The Books of E. Keble Chatterton

[HMS Bergamot]

Edward Keble Chatterton was born on the 10th September 1878, at no. 76, Rock Street, Sheffield. The son of a bank cashier, he attended Oxford, studying art.

His first book, T. Sidney Cooper, RA, his life and art, was published in 1902, and from then until 1944 he published 76 books, plus working as a sub editor and art / theatre critic forthe Daily Mail and editor of 'The Women's Realm'.

He served in the RNVR during WW1, commanding 'Daisy IV', a drifter, out of Berehaven. In 1918 he was appointed to the Naval section of the Official History Committee, where he worked until 1922.

Keble Chatterton was a keen yachtsman, owning two yachts, the 'Vivette' from 1909 - 1930, and 'Charmina' (1930 - 1944). He sailed frequently, venturing as far as the Mediterranean. These voyages also inspired books.

He was published in every continent, and some of his books are still being republished today. He died at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington on the 31st December 1944, with his final book, 'Open Boats' unpublished, and possibly uncompleted.

The aspect that I most like about Chatterton's books is the first hand accounts from the people that were there at the time. Chatterton recorded the maritime history of Britain at its most momentous point of change, from sail to steam, from the advent of the submarine to the carrier, he wrote about it all. Most moden naval books will quote Chatterton in their bibliography. Yes, his books contain errors, but these have been mostly corrected in the modern era, but the sense of just 'being there' still comes through.

I have a total list of his books which I shall upload when I'm not at work, they cover all era's.

64 years after his death, Chatterton can still teach us a thing or two about naval history. That's not a bad epitaph, is it?

[herakles]

I haven't heard of Chatterton but your excellent overview of the man and his life has convinced to correct that.

[Maritime Michael Ian]

I remember Charmina very well. She was always overwintered at Lymington Slipway (Hampshire) being hauled up into one of the open-ended sheds which enabled owners to do their own maintenance - painting and vanrishing etc. She was certainly at the yard from 1947 to 1952.

Dulcibella

[Joseph]

I have most of his books refering to WW1 and from a contemporary point of view, there is not much better, to get the real feel of what went on. His books are put down by some of the myriad of history writers but are used for reference by others.

Regards Charles

[Harley]

I had thought I had more works by Keble Chatterton (his name pops up so often) but I've only got "The British Navy: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day". It certainly makes interesting reading, along with the numerous other histories of the RN from the same era.

Harley

[HMS Bergamot]

Yes, a good book that one. Published in 1911 by MILLS & BOON, he captured the beginning of the Dreadnought era and the end of the pre-dreadnought navy.

You always think of M&B as publishing trashy romantic fiction, but here they pop up with a serious book on naval history.

EKC was not fixated on one publisher, he seemed to move around looking for the best deal. I have the personal paperwork from one of his books (Romance of Pirates) where he is negotiating with the publishers having seen the proof. They are only offering him £5000. Ok, this was 1934, so it's a sizeable lump of money, but the publishers in that day seem to buy the rights to the book, so if the run went into millions, they got the lot, and the poor writer only got his lump sum from the beginning. Some of EKC's books were printed in their hundreds of thousands (Gallant Gentlemen, Q-Ships & their story, The Sea Raiders), yet he only realised a fraction of their worth. I think that times have changed for the better for todays writers.

Attached is a photo of Chatterton, taken in 1910, on the occasion of his trip in 'Vivette' through the waterways of Holland.

Regards,

[HMS Bergamot]

BOOKS BY E.KEBLE CHATTERTON

BOOKS OR ARTICLES BY EDWARD KEBLE CHATTERTON

Edward Keble Chatterton was born at 76, Rock Street, Sheffield on September 10th, 1878. By the time he had died in St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, on the 31st December 1944 he was one of the most respected nautical historians of his time. A prolific writer, he wrote between 1902 and 1944 some 73 books, plus rewrites, articles, translations, and other writings.

