Black Bartlemy's Treasure

Jeffery FarnolProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 639K words
Chapters: 64

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.Black Bartlemy's Treasure by Jeffery FarnolAuthor: Farnol, Jeffery, 1878-1952,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 1, 2000

Editor's review

Jeffery Farnol's Black Bartlemy's Treasure is a legendary sea adventure novel built around treasure hunting, hidden identity, and maritime escapades, carrying on the narrative tradition of late nineteenth-century English popular adventure fiction. The English electronic edition from Project Gutenberg makes the text freely accessible and searchable, and is well suited as a leisure reading sample of genre fiction. Its readability comes from the momentum of suspense and the confrontations between characters, allowing readers to see how early adventure novels organize clues and create turns of event. Note that this is an early popular work, and its characterization and language carry the marks of its time; it should not be judged by the pacing standards of modern genre fiction. As you read, pay attention to the basic formulas of treasure-hunting narrative, the way sea scenes are described, and how the author paces secrets and revelations; the electronic edition suits分段 reading on a commute or before sleep.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers who enjoy classic sea adventure and treasure-hunting themes
Readers who want to understand the English popular fiction genres of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
Readers with intermediate or higher English proficiency who want a public-domain e-book for extensive reading practice

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting modern thriller pacing and complex character arcs
Readers with weak English who need annotations to finish a whole novel
Readers sensitive to the period prejudices found in old adventure literature

Reading tips

Read the first few chapters to gauge the language difficulty, then decide between intensive and extensive reading
Keep a character and clue chart to track the treasure hunt and avoid getting lost in the old-style narration
Don't look up every unfamiliar nautical word; grasp the scene and action first
After finishing, compare it with other classic treasure-hunting novels to observe similarities and differences in genre formulas

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.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for English beginners?

Not really. It is an early English popular novel whose sentences and vocabulary carry period features, and beginners are likely to struggle with the nautical descriptions and old-fashioned expressions. Intermediate or higher readers are advised to try it.

Do I need to know the author's background to read it?

Not necessarily. The novel's main line is adventure and treasure hunting, and the story is relatively self-contained. Knowing that the author belongs to the popular adventure fiction tradition helps with understanding the style, but it does not affect basic reading.

Is there any difference between the electronic and paper editions?

The Gutenberg edition is a public-domain electronic text whose main content matches common public-domain versions; the differences lie mainly in typesetting and appendices. Reading the text itself is enough.

How should I pace my reading of this book?

It suits segmented extensive reading, two or three chapters a day, following the clues. Old-style adventure novels have more buildup, so don't chase speed; focus on the suspense and scene transitions.

Comments

Find this book

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

Jeffery Farnol Author · British · 1878–1952

Jeffery Farnol (1878–1952) was a British novelist born in Aston, Birmingham. He studied stage design and later went to the United States to work on scene painting. Over his career he wrote more than forty historical romance and adventure novels, including The Broad Highway, The Amateur Gentleman and Black Bartlemy's Treasure, with thirteen of his works held in this collection. His novels are mostly set in the Regency period and combine romance with adventure in a fluent, popular style. Together with Georgette Heyer, he helped to establish the Regency romance genre. Public information on the details of his life is limited; this introduction is based mainly on his works and their themes.