Jennifer Kloester's Blog, page 10

Georgette Heyer’s Father – George Heyer – at Cambridge

George Heyer at Cambridge

In 1888, at the age of 19, George Heyer won a place at Cambridge university. He had done well at King’s College School., having won academic prizes at every year level, including prizes in Literature, French, Greek and Mathematics. His well-to-do middle-class family intended him to be an ‘English Gentleman’ – an independent man of means who could indulge his passion for literature and theatre , travel, and move up the social ladder. Unfortunately, the 1880’s depression meant there was not enough money to enable George to achieve his father’s ambition. Instead, George was accepted as a sizar student at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Sizar students were those with limited means who were admitted to their College at a lower fee. They did not have to pay for food or tuition and were given lodgings at a reduced rate. Originally, the sizar student was required to undertake certain domestic duties in return for these allowances, but this requirement was obsolete by the end of the nineteenth century. On 1st  October 1888, at the beginning of the Michaelmas term, George Heyer entered Sidney Sussex College, taking rooms in C2 on the second floor of Hall Court. He was enrolled in the Classical Tripos – a three-year course requiring the study of Greek and Latin literature, Greek and Roman history and Classical authors including Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Pliny, Plutarch and Pausanias – great writers who George would one day introduce to his daughter, Georgette Heyer, and on whom they would leave a lasting impression.

George Heyer’s College – Sidney Sussex College Cambridge



A Popular Scholar

George loved his time at Cambridge. He was popular with his fellow students and an active participant in poetry-readings, tennis matches and the general rough and tumble of university life. In his third and fourth years at the university he became part of the literary set and had several of his poems published in the famous Cambridge magazine, Granta. First published in 1889, Granta’ s editor was Rudolph Lehmann who would later join the editorial board of Punch. Many of the contributors to The Granta went on to be published in Punch – George Heyer among them. Lehmann was only one among many of George’s Cambridge friends who appreciated his wit and charm of manner. At one poetry reading Lehmann expressed his “frank enjoyment when B.I.N.K., a new man, began with a Pantoum. Rudie came down at once on a single Cockney rhyme and he got it mended; but he clearly liked the fun of it, and the art – and the idea of having in the Granta the kind of thing Austin Dobson and Andrew Lang were doing in those days.”[i]

Georgette’s father – George Heyer



A Mysterious Nickname

B.I.N.K. (also ‘Blinker’) was George’s nickname at Cambridge and he used it as his nom de plume whenever he was published in The Granta or, after graduation, in the Sidney Sussex Alumni magazine, The Pheon. The poem which Lehmann had enjoyed was ‘In the Lent Term’ published in The Granta on 13 February 1892. It is a light-hearted account of George trying to study Greek while a friend tempts him from his books to a tennis match at nearby Leys. A pantoum is a particularly challenging form of poetry which requires the writer to create a series of four-line stanzas in which the second and fourth lines of each verse are repeated as the first and third lines of the next. George wrote it with ‘apologies to Austin Dobson’, a well-known poet of the time who often favoured the style

A Clever Poem – a Pantoum

IN THE LENT TERM (With aplogies to Mr Austin Dobson)

AFTERNOON working is nauseous,
(Bother that man in the court!)
Though it was best to be cautious,
It’s suicide almost to sport.

Bother that man in the court:  
  “Blinker, I’ve something to say”–
It’s suicide almost to sport,
   And doubtless he’ll soon go away.  

“Blinker, I’ve something to say”–
     He may yell, but he’ll find it no catch,
And doubtless he’ll soon go away;
     Perhaps he is off to a match.

He may yell, but he’ll find it no catch;
     I’d better get on with the “Persae;”
Perhaps he is off to the match,
     (I remember I want a new jersey).

I’d better get on with the “Persae;”
     This chorus might well be in Hindoo;
(I remember I want a new jersey),
     “Bang” goes a stone on the window.

This chorus might well be in Hindoo;
     –I suppose it’s that idiot again;
“Bang” goes a stone on the window;
     Dash it! he’s broken a pane.

I suppose it’s that idiot again,
     He thinks in the end he will win;
Dash it! he’s broken a pane,
     There’s a horrible draught coming in.

He thinks in the end he will win;
     I’ll stick to it:– “Zev baoile v“– *
There’s a horrible draught coming in,
     Great Jupiter! what shall I do?

