Showing results by author "Arthur Morrison" in All Categories

A superb anthology of 40 great classic humorous stories.

A train seems a very reliable mode to bring out the best in authors and sometimes the worst in their fictional characters. In this volume our narratives are usually set inside the carriage compartment where they are really up close and personal with each other. All our authors need to do is to light the touchpaper and stand well back.

London’s East End has over the centuries been a magnet for immigration, innovation, culture, crime and a vast spectrum of other things. It is often seen as both part of and yet very distinct from the vast metropolis of London. Today it has been transformed from the often grimy, derelict and overcrowded area, that many of these stories describe, into a landscape of gentrification, sleek and shiny buildings and a booming economy. But here such noted talents as Arthur Morrison, Henry W. Nevinson, William Pett Ridge and Thomas Burke show the East End as it really was.

Arthur Morrison was born on November 1st, 1863, in Poplar, in the East End of London. From the age of eight, after the death of his father, he was brought up, along with two siblings, by his mother, Jane. This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialised imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes and many compilations.

The Cockney Novelists flourished towards the end of the 19th century and spilled over into the next. They included Arthur Morrison, Edwin Pugh, William Pett Ridge and Clarence Rook. Authors being authors, they, of course, dealt with their subject matter in different ways. As a group they moved away from treating the London working classes as comedy cameos or social stereotypes.

This grimly picturesque novel by Arthur Morrison was first published in 1897. The central character is Dicky Perrott, an urchin living in the Jago, an extremely squalid district of London's East End. The Jago is based on the Old Nichol slum, which lay at the back of Shoreditch High Street, and which has since been demolished. The novel describes Dicky's futile attempts to escape from the soul-destroying environment of the Jago, with the support of the Reverend Henry Sturt, who was based on the historical East End crusader, Arthur Osborne Jay, to whom the book is dedicated.

Arthur Morrison... grew up in the East End of London and was familiar with life on the dockside. He tells the story of ‘The Hole in the Wall’ through the eyes of young Stephen Kemp, taken to live with his grandfather after the death of his mother. Nat Kemp is determined to keep his grandson apart from the seamier side of the Docklands but Stephen has a natural inquisitiveness that will not be quelled.

Ten classic short stories from the quills of great bird-loving authors.

Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English writer and journalist known for his realistic novels and stories about working-class life in London's East End. 'Dobbs' Parrot' is a cleverly constructed humorous story about a con artist who manages to swindle four people simultaneously by selling them all a parrot in a cage, despite the fact that he has neither parrot nor cage at the start of the story.

'The Thing in the Upper Room' is a classic Victorian horror story. Poor young English artist Attwater is delighted to find an oddly cheap top-floor room to rent in an old house in Paris. The room, as he is aware, has a reputation for being haunted. But what the nature of the haunting is, nobody seems to know - the place has been let only once in living memory owing to its reputation, and that tenant had committed suicide at the point where the police were breaking down his door to arrest him for murder.

These six adventures of Sherlock Holmes' greatest rival will keep you guessing and listening.

After a woman reports seeing a murder victim, the body suddenly disappears. Arthur Morrison's fictional characters, Martin Hewitt and Inspector Nettings, work to solve the mystery with just a few pieces of evidence to consider - a dead tortoise, a voodoo doll, a bloodstained axe, and a note from 'an avenger.'

Private detective Horace Dorrington sees no conflict in helping himself while helping his clients. A promising new bicycle company presents him with an opportunity to cash in on his insider knowledge. But it's a dirty business, so Dorrington takes steps to ensure he's not taken for a ride.

A Child of the Jago is both thriller and condemnation of social conditions in the East End slums at the turn of the century. Boy hero Dicky Perrott is at heart full of humane instinct but his environment ensures his down fall. "It was my fate to encounter a place in Shoreditch where children were born and reared in circumstances which gave them no reasonable chance of living decent lives: where they were born fore-damned to a criminal or semi criminal career.

Great Animal Stories, featuring 25 beastly tales.

Cap'n Jollyfax, a retired sea captain, has a brass cannon which he likes to fire on special occasions. New Year, Waterloo day, the anniversary of Nelson's funeral, Trafalgar day, everyone's birthdays, weddings, christenings and every other occasion. His neighbour, the widow Mrs Billing, has a great dislike for the gun. So when Cap'n Jollyfax and Mrs Billing become engaged to be married it is perhaps not surprising that there is a dispute about the future of the gun...a dispute with hilarious consequences.

A Skinful of Trouble is the humorous tale of Mr. Dowdall, a gentleman who has invested as shareholder in a circus of dubious repute. All attempts to pursue the circus and recoup his investment are frustrated, until the circus manager agrees to send property of the circus to the value of the sum demanded. A circus tiger is then deposited on the street outside the Dowdall house in London.

A fascinating collection of classic short stories featuring unusual ways of making a living, including 'The Umbrella-Mender' by Beatrice Harraden, 'The Triumphs of a Taxidermist' by H. G. Wells, 'A Pair of Silk Stockings' by Kate Chopin, 'A Skinful of Trouble' by Arthur Morrison, 'White Magic' by Ella d'Arcy, 'A Deal in Ostriches' by H. G. Wells, and many more.

A fast-paced and varied collection of captivating short stories ranging from action thrillers to poignant tear-jerkers to the downright weird, including: "Jerry Bundler" by W. W. Jacobs, "The Umbrella Mender" by Beatrice Harraden, "Green Ink" by J. S. Fletcher, "Why Herbert Killed His Mother" by Winifred Holtby, "The Red Mark" by Israel Zangwill, "The White Kid Glove" by J. S. Fletcher, "Sophy Mason Comes Back" by E. M. Delafield, plus many more.

Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English writer and journalist known for his realistic novels and stories about working-class life in London's East End. The House of Haddock is the humorous story of an old rogue whose formerly genteel family has fallen on hard times. A former ancestor of his once gave a set of almshouses to the village, and our anti-hero sets out to ensure that one of these is allocated to him.