Louis Becke (1859-1913)

A Bibliography
compiled by Dirk H.R. Spennemann

Colonial Editions

The major UK publishers serviced their major colonial markets of Canada, Australia and India with special colonial editions.
       T. Fisher Unwin's 'Colonial editions' were "issued for circulation in the British Colonies and Dependencies only" (fly leaf of 'Ebbing of the Tide"). Other publishers, such as T.Werner Laurie, George Bell and Macmillan had similar series. These were commonly smaller in binding, often offered both in cloth and paper versions, but identical in page lay-out to the standard octavo edition, with the exception of the title page. Unwin often used red and black title pages for his British copies and plain black title faces for the colonial versions.
       The right of sale meant that only British-produced books could be sold in the British colonies and overseas dependencies, thus preventing the import of US or Canadian editions. Likewise, however, the export of British books to the USA was prohibited.
       On occasion, the Australian importers of such colonial editions would purchase the substantially cheaper paper copies and have them locally bound in linen.

Uniform Edition

In 1924-1926 T. Fisher Unwin began the reprinting of Louis Becke'e oevre in a unifom edition, bound in light green cloth, with gilt spine titles and a palm-studded island scene on the from board. J.B. Lippincott sold the US version (in dark green cloth woth black lettering), while Thomas Allen of Toronto sold the Canadian edition. T. Werner Laurie reprinted his Becke stock, in a binding similar to Unwin's. The absence of printing dates in these editions, especially the Lippincott edition, create substantial confusion for the less experienced book dealers.

Dustjackets

Dustjackets are rare items. Few people kept them, most second hand book dealers discarded them when tatty, and many libraries had the policy of discarding dust jackets when cataloguing the acquisitions. This is expecially true for the dustjackets of the 1890s and 1900s. Only on occasion parts of the jacket, commonly the front cover, were bound into the book.

Illustrations

Some of Becke's stories written for the Bulletin appeared in the Christmas issues of 1893 and 1894. These were illustrated with ink sketches drawn by B.E.Minns and G.H. Lambert. Most of the British literary magazines commissioned artists to illustrate the stories.
       With the exception of the books designed for a juvenile audience, only few of these illustrations were included in books. The following of Beckes books which were published illustrated: His Native Wife illustrated by Leslie Brooke, Sketches of Normandy by W.Dacre Adams, Edward Barry by H.C.Edwards, The Settlers of Karossa Creek by John Finnemore, Tom Wallis by Lancelot Speed, and Bully Hayes by Norman Lindsay.