The Library of the Lost: In Search of Forgotten Authors
Page 25
1998
Aklo: A Volume of the Fantastic, edited by Roger Dobson, Mark Valentine and R.B. Russell, Tartarus Press/Caermaen Books, 1998. Anthology. Includes ‘Introduction’ to ‘Purefoy and Arthur’, by Hilary Machen.
‘El Rey de Redonda,’ Machenalia, Newsletter of The Friends of Arthur Machen, Autumn 1998.
‘Ernest Dowson: Doomed Immortal’ [article], The Doppelgänger Broadsheet, Vol.5, No.35 [undated, 1998].
‘Memorial to Ghost Story Maestro’ [article, M.R. James], Antiquarian Book Monthly Review, Vol.25, No.4, April 1998.
Redondan Cultural Foundation Newsletter, No.4, January 1998, edited by Roger Dobson and Mark Valentine. Pamphlet.
Redondan Cultural Foundation Newsletter, No.5, November 1998, edited by Roger Dobson and Mark Valentine. Pamphlet.
Review: The Hill of Dreams (Tartarus Press, 1999), by Arthur Machen, Faunus, No.2, the Journal of the Friends of Arthur Machen, Autumn, 1998.
1999
‘Ernest Dowson: A Sequel’ [article], The Doppelgänger Broadsheet, Vol.5, No.35 [undated (1999)].
‘The High Priest of Nightmare—Arthur Machen’ [essay, 2 pp.], Blood from Stones [a newsletter edited by Matt Leyshon of Waterstone’s Manchester Bookshop, Fantasy & Science Fiction section] 1999.
‘M.P. Shiel’ [essay], Le Visage Vert, No.6, April 1999.
‘Un nouveau roi pour Redonda’ [article], translated by Anne-Sylvie Homassel, Le Visage Vert, No.6, April 1999.
2000
‘Classics Among Comics, [1]’ [article], The Doppelgänger Broadsheet, Vol.9, No.40 [undated (2000)].
‘Classics Among Comics, [2]’ [article], The Doppelgänger Broadsheet, Vol.9, No.41, Christmas Special, 2000.
‘A King in Hornsey’ [article], Hornsey Historical Society Bulletin, No.41, London, 2000: pp. 33-34.
The Lost Club Journal No.1, Winter 1999/2000, edited by Roger Dobson and Mark Valentine. Includes ‘Introduction to a Journal of Literary Archaeology’; ‘Arthur Ransome’s Bohemia in London’ [essay]; ‘Julian Maclaren-Ross: The King of Fitzrovia’ by Ian Armstrong [pseudonym of Roger Dobson; essay]; ‘Christopher Millard and the Origins of The Quest for Corvo’ by Alan Marriott [pseudonym of Roger Dobson; essay].
2001
‘A Palimpsest of The Three Impostors’ [essay], Faunus, No.7, Autumn, 2001.
‘John Gawsworth: King of Redonda’ [essay], Inside Notting Hill, edited by Miranda Davies and Sarah Anderson, with Annabel Hendry, Portobello Publishing, in association with Pallas Athene, 2001, pp. 192-5.
The Lost Club Journal No.2, Winter 2000/2001, edited by Roger Dobson and Mark Valentine. Includes ‘Writers the World Forgot; Further Delvings in Literary Archaeology’; ‘Edward Bulwer-Lytton: The Pioneering Novelist Who Became a Literary Joke’ by Thomas Morgan [pseudonym of Roger Dobson; essay]; ‘A Weird and Marvellous Pursuit’: A Tribute to Father Brocard Sewell by Donald Carlus [pseudonym of Roger Dobson; essay].
Postface to ‘Histoire de la Vierge de fer’ [‘Novel of the Iron Maid’], by Arthur Machen, translated by Anne-Sylvie Homassel, Le Visage Vert, No.11, October 2001.
2002
Les Trois Imposteurs, by Arthur Machen, Terre de brume, 2002. Préface.
2003
‘Forgotten writer swapped books for brewing’, The Argus, 3rd March 2003. [Appeal for information about author H.A. Manhood, uncredited].
‘Lost Horizon: A Dream Sequel’ [article], The Doppelgänger Broadsheet, Vol.11, No.46 [undated (2003)].
2004
‘Charting Soho’s Literary Irregulars’ [article], Soho Clarion, Issue 118, Autumn 2004.
The Lost Club Journal No.3, Winter 2003/Spring 2004, edited by Roger Dobson and Mark Valentine. Includes ‘The Nine-Million Word Book: Joe Gould and His Secret’ by Willard Paxton [pseudonym of Roger Dobson]; ‘Remembering Renjie: The Wrenne Jarman Mystery’ by Anthony Carter [pseudonym of Roger Dobson]; ‘Dweller in the Tomb of Mausolus: The Return of Prince Zaleski’ by Philip Lister [pseudonym of Roger Dobson].
‘Machen, Arthur Llewellyn Jones (1863-1947), writer’, entry in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
‘Machenfest: The Transmutation of “The Islington Mystery” ’ [essay], Faunus, No.11, Winter, 2004.
‘What Dreams May Come’ [article], The Doppelgänger Broadsheet, Vol.13, No.48 [undated (2004)].
2005
Hail, O King! The Last Days of John Gawsworth. Booklet accompanying a recording of the BBC film of John Gawsworth, Tartarus Press/Friends of Arthur Machen, 2005.
