Herbert Jenkins

Bindle (1918). By Herbert Jenkins

Herbert George Jenkins (1876 - 8 June 1923) was a British writer and the owner of the publishing company Herbert Jenkins Ltd, which published many of P. G. Wodehouse's novels. Biography: Jenkins' parents came from Norfolk and, according to his obituary in The Times, he was educated at Greyfriars College. He began work as a journalist and then spent some 11 years at The Bodley Head before founding his own publishing house in 1912. He remained unmarried and died at the age of 47, on 8 June 1923 after a six-month-long illness, in Marylebone, London. As a writer: Although Jenkins is best known for his light fiction, his first book was a biography of George Borrow. He was an admirer of the poet and visual artist William Blake and conducted research into his trial for high treason and the location of his lost grave, writing a book on him in 1925. His most popular fictional creation was Mr. Joseph Bindle, who first appeared in a humorous novel in 1916 and in a number of sequels. In the preface to the books, T. P. O'Connor said that "Bindle is the greatest Cockney that has come into being through the medium of literature since Dickens wrote Pickwick Papers". The stories are based on the comedic drama of life at work, at home and all the adventures that take place along the way. Jenkins also wrote a number of short stories about Detective Malcolm Sage, which were collected into one book in 1921. Sage has been compared to both Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes in his style of detective work. Three of the Sage stories were included in Eugene Thwings 10-volume collection of vintage detective stories, The World's Best 100 Detective Stories (1929). As was the norm at the time, many of his fictional works appeared first in pulp magazines. Two of his novels and several of his short stories were made into short movies...................