Herbert Strang Books in Order (Updated September 8, 2026)

Herbert Strang was not one individual author. The name was a joint pseudonym used by English writers and editors George Herbert Ely and Charles James L’Estrange, who became prolific creators of historical, imperial, military, aviation, maritime, and science-based adventure stories for younger readers.

The Strang bibliography is unusually difficult to organize because the name also appeared on edited anthologies, educational series, annuals, historical compilations, and books produced with collaborators. There was even a related “Mrs. Herbert Strang” identity used for books aimed at girls. For readers interested in the main adventure fiction, the safest approach is to separate the original Herbert Strang stories from edited collections and later reprints.

How to Approach Herbert Strang Without Getting Lost in the Bibliography

• Best historical starting point: One of Clive’s Heroes.
• Best early war-adventure starting point: Kobo.
• Best technological adventure starting point: Round the World in Seven Days.
• Best maritime starting point: The Blue Raider.
• Series continuity: most novels are standalone.
• Best complete method: publication order by original story, while keeping edited series separate.

There is no single Herbert Strang hero whose adventures must be followed from book one to book forty. Most novels introduce new protagonists and new settings. Readers can therefore begin with the historical period or type of adventure that interests them most.

Who Actually Wrote as Herbert Strang?

The Herbert Strang name represented the collaboration of George Herbert Ely, born in 1866, and Charles James L’Estrange, born in 1867. Both became associated with Oxford University Press and its juvenile publishing program.

The pair wrote adventure fiction and also worked as editors. Their books frequently combined fictional young protagonists with real wars, explorers, military campaigns, inventions, and historical events.

This joint authorship matters when building a bibliography. A book credited to Herbert Strang should not automatically be treated as the work of one fictional individual author, and books credited to “Mrs. Herbert Strang” should be kept in their own group.

Core Herbert Strang Adventure Books in Publication Order

The following sequence covers the principal adventure stories most commonly associated with the Herbert Strang name. Early publication dates sometimes differ by a year between British and American editions, so the list follows the usual first-edition chronology rather than dates attached to later reprints.

1. Tom Burnaby: A Story of Uganda and the Great Congo Forest (1904)
2. Boys of the Light Brigade (1904)
3. Kobo: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War (1905)
4. The Adventures of Harry Rochester (1905)
5. Brown of Moukden (1906)
6. Jack Hardy (1906)
7. One of Clive’s Heroes (1906)
8. Samba: A Story of the Rubber Slaves of the Congo (1906)
9. On the Trail of the Arabs (1907)
10. Rob the Ranger (1907)
11. With Drake on the Spanish Main (1907)
12. Barclay of the Guides (1908)
13. King of the Air (1908)
14. Lord of the Seas (1908)
15. Humphrey Bold (1909)
16. Swift and Sure (1910)
17. Round the World in Seven Days (1910)
18. In the New Forest (1910, with John Aston)
19. A Mariner of England (1910, with Richard Stead)
20. Lion-Heart (about 1910, with Richard Stead)
21. The Cruise of the Gyro-Car (1911)
22. The Adventures of Dick Trevanion (1911)
23. The Air Scout (1912)
24. The Flying Boat (1912)
25. The Motor Scout (1913)
26. The Air Patrol (1913)
27. A Gentleman-at-Arms (1914)
28. A Hero of Liège (1915)
29. Fighting with French (1915)
30. The Old Man of the Mountain (1916)
31. Burton of the Flying Corps (1916)
32. Frank Forester (First World War period)
33. Through the Enemy’s Lines (First World War period)
34. Carry On! (First World War period)
35. Tom Willoughby’s Scouts (1919)
36. Bright Ideas (1920)
37. The Blue Raider (1920)
38. No Man’s Island (1921)
39. Winning His Name (1922)
40. A Thousand Miles an Hour (1928)
41. The River Pirates (1931)

This is more useful than sorting modern editions by their current ebook dates. Many Strang books have been digitized or reprinted more than a century after their original appearance, and those recent dates do not represent new installments.

The Russo-Japanese War Books

Some of the earliest Herbert Strang adventures used the Russo-Japanese War as a contemporary background. The two best-known titles are:

1. Kobo: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War (1905)
2. Brown of Moukden: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War (1906)

These are related by historical conflict rather than by one continuing protagonist. Reading Kobo first follows publication order, but Brown of Moukden can still be understood on its own.

One of Clive’s Heroes and the India Adventures

One of Clive’s Heroes is one of the most accessible historical Strang novels. It uses the struggle for British power in eighteenth-century India as the setting for a young protagonist’s adventures.

The book has also circulated under the title In Clive’s Command. These should not be counted as two different novels.

• One of Clive’s Heroes: principal British title.
• In Clive’s Command: alternate title used in some editions.
• Count in bibliography: once.

Barclay of the Guides later returned to the Indian imperial setting but is not a sequel to One of Clive’s Heroes.

Samba and Fighting on the Congo

Samba: A Story of the Rubber Slaves of the Congo was published in Britain in 1906. An American edition appeared as Fighting on the Congo.

These titles represent the same story and should be counted only once in a Herbert Strang reading order.

The novel is standalone. No earlier African adventure is required before it.

The Historical Adventure Route

Readers who prefer history to early aviation or science fiction can build a Strang reading list around wars and famous historical periods.

