Edward Verrall Lucas (11 June/12 June 1868 – 26 June 1938) was a versatile and popular English writer of nearly 100 books. His style has great facility, and is generally found insipid by contemporary readers; some of his
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball team sport that is first documented as being played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, cricket had developed to the point where it had become the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being...
writing has lasted. He is now remembered for his
essayAn essay is usually a short piece of writing. It is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can be literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author....
s and books about London and travel, appearing in many editions, and his biography of Charles Lamb. He was a close friend of
Edwin LutyensSir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA, LLD was a leading 20th century British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
.
He was born in Eltham, Kent into a Quaker family, and educated at Friends Public School in
Saffron WaldenSaffron Walden is a medium-sized market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. It is located north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and approx north of London...
.
Edward Verrall Lucas (11 June/12 June 1868 – 26 June 1938) was a versatile and popular English writer of nearly 100 books. His style has great facility, and is generally found insipid by contemporary readers; some of his
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball team sport that is first documented as being played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, cricket had developed to the point where it had become the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being...
writing has lasted. He is now remembered for his
essayAn essay is usually a short piece of writing. It is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can be literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author....
s and books about London and travel, appearing in many editions, and his biography of Charles Lamb. He was a close friend of
Edwin LutyensSir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA, LLD was a leading 20th century British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
.
He was born in Eltham, Kent into a Quaker family, and educated at Friends Public School in
Saffron WaldenSaffron Walden is a medium-sized market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. It is located north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and approx north of London...
. He worked first in a
BrightonBrighton is a town in the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex on the south coast of Great Britain...
bookshop and then on a
SussexSussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
newspaper followed by
The Globe; rising without university education to the
Punch magazine 'table' in 1904. He became a prolific writer, providing extensive content for Punch and a column "A wanderer's notebook" for the
Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
.
He was responsible for
A. A. MilneAlan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Life:A. A...
teaming up with
E. H. ShepardErnest Howard Shepard was an English artist and book illustrator. He was known especially for his human-like animals in illustrations for The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne....
for the
Winnie-the-PoohWinnie-the-Pooh, commonly shortened to Pooh Bear and once referred to as Edward Bear, is a fictional bear created by A. A. Milne. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh , and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner...
books. He wrote under
pen nameA pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
s EVL, VVV, E. D. Ward, and FF for film criticism. Some of his early work was in collaboration with Charles Larcom Graves (1856 – 1944), another Punch writer.
Rupert Hart-DavisSir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis was an English publisher, editor and man of letters. He founded the publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd...
collected and published a collection of his essays on cricket,
Cricket All His Life, which
John ArlottLeslie Thomas John Arlott OBE was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's Test Match Special. He was also a poet, wine connoisseur and former police officer in Hampshire...
called "the best written of all books on cricket
.
From 1924 he was chairman of the London publishers Methuen and Co.. According to R. G. G. Price's A History of Punch
, his polished and gentlemanly essayist's persona concealed:
a cynical clubman … very bitter about men and politics … [with] the finest pornographic library in London
.
Quotes
"One of the most adventurous things left us is to go to bed. For no one can lay a hand on our dreams."
- 365 Days and One More
"What is literature compared with cooking? The one is shadow, the other is substance."
- 365 Days and One More
"I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them."
Media
- In the early 90s' Children's television programme, 'The Sooty Show', The poem that begins with the lines
"O England, country of my heart's desire"
is wrongly attributed to an E.Y. Lucas, probably due to the 'V' in Lucas' name being mistaken for a 'Y' during the scriptwriting process.
Works
- Bernard Barton
Bernard Barton was known as the Quaker poet.Born of Quaker parentage in London, educated at a Quaker school in Ipswich, passed nearly all his life at Woodbridge, for the most part as a clerk in a bank. His wife died at the end of their first year of marriage.He became the friend of Southey,...
and his friends: a record of quiet lives (1893) Quaker biography
- A Book of Verse for Children (1897)
- The War of the Wenuses (1898) with C. L. Graves, parody of H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many genres, including contemporary novels, history, and social commentary....
's
The War of the WorldsThe War of the Worlds is an 1898 science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells.The War of the Worlds may also refer to:-Literature:...
Charles Lamb and the Lloyds (1898)
Willow and Leather (1898) cricket essays
The Open Road (1899) anthology
The Book of Shops (1899)
Four And Twenty Toilers (1900) poems
What Shall We Do Now? (1900) with Elizabeth Lucas, games book
Wisdom While You Wait (1903) with C. L. Graves, parody encyclopedia
Works and Letters of Charles and Mary LambMary Anne Lamb , was an English writer, the sister and collaborator of Charles Lamb.In 1796, Mary, who had suffered a breakdown from the strain of caring for her family, killed her mother with a kitchen knife, and from then on had to be kept under constant supervision. When their senile father...
