Writers, Lovers, Soldiers, Spies

by C.J. Schüler (contributor)

Where did Oscar Wilde indignantly denounce the censorship of his play Salome Where did Arthur Conan Doyle and Jerome K Jerome read from their unpublished manuscripts Where did Graham Greene prop up the bar with Kim Philby and Malcolm Muggeridge Founded by Sir Walter Besant in 1891 to provide a congenial central London venue where authors could relax and socialise, the Authors Club was a home from home to many of the leading figures of English letters in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Its Presidents have included George Meredith, Thomas Hardy, J M Barrie and Compton Mackenzie, while Emile Zola, Mark Twain, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Veronica Wedgwood and T S Eliot were among the guest speakers to address the Club s dinners. Rarely has such an array of writers gathered under one roof, yet the history of the Authors Club has never been written. Now, to commemorate its 125th anniversary and celebrate its return to the National Liberal Club in Whitehall Court, its former chairman has delved into its archives. Along with memoirs, diaries and newspaper reports, these unpublished records have provided the basis for a lively, entertaining and candid account of the Club s distinguished and often turbulent history. This richly absorbing narrative sheds new light on the lives and opinions of many celebrated authors through scandals, financial crises and two world wars. It tells how Arnold Bennett worked on his novels in the Club library while Conan Doyle won the billiard handicap four times, how Lloyd George assembled his kitchen cabinet here during the First World War and the MI5 spymaster Maxwell Knight recruited secret agents during the Second. Passionate disagreements among members over great events such as the General Strike and the Spanish Civil War have reflected changing social attitudes and views on literature and art.

192 pages, Paperback

Published November 18, 2016

About the author

C.J. Schüler's latest book, The Wood That Built London, a history of the woodland that once covered much of South London, is published by Sandstone Press on 7 October 2021. His travelogue Along the Amber Route (also from Sandstone), hailed as ‘timely and powerful’ by the Financial Times on its publication in February 2020, was shortlisted for Stanford Dolman Award and longlisted for the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize.. He is the author of three illustrated histories of cartography: Mapping the World, Mapping the City, and Mapping the Sea and Stars, (Éditions Place des Victoires/Frechmann) and co-author of the best-selling Traveller’s Atlas, (Barron, 1999). His history of the Authors’ Club of London, Writers, Lovers, Soldiers, Spies, was published in 2016 to critical acclaim. He has also written on literature, travel and the arts for The Independent, The Tablet, the Financial Times, and Slightly Foxed magazine.
Since graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English Language and Literature, he has worked in publishing and journalism, serving on the staff of The Independent, and the Rough Guides, and is now a freelance editor and copywriter. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 2011, and was chairman of the Authors’ Club from 2008 to 2015. He lives in South London with his wife, and is a conservation volunteer at his local nature reserve.

Reviews

[bookblast official · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing is an isolated activity. To sit around a table face-to-face with a sociable group of readers and writers to enjoy stimulating conversation, good food, and fine wine is a precious privilege indeed.