items listed are related in reviews of the book in question.
Year ! | Title | ||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1878 | The Secret of the Sands | |||||||||||||||||||
2 | 1884 | The Pirate Island | |||||||||||||||||||
3 | 1884 | Under the Meteor Flag | |||||||||||||||||||
4 | 1885 | The Voyage of the 'Aurora' | |||||||||||||||||||
5 | 1885 | The Congo Rovers | |||||||||||||||||||
6 | 1886 | The Log of the Flying Fish | |||||||||||||||||||
7 | 1887 | The Rover's Secret | |||||||||||||||||||
8 | 1888 | The Missing Merchantman | |||||||||||||||||||
9 | 1892 | The Doctor of the 'Juliet' | |||||||||||||||||||
10 | 1894 | The Cruise of the 'Esmeralda' | |||||||||||||||||||
11 | 1895 | The Pirate Slaver | |||||||||||||||||||
12 | 1896 | Jack Beresford's Yarn | |||||||||||||||||||
13 | 1896 | The Log of a Privateersman | |||||||||||||||||||
14 | 1897 | For Treasure Bound | |||||||||||||||||||
15 | 1897 | The Homeward Voyage | |||||||||||||||||||
16 | 1898 | A Pirate of the Caribbees | |||||||||||||||||||
17 | 1898 | An Ocean Chase | |||||||||||||||||||
18 | 1899 | The Castaways | |||||||||||||||||||
19 | 1906 | Across the Spanish Main | |||||||||||||||||||
20 | 1906 | Dick Leslie's Luck | |||||||||||||||||||
21 | 1907 | Geoffrey Harrington's Adventures | |||||||||||||||||||
22 | 1907 | With Airship and Submarine | |||||||||||||||||||
23 | 1908 | Blue and Grey | |||||||||||||||||||
24 | 1908 | A Middy in Command | |||||||||||||||||||
25 | 1908 | Under the Chilian Flag | |||||||||||||||||||
26 | 1909 | Harry Escombe | |||||||||||||||||||
27 | 1909 | The Cruise of the 'Thetis' | |||||||||||||||||||
28 | 1910 | A Middy of the Slave Squadron | |||||||||||||||||||
29 | 1910 | Overdue | |||||||||||||||||||
30 | 1911 | A Middy of the King | |||||||||||||||||||
31 | 1911 | The Adventures of Dick Maitland | |||||||||||||||||||
32 | 1912 | Two Gallant Sons of Devon | |||||||||||||||||||
33 | 1912 | A Strange Cruise | |||||||||||||||||||
34 | 1913 | Through Veld and Forest | |||||||||||||||||||
35 | 1913 | Turned Adrift | |||||||||||||||||||
36 | 1914 | The Cruise of the 'Nonsuch' Buccaneer | |||||||||||||||||||
37 | 1914 | The First Mate | |||||||||||||||||||
38 | 1914 | A Chinese Command | |||||||||||||||||||
39 | 1915 | In Search of El Dorado | |||||||||||||||||||
40 | 1916 | Under the Ensign of the Rising Sun | |||||||||||||||||||
41 | 1922 | The Strange Adventures of Eric Blackburn | |||||||||||||||||||
42 | 1923 | The Wreck of the Andromeda | |||||||||||||||||||
43 | 1923 | The Cruise of the 'Flying Fish', the Airship-submarine | |||||||||||||||||||
44 | 1925 | In the Power of the Enemy |
Journal or Book ! | Date | Start p. ! | Pages | Illustrator | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1880 | A Perilous Climb; The Lightkeeper's Story | Short Story | Union Jack 1:13 | 1880-03-25 | 198 | 3 | H. Petherick[24] | |
1880 | The Diver's Story; A Thrilling Narrative of Adventure in the Indian Seas | Serial Pt.1 | Union Jack 1:15 | 1880-04-08 | 228 | 4 | H. Petherick | |
1880 | The Diver's Story; A Thrilling Narrative of Adventure in the Indian Seas | Serial Pt.2 | Union Jack 1:17 | 1880-04-22 | 263 | 2 | ||
1880 | Boat-Building and Boat-Sailing | Column | Union Jack 1:29 | 1880-07-15 | 461 | 3 | [25] | |
1880 | Boat-Building and Boat-Sailing | Column | Union Jack 1:34 | 1880-08-19 | 539 | 6 | ||
1880 | Boat-Building and Boat-Sailing | Column | Union Jack 1:39 | 1880-09-23 | 621 | 3 | ||
1880 | Boat-Building and Boat-Sailing | Column | Union Jack 2:43 | 1880-10-21 | 47 | 2 | ||
1880 | Boat-Building and Boat-Sailing | Column | Union Jack 2:46 | 1880-11-11 | 95 | 2 | [26] | |
1880 | Boat-Building and Boat-Sailing | Column | Union Jack 2:50 | 1880-12-09 | 159 | 2 | ||
1881 | Boat-Building and Boat-Sailing | Column | Union Jack 2:55 | 1881-01-13 | 239 | 1 | ||
1881 | Boat-Building and Boat-Sailing | Column | Union Jack 2:59 | 1881-02-15 | 303 | 1 | ||
1881 | Boat-Building and Boat-Sailing | Column | Union Jack 2:63 | 1881-03-10 | 366 | 3 | ||
1881 | An Eventful Ride | Serial Pt.1 | Union Jack 2:83 | 1881-07-28 | 677 | 4 | H. Petherick [27] | |
1881 | An Eventful Ride | Serial Pt.1 | Union Jack 2:84 | 1881-08-04 | 693 | 4 | H. Petherick | |
1882 | The Phantom Pilot: A Christmas Story | Short Story | Old England's Flag 1882[28] | 1882-11 | John Jellico[29] | |||
1896 | Unknown title[30] | Said to be Serial | Chums Yearly Volume for 1896 | 1896 | [31] | |||
1898 | The Slavers Revenge | Short Story | Yule Logs, Being Longmans's Xmas Annual for 1898 edited by G.A. Henty, Longman, London | 1898 | 344 | 39 | Trevor Haddon | |
1899 | Samana Key | Short Story | Yule-Tide Yarns, ed by G.A. Henty, published by Longmans, London | 1899 | 268 | 28 | Lancelot Speed | |
1918 | Peril and Pluck on the Grand Banks | Short Story | Chums 26:1325 | 1918-02-02 | 257 | 2 | W. G. Whitaker [32] |
The list of short works by Harry Collingwood is largely based on the British Juvenile Story Papers and Pocket Libraries Index run by Steve Holland. Indexing of British boys' magazines and story papers is ongoing. As Collingwood contributed to both The Union Jack and to Chums he may have written for other such outlets. It is possible that there may be many more short works by Harry Collingwood than those given in the table above.