A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales by Jonathan Nield (top books of all time .txt) 📖

Century (Peterloo)
George Newnes

VANITY FAIR — Thackeray
"High Life," George III.-IV.
Smith, Elder, & Co.

MIS'ESS JOY — John Le Breton
Last Years of the Regency
J. Macqueen

YEOMAN FLEETWOOD — M. E. Francis (Mrs. Blundell)
Last Years of the Regency
Longmans, Green, & Co.

A LADY OF THE REGENCY — Mrs. Stepney Rawson
Time of George IV.
Hutchinson & Co.

TAKEN FROM THE ENEMY — Henry Newbolt
Time of George IV. (Plot to rescue Napoleon, 1821.)
Chatto & Windus

ROYAL GEORGIE — S. Baring-Gould
Time of George IV.
Methuen & Co.

THE VINTAGE and CAPSINA — E. F. Benson
Greek War of Independence, 1821
Methuen & Co.

BLACK PROPHET — W. Carleton
Ireland, in 1822
Simms & Co., 1847

THE WHITEBOY — Mrs. S. C. Hall
Ireland, in 1822
Geo. Routledge & Sons

HUNGARIAN NABOB — M. Jokai (translation)
Hungary, 1822
Jarrold & Sons

THE GREEN BOOK — M. Jokai (translation)
Russia, 1825
Jarrold & Sons

THADDEUS OF WARSAW — Jane Porter
Poland, about 1830
Geo. Routledge & Sons

THE FIERY DAWN — M. E. Coleridge
Duchesse de Berri (1831-2)
E. Arnold

THE SHE WOLVES OF MACHECOUL — Dumas (translation)
Duchesse de Berri (1795-1843)
J. M. Dent & Co.

THE FIREBRAND — S. R. Crockett
Spain—Queen Cristina and the Carlists
Macmillan & Co.

IN KEDAR'S TENTS — H. S. Merriman
The Carlists
Smith, Elder, & Co.

FOR THE RIGHT — Karl Emil Franzos (translation)
Carpathian district, 1835
James Clarke & Co.

MIDDLEMARCH — George Eliot
Time of William IV.
W. Blackwood & Sons

FELIX HOLT — George Eliot
Time of William IV.
W. Blackwood & Sons

UNDER THE MENDIPS — Emma Marshall
Time of William IV. (Bristol Riots.)
Seeley & Co.

TREWERN — R. M. Thomas
Time of William IV. (Wales.)
Fisher Unwin

SWALLOW — H. Rider Haggard
South Africa—the Great Trek, 1836
Longmans, Green, & Co.

JOHN CHARITY — H. A. Vachell
First years of Queen Victoria's reign. (Hants and California).
John Murray

ALTON LOCKE — Charles Kingsley
Early Victorian period (Chartists)
Macmillan & Co.

SYBIL — Disraeli
Early Victorian period (Chartists)
Longmans, Green, & Co.

TO HERAT AND CABUL — G. A. Henty
First Afghan War
Blackie & Son

CASTLE RICHMOND — Anthony Trollope
Irish Famine
Chapman & Hall, 1860

CASTLE DALY — Miss Keary
Irish Famine
Macmillan & Co.

MONONIA — Justin McCarthy
Ireland, 1848
Chatto & Windus

ISHMAEL — Miss Braddon
France (Louis Philippe-Napoleon III.)
J. & R. Maxwell

JOURNEYMAN LOVE — Mrs. Stepney Rawson
France. (Period of tile '48 Revolution).
Hutchinson & Co.

MADEMOISELLE MORI — Miss Roberts
Italian Revolution, 1848
Longmans, Green, & Co

*DR. ANTONIO — G. D. Ruffini
Italian Revolution, 1848
Thos. Constable & Co., Edinburgh, 1855

* A remarkable example of a foreigner's mastery of our language. Ruffini, the illustrious Italian patriot, wrote this novel after a sojourn of some years in England.

VITTORIA — George Meredith
Italian Revolution, 1848
Constable & Co.

