Bernard Capes

Bernard Edward Joseph Capes (August 30, 1854 – November 2, 1918) was an English author.

Biography

Capes was born in London, one of eleven children: his elder sister, Harriet Capes (1849-1936), was a noted translator and author of more than a dozen children's books. [Hugh Lamb, "The Black Reaper", 1998] His grandfather, John Capes, had converted to Roman Catholicism, so Capes was brought up a Catholic, and educated at the Catholic college Beaumont College. However, he rapidly 'gave this up'. [Renalt Capes, son]

Capes was a prolific Victorian author, publishing more than forty volumes - romances, mysteries, poetry, history - together with many articles for the magazines of the day. His early writing career was as a journalist, later becoming editor of a paper called "The Theatre", which was well known in late nineteenth century London. Other magazines for which Capes wrote included "Blackwood's", "Butterfly", "Cassell’s", "Cornhill Magazine", "Hutton’s Magazine", "Illustrated London News", "Lippincott’s", "Macmillan’s Magazine", "Literature", "New Witness", "Pall Mall Magazine", "Pearson’s", "The Idler", "The New Weekly", and "The Queen".

He finally committed to writing novels full-time, taking around four months for each novel. [Renalt Capes, son] On several occasions he had two or three novels published in the same year - and even four in 1910. His first success came in 1897, when he entered a $30,000 competition for new authors sponsored by the "Chicago Record". He was awarded second prize for "The Mill of Silence", published by Rand, McNally that year. The following year the "Chicago Record" ran the competition again, and this time Capes won it with "The Lake of Wine", published by Heinemann. [Hugh Lamb, "The Black Reaper", 1998] .

Capes' son Renalt Capes, and grandson Ian Burns, are also published authors.

He died in the 1918 ’flu epidemic.

Works

*"The Haunted Tower" (as ‘Bevis Cane’), 1888
*"The Missing Man" (as ‘Bevis Cane’), Eglington & Co, 1889
*"The Mill of Silence", Rand, McNally & Company, Chicago, 1897
*"The Lake of Wine", Heinemann, 1897
*"Adventures of the Comte de Muette", William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, 1898
*"The Mysterious Singer", J.W. Arrowsmith,
*"Our Lady of Darkness", Wm Blackwood, 1898
*"At a Winter’s Fire", Arthur Pearson (Re-issued, 1978, by Ayer Co Publishing (USA), 1899
*"From Door to Door", Wm Blackwood, 1900
*"Love Like a Gypsy", Archibald Constable & Co, Westminster, 1901
*"Plots", Methuen & Co, London, 1902
*"A Castle in Spain", Smith, Elder & Co, London, 1903
*"The Secret in the Hill", Smith, Elder & Co, London, 1903
*"The Extraordinary Confessions of Diana Please",
*"A Jay of Italy", Methuen, 1905
*"The Romance of Lohengrin", Dean and Son, 1906(?)
*"Bembo: A Tale of Italy", Dutton & Co., NY, 1906
*"Loaves and Fishes" (2nd edition 1906), 1906
*"The Great Skene Mystery", Methuen, 1907
*"The House of Many Voices",
*"The Green Parrot", Smith, Elder & Co, 1908
*"Amaranthus: A Book of Little Songs", T. Fisher Unwin, 1908
*"The Love Story of St Bel", 1908
*"Why Did He Do It?", 1910
*"Historical Vignettes", 1st Series, T. Fisher Unwin, 1910
*"Jemmy Abercraw", Methuen, 1910
*"Gilead Balm", T. Fisher Unwin, 1911
*"Jessie Bazley", Constable and Company, London, 1912
*"Historical Vignettes", 2nd Series, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1912
*"The Pot of Basil", Constable and Company, 1913
*"Bag and Baggage", Constable, 1913
*"The Story of Fifine", Constable (re-issued 1919), 1914
*"The Fabulists", 1915
*"Moll Davis", George Allen & Unwin, 1916
*"If Age Could", Duckworth and Co, London, 1916
*"Where England Sets Her Feet",
*"The Will and the Way",
*"A Fool’s Passion and Other Poems",
*"The Skeleton Key", W. Collins Sons, London, 1919

References

*"The Black Reaper", ed. Hugh Lamb, Equation, Wellingborough, 1989
*"The Black Reaper", ed. Hugh Lamb, Ash-Tree Press, Ashcroft, British Columbia

External links

*gutenberg author| id=Bernard_Capes | name=Bernard Capes
*worldcat id|id=lccn-n82-98288