The Life of Arthur Machen, by John Gawsworth, edited and with an introduction by Roger Dobson, The Friends of Arthur Machen, Reino de Redonda, Tartarus Press, 2005.
‘Terror by Night: The Sleeping Partner’ [essay], Strange Attractor Journal, No.2, 2005.
2006
‘The Dead Authors’ Society’, Rare Book Review, June/July 2006, pp. 25-29 [essay on The London Adventure (the walks club)].
‘Redonda and Her Kings’ [essay], Strange Attractor Journal, No.3, 2006.
2007
‘The Book in Yellow: How Dorian Inspired Lucian’ [essay], Faunus, No.16, Summer, 2007.
Redonda: The Island with Too Many Kings, BBC Radio 4 programme (30 mins) narrated by Angus Deayton, broadcast 11.30 am, 22nd May 2007. Interviewees include Javier Marías (King Xavier), Jon Wynne-Tyson (ex-King Juan II) and his wife Jennifer, Fay Weldon, Brian Stableford, Bob Williamson (King Robert the Bald), William L. Gates (King Leo), Oliver Cox, Cedric Boston (King Cedric), A.S. Byatt and Arthur Freeman. (Script, co-written with Angus Deayton).
2009
‘New Arabian Frights: Unholy Trinities and the Marks of Helen’ [essay], Faunus, No.19, Summer, 2009.
2010
‘Buffy’s Godfather’—[about Montague Summers], The Ocelot No.7, April 2010.
Eagle: The Space Age Weekly, radio script presented by Sir Tim Rice, BBC Radio 4, broadcast 23rd December 2010.
‘Madam Satan; Ancestor of Helen Vaughan’ by Robert Manchester [pseudonym of Roger Dobson; essay], Faunus, No.21, Summer, 2010.
‘Mr Moorcock Visits the Doctor’ [article], The Doppelgänger Broadsheet, un-numbered, [undated (2010)].
2011
‘ “A Trade of the Damned”: Twin Toilers in Victorian Grub Street’ [essay], Faunus, No.24, Autumn, 2011.
Classics Illustrated: The Comic Book Unbound, radio script, presented by Bill Paterson, BBC Radio 4, broadcast 25th October 2011.
‘Was He “M”?’ [essay], Strange Attractor Journal, No.4, 2011.
2012
‘He Wrote of Dark Forces: The Weird World of Dennis Wheatley’ [essay], Wormwood, 19, Autumn 2012.
‘Lucian in the Labyrinth: London Locations in The Hill of Dreams’ [essay], Faunus, No.25, Spring 2012.
Scream Queens, radio script by Roger Dobson, presented by Reece Shearsmith, BBC Radio 4, broadcast 15th Oct 2012.
2014
‘Helen Vaughan’ [entry], The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters, edited by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Ashgate, 2014, pp. 563-5.
NOTES
Roger also contributed minor, usually uncredited, news notes to ABMR in the period 1985-90 or beyond, and many letters as well as articles to The Doppelgänger Broadsheet, both in his own name and as ‘Professor Herbert Trufflehunter’. He also wrote a regular film news column (not listed) for All Hallows, journal of The Ghost Story Society. The Redondan Cultural Foundation Newsletter and The Lost Club Journal both included miscellaneous notes and news, written by either editor. There were other publications by Caermaen Books which did not include editorial or introductory matter by the editors.
In May-June 1993 a number of articles appeared in the Lancashire local, and national, press about a grand-daughter of M.P. Shiel, dubbed the ‘Queen of Redonda’. Roger was the source of the news story and much of the material, but the articles were not directly by him.
Roger led two guided literary walks in the series ‘The London Adventure’ organised by Nicolas Grange
r-Taylor: ‘The Mysteries of the Hill: Arthur Machen and Friends in West London’ on Saturday 3 July 2004; and ‘The Revd Montague Summers—Demonologist’ on Saturday 25 June 2005.
Roger sometimes worked as an ‘extra’ in films being made in Oxford or, occasionally, London (on one occasion he played John Buchan, seen writing in his study). He was a member of an informal group of friends involved in this work, called the Oxford Society of Crowd Artists (OSCA), who produced a newsletter. Roger was a contributor to this.
Roger was at work on a comic novel that he described in e-mails to an American friend and correspondent, Thomas Kent Miller. It involved a psychic dog. So far this has not come to light.
At Ernest Dowson’s gave, Ladywell Cemetery, London, 23rd February, 2000, on the 100 year anniversary of the death of the poet.
Roger Dobson, R.B. Russell and Timothy Parker Russell.
Acknowledgements
The Old Deep Lane, Llanddewi, Gwent, 1991.
I would like to record my grateful appreciation to members of Roger’s family, foster family, Manchester friends, acting friends and bookish friends, who have shared memories of him and helpful information. Thanks are also due to the following for specific help in compiling the checklist of his writings: Douglas A. Anderson, Ben Bass, Godfrey Brangham, Gwilym Games (for his ‘List of Contents for Faunus’, Volumes 1-21, 1998-2010), Nicolas Granger-Taylor, John Howard (for his index to The Doppelgänger Broadsheet), Colin Langeveld, Thomas Kent Miller, Rosalie Parker, Mark Pilkington (for Roger’s contributions to his Strange Attractor Journal), Jon Preece, R.B. Russell, Mark Samuels, the late John D. Squires (for his The Redonda Legend: A Chronological Bibliography, kindly hosted by Alan Gullette at his website); and my apologies to any I have inadvertently omitted.
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