num_pages: 339
description: No one but myself knows what I have suffered, nor what my books have gained, by your unsleeping watchfulness and admirable pertinacity. And now here is a volume that goes into the world and lacks your imprimatur: a strange thing in our joint lives; and the reason of it stranger still! I have watched with interest, with pain, and at length with amusement, your unavailing attempts to peruse The Black Arrow; and I think I should lack humour indeed, if I let the occasion slip and did not place your name in the fly-leaf of the only book of mine that you have never read--and never will read. That others may display more constancy is still my hope. The tale was written years ago for a particular audience and (I may say) in rivalry with a particular author; I think I should do well to name him, Mr. Alfred R. Phillips. It was not without its reward at the time. I could not, indeed, displace Mr. Phillips from his well-won priority; but in the eyes of readers who thought less than nothing of Treasure Island, The Black Arrow was supposed to mark a clear advance. Those who read volumes and those who read story papers belong to different worlds. The verdict on Treasure Island was reversed in the other court; I wonder, will it be the same with its successor?
language: English
title: The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses
titlecomplete: The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses
characters: Alicia Risingham, Joanna Sedley, Richard III of England, Richard "Dick" Shelton
genres: Fiction, Historical, Adventure, British Literature, Young Adult, Literature, Romance, Classics, 19th Century, Historical Fiction
ratings_count: 18404
places: England
publisher: 1st World Library - Literary Society