# Old book/author mystery **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [November 26, 2022, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-book-author-mystery/975568 "2022-11-26T05:09:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-book-author-mystery/975568/1 "2022-11-26T05:09:12Z")
My wife and youngest daughter went to an estate sale and came home with a small stack of old hardcover books. One was published in 1894 with an inscription stating it was a Christmas gift in 1912. Another of the books is called, “The Patriot” by A.E. and H.C. Walter. After a lot of googling I found no information at all about this book or its authors. Nothing on Wikipedia, the only hit was someone selling on [Amazon.](https://www.amazon.com/Patriot-Alexia-H-C-Walter/dp/B001DIRWC2) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-book-author-mystery/975568/2 "2022-11-26T05:44:20Z")
It has hits on Google Books, though only in snippet view. [https://www.google.com/search?q=“The+Patriot”+by+A.E.+and+H.C.+Walter&client=firefox-b-1-m&sxsrf=ALiCzsYgzMi1A2GDTvOgMFHz1xf-YvjgCg:1669440830914&source=lnms&tbm=bks&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJ5cvdj8v7AhU-SzABHWidDhcQ\_AUICygG](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E2%80%9CThe+Patriot%E2%80%9D+by+A.E.+and+H.C.+Walter&client=firefox-b-1-m&sxsrf=ALiCzsYgzMi1A2GDTvOgMFHz1xf-YvjgCg:1669440830914&source=lnms&tbm=bks&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJ5cvdj8v7AhU-SzABHWidDhcQ_AUICygG) You might find a review in one of the [archive.org](http://archive.org) files. [https://archive.org/search.php?query=“The+Patriot”+by+A.E.+and+H.C.+Walter&sin=TXT](https://archive.org/search.php?query=%E2%80%9CThe+Patriot%E2%80%9D+by+A.E.+and+H.C.+Walter&sin=TXT) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-book-author-mystery/975568/3 "2022-11-26T05:48:05Z")
> THE PATRIOT. By Avexia E. and H. C. WALTER. Dutton. 1928. $2. The masked unknown who killed Morn- ington, London profligate, war-profiteer and traitor to his country, accomplished a worthy deed, but an insufficiently important one to justify the nearly 350 pages here devoted to it. The mysterious slayer com- pletely foiled the best brains of Scotland Yard, averted all suspicion of his identity, and finally, when danger of arrest looms, escapes easily to foreign parts, But the wrong man has meanwhile been tried for the murder and ‘acquitted—of which tedious and irrelevant proceedings we are given the word-by-word record—without adding a single atom to the hoped for speeding up of the action. The authors seem to have spoiled what might have been a fairly good detec- tive story by a too exhaustive and conscien- ticus attention to everything conceivable ex- cept an orderly solution of the crime. [From](https://archive.org/details/sim_saturday-review_1928-09-01_5_6/mode/2up). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-book-author-mystery/975568/4 "2022-11-26T15:42:53Z")
Good find. The Walters are not in [this database of Victorian fiction](http://www.victorianresearch.org/atcl/index.php), probably because 1928 is long after the cutoff point of 1901, but it could come in handy for some of the other books the OP bought. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-book-author-mystery/975568/5 "2022-11-26T16:05:49Z")
Cool, thanks for info. I guess the authors never wrote a book that did well so they just fell into obscurity. The book from 1894 is called CRANFORD by Mrs. Gaskell, which is a well-known classic about middle-class Victorian life. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-book-author-mystery/975568/6 "2022-11-26T16:12:41Z")
They had at least one more book: > **[Betrayal by Walter, Alexia E. and H. C.: (1929) | Little Stour Books PBFA Member](https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1024251364&searchurl=an%3DAlexia%2BWalter%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title6)** > > AbeBooks.com: Betrayal: First edition hard back binding in publisher's original cornflower blue cloth covers, black title and author lettering to the spine and the upper panel. 8vo. 7½'' x 5¼''. Contains 256 \[8\] printed pages of text. Corners sharp... Strangely expensive for forgotten authors. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-book-author-mystery/975568/7 "2022-11-26T20:21:34Z")
These are the other books if anyone is interested. COLOUR SCHEME by Ngaio Marsh (1943) the author is the Agatha Christie of New Zealand. A TEXAS RANGER by Wm. Macleod Raine (1910) A British writer who was a rather prolific American western author. Twenty of his novels have been filmed. And also a 1930 copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-book-author-mystery/975568/8 "2022-11-26T20:39:08Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Strangely expensive for forgotten authors. There are people interested in old books for reasons other than readability. Old books can be attractive objects. This one is pretty, but the second copy on abebooks is more expensive. It has its dustjacket. [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/JGwL1FA.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/JGwL1FA) This one could appeal to those who collect old murder mysteries, attractive books, lurid dustjackets. Confession: I’ve bought old books just for their appearance.