The Devil's Derelicts

[Phil Carter]

Hello Debs,

Thank you, yes, I would be very interested.

I am trying to trace this fellow. His full name is a strange one for it should link him in with both the Leveson Gower family (Re. William Vernon Harcourt) and the Vernon and Harcourt families themselves, but as yet I cannot find a definitive for the man. Hopefully someone else's brain is working faster than mine this morning.. and will find the answer easy peasy.
Unless I have missed it (probably), ancestral trees have not shown this full name yet.

Many thanks

kindly

Phil

[Paul Kearney A.K.A. NEMO]

Thanks Phil

Sounds interesting Deb, though obviously manslaughter doesn't necessarily indicate any badness in the man

He gets about a bit doesn't he

[Debra Arif]

Nemo, Phil,
The manslaughter charge related to a political disagreement and physical fight than ended in a man's death. Harcourt was acquitted as it was obviously a fair fight and the death accidental.

I'm just posting these two snippets as they give a bit of background on Harcourt, though not much.

The book I was trying to remember the name of earlier was 'Bolts and Bars'. This seems to suggest Harcourt took an interest in prison life and convicts.
I'm just interested in The devil's Derelicts really for 'The Vampire' story and to see if the 'extraordinary criminal' in that might be anyone recognisable.




Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, Tues Aug 9, Thurs Aug 11 1892

[Phil Carter]

Hello Debs,

Thanks for these newspaper snippets. They are very interesting indeed.

I have been searching the world over on Antiquarian books sites, and wrote to a few well-known ones and a few specialist ones. Those who have replied, know not of this publication (The Devil's Derelicts) although a few did point to the above mentioned, "Bolts and Bars", which they said had something to do with the 1st World War..?

I will keep searching. There is a possibility that it may be listed under Harcourt, or Vernon.

kindly

Phil

[Debra Arif]

Hi Phil,
Thanks very much for going to all that trouble of trying to find out about this book. It doesn't seem to have been a best seller does it?!

As far as 'Bolts and Bars' goes, the book was written c 1904/5 and definitely is about prison life judging by this advert.

[Debra Arif]

Nemo, I see you linked to something about Bolts and Bars earlier in the thread,didn't see that before, sorry.
That link shows a review of the book Bolts and Bars and not an introduction (this review appears on the second page of the book when you look at the digitized version rather than the text version), the full text that follows is for a different book, 'Reminiscences of Grenadier 1914-1919, by a different author.

The first advert for Bolts and Bars that I could find appeared in a 1904 book 'The Redemption of Damian Gier' by Winefride Trafford-Taunton

[Paul Kearney A.K.A. NEMO]

Thanks Deb

I realised it was an advert earlier - lol

The Devils Derelicts is not fiction?

The Vampire guy is noteworthy

Harcourt himself sounds interesting as a criminologist versed in surgical matters

I've ordered a copy of Bolts and Bars so I'll let you know if it has anything interesting in it

It also has illustrations by A. Pearse

[Paul Kearney A.K.A. NEMO]

PS
I just noticed the "From Stage to Cross" which is subtitled "Record of a Rolling Stone"! - lol

There's a copy for £5 on Amazon so I just ordered that too

(I'm on a book buying spree at the moment)

[Debra Arif]

Thanks Deb

I realised it was an advert earlier - lol

The Devils Derelicts is not fiction?

The Vampire guy is noteworthy

Harcourt himself sounds interesting as a criminologist versed in surgical matters

I've ordered a copy of Bolts and Bars so I'll let you know if it has anything interesting in it

It also has illustrations by A. Pearse

Lol
I wonder why Phil's book contacts were under the same impression that it was a war book too? Maybe they googled and found this thread!

I'm not sure if Devil's Derelicts is pure fiction, non fiction or fiction based on fact, people he studied in prison maybe?
Thanks Nemo, don't blame me if it's a crap read though, I'll look forward to hearing about it though.
I'll keep an eye out for DD...although I guess I might not get such a bargain as your £5 buy if this one's as rare as it seems to be..

[Paul Kearney A.K.A. NEMO]

Is this it in a collection or something?

The list appears to be all the books by the certain publisher

Maybe the book is credited to "H.Vernon" as in the list...

http://plosjournal.deepdyve.com/lp/de-gruyter/iii-literatur-2Z8KmAnebk

Anglia - Zeitschrift für englische Philologie , Volume 30 (s1)
de Gruyter – Jan 1, 1907

Harcourt (F. C. V.), Bolts and Bars. 256 pp. Digby, Long & Co. 3/6. -- (H. Vernon), The Devil's Derelicts. 224 pp. Ibid. 2/6.

[Paul Kearney A.K.A. NEMO]

It also appears in this book under "(H. Vernon), The Devil's Derelicts. 224 pp. Ibid. 2/6"

http://scans.library.utoronto.ca/pdf/4/2/angliazeitscsupp30halluoft/angliazeitscsupp30halluoft.pdf

(Takes ages to load)

[Debra Arif]

(Takes ages to load)

No kidding!

[Tom_Wescott]

Very cool find, Debs. And also to Neems for finding out that he published a book intended to bring about prison reform, and only a couple years before Jabez Balfour would publish exactly the same type of book. This being the case, it's possible they're describing the same suspect. I know it must get tiresome to see Phil Carter and I always agreeing with each other, but once again I agree with Phil that private collections held at universities and the such are likely the great generally untapped resources of Ripperology. I'm certain there are MANY gold nuggets to be mined from them.

Kudos to Neems for ordering a copy of Bolts and Bars. Had you not already done so, I would have, but as it stands I'll be cheap and wait to see what you have to say. LOL.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Paul Kearney A.K.A. NEMO]

The description of DD appears non-fiction to me - perhaps with names changed

I'll let everyone know when "Bolts and Bars" arrives and what, if anything, it contains

It sounds an interesting read whether there is anything relevant to the Ripper case or not

As Tom points out, it is a reflection on the prison regime as well as relating the tales of the prisoners

[Debra Arif]

The books are probably worth having for the Alfred Pearse illustrations alone.