Talbot Baines Reed was an English writer of boys' fiction who established a genre of school stories that endured into the mid-20th century. Among his best-known work is The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's. He was a regular and prolific contributor to The Boy's Own Paper (B.O.P.), in which most of his fiction first appeared. Through his family's business, Reed became a prominent typefounder, and wrote a standard work on the subject: History of the Old English Letter Foundries.
Pen-and-ink portrait of Reed, c. 1880
Charles Reed MP, father of Talbot Baines Reed
The City of London School in Milk Street, Cheapside
The Caxton Exhibition, South Kensington, July 1877. In this illustration, W.E. Gladstone stands centre picture; on the right are William Blades (bearded) and, far right, Charles Reed
The school story is a fiction genre centring on older pre-adolescent and adolescent school life, at its most popular in the first half of the twentieth century. While examples do exist in other countries, it is most commonly set in English boarding schools and mostly written in girls' and boys' subgenres, reflecting the single-sex education typical until the 1950s. It focuses largely on friendship, honour and loyalty between pupils. Plots involving sports events, bullies, secrets, rivalry and bravery are often used to shape the school story.
Illustration of a game of rugby football from a 1911 edition of Tom Brown's School Days; first published in 1857, Tom Brown helped to typify the school story.
