Van Laun, Henry
Entry updated 31 July 2023. Tagged: Author.
(1859-1932) UK entrepreneur and author, whose given name was possibly Henri, but seemingly never used. Doubts have been expressed about whether or not The Gates of Afree, A D 1928: A Romance of the New Empire (1903) was actually released, though a copy is held by the National Library of Scotland with its author given as Henry Van Laun. The tale is a romantic Utopia set in Near Future Africa, laced through with a Satirical take on the author's colleague Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902), almost certainly relating to their mutual involvement in The Beira and Mashonaland Railway intended to help tie the whole of southern Africa into a British imperium. Van Laun should not be confused with his father, the translator Henri [subsequently Henry] Van Laun (1819-1896). [JC]
Henry Theodore Van Laun
born UK: 1859
died ?London: 1932
works
- The Gates of Afree, A D 1928: A Romance of the New Empire (Edinburgh, Scotland: W H White and Son, 1903) [hb/]
links
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