Books HG Wells was a plagarist, according to a new work 'The Spinster and the Prophet'. Now I'm not usually drawn to such flagrant sensationalism, but this article from The Bloomsbury Magazine offers some compelling evidence:
"One of the twentieth century’s most intriguing plagiarism cases also centred on a history book. H.G. Wells’ The Outline of History was published in 1920. It became an instant bestseller, garnering Wells tremendous critical acclaim and providing him with substantial financial wealth (the latter was something his novels had never really generated). Clocking in at around 250,000 words, The Outline was a formidable volume (or two volumes to be exact). That it was completed in less than two years and that it was Wells’ first foray into history, made it even more of a miraculous achievement. A Canadian bluestocking called Florence Deeks saw things a little differently. In her eyes The Outline bore more than a passing resemblance to 'The Web of the World's Romance', her unpublished history of the world.
The article goes on to point to the fact that Deeks own work had passed by Wells' publisher not too long beforehand. It could be a coincidence; if I had a pound for every time I heard of a budding TV writer being told that something similar to their submission was already in the works ... you know, coincidences like that.
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