Neil Munro, Collection

Neil Munro (1863 - 1930) was a Scottish journalist, newspaper editor, author and literary critic. He is now mainly known for his humorous short stories, originally written under the pen name Hugh Foulis. The best known were about the fictional Clyde puffer the Vital Spark and her captain Para Handy, but they also included stories about the waiter and kirk beadle Erchie MacPherson, and the travelling drapery salesman Jimmy Swan. They were originally published in Glasgow newspapers, but collections were published as books. A key figure in literary circles, Munro was a friend of the writers J. M. Barrie, John Buchan, Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham and Joseph Conrad, and the artists Edward A. Hornel, George Houston, Pittendrigh MacGillivray and Robert Macaulay Stevenson. Munro published several novels under his own name. Initially he had some success writing historical novels, most of them with a Highland setting exploring the coming of change in the comparatively recent past. These include John Splendid, set around the time of Montrose's campaign in the First Civil War, and Doom Castle. Later he attempted to expand his range, with more mixed success.