Posted by Pat Bryan on June 02, 2008 at 23:05:57 from 64.229.155.209:
In Reply to: Re: American Farnol appreciators posted by Jeremy on June 02, 2008 at 18:56:20:
Hullo Jeremy - I know of several Farnolites in the States. My friend Gerry Christmas (who has been nicknamed "Ol' Yuletide' on the Forum) is in Nort Carolina, for example. In fact we met some years ago, through the Forum, and have visited with each other over the years, as recently as this April, when I also met Mark Blanchard of Columbus, Ohio, one of the orioginal founders of the JFAS. I stayed with Gerry for a week doing research at UNC among the papers of A.P.,Watt & Sons, who were Farnol's literary agents, while I was writing my biography of Farnol (you can find details of that, and my updated version of it, on the main website).
Georgette Heyer was much younger than Farnol, and did not publish her first novel until 1922, I believe, a good 20 years after Farnol's work began appearing, 12 years after The Broad Highway, 10 after The Amateur Gentleman. He had already established himself as the protagonist of the Regency adventure/romance before she began to write. It is said that she acknowledged his influence upon her, but she was a very private person who shunned publicity, and I do not know how true that is.
JF had over 1000 swords at one time. Some were acquired by his nephew, the late Ewart Oakeshott, who became an authority in his own right, and was known as "The Dean of Swords" in the collecting fraternity. The rest of his collection was sold at auction after his death in 1952.
Pat