Jeffery Farnol - A Favourite Of Ida Pollock

[pete9012S]

Jeffery Farnol (10 February 1878 – 9 August 1952)

In her memoir, Starlight, Ida Pollock states:

In Dorking library Lilian found me something new by my favourite Jeffery Farnol,
and slowly I re-discovered the energy to read..

I had not heard of Jeffery Farnol.
Searching him out, he had a successful book published in 1911 called The Broad Highway.

The Broad Highway is free to read on Project Gutenburg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5257


I loved this interchange between the narrator and the tinker at the beginning of The Broad Highway.
How true it is:

"Many of the world's greatest books, those masterpieces which have lived and shall live on forever, were written (as I believe) for the pure love of writing them."

"Oh!" said the Tinker.

"Yes," said I, warming to my theme, "and with little or no idea of the eyes of those unborn generations which were to read and marvel at them; hence it is we get those sublime thoughts untrammelled by passing tastes and fashions, unbounded by narrow creed or popular prejudice."

"Ah?" said the Tinker.

[Lenoir]

I don't think I have read any of these books, but I had a friend who was a fan, so when I was looking in second hand shops for Blytons, I used to look out for these books as well. I remember them as being quite thick hardback books, and very old.

[Anita Bensoussane]

It's only speculation but I can't help wondering whether Enid Blyton might have read some of Jeffery Farnol's books (and some of Georgette Heyer's, whose work is being discussed in another thread). Imogen Smallwood says in A Childhood at Green Hedges that her mother "enjoyed reading historical novels, Agatha Christie and light romances".

"Jeffery" is a less popular spelling of "Jeffrey" and I'm reminded that Enid uses the spelling "Jeffery" in The Treasure Hunters.