Fans of the popular BBC television series Downton Abbey have no doubt noted the mansion’s extensive library. Robert, the Earl of Grantham, enjoys his library, and many scenes are filmed in the estate’s book-laden room. The show is set in England in the tumultuous time before, during, and after the First World War. Downton Abbey’s library is filled with the current literature of the time, and several of the volumes mentioned on the show can be found in McConnell Library’s Rare Book Collection.
Books are much more than props in this BBC series – reading is valued at Downton Abbey, and books frequently show up in the script. The Earl gladly loans books to Branson, his Irish chauffeur, despite Branson’s Irish Revolutionary sentiments. The actors are often seen reading or browsing in the library.
In one scene, Lady Edith Crawley, the middle daughter (played by Laura Carmichael) offers several book choices to a convalescing British officer. Deliberating between giving the officer the recently published (as of 1913) England Since Waterloo by J.A.R. Marriott and something else, she tells the officer “I know we’ve got lots of G. A. Henty.” The officer, pleased with being offered a book by Henty, responds “Thank you very much.”
Like the Downton Abbey library, our Rare Book Collection also contains “lots of G.A. Henty.” More than 80 volumes, to be precise. G. A. Henty (1832-1902) was a prolific British author who wrote novels targeted at British boys during the Victorian age of British Imperialism. Packed with adventure and set in such exotic locales as India, Russia, Spain, Canada, and Virginia, Henty’s novels glorified British Imperialism and sported such titles as Among Malay Pirates, Under Wellington’s Command, On the Spanish Main, Gallant Deeds, Redskins and Colonists, and With Lee In Virginia.
Henty’s novels were very popular and had a huge impact on spreading Victorian morals. Contemporary Authors Online states that “The Victorian morals promoted in (Henty’s) historical stories–like bravery, curiosity, imperialism, and religious tolerance–would come to characterize many of his readers when they reached adulthood. Nicholas Ranson, writing in Dictionary of Literary Biography, stated: “Perhaps more than any other writer of his time, Henty was instrumental in the creation, promotion, and upholding of the age’s values and beliefs.”
Radford’s collection of G.A. Henty novels was originally a gift from Radford College alumna Margaret Phlegar. An exhibit of Henty’s novels is on display on the fifth floor of McConnell Library beside the Archivist’s office. The books can be checked out for use in the library. Please see the Archivist if you’d like to read one of these books. To find out more about G. A. Henty, check out this article from Contemporary Authors Online.
Source: G(eorge) A(lfred) Henty. (2003). In Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1000044711&v=2.1&u=viva_radford&it=r&p=LitRG&sw=w
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