The Lost Stradivarius

Mike Ashley is the author and editor of more than 100 books, and is one of the foremost historians of popular fiction. His books include Adventures in The Strand (British Library, 2016), Out of This World, a brief illustrated history of science fiction (British Library, 2011), and The Age of Storytellers: British Popular Fiction Magazines 1880-1950 (British Library, 2005). Most recently he is the author of a multi-volume history of science fiction magazines, published by Liverpool University Press.

John Meade Falkner, 1858–1932, was an English novelist and poet, best known for his 1898 novel Moonfleet. An extremely successful businessman, he became chairman of the arms manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth during World War I.