Humphrey Bold: A Story of the Times of Benbow

Herbert StrangProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
617K words
Chapters
62

Tags

English Originals Historical Fiction Historical ReappraisalMilitary StrategyPirate ThemeSea VoyageAdventure SagaBoy HeroHeroismBuilding CourageGrowing UpTurbulent Era

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Humphrey Bold: A Story of the Times of Benbow by Herbert StrangAuthor: Strang, Herbert,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jun 13, 2005

Editor's review

Humphrey Bold: A Story of the Times of Benbow is an English historical adventure novel by Herbert Strang, falling under the category of English literature and freely distributed by Project Gutenberg. The title indicates the story's setting and its connection to the Benbow era; such works typically appeal through seafaring, adventure, and period atmosphere, and suit readers interested in the tradition of British historical fiction. The Gutenberg edition preserves the original English text and is fairly long, requiring some patience and a foundation in English. As a public-domain ebook, it has no modern introduction or notes; readers may treat it as a sample of early twentieth-century English historical adventure writing for young readers. Reading alongside historical background materials helps in understanding the period setting; for language practice alone, it can be worked through chapter by chapter without pressure to finish at once.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Look up basic background on the Benbow era before starting the text
  2. Set a chapter-by-chapter reading plan to avoid giving up due to length
  3. Skip unfamiliar nautical terms at first and follow the main plot

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62

FAQ

Is this book suitable for English beginners? Not really. This is an English original, fairly long and set in a historical context, which makes it demanding for beginners. It suits readers with some vocabulary and experience with long sentences, or those using a dictionary and reading aids.
Do I need to know about the Benbow era first? Some basic background helps. The Benbow era involves British naval and maritime history, and looking up relevant facts in advance lowers the bar for comprehension. For plot-focused reading, you can also look things up as you go rather than waiting until you know the background fully.
Does the Gutenberg edition have notes? Ebooks from Project Gutenberg generally preserve the original text and usually contain no modern notes or introduction. Readers who want historical background and terminology explanations need to consult external sources or use their reading tool's dictionary function.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Herbert Strang Author · British

Herbert Strang is a shared pen name used by British writers of adventure stories for young readers, referring to George Herbert Ely (1866–1958) and Charles James Lestrange (1867–1947). Public information about their personal lives is limited. Both long worked at Oxford University Press, and together they wrote numerous adventure tales set against historical and science-fictional backgrounds, with thirteen works held in this collection. Their subjects range widely: colonial adventures in India and the African highlands, and military and naval narratives built around figures such as Clive, Drake and Marlborough, as in In Clive's Command and With Drake on the Spanish Main, alongside science-fiction adventures such as Round the World in Seven Days. Their stories are marked by tense plotting and lively factual detail, combining historical education with youthful inspiration, and stand as notable examples of early twentieth-century British reading for boys.