Mystery and Crime Chesterton, G.K.: The Cases of Father Brown. (Illustrated) v1, 4 Jan 2026

[Jellby]

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was a prolific British writer and journalist, mostly known today from his Father Brown stories and his defence of the Christian religion. He's often considered the father of the detective tale.

Father Brown is a character created by Chesterton. An unremarkable Catholic priests with uncanny insight into human behaviour. Father Brown appeared in a total of 53 short stories about murders, thefts or other mysteries, originally published (most of them) in magazines. Of these stories, 50 were collected in 5 different books, published during the author's lifetime (4 of the stories, as far as I can tell, were only published in the books, not in magazines). Another was published in magazines not long before his death, and often included in later editions of the last book. A last story was finished (or almost) but not published in Chesterton's lifetime, and was only published posthumously in 1991. Finally, another story was initiated by Max Pemberton (1863-1950), and Chesterton provided the solution to the "mystery" with the intervention of Father Brown.

This edition collects all 53 stories, presented in the order of the original magazine publication. Links are provided at the end of each story to allow reading them in the order in which they are commonly collected in other books, if desired. The typesetting and spelling has been made as consistent as possible. The text has been fully proofread, and corrections have been made comparing with available scans of magazines and different book editions.

Moreover, most of the magazine stories were illustrated. Where possible, I have included also the original illustrations by:
William Frederick Foster (1883-1953)
George Fort Gibbs (1870-1942)
William Hatherell (1855-1928)
Sydney Charles Seymour Lucas (1878-1954)
Frederic Dorr Steele (1873-1944)
Edward Dalton Stevens (1878-1939)
Herbert Morton Stoops (1888-1948)
Edmund Joseph Sullivan (1869-1933)

Perhaps some day I'll find other scans and be able to include further illustrations by:
Edmund Blampied (1886-1966)
Stanley Lloyd (1883-1954)
Harold James Mowat (1879-1949)
Harry Russell Ballinger (1892-1893)
Gilbert Wilkinson (1891-1965)
Noralf Husby (?)

All feedback is welcome.

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[Martinoptic]

Thank you. This looks good with the illustrations and I like your font.