FOR FREEDOM — Tighe Hopkins
War of Italian Liberation, 1859
Chatto & Windus

OUT WITH GARIBALDI — G. A. Henty
War of Italian Liberation, 1859
Blackie & Son

DEBIT AND CREDIT — Freytag (translation)
Silesia, 1848
Bentley, 1857

THE BARON'S SONS — M. Jokai (translation)
Hungarian Revolution, 1848.
J. Macqueen

MANASSEH — M. Jokai (translation)
Italy and Transylvania, 1848-59
J. Macqueen

RAVENSHOE — Henry Kingsley
Period of Crimean War
Ward, Lock, & Co.

*SEVASTOPOL — Tolstoy (translatton)
Period of Crimean War
Grant Richards

* This powerful sketch can hardly be described as "romance," but I felt that my Crimean section would be incomplete without it.

THE INTERPRETER — G. J. Whyte Melville
Period of Crimean War
W. Thacker & Co. and Ward, Lock, & Co.

BY CELIA'S ARBOUR — W. Besant and J. Rice
Period of Crimean War
Chatto & Windus

A GALLANT GRENADIER — Captain Brereton
Period of Crimean War
Blackie & Son

SEETA — Meadows Taylor
Indian Mutiny
Kegan, Paul, & Co.

THE DILEMMA — Sir George Chesny
Indian Mutiny
W. Blackwood & Sons

ON THE FACE OF THE WATERS — Mrs. F. A. Steel
Indian Mutiny (Siege of Delhi)
W. Heinemann

FLOTSAM — H. Seton Merriman
Indian Mutiny
Longmans, Green, & Co.

FOR THE OLD FLAG — Clive Robert Fenn
Indian Mutiny
Sampson Low & Co.

JENETHA'S VENTURE — Colonel Harcourt
Indian Mutiny
Cassell & Co.

EBEN HOLDEN — Irving bacheller
New York Journalism (Horace Greeley)
Fisher Unwin

THE CRISIS — Winston Churchill
American Civil War period
Macmillan & Co.

THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE — Stephen Crane
American Civil War period
W. Heinemann

WITH LEE IN VIRGINIA — G. A. Henty
American Civil War period
Blackie & Son

THE DESERTER, and A DAY IN THE WILDERNESS (In "The Deserter and
other stories") — Harold Frederic
American Civil War Period
Lothrop Publishing Co.

THE COPPERHEAD AND OTHER TALES — Harold Frederic
American Civil War Period
W. Heinemann

WHO GOES THERE? and FRIEND WITH THE COUNTERSIGN — B. K. Benson
American Civil War Period
Macmillan & Co.

THE CAVALIER — George W. Cable
American Civil War Period
John Murray

HENRY BOURLAND — Albert Elmer Hancock
American Civil War Period
Macmillan & Co.

*RED ROCK — T. Nelson Page
American Civil War Period
W. Heinemann

* Depicts the Reconstruction period in the Southern States just after the War.

AN EMPEROR'S DOOM — Herbert Hayens
Mexican War of Independence
T. Nelson & Sons

LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS — Baroness von Suttner (translation)
Foreign Wars, 1864-70
Longmans, Green, & Co.

FOR SCEPTRE AND CROWN — G. Samarow (trans.)
Prussia v. Austria, 1866
H. S. King & Co., 1875

THE MEMBER FOR PARIS — E. C. Grenville Murray
France—Napoleon III.
Smith, Elder, & Co., 1871

HISTOIRE DU PLEBISCITE — Erckmann-Chatrian
Franco-German War Period
J. Hetzel et Cie.

LORRAINE — Robert W. Chambers
Franco-German War Period
G. P. Putnam's Sons

VALENTIN — Henry Kingsley
Ward, Lock, & Co.
Ditto.

THE ISLE OF UNREST — H. S. Merriman
Franco-German War Period (Corsica)
Smith, Elder, & Co.

THE GARDEN OF SWORDS — Max Pemberton
Franco-German War Period (Strasburg).
Cassell & Co.

ASHES OF EMPIRE — Robert W. Chambers
Franco-German War Period
Macmillan & Co.

