Elizabeth Bisland

[Rand]

Along with Nellie Bly, Bisland was paid by a newspaper to circumnavigate the Earth in the 19th century. Unlike Bly, she had serious literary aspirations and shied away from public life.

She wrote about her journey in the memoir In Seven Stages and also wrote a few other books, most interesting to me is "At the sign of the hobby horse" (a book on wordplay which seems to prefigure the Dada movement!) and her two volumes on Lafcadio Hearn (he's the first guy to call New Orleans "the big easy").

Bisland's other two books are "The secret life; being the book of a heretic" and "The Case of John Smith: His Heaven and His Hell".

All of her books are in the public domain and most are available online, eg In Seven Stages.

I learned of her through the new historical narrative Eighty Days, about the contest between her and Bly.

After reading snippets of her hobby horse book, I found her diction to be pleasingly elevated.

[Nathan "N.R."]

Nice. 19th century female circumnavigator? Not something we get to hear about often.

[Jimmy]

Also, her last book, Three Wise Men of the East (1930), which was published posthumously, is supposedly about Shah Jahan (the great lover) Chien Lung (the magnificent emperor) and Hideyoshi (the delightful parvenu). I don't know anything else, but it looks intriguing!

[Nathan "N.R."]

Jimmy wrote: "Also, her last book, Three Wise Men of the East (1930),"

Not present in the goodreads database? Please advise.

[Jimmy]

OK, added: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18...