Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald

Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald
Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald (1834–1925) was an Irish biographer, novelist, and journalist, known for his prolific writing and expertise in literary history. He contributed extensively to journals like "The Athenaeum" and "The Illustrated London News". Fitzgerald wrote numerous biographies, including those of Charles Dickens in "The Life of Charles Dickens" and William Makepeace Thackeray in "Life of Thackeray." He also penned historical novels, such as "The Kembles," chronicling famous British acting families.

Author's Books:


JOHN FORSTER. A MAN OF LETTERS OF THE OLD SCHOOL. One of the most robust, striking, and many-sided characters of his time was John Forster, a rough, uncompromising personage, who, from small and obscure beginnings, shouldered his way to the front until he came to be looked on by all as guide, friend and arbiter. From a struggling newspaperman he emerged into handsome chambers in Lincoln's Inn... more...

IN TOWN.   t is London, of a bright sultry August day, when the flags seem scorching to the feet, and the sun beats down fiercely. It has yet a certain inviting attraction. There is a general air of bustle, and the provincial, trundled along in his cab, his trunks over his head, looks out with a certain awe and sense of delight, noting, as he skirts the Park, the gay colours glistening among the dusty... more...

PICKWICKIAN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. No English book has so materially increased the general gaiety of the country, or inspired the feeling of comedy to such a degree as, “The Pickwick Club.”  It is now some “sixty years since” this book was published, and it is still heartily appreciated.  What English novel or story is there which is made the subject of notes and commentaries on the most... more...

CHAPTER I.  IPSWICH I.—The Great White Horse This ancient Inn is associated with some pleasant and diverting Pickwickian memories.  We think of the adventure with “the lady in the yellow curl papers” and the double-bedded room, just as we would recall some “side splitting” farce in which Buckstone or Toole once made our jaws ache.  As all the world knows, the “Great White Horse” is... more...