THE DOWNFALL — E. Zola (translation)
Franco-German War Period (Sedan)
Chatto & Windus

*UNE EPOQUE — Paul et Victor Margueritte
Franco-German War Period
Plon-Nourrit et Cie., Paris

* Collective title of the 4 novels—"Le Desastre" (Metz, 1870),
"Les Troncons du Glaive" (La Defense nationale. 1870-71), "Les
Braves Gens" (Episodes, 1870-71), and "La Commune" (Paris, 1875).
The last-named has still (January, 1902) to appear. Messrs. Chatto
& Windus have published an English translation of "Le Desastre."

THE PARISIANS — Lytton
Paris Commune
Geo. Routledge & Sons

THE RED REPUBLIC — Robert W. Chambers
Paris Commune
G. P. Putnam's Sons

THE VELVET GLOVE — H. S. Merriman
Spain, 1870—The Carlists
Smith, Elder, & Co.

* SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF NOTABLE NOVELS,

Which, while not strictly "Historical," in some way represent bygone periods.

* Nothing like exhaustiveness is claimed for this "Supplementary List;" the method of study therein indicated might be indefinitely extended, but the few works given form an almost necessary starting-point. A less restricted list would, of course, include the Semi-Historic examples of such Foreign authors as Madame de Stael, Balzac, Spielhagen, &c. The purport of this book being primarily in the direction of Historical Romance proper, I have confined my attention here to a few works on the borderland of my Introductory definition.

THE FOREST LOVERS — Maurice Hewlett
Mediaeval Life
Macmillan & Co.

THE SCARLET LETTER — Nathaniel Hawthorne
Massachusetts, end of Seventeenth Century
Walter Scott and others

CASTLE RACKRENT — Maria Edgeworth
Irish character, early Eighteenth Century
Macmillan & Co.

TREASURE ISLAND — R. L. Stevenson
Adventure, middle Eighteenth Century
Cassell & Co.

TOM JONES — Fielding
English Life and Manners, middle Eighteenth Century
J. M. Dent & Co.

CLARISSA HARLOWE — Richardson
English Life and Manners, middle Eighteenth Century
Chapman & Hall

THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD — Goldsmith
English Rural Life, Eighteenth Century
Macmillan & Co.

ANNALS OF THE PARISH — John Galt
Scotch Village Life, 1760-1810
W. Blackwood & Sons

EVELINA — Frances Burney
Fashionable manners, end Eighteenth Century
J. M. Dent & Co.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE — Jane Austen
Everyday Society, beginning of Nineteenth Century
Macmillan & Co.

ADAM BEDE — George Eliot
English Rural Life, beginning of Nineteenth Century
W. Blackwood & Sons

DESTINY — Susan E. Ferrier
Scotch character, beginning of Nineteenth Century
J. M. Dent & Co.

TRAITS AND STORIES OF THE IRISH PEASANTRY — William Carleton
Irish Peasant-life, beginning of Nineteenth Century
J. M. Dent & Co.

O'DONNEL — Lady Morgan
Irish character, beginning of Nineteenth Century
Colburn, 1814

THE GRANDISSIMES — G. W. Cable
America, early Nineteenth Century (Creole life)
Hodder & Stoughton

PENDENNIS and THE NEWCOMES — Thackeray
Late Georgian—Early Victorian manners
Smith Elder & Co.

CRANFORD — Mrs. Gaskell
English Provincial Life in the second quarter of the Nineteenth
Century
Macmillan & Co.

PERLYCROSS — R. D. Blackmore
English Provincial Life in the second quarter of the Nineteenth
Century
Sampson Low & Co.

THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE — Nathaniel Hawthorne
Margaret Fuller and the "Brook Farm" group, under fictitious names.
Walter Scott

THE TRAGIC COMEDIANS — George Meredith
Ferdinand Lassalle, under fictitious name
Constable & Co.

UNCLE TOM'S CABIN — Mrs. H. Beecher-Stowe
Slavery in America
Routledge, Cassell, and others

A KENTUCKY CARDINAL AND AFTERMATH — James Lane Allen
American Manners, 1850
Macmillan & Co.

BARCHESTER TOWERS — Anthony Trollope
Life in an English Cathedral City, middle of Nineteenth Century
Chapman & Hall

SUNNINGWELL — F. Warre Cornish
"High Church" and "Broad Church," middle of Nineteenth Century
Constable & Co.

