Książki

William Gordon Stables was born in Aberchirder, in Banffshire (now part of Aberdeenshire). After studying medicine at the University of Aberdeen, he served as a surgeon in the Royal Navy. He came ashore in 1875, and settled in Twyford, Berkshire, in England.

He wrote over 130 books. The bulk of his large output is boys adventure fiction, often with a nautical or historical setting. He also wrote books on health, fitness and medical subjects, and the keeping of cats and dogs. He was a copious contributor of articles and stories to the Boys Own Paper.

Stables has been regarded as one of the most prominent of the English imitators of Jules Verne, especially in his novels of polar adventure, like The Cruise of the Snowbird (1882), Wild Adventures Round the Pole (1883), From Pole to Pole (1886), and his most ambitious novel, The Cruise of the Crystal Boat (1891).

He is also notable as the first person to order a gentleman's caravan from the Bristol Carriage Company, in which he travelled the length of Great Britain in 1885 (the subject of his book The Gentleman Gypsy).

This is a high quality book of the original classic edition.

This is a freshly published edition of this culturally important work, which is now, at last, again available to you.

Enjoy this classic work. These few paragraphs distill the contents and give you a quick look inside:

McBain waited for a few minutes in the castle courtyard until Allan, who had hurried away, should have time to communicate with his mother and sister; then he struck a gong, and while yet its thunders were reverberating among the hills, he was surrounded by every servant in the place, old Janet, the cook, not excepted; then the orders that fell calmly and yet quickly from his lips showed at once that he was master of the situation.

...The little party who left the Castle of Arrandoon to go in search of Ralph and Rory did well to have Peter and his bagpipes included in their number, for, so long as they were within hearing distance of the castle, the music would give hope to those left behind; and when beyond that, it would not only serve to while away the time of the searchers, but even in the darkness it might perchance be heard by the sought.

...Old Janet averred that she had never seen such a boy in all her born days-that he turned the castle upside down, and kept all the "beasties" in an uproar; but at the same time she added that he was the prettiest boy ever she'd seen, and "Heaven bless his bonnie face," which put her in mind of her dear dead boy Donald, and she couldn't be angry with him, for even when he was doing mischief he made her laugh.

...Nearly all of these were on visiting terms with the McGregors, and many a beautifully-fitted sledge used to drive over the drawbridge of Arrandoon Castle during the winter months-wheels, of course, were out of the question when the snow lay thick on the ground-so that life in Allan's family, although it did not partake of the gaiety of the London season, was by no means a dull one, and both Ralph and Rory thought the evenings spent in the drawing-room were very enjoyable indeed.

..."Well," said McBain, after there had been a lull in the conversation for some little time, "we've been all so happy and jolly here for the last few days, that we haven't had time to think much or to look ahead either; but now, if you don't mind, young gentlemen, I will tell you what I should propose in the way of spending a few of the incoming spring and summer months, in what I should call a very pleasant fashion."

The Cruise of the Snowbird - The Original Classic Edition