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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: John Richard Digby Beste

Author: John Richard Digby Beste (1806–1885)

Biography: John Richard Digby Beste was born in 1806, the son of Roman Catholic convert and author Henry Digby-Beste (1768–1836). Beste was educated at Stonyhurst College. Thereafter he led a wandering life with his family living on the continent and in America which formed the material for numerous travel books and memoirs, such as: Trans-Alpine Memoirs: or, Anecdotes and Observations, Showing the Actual State of Italy and the Italians (1826), Transrhenane Memoirs (1828), The Wabash: or, Adventures of an English Gentleman's Family in the Interior of America (1855), and Nowadays: or, Courts, Courtiers, Churchmen, Garibaldians, Lawyers and Brigands at Home and Abroad (1870). His travels and ardent Catholicism also feature in his novels The Pope (1840), Isidora (1841), Modern Society in Rome (1856), and Alcazar (1857). He died in 1885 in Florence, Italy.

References: Boase; DNB (Henry Digby Beste); Times (12 August 1885)

Fiction Titles:

  1. The Pope: A Novel.  3 vol.  London: Saunders and Otley, 1840.
  2. Isidora: or, The Adventures of a Neapolitan. A Novel, by an Old Author, in a New Walk.  3 vol.  London: Saunders and Otley, 1841.
  3. Modern Society in Rome.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1856.
  4. Alcazar: or, The Dark Ages.  3 vol.  London: Hurst and Blackett, 1857.