Background
George Holbrook Jackson was born on December 31, 1874, in Liverpool.
(Older social history, that is, before 1960, included topi...)
Older social history, that is, before 1960, included topics that did not fit into the mainstream historiography of political, military, diplomatic and constitutional history. Without a central theme, it often discussed political movements, like Populism, that were considered "social". The concept of "people's history" was often so Marxist that non-Marxists would not read it. Social history was set apart from political history, intellectual history and the history of great personages. The English historian G. M. Trevelyan saw it as a link between economic and political history.
https://www.amazon.com/William-Morris-craftsman-socialist-Social-Reformers/dp/B00Y9Y52AG/?tag=2022091-20
1908
(In 1955, in a used bookstore in San Francisco, Dr. Alfred...)
In 1955, in a used bookstore in San Francisco, Dr. Alfred Kessler, an avid collector of the works of G. K. Chesterton, uncovered a rare treasure - Chesterton's personal copy of a privately published edition of Holbrook Jackson's Platitudes in the Making (1911), with original responses by Chesterton written in green pencil between the lines of Jackson's book.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0898706289/?tag=2022091-20
1910
(The romance novel, which is sometimes termed the romantic...)
The romance novel, which is sometimes termed the romantic novel, places its primary focus on the development of a romantic relationship and love between two people. The sub-genres of the romance novel include: fantasy, historical romance, paranormal fiction, and science fiction. Romance novels existed in ancient Greece, and were also to be found in the literary fiction of the 18th and 19th centuries in the works of such authors as Samuel Richardson and Jane Austen.
https://www.amazon.com/Romance-reality-studies-Holbrook-Jackson/dp/B015HDHRDC/?tag=2022091-20
1911
(Fairy tales, wonder tales, magic tales are a folklore gen...)
Fairy tales, wonder tales, magic tales are a folklore genre taking the form of a short story that typically includes magical beings such as dragons, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, griffins, mermaids, talking animals, trolls, unicorns, or witches. Generally, magic or enchantments are involved. Fairy tales are distinguished from legends, are mainly derived from European tradition and folk lore, and are generally children's literature.
https://www.amazon.com/All-manner-folk-interpretations-studies/dp/B014VUJH6M/?tag=2022091-20
1912
(Military history texts discuss the historical record of a...)
Military history texts discuss the historical record of armed conflict in the history of humanity, its impact on people, societies, and their cultures. Some fundamental subjects of military history study are the causes of war, its social and cultural foundations, military doctrines, logistics, leadership, technology, strategy, and tactics used, and how these have developed over time. Thematic divisions of military history may include: Ancient warfare, Medieval warfare, Gunpowder warfare, Industrial warfare, and Modern warfare.
https://www.amazon.com/Southward-other-essays-Holbrook-Jackson/dp/B016VKXCUM/?tag=2022091-20
1914
(It has been said that when man needs company, a book is h...)
It has been said that when man needs company, a book is his best friend; when in doubt, a book is his adviser; when in damp spirits, a book is his comforter; and when bored, a book is his best recreation. Books are the lifeblood of humankind. With this in mind some 85 years ago, Holbrook Jackson, a highly respected man of letters, published in a limited edition a book called The Anatomy of Bibliomania.
https://www.amazon.com/Book-About-Books-Anatomy-Bibliomania/dp/0517368358/?tag=2022091-20
1930
(Second edition. Discusses printing from the reader's poin...)
Second edition. Discusses printing from the reader's point of view. Articles on the relationship between many famous authors and their printers; also articles on Morris, Fraser, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/printing-books-Holbrook-Jackson/dp/B0007IT8N0/?tag=2022091-20
1938
("In the third of his delectable books on books, Holbrook ...)
"In the third of his delectable books on books, Holbrook Jackson focuses on the relationship between author and reader, describing reading as "the art of extracting essences from books for our own, not the author's benefit". Books are to be considered not solely as works of art but as one of the means of the art of living.
https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Books-Holbrook-Jackson/dp/0252070410/?tag=2022091-20
1947
journalist lecturer publisher writer
George Holbrook Jackson was born on December 31, 1874, in Liverpool.