I’ll stick to it:– “Zev baoile v,
vuv oipa ti av IIepowv–“
Great Jupiter! what shall I do?
I wish he would leave me alone.

“vuv oipa ti av IIepowv–“
He’s coming upstairs, to be sure!
I wish he would leave me alone.
       For I never sported my door!

He’s coming upstairs, to be sure!
     He says as he enters with ease,
(For I never sported my door),
     “We’re off to a match at the Leys.”

He says, as he enters with ease,
     That I shouldn’t have been so incautious.
*          *          *          *
We’re off to a match at the Leys;
Afternoon working is nauseous.

  B.I.N.K. (the Granta 13 February 1892)

Apologies for the pseudo-Greek writing. It’s correct in the original but I couldn’t work out how to use Greek letters in WordPress.



Fun with Words                                                 

The poem reflects George’s love of writing about the
everyday. He liked to capture real moments in his life and his enjoyment of ordinary
things. Like his daughter in years to come, he had an eye for detail and an
appreciation of human foibles which he frequently chose to depict with humour
and a deft pen. His poetry reveals his personality and a love of fun that was
greatly appreciated by his peers.

There was a tradition in Granta circles of making up verses (based on lines from a song in Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta, Patience) to honour contributors. There was great distinction in being versified in this way and the lines composed about George by one of his Sidney Sussex friends, George Weekes (later Vice-Chancellor of the university), give a sense of the energy and enthusiasm that endeared him to so many people:

A waggish and gay young man,
A plenty-to-say young man,
Tell you tales by the score,
Give you nicknames galore,
I'll show you the way young man.



Style and Wit

In later years, Heyer was described by a
contemporary as ‘one of the most popular men at Sidney Sussex College’ and
there is no doubt that he had an engaging personality and a talent for
friendship. Reading his many poems it is also clear that he had an ear for
poetic rhythm, rhyme and metre as well as a great sense of style and wit.

In June 1891, George was awarded his Bachelor of Arts degree with a Second Class in Part I of the Classical Tripos. A friend later suggested that it may have been his popularity (and all the activities that went with it) that precluded him from obtaining a First Class degree. In the second half of 1891, he began reading for Art and Archaeology in Part II of the Classical Tripos and the following year he spent his Easter vacation in Greece, where he reveled in visits to Olympia and many of the other ancient sites pertinent to his studies. His travelling companion was a Cambridge friend, George Weekes, later the Reverend Weekes, who became the much-loved Master of Sidney Sussex College from 1918 to 1945 and Vice-Chancellor from 1926-28. Greece proved fascinating trip for a pair of enthusiastic Classical scholars and George enjoyed himself thoroughly. He was in high spirits when he wrote a poem from Olympia on Good Friday 1892, entitled ‘To the Editor’, in which he bemoaned the lack of Cambridge sporting information in Greece and requested the editor to send ‘a wire’ with the results of a recent rowing race. This was just one of several poems published in The Granta in the first half of 1892 and the irresistible urge to write – which he would later pass on to his daughter – saw George give more time to his poetry than to his studies. As a result, in June of that year, he gained only a Third in Part II of the Classical Tripos.

A Poem Written from Olympia

To the Editor

(Olympia, April 15th)

Dear Mr. Editor, your grace
I crave to give my lines a place;
I wish to write about a race.
The article which you devise
Upon the subject, if it's wise,
Will probably apologise,
Because, forsooth, you publish late,
And don’t expect a man would wait
Two weeks to know the winning eight.
No more he would, unless like me
He happened at the time to be
Two thousand miles across the sea.
Just think of it; a week ago
The race was over; all I know
Is that two crews "intend to row."
I gather notions of a sort
About the practice from the short
Excursus of a "Times" report.
The "Times" I do not wish to scold,
But think of a "Sportsman" eight days old
Would well be worth its weight in gold.
There's nothing more for me to do
But finish with a word or two
Of excellent advice to you.
Don’t travel in the Easter Vac.,
But send a wire upon my track;
I'll pay you soon when I get back.
            B.I.N.K. The Granta 23 April 1892

[i]
FA Rice, (ed.), The Granta and its Contributors, Constable, London,
1924, p.21.

