author
Francis Kirkman
b. 1632
A lively figure in Restoration London’s book trade, this seventeenth-century writer helped preserve and popularize the drama and adventure stories readers loved. He moved easily between bookselling, publishing, cataloging, and storytelling, leaving behind a vivid record of literary life in his day.
4 Audiobooks
The English Rogue: Continued in the Life of Meriton Latroon, and Other Extravagants: The Fourth Part
by Richard Head, Francis Kirkman
The English Rogue: Continued in the Life of Meriton Latroon, and Other Extravagants, Comprehending the most Eminent Cheats of Both Sexes: The Third Part
by Richard Head, Francis Kirkman
The English Rogue: Described in the Life of Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant
by Richard Head, Francis Kirkman
The English Rogue: Continued in the Life of Meriton Latroon, and Other Extravagants: The Second Part
by Richard Head, Francis Kirkman
About the author
Born in 1632, Francis Kirkman became a striking presence in the English literary world of the later seventeenth century. He is remembered as a bookseller, publisher, author, bibliographer, and collector whose career was closely tied to the tastes of everyday readers rather than only elite literary circles.
Kirkman had a special enthusiasm for plays, romances, and popular prose fiction. He is especially valued for compiling important catalogues of English drama, works that helped document plays in print at a time when theatrical history could easily have been lost. He also wrote and adapted fiction, including works connected with rogue literature and chivalric romance.
What makes him memorable is the combination of scholarship and hustle in his career. He seems to have approached books as both a passion and a business, and that mix gives his life story much of its color. Today he stands out not just for what he wrote, but for the way he helped organize, market, and preserve the reading culture of Restoration England.