Herbert Strang


Herbert Strang was the pseudonym of two English authors, George Herbert Ely and Charles James L'Estrange. They specialized in writing adventure stories for boys, both historical and modern-day.
Both men were staff members of Oxford University Press, which published their books, giving them a patina of social status and approval for the parents of their intended audience. Their work showed a broad general debt to that of Jules Verne; Round the World in Seven Days was one of their most popular books.
Ely and L'Estrange have been classified as "popular writers of imperial fiction" and "successors of G. A. Henty".
The pseudonym was also employed for several series of anthologies, works "edited by Herbert Strang" that included The Big Book of School Stories for Boys and The Oxford Annual for Scouts. There was in addition an anthology series for girls by "Mrs. Herbert Strang", who was also given as the author of some adventure books for girls, notably The Girl Crusoes: A Story of the South Seas.

Selected works by "Herbert Strang"

Very little is known about the series of books titled Little Stories of Great Lives that were edited by Herbert Strang and written for young children. The format of the books are printed with large type
with wide margins on good paper. The cover of each book contains a colored frontispiece of the subject, and numerous black-and-white illustrations inside. The known stories of the series include: