The Battle of the Strong: A Romance of Two Kingdoms
AuthorGilbert Parker
LanguageEnglish
GenreNovel
Publication date
1898
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages466 pp

The Battle of the Strong is an 1898 novel by Gilbert Parker. It was first published in serial format in The Atlantic Monthly starting in January 1898,[1] and as a single volume late in the same year. It was ranked as the tenth-highest best selling book overall in the United States for 1898,[2] and appeared as high as Number 2 on the monthly bestseller list published in The Bookman in early 1899.[3] The book is set in the Channel Islands, primarily during the period 1781-95, and opens with attempted invasion of Jersey by France in the Battle of Jersey.[4][5][6]

The title is derived from Ecclesiastes 9:11, "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong."[7]

Willis Steell and Edward Everett Rose adapted the novel into a play in 1900, which starred Maurice Barrymore and Marie Burroughs.[8] Of the play, Parker later remarked that "the adaption, however, was lacking much, and though Miss Marie Burroughs and Maurice Barrymore played in it, success did not attend its dramatic life."[9]

References

  1. ↑ The Battle of the Strong (first part), The Atlantic Monthly (Vol. 81, Issue 483, pp. 29-41) (January 1898)
  2. ↑ Hackett, Alice Payne. Fifty years of best sellers, 1895-1945, p. 14 (1945)
  3. ↑ The Best Selling Books, The Bookman (New York) (February 1899), p.600 (listing the book at Number 2, after The Day's Work by Rudyard Kipling)
  4. ↑ (3 December 1898). "The Battle of the Strong": Latest and Most Brilliant Efforts by the Canadian Novelist, Quebec Saturday Budget
  5. ↑ (5 November 1898). Gilbert Parker's "The Battle of the Strong" (book review), The New York Times
  6. ↑ Nield, Jonathan. A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales, p. 180 (1929)
  7. ↑ Springfield City Library Bulletin, September 1916, p. 168 (1916) (also, Parker includes the quote at the outset of the book, making the derivation clear)
  8. ↑ (28 November 1900). Various Dramatic Topics, The New York Times
  9. ↑ The Works of Gilbert Parker: The battle of the strong, p. ix (introduction to 1913 reprint)
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