(1903-5) editor
Highways and Byways in Sussex (1904)
The Life of Charles Lamb (1905) biography
The Friendly Town (1905)
A Wanderer in Holland (1905)
A Wanderer in London (1906)
Listener's Lure (1906)
Character and Comedy (1907)
A Swan and her Friends (1907 about Anna SewardAnna Seward was an English poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield.-Life:Seward was the elder daughter of Thomas Seward , prebendary of Lichfield and Salisbury, and author...
The Hambledon Men (1907) cricket
The Gentlest Art (1907) anthology of letters
Another Book of Verses for Children (1907)
Anne's Terrible Good Nature (1908)
Over Bemerton's (1908) novel
Hustled History, Or, As It Might Have Been (1908) with C. L. Graves
The Slowcoach (1908) fiction
Mr. Coggs and other songs for children (1908) with Liza Lehmann
A Wanderer in Paris (1909)
One Day and Another (1909)
Good Company - A Rally of Men (1909)
Sir Pulteney (1910) as E. D. Ward, fantasy
Mr Ingleside (1910) novel
The Second Post (1910) anthology of letters
Old Lamps for New (1911)
What a Life!What A Life! is a work of satirical fiction by Edward Verrall Lucas and George Morrow published in 1911. The book is best known for its inventive narrative technique: the story takes the reader through the life of an upper-class British gentleman, with the plot being dictated by the book's...
(1911) with George MorrowGeorge Morrow was a cartoonist and book illustrator. He was the son of a painter and decorator from Clifton Street in west Belfast...
William CowperWilliam Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry...
's Letters (1911) editor
A Wanderer in Florence (1912)
London Lavender (1912)
A Little of Everything (1912)
Loiterer's Harvest (1913) essays
Swollen Headed William (1914) parody
A Wanderer in Venice (1914)
Landmarks (1914)
A Picked Company: being a selection of writings (1915) editor
Her Infinite Variety: A Feminine Portrait Gallery (1915) anthology
The Hausfrau Rampant (1916) novel
Cloud and Silver (1916)
The Vermilion Box (1916) novel
London Revisited (1916)
A Boswell of Baghdad (1917) essays
Twixt Eagle & Dove (1918)
The Phantom Journal (1919)
Quoth the Raven (1919)
Verena in the Midst (1920)
Roving East and Roving West (1921)
Edwin Austin AbbeyEdwin Austin Abbey was an American artist, illustrator, and painter. He flourished at the beginning of what is now referred to as the "golden age" of illustration, and is best known for his drawings and paintings of Shakespearean and Victorian subjects, as well as for his painting of Edward VII's...
, Royal Academician, The Record of His Life and Work (1921) biography
Rose and Rose (1922)
Vermeer of Delft (1922)
Giving and Receiving (1922)
Ginevra's Money (1922)
Advisory Ben (1923)
Luck of the Year (1923)
Michael Angelo (1924)
RembrandtRembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history...
(1924)
A Wanderer among Pictures (1924)
Encounters and Diversions (1924)
The Same Star (1924) play
Zigzags in France (1925)
John ConstableJohn Constable was an English Romantic painter. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home—now known as "Constable Country"—which he invested with an intensity of affection...
the Painter (1925)
Introducing London (1925)
Playtime & Company (1925)
A Wanderer in Rome (1926)
Events and Embroideries (1926)
365 Days and One More (1926)
Frans Hals (1926)
Twelve Songs From "Playtime & Company" (1926)
The Joy of Life (1927) anthology of popular poetry
A Fronded Isle (1927)
The More I See of Men (1927)
The Flamp and Other Stories (1927)
A Rover I Would Be (1928)
Out of a Clear Sky (1928)
Mr Punch's Country Songs (1928)
The ColvinsSidney Colvin was an English literary and art critic, primarily remembered for his friendship with Robert Louis Stevenson.-Biography:He was born on June 18, 1845 in West Norwood, London, at St...
and their Friends (1928) biography
Windfall's Eye (1929)
Turning Things Over (1929) essays
If Dogs Could Write (1929) anthology
Down the Sky (1930)
Traveller’s Luck (1930) essays
And Such Small Deer (1931)
French Leaves (1931)
Visibility Good (1931)
Lemon Verbena (1932) essays
Reading, Writing, and Remembering (1932) (autobiography)
English Leaves (1933)
Saunterer's Rewards (1933)
Postbag Diversions (1933)
At the Shrine of St. Charles (1934) for Charles Lamb anniversary
Pleasure Trove (1935)
The Old Contemporaries (1935)
Only the Other Day (1936)
London Afresh (1937)
All of a Piece (1937)
As the Bee Sucks (1937)
Adventures and Misgivings (1938)
A Hundred Years of Trent BridgeTrent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
(1938) editor
Cricket All His Life (1950) edited by Rupert Hart-DavisSir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis was an English publisher, editor and man of letters. He founded the publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd...
, cricket writing
External links