The Wounded Name — D. K. Broster, Heinemann (1928–1929 impression)

1928–1929 Heinemann impression (first published John Murray 1922)

A late-1920s Heinemann hardback of D. K. Broster's historical novel The Wounded Name, originally published by John Murray in October 1922 and reissued by William Heinemann in 1928–1929. Printed at The Windmill Press, Kingswood, Surrey. Title and epigraph drawn from Hamlet; 10-chapter structure across 361 pages. Complete, sound copy in good condition.

The Wounded Name is an earlier historical novel by D. K. Broster, distinct from but thematically related to her Jacobite books. The title and main epigraph are drawn from Hamlet's dying words to Horatio — 'O good Horatio, what a wounded name, / Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me!' — signalling the book's concern with reputation, loyalty and the hidden truths that lie behind public stories. A second epigraph by the poet Herbert Trench elaborates on the test of true friendship: 'At a sudden hour and a drear, / For the sweet hour is the sternest, / Thou shalt know who held thee dear, / Whose hand was thine in earnest.' The dedication reads simply Ad Amicitiam — to friendship.

The imprint page states: 'First published (John Murray) October 1922. New impressions, 7s. 6d. (Heinemann) 1928, 1929.' The Heinemann imprint on the title page and the printing line crediting The Windmill Press at Kingswood, Surrey confirm this as a late-1920s Heinemann re-issue rather than the scarcer 1922 Murray first edition. The preliminary 'By the same Author' list highlights Broster's other historical novels Sir Isumbras at the Ford, Midwinter and The Flight of the Heron, placing this copy at the moment she was consolidating her reputation across multiple publishers.

The contents spread across ten substantial chapters: 'Running Water', 'Roses, Roses All the Way', 'In the Dust', 'The Captive Hawk', 'Free — with a Broken Wing', 'The Road to the Beech Tree', 'The Road Back', 'The Love of Women', 'The Toledo Blade', and 'Sans Tache' — running to 361 pages. There are no detached pages, and the copy is structurally complete. Alongside The Flight of the Heron and The Gleam in the North in this collection, it forms a small, coherent D. K. Broster cluster representing three different phases of her output.

Significance

Although less famous than the Jacobite trilogy, The Wounded Name shows Broster's consistent interest in the moral psychology of honour, disgrace and loyalty that underpins all her historical fiction. Its interwar Heinemann impressions demonstrate that the novel continued to find readers across the decade after its 1922 debut, sustained by Broster's growing reputation. As a Heinemann re-issue rather than a Murray first edition, this copy documents the commercial practice of transferring a successful backlist title to a new publisher — a common pattern in 1920s British literary publishing.

Of Note

The book was first published by John Murray in 1922 — the same publisher as Lord Byron — and was later taken on by Heinemann, reflecting Broster's rising commercial profile in the mid-1920s.
The printing credit to The Windmill Press at Kingswood, Surrey links your copy to a noted interwar printing house whose colophon appears on many Heinemann literary titles of the period.
The Hamlet epigraph gives the book a direct literary ancestry reaching back to Shakespeare, framing its themes of hidden truth and posthumous reputation in the most resonant terms available.
A comparable Heinemann hardback of The Wounded Name in good condition is offered by specialist dealers in the £20–45 range; Murray firsts in very good condition fetch considerably more.
The word Midwinter in the 'By the same Author' list on your prelims refers to a different Broster novel that is sometimes confused with John Buchan's Midwinter (1923) — a reminder that the interwar historical fiction market was crowded with overlapping titles and themes.

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