The Getting of Wisdom: Popular Penguins

Author(s): Henry Handel Richardson

Popular Penguins

The Getting of Wisdom by Henry Handel Richardson is a rare manuscript, the original residing in some of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, typed out and formatted to perfection, allowing new generations to enjoy the work. Publishers of the Valley's mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life.


Product Information

'Henry Handel Richardson' was the pen-name of Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, who was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1870. Her father was a medical graduate of Edinburgh University, and her mother was the daughter of a Leicester solicitor; they married after migrating to Australia during the Victorian goldrushes. After her father's death in 1879, her mother worked as a postmistress in country towns, but later she was able to take Ethel and her sister Lilian to Europe, to study music at Leipzig. Ethel, who became a skilled pianist, married John George Robertson, a science graduate turned philologist. Robertson was appointed Professor of German and Scandinavian Languages and Literatures at London University in 1903, where he became one of the foremost scholars of his day. By this time Ethel had begun to write, having given up all thought of a musical career. Her first novel, Maurice Guest, was published in 1908 and had a number of imitators. Her second, The Getting of Wisdom, published in 1910 was described by H. G. Wells as the best school story he knew. Her most important work was The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, published in three volumes, comprising Australia Felix, The Way Home and Ultima Thule, from 1917 to 1929. After the death of her husband in 1933, Richardson moved to a house near Hastings with her devoted companion Olga

General Fields

  • : 9780143202707
  • : PENGUIN AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
  • : PENGUIN AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
  • : May 2009
  • : May 2014
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Henry Handel Richardson
  • : Paperback
  • : English
  • : 823
  • : 272
  • : FC