THE LAST BOOKANEER. A novel of historical fiction.
London, 1890—Pen Davenport is the most infamous bookaneer in
Europe. A master of disguise, he makes his living stalking
harbors, coffeehouses, and print shops for the latest
manuscript to steal.
But this golden age of publishing is on the verge of collapse.
For a hundred years, loose copyright laws and a hungry reading
public created a unique opportunity: Books could easily be
published without an author’s permission. Authors gained fame
but suffered financially—Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Robert
Louis Stevenson, to name a few—but publishers reaped enormous
profits while readers bought books inexpensively. Yet on the
eve of the twentieth century, a new international treaty is
signed to grind this literary underground to a sharp halt. The
bookaneers are on the verge of extinction.
From the author of The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl, The Last
Bookaneer is the astonishing story of these literary thieves’
epic final heist. On the island of Samoa, a dying Robert Louis
Stevenson labors over a new novel. The thought of one last
book from the great author fires the imaginations of the
bookaneers, and soon Davenport sets out for the south Pacific
island. As always, Davenport is reluctantly accompanied by his
assistant Fergins, who is whisked across the world for one
final caper. Fergins soon discovers the supreme thrill of
aiding Davenport in his quest to steal Stevenson’s manuscript
and make a fortune before the new treaty ends the bookaneers’
trade forever. But Davenport is hardly the only bookaneer with
a mind to pirate Stevenson’s last novel. His longtime
adversary, the monstrous Belial soon appears on the island,
and soon Davenport, Fergins, and Belial find themselves
embroiled in a conflict larger, perhaps, than literature
itself.
In The Last Bookaneer, Pearl crafts a finely-wrought tale
about a showdown between brilliant men in the last great act
of their professions. It is nothing short of a page-turning
journey to the heart of a lost era.
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TRIVIA
BEHIND THE LAST BOOKANEER
... Earlier titles for the novel were The Bookaneer and The
Bookaneers
... The character of Kitten appears in and Whiskey Bill is
mentioned in Matthew Pearl's earlier novel, The Last Dickens
... To the left is an image of the Garrick Club in London, where
the characters of Davenport and Fergins (the narrator of The
Last Bookaneer) meet. Point your mouse over the image to see an
etching circa 1872 by Edwin Austin Abbey of a bookstall similar
to the kind Fergins operates in The Last Bookaneer.
... In early drafts of the novel, the character of Fergins
appears in only a few scenes, and the story originally was told
in third person narration rather than narrated by Fergins
... In the earliest drafts of the novel, the opening scenes took
place in Paris with Pen Davenport retrieving a key, and then
meeting Mark Twain at the Eiffel Tower restaurant
... The original concepts for the characters of the bookaneers
were drawn from the experience of teaching a seminar at Harvard
Law School on "The Literary Vision of Copyright"
... The 1886 painting in the background of this webpage, called
"Coastal Landscape," is by Paul Gauguin, who, like Stevenson,
spent his final years in the South Seas
... To the right is a political cartoon that appeared in the
humor magazine, Punchinello, in 1870. It shows the literary
pirates, appearing as actual pirates, seizing the "good ship
'Author'." Point your mouse over the image to see a portrait of
Fletcher "Major" Harper, one of the piratical publishers
portrayed in the cartoon.
"In the late 1800s, copyright laws were so lax that books could be published without the author's consent, as literary pirates called bookaneers haunted harbors, hangouts, and printers' shops in hopes of stealing a manuscript that would net them (and some lucky publisher) a fortune. With an international treaty looming to end this practice, two survivors of the trade compete for one last catch—a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. More literate thrills after The Technologists."-- Library Journal
"This novel is about book lovers, for book lovers, written by a book lover. Matthew Pearl is the gold standard when it comes to historical mysteries, and THE LAST BOOKANEER is no exception--a wonderful tale of passion, intrigue, and the last days of Robert Louis Stevenson." -- Lyndsay Faye, author of Gods of Gotham and Seven for a Secret