I do not profess this to be a complete bibliography of his workings, and if you find anything by this author that is not on this listing I would be most grateful if you would let me know. I do hope that this list will help you with his works.



City of pub. Publisher (Notes) Pages Date

1. "Across the Seven Seas". (Novel)

Philadelphia Lippincott (Blue Bndng) 252 pages 1927
London F. Warne 252 pages 1931


2. "Adventurers of the Air" (Novel)

Philadelphia Lippincott 256 pages 1930
London F. Warne 256 pages 1932


3. "Amazing Adventure" (A biography of Godfrey Herbert, RN)

London Hurst & Blackett 285 pages 1935
London Hurst & Blackett 285 pages 1936


4. "Auxiliary Patrol, The"

London Sidgwick & Jackson(Royal blue) 332 pages 1923
London Sidgwick & Jackson(light blue) 332 pages 1923
Boston C.E.Lautiat 332 pages 1924

5. "Battles by Sea"

London Sidgwick & Jackson(Royal blue) 271 pages 1925
London Sidgwick & Jackson(light blue) 271 pages 1925
New York MacMillan & Co 271 pages 1925
Totowa Rowan & Littlefield. 271 pages 1975

6. "Beating the U-Boats"

London Hurst & Blackett 172 pages 1943

7. "Below the Surface" (Novel)

London Hurst & Blackett 286 pages 1934
London Hurst & Blackett(Red Bndng) 286 pages 1935


8. "Big Blockade, The."

London Hurst & Blackett (1st imp) 287 pages Oct 1932
London Hurst & Blackett (2nd imp) 287 pages 1932
London Hurst & Blackett (3rd imp) 287 pages 1932
(Blue binding)
London Hurst & Blackett (3rd imp) 287 pages 1932
(green binding)
London Hurst & Blackett cheap ed. 287 pages 1934
(includes 8 pages of ads.)
London Hutchinson & Co 320 pages 1940
(Red jacket series)
Paris Payot "L'escadre Muette" 351 pages 1933
Norwegian version Details unknown 1938

9. "Boy's book of sports, pastimes, hobbies and amusements."

London Stanley Paul & Co. 330 pages 1910

10. "Britain's record and what she has done for the world"

London Sidgwick & Jackson 304 pages 1911

11. "Brotherhood of the sea, The"

London Longman, Green & co 239 pages 1927

12. "Captain John Smith"

London John Lane 239 pages 1927
(Part of the 'Golden Hind' series)
London Harper & Bros 286 pages 1927
& New York
London John Lane (new edition) ? pages 1934

13. "Charmina on the Riviera"

London Hurst & Blackett 286 pages 1937

14. "Chats on naval prints."

London T.F.Unwin (blue binding) 208 pages 1926
New York Stokes 208 pages 1926
London Benn (Black binding) 208 pages 1926
London Benn (white binding) 208 pages 1926

15. "Commerce raiders."

London Hurst & Blackett 128 pages 1943

16. "Danger zone."

London Rich & Cowan 437 pages 1934
Boston Little & Brown 437 pages 1934
London Rich & cowan (cheap edition) 437 pages 1938

17. "Dardanelles dilemma."

London Rich & Cowan 320 pages 1935
London Rich & Cowan 320 pages 1936

18. "Daring deeds of famous pirates"

London Seeley Service & Co. 246 pages 1929

19. "Daring deeds of sea rovers."

Philadelphia Lippincott 258 pages 1928
London Seeley Service & Co. 258 pages 1929
London Seeley Service & Co. 258 pages 1930

20. "Down channel in the Vivette."

London Sidgwick & Jackson 218 pages 1910
London Sidgwick & Jackson 218 pages (2nd Imp) 1910

21. "England's greatest statesman; A life of William Pitt. 1759-1806."

Indianapolis Bobbs-Merrill Co. 384 pages 1930

22. "English seamen and the colonization of America."

