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The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
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The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
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{{Short description|Australian mystery novel by Fergus Hum}}{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020|cs1-dates=ss}}- the content below is remote from Wikipedia
- it has been imported raw for GetWiki
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Author
File:Fergus Hume.jpg|thumb|left|Fergus HumeFergus HumeOriginally from Britain, Fergusson Wright Hume worked as a barrister's clerk in Melbourne, Australia, at the time of the book's first publication.{{sfn|Rzepka|Horsley|2010}} He went on to become a prolific author, and wrote more than 130 novels in fiction subjects including adventure and science fiction.{{sfn|Rzepka|Horsley|2010}}{{sfn|Lyons|Arnold|2001}}{{sfn|Davies|2006}}Plot
File:HansomCab.jpg|thumb|A Hansom cabHansom cabThe Mystery of a Hansom Cab takes place in Melbourne, Australia, and involves an investigation into a homicide, after a corpse is discovered in the early hours, in a hansom cab. Melbourne plays a significant role in the plot and, as the author describes, "Over all the great city hung a cloud of smoke like a pall."{{sfn|Macintyre|2009}} The killer's identity is not as significant a revelation in the story as are the roles of the influential and secretive Frettlby family, and their secret: they have a daughter living on the streets, and the woman everyone assumes is their daughter is illegitimate. The class divide between Melbourne's wealthy and less fortunate is addressed throughout the plot.{{sfn|Parrinder|Gasiorek|2011}}The protagonist in the novel is a policeman named Detective Gorby, who is given the task of solving the murder.{{sfn|Pierce|2009}} As Hume describes the character's investigative skills, "He looked keenly round the room, and his estimate of the dead man's character was formed at once."{{sfn|Pierce|2009}} The author commented in a later introduction, "All of the scenes in the book, especially the slums, are described from personal observation; and I passed a great many nights in Little Bourke Street, gathering material".{{sfn|Rzepka|Horsley|2010}} At this time, the street was notorious as a place frequented by prostitutes and criminals.{{sfn|Brown-May|1998}}Publication history
{{wikisource}}The Mystery of a Hansom Cab was first published in Melbourne in 1886 and in Britain in 1887{{sfn|Rzepka|Horsley|2010}} (the author self-published the first edition){{sfn|Birns|McNeer|2007}}{{sfn|Davies|2006}} and in the United States in 1888, by George Munro.{{LCCN|ca08000675}} Hume wrote an introduction to a revised edition published in 1898,{{sfn|Rzepka|Horsley|2010}} and later publications have included those by the publishers Arno in 1976, and by Dover in 1982,{{LCCN|75032754}}{{LCCN|82009461}} and a new Australian edition with an introduction by Simon Caterson, in 1999 by The Text Publishing Company, which has been reprinted several times.{{sfn|Hume|2013}}Reception
Sales
"A Concise History of Australia" notes that the book became an international bestseller.{{sfn|Macintyre|2009}} A Companion to Australian Literature since 1900 noted The Mystery of a Hansom Cab provided Australia with its first international bestseller.{{sfn|Birns|McNeer|2007}} and Vintage Mystery and Detective Stories characterized the book as the best-selling detective novel of the 19th century.{{sfn|Davies|2006}} In Australia, the book sold 25,000 copies in its first print run, and 100,000 copies in its first two print runs.{{sfn|Lyons|Arnold|2001}}{{sfn|Pierce|2009|pp=114, 274}} In Britain, in its first six months after publication, 300,000 copies were sold,{{sfn|Rzepka|Horsley|2010}}{{sfn|Parrinder|Gasiorek|2011}} and, in 1888, sales continued in thousands in Britain each week.{{sfn|Rzepka|Horsley|2010}}{{sfn|Parrinder|Gasiorek|2011}} According to A Gregarious Culture (2001), "sales of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, published in 1886, would reach astronomical figures". {{harvtxt|Franklin|Roe|Bettison|2001}} Over 500,000 copies were sold in Britain, by the publishing company Jarrold.{{sfn|Pierce|2009}} In the United States, an additional 500,000 copies were sold.{{sfn|Davies|2006}}The author did not benefit from the sales of the work, as he had sold his rights to it for £50.{{sfn|Pierce|2009}} A Gregarious Culture identifies "the only known [complete] copy of the first edition" of the book as "a treasure" of the Mitchell Library at State Library of New South Wales.{{sfn|Franklin|Roe|Bettison|2001}} Illustrated London News reported in 1888 on the popularity of the book, "Persons were found everywhere eagerly devouring the realistic sensational tale of Melbourne social life. Whether travelling by road, rail or river the unpretending little volume was ever present in some companion's or stranger's hands."{{sfn|Rzepka|Horsley|2010}}{{sfn|Parrinder|Gasiorek|2011}} The book outsold the worldwide 1887 publication of the Sherlock Holmes novel A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.{{sfn|Birns|McNeer|2007}}Reviews
}}- Charles J. Rzepka and Lee Horsley's A Companion to Crime Fiction (2010) called The Mystery of a Hansom Cab "The most spectacular reimagining of the sensation novel, and a crucial point in the genre's transformation into detective fiction".{{harvtxt|Rzepka|Horsley|2010}}.
