Biographies & Memoirs, Canadian Biographies, Biographies, H.G. Wells, Florence Deeks, Plagiarism 

Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History 

"H.G. Wells, the prolific novelist and social prophet, had a way with words, and usually he had his way with women - until he encountered the determined Toronto spinster Florence Deeks. In 1925 Miss Deeks launched a %500,000 lawsuit against wells, claiming that in an act of "literary piracy", Wells had plagiarized her manuscript in the writing of his international best-seller The Outline of history. Thus began one of the most sensational cases in publishing and legal history.
This riveting literary whodunit reveals the parallel stories of two Edwardian figures, both possessed by the ambition to capture the sweep of history. H.G. Wells was celebrated writer of autobiographical fiction and futuristic fantasy who preached the need for a global world order. Florence Deeks was an amateur student of history who intended to correct traditional scholarship's neglect by writing the first feminist history of the world. Her manuscript was submitted to the venerable Macmillan Company in Canada but was rejected and never published. Well's opus, completed in an astonishingly short period, was released by the same firm the year following.
As the mystery deepens, it seems that the verdict of the courts in Deek v. Wells may not be that posterity. An extraordinary cast of characters, including renowned publishers and editors, eminent lawyers and judges, leading men of letters, and several very remarkable women, comes forward to offer proof of misdeeds of which the legal evidence remained mute. The tale winds through the lives of philandering H.G Wells, his wife, his misteresses, and Florence Deeks, as she sought justice for her life's work. the spinster an the Prophet is not only about citizen's day in court, but about sacrifice and loss, commitment and betrayal and about is entitled to write history and who is not." - cover  

Content:
Foreword
Preface
Lace Curtains
Formations
Labour and constancy
The great reserve
loves and wars
History and humanity
Shadows
outlines
Devils in details
Accusations
Investigations
Delays and discoveries
Enter King David, and so on
Ripostes
Justice
Lancaster gate
Voices
Sources
notes
Acknowledgments
Credits and permissions
index  

Includes bibliographical references (pages 415-452) and index.