Georgette Heyer’s father – George Heyer: the Boy

A love of Literature

Georgette Heyer’s father, George Heyer, was a huge influence on her writing. Without George Heyer’s love of great poetry and literature, his enthusiasm for the theatre and his sense of humour, it is possible that we might never have had Georgette Heyer’s wonderful novels. I wrote about George Heyer in Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller, but publishing constraints (word length, too much background information) meant that quite a lot of the material I’d gathered about Georgette Heyer’s father was cut from the original manuscript. Because of his importance in her life and in shaping her into the author she became, I’ve always found George Heyer of great interest. By all reports he was a charismatic man, energetic, fun and keenly interested in great writing. It was George Heyer who ensured that, from an early age, his only daughter read the Greek classics, Shakespeare, Dickens and the great poets. Among the many books in what remains of Georgette Heyer’s library there are several inscribed with her father’s name; all of them are by great writers. It was because of George Heyer that Georgette published her first novel, The Black Moth when she was still a teenager.

The 1929 Heinemann dustjacket by Walter Lambert.




Born in 1869

George Heyer was born in 1869, the eldest of four
children. As the only son of a Russian émigré father and an English mother (of
an old Norfolk family) he was raised to be an ‘English gentleman’. At the age
of seven he was sent to Hargrave Private School, a Preparatory School on
Highgate Hill in north London. Intelligent and eager to learn, by the age of
eleven George had reached the highest class in both Classics and Mathematics.
From Hargrave, he went to the prestigious King’s College School in central
London. King’s College School had been founded in 1831 as a junior department
and feeder school to King’s College London. The College and school originally
formed the east wing of Somerset House, between the Strand and the Thames, with
the school located in the basement of the building. By the time George Heyer
entered King’s it was a thriving concern with over six hundred students and a
reputation for scholastic excellence. He entered the school at the start of the
summer term on 6 May 1881, six weeks after his twelfth birthday. That same
year, the Heyers moved from Islington to ‘The Chestnuts’ in Court Road, Eltham,
not far from the famous maritime town of Greenwich and within easy reach of the
grassy open spaces of Blackheath. George enjoyed his time at King’s School. He
was a bright and enthusiastic student whose lively sense of humour endeared him
to his fellow students. He had a knack for making friends and a fellow King’s
scholar remembered their time there together with affection.

A friend remembers school in the Strand:

“Heyer’s school-days were passed in the buildings in the Strand, where with all its drawbacks there was a certain unique fascination about the School life. The day’s work in School ended at 3 o’clock, and we were free to wander home at leisure to our respective suburbs. Holywell Street, with all its old bookshops, was close at hand for our inspection, and no doubt Heyer’s love of old books was in this way aroused and fostered. His interest in old London, encouraged by the greatly valued English teaching we received at School from Professor Hales, as to the lives in London of Chaucer, of Spenser, of Shakespeare and of Milton remained strong with him throughout his life. In some clever lines, which many will remember, he lamented the destruction of the Lowther Arcade and other modern changes in the Strand.”

The Strand 1890s (Creative Commons)



Poem – “The Widening of the Strand” 1903

The ‘clever lines’ were from a poem entitled ‘The Widening of the Strand’, which George  wrote in 1903 some fifteen years after he had ceased to be a student and had instead become a master at King’s College Shool, now in new premises in Wimbledon. The memory of those afternoons spent roaming the streets and lanes in the area around the Strand remained strong in George Heyer’s mind throughout his life and his poem vividly conjures up the some of the shops and experiences which he enjoyed in those carefree adolescent days spent in central London.

The Widening of the Strand

“Adparet domus intus
et atria longa patescunt.”

[“The interior stood
revealed. A long vista of galleries was suddenly exposed”]

Who that starts upon a
journey

            From the haunt of the attorney–

Temple Bar– and travels
westward to the “Grand”,

            Can behold without a spasm

            Authorised iconoclasm

Making havoc of the idols
of the Strand?

            Gone the gay arcade of Lowther,–

            We may hear no longer now there

Mimic music; for the realm
of salesmen bland,

            Humming-tops, and penny flutes, is

Given over unto Coutt’s,

Which has flitted from the
South side of the Strand.

            Shall we lose the scents of Rimmel?

            Is a sausage-shop – ach Himmel!–

A desirable encroachment on
the land?–

            If the County Council urges,

            Will they dare to banish Burgess

And the redolent anchovy
from the Strand?

            Did the bust of Shakespeare

            When, from French’s upper storey,

Waiting crowds at the
Lyceum pit it scanned?