London Arrowsmith 326 pages 1930
Freeport,NY Books for libraries press 326 pages 1971
(published in US as "Seeds of liberty". See #55)

23. "Epic of Dunkirk, The"

London Hurst & Blackett 256 pages Nov 1940
London Hurst & Blackett 256 pages Nov 1940
London Hurst & Blackett 256 pages Dec 1940
London Hurst & Blackett 256 pages Jan 1941
London Hurst & Blackett 256 pages Jan 1941

24. "Fighting the U-Boats."

London Hurst & Blackett 216 pages 1942

25. "Fore & Aft. The story of the fore & aft rig from the earliest times
to the present day."

London Seeley Service & Co. 347 pages 1912
Philadelphia Lippincott 347 pages 1912
London Seeley Service & Co. 347 pages 1922
Philadelphia Lippincott 347 pages 1922
London Seeley Service & Co. 347 pages 1927
Philadelphia Lippincott 347 pages 1927

The later editions were renamed "Fore & Aft Craft."

26. "Gallant Gentlemen."

London Hurst & Blackett 1st Imp. 296 pages 1931
London Hurst & Blackett 2nd Imp. 296 pages 1931
London Hurst & Blackett 3rd Imp. 296 pages 1931
London Hurst & Blackett 4th Imp. 296 pages 1931
(The first four impressions in dark blue binding with red
and white stripes.)
London Hurst & Blackett 5th Imp. 296 pages 1933*FR (DJ)
London Hurst & Blackett 6th Imp. 296 pages 1934
(The 5th & 6th Impressions in dark blue binding, no stripes.)

27. "In Great Waters." (Novel)

Philadelphia Lippincott (dk blue) 282 pages 1929
Philadelphia Lippincott (orange) 282 pages 1929
Philadelphia Lippincott (yellow) 282 pages 1929
(US versions have square with sailboat within on front cover)
London F.Warne (Dark blue) 255 pages Col pic. 1932
London F.Warne (pale blue) 255 pages B&W pic. 1932
London F.Warne (white binding) 255 pages Col pic. 1932
London F.Warne (red) 255 pages Col pic. 1932

28. "King of the air, The." (Novel)

Philadelphia Lippincott 245 pages 1928
London Sheldon press 245 pages 1930
London F.Warne 245 pages 19??


29. "Kings Cutters and smugglers. 1700-1855."

London G.Allen & co. 225 pages 1912
Philadelphia Lippincott 225 pages 1912


30. "Königsberg adventure, The."

London Hurst & Blackett 287 pages 1932
(This edition has 36 illus. & maps and is dated 1932.)
London Hurst & Blackett 287 pages 1934
(This edition has 33 illus. & maps and is not dated.)

Foreign versions:
Paris Payot "L'adventure du Koenigsburg" 270 pages Nov 1932
Italian "La tragica fine del konigsburg" 1933

31. "Leaders of the Royal Navy."

London Hutchinson & Co. (paperback) 126 pages 1940

32. "Marriages of Mayfair, The." (Play)

London Stanley Paul 256 pages 1909
Toronto The Copp, Clark Co. 256 pages 1909

33. "Marvels of the ship, The." The story of the development of the ship
from the earliest times.

London Seeley Service & Co. 259 pages 1921
Philadelphia Lippincott 259 pages 1921

34. "Mercantile marine, The."

London N.Heinemann Ltd 254 pages 1923
Boston Little, Brown & co. 254 pages 1923
London (UNKNOWN) 254 pages 1927

35. "Modern Journalism." This book is not named as being by EKC. The book
is attributed as 'By a London Editor'.

London Sidgwick & Jackson (Red binding) 1909
London Sidgwick & Jackson (white binding) 1909

36. "Old East Indiamen, The."

London T.W.Laurie 343 pages 1914
Philadelphia Lippincott 343 pages 1914
Philadelphia Lippincott 343 pages 1915
London T.W.Laurie 2nd Imp. 343 pages 1933
London Rich & Cowan 'New Edition' 308 pages 1933
London Conway Maritime press 308 pages 1970


37. "Old Sea Paintings."