Jackson studied at various schools. He was also an apprenticed to the drapery trade in Liverpool.
Jackson's early life was apparently uneventful. He became a clerk at the age of fifteen, ultimately hoping to make enough money to allow himself to continue writing. After publishing an essay on Edward Fitzgerald’s Omar Khayyam in 1899, a collection of poems The Eternal Now in 1900, and editing a collection of children’s poetry in 1906, Jackson began to look for work as a journalist, hoping to make his living as an editor and writer. He and his family - wife Frances Jones Jackson and daughter Gwendolen - moved to London, where he wrote essays and edited journals full time.
As a book-lover from a poor background, Jackson had little choice but to become a journalist. In 1907, he served as joint editor for The New Age, the Guild Socialism magazine, and gradually thereafter he built a respectable career as a talented writer, meticulous editor, and knowledgeable bookman. In 1907, Jackson renounced the business world to devote himself full time to journalism, becoming joint editor of the New Age with A. W. Orage.
Jackson also worked in Fleet Street as a freelance writer from 1908 to 1910, contributing to many of the leading London daily and weekly periodicals. In 1910, Jackson began an association with T. P. O’Connor, becoming managing director and editor of both T. P.'s Magazine and T. P.'s Weekly. In 1913, The Eighteen Nineties, the first complete review of art and letters in England at the close of the nineteenth century, made its appearance. During this time, he had also issued Bernard Shaw, one of the first books on the playwright.
(Fairy tales, wonder tales, magic tales are a folklore gen...)
1912("In the third of his delectable books on books, Holbrook ...)
1947(It has been said that when man needs company, a book is h...)
1930(Older social history, that is, before 1960, included topi...)
1908(The romance novel, which is sometimes termed the romantic...)
1911(Military history texts discuss the historical record of a...)
1914(In 1955, in a used bookstore in San Francisco, Dr. Alfred...)
1910(Second edition. Discusses printing from the reader's poin...)
1938Jackson gravitated to the essay-collection form; in such books, each idea could be worked through on its own terms, creating a cumulative argument through juxtaposition. In each of his essay collections, Jackson argues the importance of the individual, and for the importance of sensual experience as a building block of literary expression. Increasingly, Jackson wrote of the sensual experience of reading itself.
Jackson suggests, that reading might be considered “writing by proxy,” for “when we read, we do not so much enter the souls of others, we let them enter into us. We become Shakespeare or his characters.” Thus, reading, as well as writing, is the way that we solitary individuals enter into a true collective of mind, politely accepting the writer’s ideas, if only for a time. Jackson’s essays, taken as a whole, describe an individual’s long love of books. His essays are unlike other paeans to reading in their insistence on reading and writing as products of physical existence, but his essays surpass others, contend Parker and Beum, by explaining how reading and writing can build community among wholly separate individuals.
Quotations:
“Never put off till tomorrow the book you can read today.”
“Fear of corrupting the mind of the younger generation is the loftiest form of cowardice.”
“A good book is always on tap; it may be decanted and drunk a hundred times, and it is still there for further imbibement. ”
“History proves there is no better advertisement for a book than to condemn it for obscenity.”
“Your library is your portrait.”
“The time to read is any time: no apparatus, no appointment of time and place, is necessary. It is the only art which can be practised at any hour of the day or night, whenever the time and inclination comes, that is your time for reading; in joy or sorrow, health or illness.”
Jackson was a member of the Fabian Society.
Quotes from others about the person
“Jackson was preeminently an unbookish bookman who carried forward the great tradition of the familiar essay of the nineteenth century. One need not share the man’s bibliomania to realize that more than a few of his essays are as rewarding as any produced in the Georgian era.” - Robert Beum
Jackson married Frances Jones Jackson in 1900. They had one child.