From Door to Door, Wm Blackwood, 1900, Short Stories.At a Winter’s Fire, Arthur Pearson, 1899, Short Stories, 13 editions published between 18 and held by 173 libraries worldwide, (e-issued, 1978, by Ayer Co Publishing (USA).Our Lady of Darkness, Wm Blackwood, 1898.

Adventures of the Comte de Muette, William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, 1898, 9 editions published in 1898 and held by 35 libraries worldwide.

The Lake of Wine, Heinemann, 1897, 8 editions published between 18 and held by 23 libraries worldwide.

The Mill of Silence, Rand, McNally & Company, Chicago, 1897.

The Missing Man (as ‘Bevis Cane’), Eglington & Co, 1889.

The Haunted Tower (as ‘Bevis Cane’), Spencer Blackett, London, 1888.

(Information supplied by Capes's grandson Ian Bernard Graham Burns) A memorial plaque commemorating his life is in Winchester Cathedral (where he worked in the years leading up to his death), affixed to the wall by the door which leads to the crypt.Ĭapes' son Renalt Capes, and grandson Ian Bernard Graham Burns, are also published authors. īernard Capes Memorial Plaque in Winchester Cathedral The following year the Chicago Record ran the competition again, and this time Capes won it with The Lake of Wine, published by Heinemann (book publisher). He was awarded second prize for The Mill of Silence, published by Rand, McNally that year. His first success came in 1897, when he entered a $30,000 competition for new authors sponsored by the Chicago Record.

On several occasions he had two or three novels published in the same year - and even four in 1910. He finally committed to writing novels full-time, taking around four months for each novel. His 1899 story 'The Black Reaper' features a supernatural personification of Death.

Other magazines for which Capes wrote included Blackwood's, Butterfly, Cassell's, Cornhill Magazine, Hutton's Magazine, Illustrated London News, Lippincott's, Macmillan's Magazine, Literature, New Witness, Pall Mall Magazine, Pearson's Magazine, The Idler, The New Weekly, and The Queen.Ĭapes wrote numerous ghost stories, which were later rediscovered by anthologist Hugh Lamb in the 1970s. His early writing career was as a journalist, later becoming editor of a paper called The Theatre, which was well known in late nineteenth century London. Ĭapes was a prolific Victorian author, publishing more than forty volumes - romances, mysteries, poetry, history - together with many articles for the magazines of the day. His grandfather, John Capes, had converted to Roman Catholicism, so Capes was brought up a Catholic, and educated at the Catholic college Beaumont College. His uncle, John Moore Capes, published a semi-autobiographical novel. Capes was born in London, one of eleven children: his elder sister, Harriet Capes (1849-1936), was a noted translator and author of more than a dozen children's books.

The Black Reaper by Bernard Capes