Boon, The Mind of the Race, The Wild Asses of the Devil, and The Last Trump

Being a First Selection from the Literary Remains of George Boon, Appropriate to the Times

Prepared for Publication by
REGINALD BLISS
AUTHOR OF “THE COUSINS OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE,” “A CHILD’S HISTORY OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE,” “FIRELIGHT RAMBLES,” “EDIBLE FUNGI,” “WHALES IN CAPTIVITY,” AND OTHER WORKS

WITH
An Ambiguous Introduction by
H. G. WELLS

T. FISHER UNWIN, LTD.
LONDON; ADELPHI TERRACE

First published in 1915

(All rights reserved)

INTRODUCTION

Whenever a publisher gets a book by one author he wants an Introduction written to it by another, and Mr. Fisher Unwin is no exception to the rule. Nobody reads Introductions, they serve no useful purpose, and they give no pleasure, but they appeal to the business mind, I think, because as a rule they cost nothing. At any rate, by the pressure of a certain inseparable intimacy between Mr. Reginald Bliss and myself, this Introduction has been extracted from me. I will confess that I have not read his book through, though I have a kind of first-hand knowledge of its contents, and that it seems to me an indiscreet, ill-advised book….

I have a very strong suspicion that this Introduction idea is designed to entangle me in the responsibility for the book. In America, at any rate, “The Life of George Meek, Bath Chairman,” was ascribed to me upon no better evidence. Yet any one who likes may go to Eastbourne and find Meek with chair and all complete. But in view of the complications of the book market and the large simplicities of the public mind, I do hope that the reader—and by that I mean the reviewer—will be able to see the reasonableness and the necessity of distinguishing between me and Mr. Reginald Bliss. I do not wish to escape the penalties of thus participating in, and endorsing, his manifest breaches of good taste, literary decorum, and friendly obligation, but as a writer whose reputation is already too crowded and confused and who is for the ordinary purposes of every day known mainly as a novelist, I should be glad if I could escape the public identification I am now repudiating. Bliss is Bliss and Wells is Wells. And Bliss can write all sorts of things that Wells could not do.

This Introduction has really no more to say than that.

H. G. WELLS.

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 5
2. CHAPTER THE FIRST
   THE BACK OF MISS BATHWICK AND GEORGE BOON 9
3. CHAPTER THE SECOND
   BEING THE FIRST CHAPTER OF “THE MIND OF THE RACE” 43
4. CHAPTER THE THIRD
   THE GREAT SLUMP, THE REVIVAL OF LETTERS, AND THE GARDEN BY THE SEA 64
5. CHAPTER THE FOURTH
   OF ART, OF LITERATURE, OF MR HENRY JAMES 84
6. CHAPTER THE FIFTH
   OF THE ASSEMBLING AND OPENING OF THE WORLD CONFERENCE ON THE MIND OF THE RACE 129
7. CHAPTER THE SIXTH
   OF NOT LIKING HALLERY AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE DISCOURAGEMENT OF LITERATURE 173
8. CHAPTER THE SEVENTH
   WILKINS MAKES CERTAIN OBJECTIONS 189
9. CHAPTER THE EIGHTH
   THE BEGINNING OF “THE WILD ASSES OF THE DEVIL” 223
10. CHAPTER THE NINTH
    THE HUNTING OF THE WILD ASSES OF THE DEVIL 255
11. CHAPTER THE TENTH
    THE STORY OF THE LAST TRUMP 295