- A History of the Book in Australia 1891â1945 (2001) described the book as "a lively and engaging crime novel which used its Melbourne setting to considerable effect". {{harvtxt|Lyons|Arnold|2001}}.
- Geoffrey Blainey wrote in A History of Victoria, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab "did more than any book to give the outside world a picture of Melbourne of the late 1880s".{{nowrap|{{harvtxt|Blainey|2007}}}}
- David Stuart Davies featured the work in his book Vintage Mystery and Detective Stories, writing, "The author was determined to make a fortune by creating a story {{'}}containing a mystery, a murder, and a description of low life in Melbourne{{'}}. He succeeded. Like a rich plum in our vintage mystery pudding we include the whole novel in this collection."{{nowrap|{{harvtxt|Davies|2006}}}}
Adaptations
A parody edition, titled The Mystery of a Wheelbarrow (1888), is attributed to a W. {{Not a typo|Humer}} Ferguson.{{sfn|Franklin|Roe|Bettison|2001}}{{oclc|221666246}} The same year, it was adapted for the stage by Arthur Law.{{sfn|Plarr|1899|p=626}}The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1911) is a film produced by Amalgamated Pictures, an Australian adaptation of the book.{{sfn|Reade|1980}}{{IMDb title|0001803|The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1911)}}- {{Allmovie title|103499|Mystery of a Hansom Cab}}In 1915, the book was again adapted into a film with screenplay by Eliot Stannard.{{sfn|Young|2010}} Directed by Harold Weston, the film starred the actors Milton Rosmer, Fay Temple, A. V. Bramble, James Dale and Arthur Walcott.{{IMDb title|0005796|The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1915)}}{{sfn|Young|2010}}{{sfn|Lincoln|1916}}A remake of the 1911 version of the film was produced in 1925, in Australia.{{sfn|Reade|1980}} Made by Pyramid Pictures, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab cast included Arthur Shirley, Grace Glover, Godfrey Cass, Cora Warner and Isa Crossley.{{sfn|Reade|1980}}{{IMDb title|0359721|The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1925)}}The Mystery of a Hansom Cab was a 1935 reissue of the 1925 Australian silent film. It was released by Pathescope.{{sfn|Kinematograph Weekly|1935}}The book was read out on ABC radio in 1954.{{Citation
| title=EARLY THRILLER AS SERIAL
| journal=ABC weekly
| date=18 September 1954
| location=Sydney
| publisher=ABC
| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1695305475
| access-date=16 February 2024
| via=Trove
}} A six-part radio serial adaptation was broadcast on the BBC Light Programme from 2 November to 7 December 1958.{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="vertical-align:top;line-height:1.2;font-size:95%;margin:-0.5em 4em 0 5em;width:24em;max-width:30em;"| journal=ABC weekly
| date=18 September 1954
| location=Sydney
| publisher=ABC
| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1695305475
| access-date=16 February 2024
| via=Trove
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}Sources
- WEB,weblink Filming commences on ABC telemovie The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, Diaz, Amanda, 30 April 2012,weblink 11 January 2020, {{IMDb title| tt2174072| The Mystery of a Hansom Cab| (2012 TV Movie)}}
- BOOK, Nicholas, Birns, Nicholas Birns, Rebecca, McNeer, A Companion to Australian Literature since 1900,weblink 391â393, Camden, 2007, 978-1571133496, Google Books,
- BOOK, Geoffrey, Blainey, Geoffrey Blainey, A History of Victoria,weblink CUP, 2007, 978-0521869775, 72, Google Books,
- BOOK, Andrew, Brown-May, Melbourne street life: the itinerary of our days, 28, Australian Scholarly/Arcadia and Museum Victoria, 1998, 978-1875606467,