London John Lane 179 pages 1928
New York Dodd, Mead & Co. 179 pages 1928


38. "Old Ship Prints."

London John Lane 182 pages 1927
New York Dodd, Mead & Co. 182 pages 1927
Spring Books 182 pages 1965


38a. "Old Ship Prints." One of 125 copies printed with 3 extras plates.

London John Lane 182 pages 1927


39. "On the High Seas."

London Allen & co. (blue binding) 319 pages 1929
London Allen & Co. (Red binding) 319 pages 1929
Philadelphia Lippincott (Green) 319 pages 1929
London Allan,Nautilus Library 256 pages 1931
London Allan,Unicorn Library 256 pages 1931


40. "Q-Ships and their story"

London Sidgwick & Jackson (4/1922) 276 pages 1922
London Sidgwick & Jackson (7/1922) 276 pages 1922
Boston Lauriat 276 pages 1923
New York Naval Institute press 178 pages 1972
New York Arno Press 276 pages 1980

Foreign versions:
Paris Payot "Les Bateaux Pieges." 276 pages Oct 1928
Paris Payot 276 pages Dec 1928
Paris Payot 276 pages Jan 1931


41. "Romance of Piracy, The."
The story of the adventures, fights and deeds of daring of pirates, filibusters and buccaneers from the earliest times to the present day.

London Seeley Service & Co. 317 pages 1914
London Seeley Service & co. 316 pages 1915
Philadelphia Lippincott 316 pages 1915



42. "Romance of the Sea Rovers, The."
An account of the stirring adventures of sea rovers from the earliest times of the Phoenicians, Egyptians & Vikings, through the Elizabethan and all other era's of maritime roving down to the present day.

London Seeley Service & co. 309 pages 1924
Philadelphia Lippincott 309 pages 1924
London Seeley Service & co. 309 pages 1928


43. "Romance of the Ship, The." The story of her origin and evolution.

London Seeley Service & Co. 314 pages 1911
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 314 pages 1911
London Seeley Service & Co. 314 pages 1913
London Seeley Service & Co. 291 pages 1921
London Seeley Service & Co. 313 pages 1925
London Seeley Service & Co. 291 pages 1925
London Seeley Service & Co. 290 pages 1935

44."Royal Love Letters." A batch of human documents collected and
edited by the Author.

London Mills & Boon 321 pages 1911

45. "Royal Navy, The." A complete record in text & pictures.

London Hutchinson & Co. Sept '39-Dec '40 Volume 1 1942
London Hutchinson & Co. Jan '41-Mar '42 Volume 2 1943
London Hutchinson & Co. Apr '42-Jun '43 Volume 3 1944
London Hutchinson & Co. Jul '43-Sep '44 Volume 4 1946
London Hutchinson & Co. Oct '44-May '45 Volume 5 1947


Note: Volumes 4 & 5 written by Kenneth Edwards RN after death of EKC. They have the titles, "Royal Navy and Allies."


46. "Sailing Models Ancient & Modern." A limited edition of 1000.

London Hurst & Blackett 95 pages 1934



47. "Sailing Ships & their story." The story of their development from the earliest times to the present day.

London Sidgwick & Jackson 362 pages 1909
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 362 pages 1909
London Sidgwick & Jackson 362 pages 1914
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 362 pages 1915


47a. "Sailing ships & their story." New edition with an extra chapter.

London Sidgwick & Jackson 380 pages 1923
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 380 pages 1923
Boston Lauriat 380 pages 1935
New York Argosy Antiquarian 380 pages 1968

48. "Sailing the Seas." A survey of seafaring through the ages.

London Chapman & Hall (blue binding) 285 pages 1931
London Chapman & Hall (Red binding) 285 pages 1931
London Chapman & Hall(Green binding) 285 pages 1931



49."Scouts of the Sky." (Novel)
A story of high adventure through the ages.

London F.Warne & Co. 255 pages 1933
(published in the US as "The Sky Raiders". See #60)



50. "Sea raiders, The."

