The Authors' Club of London

99 THE AUTHORS' CLUB OF LONDON Theophilus E. M. Boll (Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania) In the summer of I966 I happened to visit the already abandoned hall of the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society,and learned from a workman of its recent dissolution. As I left, a solemn observer of my posthumous visit stopped me at the doorway to address only one sentence: "Philosophy is dead in Newcastle," and went on. Twelve years later I was in London reading the minutes of the Authors' Club. I had become interested in it because a many-talented writer whom I had been studying, Morley Roberts, enjoyed the summit honor of his life when it gave him a testimonial dinner at its quarters in 2 Whitehall Court on October 7, 1935. and printed a brochure to commemorate the event. The minutes gave me an exciting view of the activities of this informal academy of great creative minds in the arts and sciences of the free world that gave no warning of the cultural chaos into which it was to fall. By 1978 the Authors' Club had been dissolved as an entity, its library sold, and its title absorbed into the Arts Club of 40 Dover Street, which had become largely a luncheon club for business men. Sir Walter Besant founded the Authors' Club in I89I, and gave it its motto: Cedit Ensis Cálamo. It succeeded the Rabelais Club Besant had organized as an entertaining adjunct to the strictly protective Society of Authors, which he had established in I883. When the Club underwent "reconstruction" in I928, it published a brochure listing among its current members these original joiners; James Barrie, Edward Brabrook, Hall Caine, C. H. Cook, W. L. Courtney , C. J. Cutliffe Hyne, and Sir Gilbert Parker. The Dutch novelist "Maarten Maartens" - Jozua M. W. van der Poorten Schwartz who wrote and published in English, had also been an original member ; he had died in 1919· Barrie was the President of the General Council, which numbered forty-four, including the still familiar names of Arnold Bennett, Hall Caine, Canon A. C. Deane, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Dunsany, Sir Oliver Lodge, Compton Mackenzie, Charles Marriott, Sir Gilbert Parker, Morley Roberts, H. deVere Stacpoole, Horace Annesley Vachell, and Percy White. The Club was lavishly equipped with a library, dining rooms, rooms for billiards and chess. It entered teams in club championships for chess and conducted billiards tournaments. Edward Walsh, Secretary of the Club, reminisced: Clubs were very central and comfortable .... A club like the Authors' attracted like-minded men of a literary bent who saw each other almost daily and who regarded the Club as a second home. It is a tribute to the openness of the Club that the only qualifications were literary. . . . Not surprising then that Morley Roberts and his friends thrived in the lively (despite the reg- 100 ular contretemps), friendly atmosphere. . . . But since the war, indeed perhaps before then but unobserved, there had been changes in the way of life of the men of Mr'. Roberts's social class. The telephone, the television , a more domesticated home life, and a more demanding business environment have destroyed the club life that Morley Roberts knew. People do not come to evening functions, members do not join the Authors' (or any other Club) to enjoy the stimulating society of other writers, but the facilities of the club, particularly for entertaining. Philosophy is dead in Newcastle; club life has died in London. [Letter, 29th November, 1978] The high tide of membership was reached in the year 1921-1922, when there were 1415 members. The records of the cultural programs of the Club from I909 to 1928 were maintained by its Secretary, Ernest Short. They afford us a long, deep look into the enchanting way of life whose spirit has all but disappeared. My aim is to give a sampling of these programs and so of the atmosphere in which the greatest authorities of their day opened their minds for the pleasure of contributing to a free discussion with their peers in other fields of special knowledge who could appreciate what they heard and raise the questions that would sharpen the focus on specific...