            Transit Gloria! – for French’s            

            And the old Lyceum benches

Are become as ancient
history of the Strand.

            And the “lane”, where once we wandered

            And our pence absurdly squandered

Over volumes dust-begrimed
and second-hand;–

            Gone!– with Simpson’s older chop-house

            And the Attenborough pop-house

That displayed its triple emblem
to the Strand.

            Yet for those that love its pavement

            There is still a sweet enslavement

That a Londoner is helpless
to withstand;–

            ‘Tis a something past defining,

            like the famous T of Twining

still unsever’d, and
inherent in the Strand.

                                    George Heyer 1903

Jane Austen’s Ghost on Just Contemporary Romance Blog

Such fun being a guest on Just Contemporary Romance! A great site featuring so many amazing authors. If you want to know what to read next in romance fiction then this is the place for you. My new novel Jane Austen’s Ghost isa contemporary romance but with a Regency twist and a paranormal element – as you’d expect with ‘ghost’ in the title. I loved having the chance to talk about how I combined the modern with the historical and you can read about it here.

Release Date: October 29, 2019
Buy it here:
AMAZON US | AMAZON AUS | AMAZON UK | IBOOKS | SMASHWORDS | B&N | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND
The acclaimed author of Georgette Heyer’s Regency World and Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller debuts with her first adult novel.

Austenprose and Jane Austen’s Ghost

Such a thrill to have my new novel JANE AUSTEN”S GHOST previewed on Austenprose. Laurel Ann Natress is a generous patroness of all things Jane Austen and her website is a must-visit for every Jane Austen fan. You can visit Austenprose here and read about my new novel here

Release Date: October 29, 2019
Buy it here:
AMAZON US | AMAZON AUS | AMAZON UK | IBOOKS | SMASHWORDS | B&N | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND
The acclaimed author of Georgette Heyer’s Regency World and Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller debuts with her first adult novel.

Jane Austen’s Ghost giveaway on For Love of Austen Blogspot

I am delighted to have Jane Austen’s Ghost featured on such a beautiful website as For the Love of Austen. And if you leave a comment there you can win a copy of Jane Austen’s Ghost. The excerpt posted here is one of my favourites and just one of many scenes that I loved writing. Maybe it was all the years of reading and loving Jane Austen’s novels or the research into her life but I actually felt as though I got to know her. That probably sounds strange but her voice seemed so clear in my head and her words just fell onto the page. I hope you enjoy reading about her adventures in our twenty-first century world.

Release Date: October 29, 2019

Buy it here:

AMAZON US | AMAZON AUS | AMAZON UK | IBOOKS | SMASHWORDS | B&N | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND

The acclaimed author of Georgette Heyer’s Regency World and Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller debuts with her first adult novel.

Jane Austen’s Ghost on Babblings of a Bookworm Blogspot

Such a pleasure to be a guest on Ceri’s wonderful blog. I loved sharing my discovery of James Stanier Clarke and the inspiration his unnamed painting was for my new novel, Jane Austen’s Ghost. Clarke actually knew Jane Austen and in 1815 he hosted her at the Prince Regent’s London palace. Clarke showed Jane Austen the Carlton House library and the two of them exchanged a number of letters. You can read about him and Jane Austen here.

Release Date: October 29, 2019
Buy it here:
AMAZON US | AMAZON AUS | AMAZON UK | IBOOKS | SMASHWORDS | B&N | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND
The acclaimed author of Georgette Heyer’s Regency World and Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller debuts with her first adult novel.

Chawton House on So Little Time Blogspot

Thank you Candy for having me on your gorgeous website. I loved being able to share my day at Chawton House with your readers and to post some of the pictures from my visit. I still can’t believe I actually got to read Persuasion in first edition! You can see the pictures and read about it here https://bit.ly/2JsCRnC . It’s so exciting to have my new novel Jane Austen’s Ghost out in the world. I hope your readers enjoy her and all the other great books featured on your blog.

Release Date: October 29, 2019

Buy it here:

AMAZON US | AMAZON AUS | AMAZON UK | IBOOKS | SMASHWORDS | B&N | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND

The acclaimed author of Georgette Heyer’s Regency World and Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller debuts with her first adult novel.

