Herbert George Jenkins

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Herbert George Jenkins (1876 – 8 June 1923) was a

Herbert Jenkins Ltd, which published many of P. G. Wodehouse
's novels.

Biography

Jenkins' parents came from Norfolk and, according to his obituary in The Times, he was educated at Greyfriars College. He began work as a journalist and then spent some 11 years at The Bodley Head before founding his own publishing house in 1912.[1] He remained unmarried and died at the age of 47, on 8 June 1923 after a six-month-long illness,[2] in Marylebone, London.

As publisher

Dust jacket of Piccadilly Jim, Wodehouse's first novel to be published by Herbert Jenkins

In 1912 Jenkins founded his own publishing company: Herbert Jenkins Limited. Its offices were in a narrow, 19th-century building with five floors in Duke of York Street, just off

A Dominie's Log, launching his career as a famous teacher and writer of books on education. Herbert Jenkins Ltd published many of P. G. Wodehouse's novels, starting with Piccadilly Jim
in 1918.

By the 1950s – long after Jenkins' death – the company was still being run as a 1930s business might have been. In 1964 it merged with Barrie & Rockcliffe to form

Century and then by Random House (now owned by Bertelsmann). It continues to exist as a specialist imprint mainly for hardback editions within the Random House stable.[4]

Book series

The following series were issued the Herbert Jenkins publishing company:

  • Fireside Library[6]
  • Green Label Novels[7]
  • Herbert Jenkins' Colonial Library
  • How to Catch Them
  • The Shilling Library
  • "Reason Why" Series[8]
  • Splendid Library
  • To-Day Library

As a writer

Although Jenkins is best known for his light fiction, his first book was a biography of George Borrow. He was an admirer of the poet and visual artist William Blake and conducted research into his trial for high treason and the location of his lost grave,[2] writing a book on him, posthumously published in 1925.

His most popular fictional creation was Mr. Joseph Bindle, who first appeared in a humorous novel in 1916 and in a number of sequels. In the preface to the books, T. P. O'Connor said that "Bindle is the greatest Cockney that has come into being through the medium of literature since Dickens wrote Pickwick Papers".[9] The stories are based on the comedic drama of life at work, at home and all the adventures that take place along the way.

Jenkins also wrote a number of short stories about Detective Malcolm Sage, which were collected into one book in 1921. Sage has been compared to both Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes in his style of detective work. Three of the Sage stories were included in Eugene Thwing's 10-volume collection of vintage detective stories, The World's Best 100 Detective Stories (1929).

As was the norm at the time, many of his fictional works appeared first in

pulp magazines. Two of his novels and several of his short stories were made into short movies.[10]

List of works

According to a bibliography compiled by the English Department at the Canadian

Mount Royal College, Jenkins wrote the following works:[11]

Film adaptations

Jenkins' Bindle books were the inspiration for the 1926 series of two-reeler shorts Bindle Introduced, Bindle at the Party, Bindle in Charge, Bindle's Cocktail, Bindle, Millionaire, and Bindle, Matchmaker;[13] and laterThe Temperance Fête (1931) and Bindle (One of Them Days) (1966).

References

  1. ^ a b "Obituaries – Mr Herbert Jenkins". The Times. 9 June 1923. p. 12. Retrieved 26 March 2012. (Subscription required for online access)
  2. ^ a b "Death of Well Known Author – The Creator of "Bindle."". Hull Daily Mail. 9 June 1923. p. 2. Retrieved 26 March 2012 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ a b Leventhal, Lionel. "Tail Piece: A Profession for Gentlemen". Greenhill Books. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  4. ^ a b "History of the Random House Imprints". Bibliographic Archive RandomHouse Database. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  5. ^ Taylor, D. J. (January 2012). "Fraser, George Macdonald (1925–2008)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 26 March 2012. ((subscription or UK public library membership required))
  6. ^ Fireside Library, seriesofseries.com. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  7. ^ Green Label Novels (Herbert Jenkins) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Reason Why" series (Herbert Jenkins) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  9. ^ "Bindle: Some Chapters in the Life of Joseph Bindle". gutenberg.net.au. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  10. ^ "Herbert Jenkins". IMDb. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  11. Mount Royal College. Archived from the original
    on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  12. ^ "Malcolm Sage, detective : Herbert George Jenkins". June 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  13. ^ "Bindle Introduced". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
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