Exploring Crockett in Europe
SPAIN
Crockett’s two major works set in Spain are The Firebrand (1901) and The Adventurer in Spain (1903). The first is a fiction, set in during the Carlist wars (1830s-40s) in the Montblanc (Tarragona) region of Catalonia while the second is more factual, telling of his own adventures in Spain in the years spanning the turn of the 19th into the 20th century. Before either of these was published the short magazine story ‘Nuria’ captured the attention of readers. It was later published in the collection The Bloom o’ the Heather (1908). Spain also features as a key setting in later works, most notably Strong Mac (1904) and Vida (1907).
Archival evidence suggests that Crockett’s first trip to Spain came in the spring of 1898. He left London in March intending to go to Italy, but instead wound up in Spain for several weeks. He returned in March of both 1900 and 1901.
It is likely that on more than one of these occasions he took with him a camera, bought from Newman & Guardia. His interest in photography was not new as he attests in the foreword to a small published work A Romancer’s Local Colour (1900) which contains photographs taken by him on the 1898 trip. Newman & Guardia published the ‘Romancer’ (presumably to promote their cameras).
Crockett’s collection of Spanish photographs and the research for The Firebrand undertaken in the months he spent in Spain at the end of the 19th century spurred him into hatching a plan for a non fiction work which he first pitched to his agent A.P.Watt in September 1901 (as final revisions for novel version of The Firebrand were being completed). Originally this went under the title of ‘Twelve Adventures in Spain’, destined for the serial market, with photographs from Crockett’s own collection. This was the work that became The Adventurer in Spain which is both lavishly illustrated with 150 images and offers a great insight into Crockett himself. The work is dedicated to Julio Guardia ‘in recognition of the unwearied friendship which made this book possible.’
While it is not possible to conclusively date all Crockett’s time in Spain, archival evidence offers at least a partial timeline as follows: April 1898; March 1900, 1901 [Spain and N.Africa]; April to June and October 1902; November to December 1904 [The Small Balearics] October-December 1906 [Spain and N.Africa]; April 1910. He may well have been there in the spring of 1903 and the winter of 1904 but there is no conclusive geographical positioning from letters to prove this in the Raiders archives.
During his later spells in Spain, Crockett was almost certainly working on portions of Strong Mac and Vida. The Smugglers (1911) also has references to Spain which may have been penned there during his 1910 trip.
As The Adventurer in Spain attests, Crockett spent a lot of time in Catalonia, along the border on the Pyrenees, but the exact places he visited are less easy to trace. He does this deliberately, noting in the Chapter 'City of Dream'
El Seo is my own name for it - this quaint City of Dream. But you may scan the rolls of the Arch-diocese of Tarragona without being able to locate this smallest and most unworldly of cities ecclesiastic. For, lest Messrs. Cook and Gaze should know of it, I have both photographically and in literary fashion ‘mixed those babies up.’ Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind as to his own particular City of Dream - but, if he is tempted to look for mine, I have taken good care that he shall not find it.
Crockett’s two major works set in Spain are The Firebrand (1901) and The Adventurer in Spain (1903). The first is a fiction, set in during the Carlist wars (1830s-40s) in the Montblanc (Tarragona) region of Catalonia while the second is more factual, telling of his own adventures in Spain in the years spanning the turn of the 19th into the 20th century. Before either of these was published the short magazine story ‘Nuria’ captured the attention of readers. It was later published in the collection The Bloom o’ the Heather (1908). Spain also features as a key setting in later works, most notably Strong Mac (1904) and Vida (1907).
Archival evidence suggests that Crockett’s first trip to Spain came in the spring of 1898. He left London in March intending to go to Italy, but instead wound up in Spain for several weeks. He returned in March of both 1900 and 1901.
It is likely that on more than one of these occasions he took with him a camera, bought from Newman & Guardia. His interest in photography was not new as he attests in the foreword to a small published work A Romancer’s Local Colour (1900) which contains photographs taken by him on the 1898 trip. Newman & Guardia published the ‘Romancer’ (presumably to promote their cameras).
Crockett’s collection of Spanish photographs and the research for The Firebrand undertaken in the months he spent in Spain at the end of the 19th century spurred him into hatching a plan for a non fiction work which he first pitched to his agent A.P.Watt in September 1901 (as final revisions for novel version of The Firebrand were being completed). Originally this went under the title of ‘Twelve Adventures in Spain’, destined for the serial market, with photographs from Crockett’s own collection. This was the work that became The Adventurer in Spain which is both lavishly illustrated with 150 images and offers a great insight into Crockett himself. The work is dedicated to Julio Guardia ‘in recognition of the unwearied friendship which made this book possible.’
While it is not possible to conclusively date all Crockett’s time in Spain, archival evidence offers at least a partial timeline as follows: April 1898; March 1900, 1901 [Spain and N.Africa]; April to June and October 1902; November to December 1904 [The Small Balearics] October-December 1906 [Spain and N.Africa]; April 1910. He may well have been there in the spring of 1903 and the winter of 1904 but there is no conclusive geographical positioning from letters to prove this in the Raiders archives.
During his later spells in Spain, Crockett was almost certainly working on portions of Strong Mac and Vida. The Smugglers (1911) also has references to Spain which may have been penned there during his 1910 trip.
As The Adventurer in Spain attests, Crockett spent a lot of time in Catalonia, along the border on the Pyrenees, but the exact places he visited are less easy to trace. He does this deliberately, noting in the Chapter 'City of Dream'
El Seo is my own name for it - this quaint City of Dream. But you may scan the rolls of the Arch-diocese of Tarragona without being able to locate this smallest and most unworldly of cities ecclesiastic. For, lest Messrs. Cook and Gaze should know of it, I have both photographically and in literary fashion ‘mixed those babies up.’ Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind as to his own particular City of Dream - but, if he is tempted to look for mine, I have taken good care that he shall not find it.
Want to find out more? There are letters and illustrations (forthcoming) related to The Adventurer in Spain.
A reading of 'The City of Dream' is also in production as of autumn 2021.
A reading of 'The City of Dream' is also in production as of autumn 2021.