Books Fatal to Their Authors: Famous Writers Who Lost Their Fortunes and Lives For Their Art.

by P.H. Ditchfield

An extravaganza of morbidity. A book for every bathroom. " Some say that he was killed in prison in 1599; others declare that he was released and fled to France, where he enjoyed a pension granted to him by Richelieu....His restless and ambitious spirit carried him into enterprises which were outside the proper sphere of his philosophy. In this he followed the example of many other luckless authors..." "Authorities differ with regard to the ultimate fate of this author. Some say that he was killed in prison in 1599; others declare that he was released and fled to France, where he enjoyed a pension granted to him by Richelieu. However, during his incarceration he continued his studies, and wrote a work concerning the Spanish monarchy which was translated from Italian into German and Latin. In spite of his learning he made many enemies by his arrogance; and his restless and ambitious spirit carried him into enterprises which were outside the proper sphere of his philosophy. In this he followed the example of many other luckless authors, to whom the advice of the homely proverb would have been valuable which states that "a shoemaker should stick to his last."

Genres: Books About Books, Nonfiction, History, Classics

162 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1895

About the author

Rev. Peter Hempson Ditchfield, FSA (1854–1930) was a Church of England priest, an historian and a prolific author. He also co-edited with W.H. Page three Berkshire volumes of the Victoria County History, which were published in 1907, 1923 and 1924. (wikipedia)

Reviews

[jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

fascinating to read about but the writing itself was kinda boring 🧍🏽

[Galicius · Rating 2 out of 5]

On closer reading this short volume does live up to its title. It is encyclopedic in form listing a vast number of individuals who like the tile says usually suffered greatly for what the wrote or proclaimed. This list is mostly unfamiliar names of approximately 172 individuals on 244 pages (mine is Kindle edition) so some get only a couple of paragraphs to tell their story though occasionally a classic pops up like Samuel Johnson who was fined, imprisoned, and publicly whipped for writing “An Humble and Hearty Address to All the Protestants in the Present Army”. (p. 136)

Chapter I Theology – 22 names

Chapter II Fanatics and Free Thinkers – 11 name

Chapter III Astrology, Alchemy, and Magic – 6 names

Chapter IV Science and Philosophy – 12 names including Roger Bacon, Denis Diderot, Galileo, Jordano Bruno

Chapter V History – 21 names

Chapter VI Politics and Statesmanship – 33 names

Chapter VII Satire – 14 names including Daniel Defoe

Chapter VIII Poetry – 17 names including Voltaire

Chapter IX Drama and Romance – 6 names

Chapter X Booksellers and Publishers – 19 names

Chapter XI Some Literary Martyrs – 11 names

Most of the quotes and titles are in original languages, whether it’s Latin, French, Italian, or other. This makes it a somewhat hard to follow. The material is interesting but the author only breezes through the short biographies of authors who usually suffer various horrific deaths for what they wrote. It deals mostly with late 16th Century to early 18th.

[megHan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Even though it was packed with information, it flowed and reading it was quite fast. There's only one problem I had with it - when it had a title or quote in another language, sometimes the Kindle couldn't translate it, and it bugged me cause there were two or three that in order to understand what the author meant by it, I would need to know the translation. If you're interested in book banning and burning, this is definitely something you should check out.