Popular novel first published in 1907. According to Wikipedia: "Ernest Bramah (20 March 1868 - 27 June 1942), born Ernest Brammah Smith, was an English author. He published 21 books and numerous short stories and features. His humorous works were ranked with Jerome K Jerome, and W.W. Jacobs, his detective stories with Conan Doyle, his politico-science fiction with H.G. Wells and his supernatural stories with Algernon Blackwood. George Orwell acknowledged that Bramah’s book What Might Have Been influenced his Nineteen Eighty-Four. Bramah created the characters Kai Lung and Max Carrados. Bramah was a recluse who did not give the public details of his personal life. He died at 74 a successful author, having a knowledge of chemistry, physics, law, philosophy, the classics, literature, the occult and ordnance, and being an expert in a branch of numismatics."
