Blue cloth binding with title and ship on the front board. Title and captain on the faded spine.

F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feel and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available

A very well read and preserved copy

The Iron Pirate: A Plain Tale of Strange Happenings on the Sea is the tale of a great gas-driven iron-clad, which could outpace the navies of the world and terrorize the Atlantic Ocean. Constructed of a phosphor-bronze alloy with engines in the vessel that burn hydrogen, manufactured by passing steam through hot coal to produce a mixture of hydrogen and carbon dioxide, the nameless ship is captained by the infamous Captain Black and it brings horror to every ship and every sailor that comes in its path.

Sir Max Pemberton JP (19 June 1863 – 22 February 1950) was a popular English novelist, working mainly in the adventure and mystery genres.  He was educated at St Albans School, Merchant Taylors’ School, and Caius College, Cambridge.  A clubman, journalist and dandy (Lord Northcliffe admired his ‘fancy vests’), he frequented both Fleet Street and The Savage Club.

Pemberton was the editor of boys’ magazine Chums in 1892–1893 during its heyday. Between 1896 and 1906 he also edited Cassell’s Magazine, in which capacity he published the early works of R. Austin Freeman and William Le Queux.

His most famous work The Iron Pirate was a best-seller during the early 1890s and it launched his prolific writing career. It was the story of a great gas-driven iron-clad, which could outpace the navies of the world and terrorised the Atlantic Ocean. Other notable works included Captain Black (1911). Pemberton’s 1894 collection Jewel Mysteries: From a Dealer’s Note Book was a series of Mystery stories revolving around stolen jewels.  Pemberton also wrote historical fiction. Pemberton’s I Crown Thee King is set in Sherwood Forest during the time of Mary I. His novels Beatrice of Venice (1904) and Paulina (1922) centre on Napoleon’s military campaigns in Italy.

During January 1908, Pemberton had a story entitled Wheels of Anarchy published by Cassell & Company (London). This story was based upon notes that were written by his friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson shortly before he died in January 1907. It is an adventure tale about anarchists and assassins that is set across Europe. The novel’s hero and narrator, Bruce Driscoll, a recent Cambridge graduate, appears to be modelled upon Fletcher Robinson. Wheels of Anarchy by Max Pemberton was republished in December 2010.

Pemberton was member of a criminology literary society known as ‘Our Society’ along with eleven other notable members including Bertram Fletcher Robinson and Arthur Conan Doyle.

In 1920, Pemberton founded the London School of Journalism, wrote a biography about Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe and was knighted. He was married to Alice Tussaud, granddaughter of Madame Marie Tussaud and daughter of Joseph Tussaud.

Pemberton also wrote a biography of Sir Henry Royce published in 1934 shortly after Royce’s death.