- BOOK, David Stuart, Davies, David Stuart Davies, Vintage Mystery and Detective Stories, 2006, Wordsworth, 978-1840220650, 15â17, 1059, 1063,
- BOOK, Miles, Franklin, Miles Franklin, Jill, Roe, Jill Roe, Margaret, Bettison, A Gregarious Culture: Topical Writings of Miles Franklin,weblink University of Queensland Press, UQP, 0702232378, 2001, 227â230, Google Books,
- BOOK,weblink Text Publishing, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, 978-1921922220, 2013, Fergus, Hume, Introduction: Simon Caterson,
- JOURNAL, Kinematograph Publications, Kinematograph Weekly Yearbook, Kinematograph Weekly,weblink The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, 1935, 91, 96, {{sfnref, Kinematograph Weekly, 1935, }}
- BOOK, Martyn, Lyons, Martyn Lyons, John, Arnold, A History of the Book in Australia 1891â1945: A National Culture in a Colonised Market, 2001, University of Queensland Press, UQP, 978-0702232343, 241â243,
- BOOK, Stuart, Macintyre, Stuart Macintyre, A Concise History of Australia, 3rd,weblink CUP, 2009, 978-0521516082, 111â113, Google Books,
- BOOK, Patrick, Parrinder, Patrick Parrinder, Andrzej, Gasiorek, The Oxford History of the Novel in English, 4: The Reinvention of the British and Irish Novel 1880â1940,weblink OUP
isbn = 978-0199559336 via=Google Books, - BOOK, Peter, Pierce, The Cambridge History of Australian Literature,weblink limited, CUP, 2009, 978-0521881654, 114, 274,
- BOOK, Men and Women of the Time: A Dictionary of Contemporaries, Arthur Law (playwright), Law, William Arthur, Victor, Plarr, Victor Plarr, 15th, Routledge, 1899, 626, 457880067,
- BOOK, Eric, Reade, History and Heartburn: The Saga of Australian Film, 1896â1978,weblink Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1980, 978-0838630822, 44, Google Books,
- BOOK, Charles J, Rzepka, Lee, Horsley, A Companion to Crime Fiction,weblink limited, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, 978-1405167659, 107â109,
- NEWS,weblink The Age, Melbourne, 17 August 1961, Author, 23, In Rare Double, TV-Radio Guide 2, {{sfnref, The Age, 1961, }}
- NEWS,weblink Lincoln, W J, Picture Profiles in the Olden Days {{!, Random Reminiscences| newspaper=The Winner |location=Melbourne| date= 9 February 1916| page= 11| via= NLA}}
- BOOK, R G, Young, The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film,weblink Applause, 2010, 978-1557832696, 434, Google Books,
Further reading
- NEWS, The Book Show,weblink
ABC Radio National>Radio National, 29 December 2009, Australian Classics: Fergus Hume{{', s Mystery of a Hansom Cab}} - BOOK, Murder Will Out: The Detective in Fiction
last1 = Binyon, T. J. Binyon, OUP, 1989, 978-0192192233, 70â71,weblink limited, - NEWS, Dictionary of Australian Biography (1949), Fergus Hume,weblink
- WEB, Fergus Hume,weblink Fantastic Fiction
- BOOK
LAST1 = KIRK,weblink Hume, Fergusson Wright (Fergus) (1859â1932), Australian Dictionary of Biography (1972), 4 Melbourne UP>MUP, 1972, 443â444, - JOURNAL
LAST1 = PITTARD, The Real Sensation of 1887: Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, Clues: A Journal of Detection, 2008, 26, 1, 37â48, 10.3172/CLU.26.1.37, 0742-4248, - BOOK, Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
last1 = Sussex, Lucy Sussex, Text Publishing, 2016, 978-1922147943, External links
{{Commons category|The Mystery of a Hansom Cab}}- {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/fergus-hume/the-mystery-of-a-hansom-cab}}
- {{gutenberg author| id=Fergus+Hume | name=Fergus Hume}} (plain text and HTML)
- {{librivox book | title=The Mystery of a Hansom Cab| author=Hume}}
- {{OL work}}
- Classic Crime Fiction {{!}} Fergus Hume bibliography
- Works by or about Fergus Hume at Internet Archive (scanned books & audiobooks, original editions color illustrated)
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