London Hurst & Blackett 285 pages Jan 1931
London Hurst & Blackett (2nd Imp) 285 pages Feb 1931
London Hurst & Blackett (3rd Imp) 285 pages Feb 1931
London Hurst & Blackett Revised 288 pages 1933
London Hurst & Blackett Reprinted 288 pages May 1934
London Hurst & Blackett (5th Imp) 288 pages Jun 1936
London Hutchinson & Co. (Red Jacket) 288 pages 1940
Foreign versions:
Paris Payot "Les Coureurs de Mer." 281 pages 1931

51."Sea Spy." A naval novel.

London Hurst & Blackett 287 pages May 1937
London Hurst & Blackett 287 pages May 1937
U.S.A. Ryerson Press 287 pages 1937
London Hurst & Blackett (cheap ed.) 287 pages Jul 1938
Foreign versions:
Swedish 1938
Czechoslovakian 1939

52. "Seamen All."

London N. Heinemann 254 pages June 1924
London N. Heinemann 254 pages Nov 1924
Boston Little, Brown & Co. 254 pages 1924
London P.Allen 252 pages 1928
New York F.A.Stokes 252 pages 1929

53. "Seas of Adventure, The." The story of the naval operations in the
Mediterranean, Adriatic & ægean.

London Hurst & Blackett (blue bndng) 319 pages 1936
London Hurst & Blackett (black bndng)319 pages 1936
London Hurst & Blackett (small.vers) 319 pages (6th K) 1936
London Hurst & Blackett (Red Bndng) 319 pages 1936

54. "Secret Ship." (Novel)

London Hurst & Blackett 256 pages Apr 1939
London Hurst & Blackett (2nd Imp) 256 pages 1939
London Hurst & Blackett (3rd Imp) 256 pages 1939
London Hurst & Blackett 256 pages 1939
U.S.A. Ryerson Press 256 pages 1940

55. "Seed of Liberty." The story of the American colonies.

Indianapolis Bobbs-Merrill 356 pages 1929

Published in the UK as "English seamen and the colonization of America".
See #22.

56. "Severn's saga."

London Hurst & Blackett (blue) 288 pages 1938
London Hurst & Blackett (red) 288 pages 1938
London Hurst & Blackett (cheap ed.) 288 pages sep 1939

57. "Ship Models." A limited edition of 1000 copies.

London The Studio 142 plates 53 pages 1923

57a "Ship Models."

New York H.C.Pereleburg 77 plates 1923

58. "Ship under sail, The." The splendour of the sailing ship through
the ages.

London T.Fisher Unwin 224 pages 1926
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 224 pages 1926

59. "Ships and ways of other days."

London Sidgwick & Jackson 308 pages 1913
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 308 pages 1913
London Sidgwick & Jackson 308 pages 1924
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 308 pages 1924

60."Sky raiders, The." (Novel).
A story of high adventure by sea & air.
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 248 pages 1930
Published in UK as "Scouts of the sky." See #49.

61. "Steamship Models." Limited edition of 1000 copies.

London T.W.Laurie 128 plates 84 pages 1924

62. "Steamships and their story."

London Cassell 340 pages 1910
New York Cassell 340 pages 1910

63. "Story of the British Navy, The." From the earliest times to the
present day.

London Mills & Boon 371 pages 1911
(Has gold outline box on spine)
London Mills & Boon 371 pages 1911
(Does not have gold outline box on spine)

64. "Stories of the seven seas." Thrilling exploits of the Navy.

London World's Work 127 pages 1939


65. "Through Brittany in 'Charmina'." From Torbay to the Bay of Biscay
in a 6 tonner.

London Rich & Cowan (1st) 256 pages May 1933
London Rich & Cowan (2nd) 256 pages May 1933
London Rich & Cowan (3rd) 256 pages May 1933
U.S.A. Ryerson Press 1933



66. "Through Holland in the 'Vivette'." The cruise of a 4 tonner from the
solent to the Zuyder Zee through
the Dutch waterways.

