author
Richmond Seeley
A Victorian publisher who also turned his hand to historical fiction, he is best remembered for co-authoring The Hammer, a novel set during the Maccabean revolt. His career linked the family publishing business with the world of popular 19th-century storytelling.
1 Audiobook
The Hammer: A Story of the Maccabean Times
by Alfred John Church, Richmond Seeley
About the author
Born in 1832 and dying in 1913, Richmond Seeley was identified by Trinity College Cambridge’s archival records as a publisher and author. He belonged to the Seeley family of London publishers and was the brother of historian Sir John Robert Seeley.
Sources on Victorian publishing history describe him as the son of publisher Robert Benton Seeley and say he took over the family business in 1857. That background helps explain why his name appears both in publishing circles and on the title page of books.
Today he is chiefly associated with The Hammer: A Story of the Maccabean Times, a historical novel written with Alfred John Church and published in 1890. Surviving catalog and public-domain library records suggest that this is the work for which modern readers are most likely to encounter his name.