author
C. Stansfeld Hicks
A practical late-Victorian writer, he is remembered for books that turned leisure time into hands-on adventure, from indoor amusements to life on the water. His work has the cheerful, instructive spirit of an era that loved hobbies, experiments, and self-made fun.
1 Audiobook
The Boy's Own Book of Indoor Games and Recreations A Popular Encyclopædia for Boys
by C. Stansfeld Hicks, John Nevil Maskelyne, Gordon Stables
About the author
C. Stansfeld Hicks was a British author associated with practical recreational writing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is credited with works including Yachts, Boats and Canoes and with contributions to The Boy's Own Book of Indoor Games and Recreations, a wide-ranging guide to games, tricks, crafts, and other amusements for young readers.
His books reflect a very characteristic style of popular writing from the period: clear, energetic, and focused on teaching by doing. Whether writing about boating or indoor pastimes, he presented recreation as something active and skill-based, encouraging readers to build, try, practice, and explore.
Not much biographical information about Hicks is easy to confirm from widely available sources, so the man himself remains a little indistinct. Even so, his surviving books give a strong sense of his appeal: he wrote for curious readers who wanted more than entertainment alone and liked the idea that a hobby could also be an education.