Inspired by Chawton on Austenesque

Recently, I had the chance to share some of my Jane Austen adventures on the fabulous Austenesque website here https://bit.ly/31UgX2L. I was delighted to write a guest post about my visit to Chawton Village in England and the inspiring Jane Austen’s House Museum there. Thank you so much for having me Meredith. If you’re an Austen fan or if you just love great books then take a look at the latest guest post here https://bit.ly/31RVWFR

Release Date: October 29, 2019

Buy it here:

AMAZON US | AMAZON AUS | AMAZON UK | IBOOKS | SMASHWORDS | B&N | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND

The acclaimed author of Georgette Heyer’s Regency World and Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller debuts with her first adult novel.

Jane Austen’s Ghost on ARRA

It’s launch day and I’m so thrilled to have my new novel JANE AUSTEN’S GHOST on ARRA – the wonderful Australian Romance Readers Association website. Thanks for having me everyone. Love the way you support romance writers and readers! You can read about Jane Austen’s Ghost here.

Release Date: October 29, 2019

Buy it here:

AMAZON US | AMAZON AUS | AMAZON UK | IBOOKS | SMASHWORDS | B&N | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND

The acclaimed author of Georgette Heyer’s Regency World and Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller debuts with her first adult novel.

The Black Moth – the missing dusjacket

The Black Moth first edition published by Constable UK in September 1921. To date I have never seen the dustjacket.



The US dustjacket is also a mystery

Georgette Heyer’s first novel, The Black Moth, was published in September 1921. It was her only novel published by Constable, who bought the rights for £100. We don’t know why Constable only published this one book of Heyer’s and no other. It may be that they had an option on her second novel but did not want The Great Roxhythe because it was so different from The Black Moth. Or there may have been some other reason. Like many publishers, Constable’s archives were damaged during the Second World War and so searching the records for clues is not possible. Heyer’s first novel sold well and Constable brought out a second edition in 1922, only months after the book’s initial publication. They also sold it to Houghton Mifflin in America who brought out an elegant edition with orange lettering against a black background and the sub-title ‘A Romance of the Eighteenth Century’ on both the front board and the spine.

The US first edition of The Black Moth published by Houghton Mifflin. I have always wondered if the UK and US jackets were the same?

To date I have never seen the dustjacket for either the American or the UK edition. It remains one of my romantic dreams to find one. It is not known what the original cover of The Black Moth looked like. Heyer’s first biographer, Jane Aiken Hodge, saw a copy in the 1980s during her research for The Private World of Georgette Heyer. Jane said that it “carried [Heyer’s] picture in a central medallion”. I think she must have seen Heyer’s brother Frank’s copy of the book. He was ten years younger than Georgette and when he died in 2002 he left behind several signed editions of her novels. These were later sold. When I contacted Frank’s stepson in hopes of locating the elusive dustjacket, he said he thought that the cover must have fallen to pieces for it was not sold with the book.

The mystery photo on the original jacket?



A young Georgette Heyer circa 1921. This may have been the photograph ‘in a medallion’ on the back cover of her first novel.

I still dream of one day finding a copy with the jacket intact – if only to finally see what it looked like. During my research for my Georgette Heyer biography I found a  photo of Georgette Heyer that might have been the one used in the ‘central medallion’ on the original Black Moth dustjacket. The photo was published in The Bookman in 1924. In that magazine it is only matchbox-sized (hence the grainy picture here) but the hair and clothes are the right period for The Black Moth. It has been suggested that Heinemann might have copied the original cover illustration when they acquired the rights to republish The Black Moth in 1929. This is possible, although when Heinemann republished The Great Roxhythe seven years after Hutchinson first published it, they did so with a different dustjacket from the original (more on Roxhythe next week).

Copied from the original?



The 1929 Heinemann dustjacket by Walter Lambert.



Will it always be a mystery?

I hope that one day someone will find a first edition of Georgette Heyer’s famous first novel, The Black Moth, complete with the original dustjacket. I would love to see it. I would love to own it. I would love to sell enough books to be able to buy it. Today, nearly one hundred years after its first publication It remains a bestseller. September 2021 will mark its centenary. To have a novel endure for so long is a huge achievement for any author. But for a book written by a girl in her teens, it is exceptional. I wonder how many novels written by seventeen-year-olds remain in print a century after their first publication? And I wonder if an original dustjacket will ever come to light or whether it will forever remain a mystery?