Reginald Brimley Johnson

Reginald Brimley Johnson, born 1867, was a literary critic, editor, author, and publisher. Educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, he specialised in nineteenth century novelists, editing and providing introductions for many collections of such works including, notably, those of Jane Austen. Johnson was a busy man around the turn of the century, finding himself advantageously positioned among the literary intelligentsia of the age. 1899 would have been his annus mirabilis but was marred...See more

Reginald Brimley Johnson, born 1867, was a literary critic, editor, author, and publisher. Educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, he specialised in nineteenth century novelists, editing and providing introductions for many collections of such works including, notably, those of Jane Austen. Johnson was a busy man around the turn of the century, finding himself advantageously positioned among the literary intelligentsia of the age. 1899 would have been his annus mirabilis but was marred by tragedy. The year in which he laid the foundation for the publishing enterprise that directed his later years also saw his fiance Gertrude Blogg, secretary to Rudyard Kipling, killed in a fatal road accident. His own own letters of 1899 impelled G. K. Chesterton to write his first works which formed "The Wild Knight" and "Greybeards at Play," the latter of which Johnson formed his press to himself publish the very next year. Johnson remained in close contact with Chesterton until at-least 1928. Johnson eventually married in 1902, and produced a vast quantity of material over the next thirty years. His arguably most important work, Shelley-Leigh Hunt, on the topic of that literary acquaintance, was only published in 1928. He died in London in 1932, aged 65. See less