BEAUCHAMP'S CAREER — George Meredith
English Politics, middle of Nineteenth Century
Constable & Co.

MARY BARTON — Mrs. Gaskell
Manufacturing Districts, middle of Nineteenth Century
Smith, Elder, & Co.

SUGGESTED COURSES OF READING—JUVENILE.

As likely to assist Parents and Teachers, I propose to give two lists (covering English History from the Norman Conquest) for Boys and Girls respectively; but a passing allusion may, first of all, be made to tales dealing with more ancient periods. For the illustration of Greek and Roman History, those books of Professor A. J. Church which are entered in my Pre-Christian section may be safely recommended; while the pictures of First Century life given in Wallace's "Ben Hur," Lytton's "Last Days of Pompeii," and Whyte Melville's "The Gladiators" are, perhaps, as likely to interest an intelligent boy or girl in the "teen" stage as any similar productions that could be mentioned. Turning to the Early History of our own isle, I would specially mention Mr. Henty's "Beric the Briton"; the "Aescendune" series of tales ("Edwy the Fair," "Alfgar the Dane," and "The Rival Heirs") by the late Rev. A. D. Crake; Mr. C. W. Whistler's "Havelok the Dane," "A Thane of Wessex," &c.; and the various books chosen to represent Alfred and his times.

In preparing the following lists, I have had in view, for the most part, the average Juvenile taste; doubtless many of the more advanced works might be offered in special cases, but, in regard to that, the Parent or Teacher can alone judge. Some of the tales entered in (I.) reappear in (II.), but a comparison will disclose important differences. A reference to the General List will, in most cases, reveal a more exact specification; for the sake of convenience, the tales are here grouped according to Reigns only.

Of the romances dealing with American and Foreign History to be found in the foregoing pages, many are suitable for young readers; but the sequence not being very close (for any lengthy period at least), separate lists would appear superfluous. Such writers (to mention only a few) as Fennimore Cooper, Mrs. J. G. Austin, G. C. Eggleston, Kirk Munroe, and Elbridge S. Brooks, may be particularly recommended for American History; while Scott, Dumas, Charlotte M. Yonge, Miss Roberts (author of "Mademoiselle Mori"), and G. A. Henty, have all illustrated—in more or less adequate fashion—the course of events in Foreign Countries. The novels of Dumas are not infrequently considered somewhat "strong meat," but his " She- Wolves of Machecoul" and "Black Tulip" may be safely placed in any hands.

ENGLISH HISTORY SINCE THE CONQUEST (Boys).

HAROLD — Lytton
Norman Conquest, Harold—William I.
Geo. Routledge & Sons

THE CAMP OF REFUGE — C. Macfarlane
Norman Conquest, Harold—William I.
Constable & Co.

HEREWARD THE WAKE — Charles Kingsley
Norman Conquest, Harold—William I.
Macmillan & Co.

WULF THE SAXON — G. A. Henty
Norman Conquest, Harold—William I.
Blackie & Son

IN THE DAYS OF ST. ANSELM — G. Hollis
William II.
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge

COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS — Scott
William II.
A. & C. Black

*PABO THE PRIEST — S. Baring-Gould
Henry I.
Methuen & Co.

* This, the only substantial tale dealing directly with the reign of Henry I., is hardly suitable for very young folk, but it will interest those with older tastes.

THE LEGEND OF READING ABBEY — C. Macfarlane
Stephen
Constable & Co.

THE KNIGHT OF THE GOLDEN CHAIN — R. D. Chetwode
Stephen
C. A. Pearson

THE BETROTHED — Scott
Henry II.
A. & C. Black

FOREST OUTLAWS — E. Gilliat
Henry II.
Seeley & Co.

THE TALISMAN — Scott
Richard I.
A. & C. Black

IVANHOE — Scott
Richard I.
A. & C. Black

RUNNYMEDE AND LINCOLN FAIR — J. G. Edgar
John
Ward, Lock, & Co.

A STOUT ENGLISH BOWMAN — E. Pickering
Henry III.
Blackie & Son

HOW I WON MY SPURS — J. G. Edgar
Henry III.
Ward,