London Seeley Service & Co. 248 pages 1913
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 248 pages 1913



67. "Through Sea and Sky." Novel

London & Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 259 pages 1929
London F.Warne (lt blue bndng) 259 pages 1931
London F.Warne (Red bndng) 259 pages 1931


68. "To the Mediterranean in 'Charmina'."

London Rich & Cowan 239 pages 1934


69. "Valiant Sailormen."

London Hurst & Blackett (green bndng)287 pages 1936
London Hurst & Blackett (7000 th) 287 pages 1936
London Hurst & Blackett 287 pages 1937
London Hurst & Blackett (Cheap ed.) 287 pages 1938


70. "Ventures and Voyages."

London & New York Longmans, Green & Co. 218 pages 1928
London Rich & Cowan 243 pages 1935


71. "Whalers and Whaling."

London T.Fisher Unwin 248 pages 1925
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 248 pages 1926
London Allen 251 pages 1930
New York W.F.Payson 251 pages 1931
Detroit Gale research library 248 pages 1974

72. "Windjammers and Shellbacks." Strange true stories of the sea.

London T. Fisher Unwin 254 pages 1926
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 254 pages 1926
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 254 pages 1927
Philadelphia J.B.Lippincott 254 pages 1930
London Rich & Cowan (white bndng) 246 pages 1935
London Rich & Cowan (Lt blue bndng) 246 pages 1935

73. "Yachtsman's pilot, The." To the harbours of England, Wales, Scotland,
Ireland and continent of Europe from Ymuiden
to Bordeaux.

London Hurst & Blackett (1st) 384 pages 1933
London Hurst & Blackett Revised 439 pages 1934
London Hurst & Blackett 3rd, Green 478 pages 1937
London Hurst & Blackett 3rd, Red 478 pages 1937

Booklet Section

1. "Aquitania." Souvenir of the launch.

London Cunard Steamship Co. 1913

2."Eight decades of progress." History and development of a great
steamship organisation.

Manchester T.G.Evans 31 pages 1924

3."T.Sydney Cooper. His life and art."

London Art Record Press 52 pages 1902

4. "The New 'Mauretania'." Launch brochure.

London Cunard Steamship Co. 32 pages 1938


Collaborated works

1. "Ships and shipping." Two volumes.

London Thomas Nelson & Sons. Each vol. has 352 pages 1913

2. "Shipping wonders of the world." Two volumes.
Edited by Clarence Winchester.
London The Amalgamated Press Ltd. 19??


Translations

A. "The barque 'Magellan'." The story of the French deep sea sailors.
Written by Bernard Frank.

London Jarrolds translated from French by EKC 1936


Forwards and memoirs

1. "The cruise of the 'Amaryllis'." Written by G.Mulhauser.
5 page memoir of the author by EKC.

London The Bodley Head 1st ed 316 pages 1924
reprint 316 pages 1924
2nd reprint 316 pages 1924
3rd reprint 316 pages 1928
317 pages 1950
London, Toronto, Granada Publishing 317 pages 1985
Sydney, New York. (Paperback)

[HMS Bergamot]

Sausages! It took out all of my formatting!!!!

Attached is 'Vivette', EKC's first yacht, and Daisy IV, his wartime drifter.

Regards

[starshell]

I have the first three volumes of his series "The Royal Navy" which covers WWII actions and can highly recommend these volumes. They are chock full of wartime (censored) photos, diagrams, drawings and maps. The drawings are mostly lifted from the Illustrated London News, The Sphere or other periodicals of the day, but some were specially commissioned and are in themselves fine pieces of maritime artwork with many printed across two facing pages.

Mark

[Cresneve]

I am confused

Not sure, if I understand

Never mind my mistake ...
_________________
My sites: private krankenversicherung (http://privatekrankenversicherungpkv.org/) - pkv (http://pkv1.org/)

[Mitch Hinde]

Hi All

Never heard of the man, but that seems to be my loss, one that I will have to rectify.

Mitch Hinde