Last Studies

by Hubert Crackanthorpe

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

Hubert Montague Crackanthorpe (d. 1896) was a Victorian British writer who created works mainly in the genres of the essay, short story, and novella. He also wrote limited amounts of literary criticism. After dying early and under mysterious circumstances, his name is now little known and has all but vanished from conventional literary biographies of the period. Crackanthorpe is usually associated with the literary movement of naturalism. His literary legacy consists largely of three volumes of short stories he managed to publish during his lifetime; contemporary opinions of his talent as a writer varied widely, though one of his works was published with an appreciation by none other than Henry James.

Reviews

[Paul Barnes]

[William Heinemann] (1897). HB. 223/15 Pages. Purchased from org.chaos.

This posthumous collection contains: “Anthony Garstin’s Courtship”, “Trevor Perkins: A Platonic Episode” and “The Turn of the Wheel”.

There’s also “An Appreciation” (Henry James) and a poem by Stopford A. Brooke.

Crackanthorpe’s own life was unconventional. His romantic entanglements were complex. He died, tragically young, in mysterious circumstances. All of this echoes into his work. I find his writing to be quirky and quite exceptionally fine - laced with a dark, quiet cynicism… disenchantment.

Odd that he’s now largely forgotten whilst HJ, much his inferior, is widely celebrated.