R
RACISM, BOOKS ON
Slavery was outlawed in Britain in 1807 and made a capital offence in
1824. Abolitionist writers were William Wilberforce, Mary
Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Benger, Hannah More, Henry Brougham &
Susannah Watts
RACKHAM, ARTHUR
Artist and book illustrator, esp of fairy-tales. Married Edyth Starkie in 1903
RAILWAY BOOKS OF THE 19THC
RALEIGH OR RALEGH, SIR WALTER
Explorer, Courtier, Statesman, Historian & Poet. Married Elizabeth
Throckmorton in 1593. Imprisoned in the Tower after the failure of his
expedition to find El Dorado, his estates were confiscated on the death
of Elizabeth I in 1603. Released in 1615. He was executed (beheaded) in
the Tower in 1618 for being an 'agent of Spain'
RAMPANT LIONS PRESS
Based in Cambridge
RAMSAY, ALLAN
Poet and Bookseller. Married Christian Ross in 1712. Owned a bookshop in
Edinburgh and established the first lending (circulating) library in
Scotland in 1726 (or more likely 1728)
RANSOME, ARTHUR MICHELL
Novelist and children's writer. Married Ivy Walker in 1909 but it didn't
last. During 1915 he was in Russia where he fell in love with Trotsky's
secretary, Evgenia Shelepin. They married 1924
READ, SIR HERBERT EDWARD
Poet, Novelist and Art Critic. Married Evelyn Roff & Margaret Ludwig
REEVES, JAMES
Poet, critic and children's writer
RENDELL, RUTH
Novelist. Married Donald John Rendell in 1950, and then remarried him in 1977
RHYS, ERNEST PERCIVAL
Poet, Novelist, Editor & Playwright. First editor of the Everyman
Series. With the Publisher Joseph Mallaby Dent, they dreamed up the
series in 1906. By 1910 they had published 500 titles. Rhys wrote of 130
introductions for the series. Married Grace Little 1891
RICHARDS, FRANK
Children's writer. Creator of Billy Bunter
ROBERTS, SIR CHARLES GEORGE DOUGLAS
Poet, Novelist & Children's Writer, esp of animal stories. Married
Mary Fenety in 1880, and Joan Montgomery 1943. He wrote nearly 70 books.
He moved to England in 1911 and served as an army officer in WW1,
despite being in his mid-fifties. He returned to Canada in 1925
ROBIN HOOD
Legendary medieval outlaw, hero of numerous ballads and stories.
ROBINSON, CHARLES
Book illustrator & Cartoonist. Son of wood engraver Thomas Robinson & elder brother of W Heath Robinson
ROBINSON, WILLIAM HEATH
Cartoonist and book Illustrator, esp known for his fantastically
humorous drawings of machines. Son of wood engraver Thomas Robinson,
brother of Charles & Thomas.
ROHMER, SAX
Novelist & Short Story Writer. Married Elizabeth Knox in 1909. He made a fortune from his books being turned into films
ROLFE, FATHER FREDERICK WILLIAM
Writer, Blackmailer, Con Man, Pauper and Pederast. Failed schoolmaster,
painter and photographer. Literary genius. (See "the Quest for Corvo"
by A J A Symons 1934). From 1908 he lived in Venice
ROSSETTI, CHRISTINA GEORGINA
Religious Poet. Younger sister of poet and artist Dante Gabriel
Rossetti. High Church. Home educated. Single and suffereing poor health,
she lived most her life with her mother, Frances Polidori Rossetti. She
turned down various offers of marriage because of religious
differences. Wrote "In the Bleak Midiwnter"
ROSSETTI, DANTE GABRIEL
Poet & Artist. Brother of Christina. Married Elizabeth Siddal in
1860 (died 1862). A founder member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL
ROWSE, ALFRED LESLIE
Historian, Poet, Biographer & Essayist
RUGBY UNION
RUSKIN, JOHN
Author and art critic. Inherited a large fortune from his father, a
sherry importer. Married Euphemia Chalmers Gray in 1848, dissolved 1855,
when she married John Millais. Became friends with Kate Greenaway in
1880s and had a big influence of her life and work. In 1871 set up his
Press at Orpington in Kent. It was run by George Allen, an engraver.
Lived at Brantwood, Coniston in the Lake District from 1872-1900. Buried in Coniston churchyard
RUSSELL, BERTRAND ARTHUR WILLIAM, 3RD EARL RUSSELL
Philosopher, Mathematician, Essayist. Nobel Prize 1950. Married Alys
Pearsall Smith. His second wife was the feminist writer Dora Winifred
Black (1894-1986). They divorced in 1934 and he married Patricia Spence
in 1936.
Imprisoned in WW2 for his Pacifism
RUSSELL, GEORGE WILLIAM
Poet, painter, mystic and Irish patriot. Married Violet North 1898. Friend of W B Yeats, who introduced him to theosophy