LATE MR HERBERT JENKINS.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2715, 7 August 1923, Page 2

LATE MR HERBERT JENKINS.

Mr Herbert Jenkins, the publisher, who established a reputation lor humour with “Bindle,” was acclaimed by people who were more enthusiastic than accurate as a “modern Dickens,” and his "Biddle” compared to Sam Weller. All the same, t'he late Mr Jenkins was a remarkable man, • as Maud Churton Brady shows. He began humbly at the age of 15 in a bookseller’s shop. The humiliating experience of finding himself tongue-tied on a social occasion made him determine to “furnish his mind” since “nothing can come out of nothing.” He used to sit up half the might devouring books supplied by a neighbour. Both lads, struggling to improve’thcmselves, rose to fame, for the friends name was John Masefield. Years later, ' Jenkins became manager of John Lane, Ltd., at the famous Bodley Head, a conquerable jump from a bookseller’s shop, and all the more praiseworthy since he had burdened himself, while still very young, with the support of relatives. Walking to save a penny omnibus fare, refusing an invitation to a river picnic because of a sixpenny railway fare, lunching on a bun—this is the picture of his early twenties as he many times described it to me.. All the time the unquenchable ambition burned in Lis soul to produce books for himself. Lack of capital and the ■weight of the aforesaid responsibilities seemed insuperable obstacles In 1911, when he was about 36, his extremely able. “Life of , George Borrow," published by Murray, first brought him into the public view and gained the critics’ praise. Then, by a romantic turn of Fate’s wheel, his chance came. Ho started as a publish, or, with a daringly small capital, in throe rooms. Two years later the outbreak of war .might well have engulfed the struggling enterprise. But the extraordinary energy and organising genius of Jenkins surmounted everything. He never looked back; his unique advertising made him known all over the world, his business swelled into large premises; his three rooms turned into seven floors, and that in less than seven years from his start! In addition to all his other work, he found time to write many novels, including the famous “Bindle” series, which brought laughter to thousands in the trenches, as well as a considerable foiaaiio to its author. Last year ho sold the magazine rights of ten stories for £ISOO. “I’d gladly have done the lot for £ls in the old days,” ho laughed. A heartening story for young writers? Y r cs, but it must be remembered that Herbert Jenkins had an amazing capacity for work. His business was his idol, and he was happiest when in ~t. His favourite evening companion was his distaphouc; his idea of a holiday, a fortnight at Folkestone, with .wo secretaries!