ABOUT RAFAEL SABATINI

Rafael Sabatini was born in Italy on 29th April, 1875, the son of an Italian father and English mother. Educated in Switzerland and Portugal, he was an exceptionally gifted student who was fluent not only in the languages of his parents, but also a number of others. He moved to England in the later part of the last century when aged seventeen, settling in Herefordshire. I think it is fair to surmise that he had an extraordinary and deep interest in history, in particular that of his native Italy, but also of his adoptive England. And it was whilst in England that he started to write - " � the best stories are written in English�" so Sabatini contended.

Sabatini had a number of short stories published in magazines and periodicals, particularly around the turn of the century. One of his first published works appear to have been a series of short missives which were accepted by a periodical publication called The Premier Magazine, editted by Mr. David Whitelaw and to whom the subsequent collected and bound editions were dedicated. These short historical essay collections formed the "The Historical Night�s Entertainment" books, the first "series" - (Series I) published in 1917, followed by Series II (1919) by Phoenix and Series III (much later).

Sabatini was highly regarded between the wars as the author who more than any other resurrected the historical adventure as a worthy subject, and in doing so, made himself known as a superb story teller; he is also, in some quarters (for example, the American writer Roberta Gillens), today regarded as a "classical historical romanticist", and although romance clearly plays a part in his books, for me the adventure side is really the backbone of his novels.

Sabatini died in Switzerland, 13th February, 1950. I have no knowledge of his family life, or whether any close members of his family are still alive. I do not know of a biography of Sabatini, but I would love to read it if one indeed exists, so if you know anything at all, please e-mail me at [email protected] and tell me about it! He is buried in Switzerland, and his headstone bears these opening words from the pages of possibly his most famous novel (Scaramouche): "He was born with a gift of laughter, and a sense that the world was mad" - one of his most quoted lines.

I first encountered Rafael Sabatini during the 1960�s, when my brother gave me for Christmas, a boxed set of 3 paperbacks: "The Sea Hawk", "Scaramouche" and "Captain Blood". I read and re-read these novels till they nearly fell apart, and years later, after my marriage, when I came to collect the last things to move into our new house, they had been thrown away. I have spent the years since then trying to replace them, but it has only been the advent in the UK of the ubiquitous Car-Boot-Sale (thank goodness!) which has yielded results. My wife discovered a paperback "Captain Blood" (PAN X99, approximately 1961, but not part of the original set I had). Since then, a gentle trickle of 17 different books in total (so far) has come in, the highlights being first editions (as I believe, but research is still needed) of "The Nuptials of Corbal" and "The Historical Nights Entertainment - Series II", the former includes a number of beautiful colour plates, the latter is a handsome leather bound slim volume, although the most imposing edition I own to date must be the Stanley Paul publication of "The Life of Cesare Borgia". Between the wars, when book reading was such an important part of leisure activity and entertainment, books were made to look and feel magnificent, as well as being a good read. I also have four books issued during and immediately following the second world war, as evidenced by them being "...printed in accordance with the statutory war regulations..." The war, in fact, is one of the reasons Sabatini books are difficult to find, as during World War II, paper was in exceedingly short supply, and drives were regularly held amongst the population to collect it for recycling. Although official sorters tried to ensure that important historical documents and rare books were not pulped, I suppose that books by authors within the preceeding 25 years were considered good recycling material. As far as original and first edition Sabatini books are concerned, if they were easy to get, it would not give so much pleasure when one is found - I still feel my breath catch when I see one I haven�t got!

I have a couple of quotes for you attributed to the man himself:

As detailed on the dust cover of the re-issued "The Hounds of God": "The writer of historical fiction must inform himself as closely and accurately as possible of the realities of the life with which he deals. Before he can come to a book, he must have rendered himself by study and research so familiar with every phase and detail of the life of the period chosen that he can move with ease within it, and so produce his effects that his narrative, without being clogged by a parade of his knowledge, will yet be fully informed and enlivened by it. That, at least, is his ambitious aim."

Another quote, apparently he enjoyed fishing and even wrote some words on the subject: "Only those become weary of angling who bring nothing to it but the idea of catching fish."

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