1. Boys of the Light Brigade
2. The Adventures of Harry Rochester
3. Jack Hardy
4. One of Clive’s Heroes
5. Rob the Ranger
6. With Drake on the Spanish Main
7. Humphrey Bold
8. The Adventures of Dick Trevanion
9. A Gentleman-at-Arms

This is a thematic route, not a series. The protagonists change from book to book, and the stories range across different centuries.

The Technology and Future-Transport Adventures

One of the most distinctive strands in Herbert Strang’s fiction is its fascination with new transport. Airships, submarines, hydroplanes, aircraft, flying boats, and imagined high-speed vehicles frequently drive the plots.

1. King of the Air (1908)
2. Lord of the Seas (1908)
3. Swift and Sure (1910)
4. Round the World in Seven Days (1910)
5. The Cruise of the Gyro-Car (1911)
6. The Air Scout (1912)
7. The Flying Boat (1912)
8. The Motor Scout (1913)
9. A Thousand Miles an Hour (1928)

These books are often grouped as science-fictional or technological adventures, but they are not one continuing series. Different inventions and characters appear in different novels.

Round the World in Seven Days as a First Read

Round the World in Seven Days is one of the best-known Strang technological adventures. Its premise involves a rapid global journey by aircraft and reflects the intense early twentieth-century fascination with aviation.

No previous Strang novel is required. It works particularly well as an introduction for readers who know Jules Verne and want to see how British juvenile adventure fiction responded to similar ideas of speed, invention, and global travel.

The Cruise of the Gyro-Car

The Cruise of the Gyro-Car uses another imagined mode of transport as the engine for an adventure in the Balkans. It follows naturally after Round the World in Seven Days in publication order.

It is not a conventional sequel. Readers can begin with it without knowing the characters or events of King of the Air or Round the World in Seven Days.

The First World War Stories in Order

During the First World War, the Herbert Strang name appeared on a group of adventure stories responding directly to contemporary campaigns and military technology.

1. A Hero of Liège (1915)
2. Fighting with French (1915)
3. Burton of the Flying Corps (1916)
4. Frank Forester
5. Through the Enemy’s Lines
6. Carry On!
7. Tom Willoughby’s Scouts (1919)

These books share the Great War as background but generally use separate protagonists. Publication order is useful historically, but there is no need to read every earlier Strang adventure before beginning the wartime books.

Tom Willoughby’s Scouts and East Africa

Tom Willoughby’s Scouts is set against the East African campaign of the First World War. It was published after the conflict, allowing the story to look back on a campaign that received less attention than the Western Front.

It is standalone and does not require Fighting with French or Burton of the Flying Corps.

The Blue Raider and the Southern Seas

The Blue Raider, published in 1920, is a later maritime and survival adventure set in the Southern Seas. It follows survivors after their ship is attacked and places much of its action around New Guinea.

The book belongs to the postwar phase of the Strang bibliography and makes a good first choice for readers who prefer shipwreck and island adventure to European military history.

• Series status: standalone.
• Prequel: none.
• Required earlier Strang book: none.

No Man’s Island

No Man’s Island followed in 1921 and offers another self-contained adventure. The similar emphasis on isolation and danger can make it a natural follow-up to The Blue Raider, but the books are not a two-volume series.

Readers can reverse them without continuity problems, although publication order remains the cleaner approach.

Bright Ideas Is Different From a Standard Adventure Novel

Bright Ideas: A Record of Invention and Misinvention is associated with the Strang interest in technology but differs from a straightforward historical adventure. It places greater emphasis on inventions and inventive schemes.

It is best treated as Optional technological fiction rather than as an installment required between the wartime and postwar novels.

The Historical Series Edited With Other Writers

The Herbert Strang name also appeared on historical books written with collaborators such as Richard Stead and John Aston. These should be distinguished from the main solo-branded adventures.

• In the New Forest, with John Aston.
• A Mariner of England, with Richard Stead.
• Lion-Heart, with Richard Stead.

These books are historical adventures but do not create a continuing fictional trilogy. Their common series branding was mainly a publishing arrangement.

Little Stories of Great Lives

Another source of confusion is Little Stories of Great Lives. Herbert Strang was associated with this biographical series as editor, but individual volumes were written by several different authors.

Subjects in the series included figures such as Francis Drake, Joan of Arc, Napoleon, Nelson, Robert the Bruce, William Wallace, Lord Kitchener, and Lord Roberts.

These should not all be counted as original novels written by Ely and L’Estrange merely because Herbert Strang appears prominently on the series.

Herbert Strang Annuals and Edited Collections

The name Herbert Strang was also used for annuals and collections such as school-story books and scouting volumes. These works may contain stories by many writers.

For a reading-order bibliography, the safest classification is:

• Original adventure novels: include in the main reading list.
• Books explicitly edited by Herbert Strang: list separately.
• Anthologies by multiple writers: do not treat as new Strang novels.
• Modern compilations: check whether they simply reprint earlier stories.

What About Mrs. Herbert Strang?

The related name “Mrs. Herbert Strang” appeared on books for girls and on edited material marketed separately from the boys’ adventure books.

One of the best-known examples is The Girl Crusoes: A Story of the South Seas, published in 1912.

For a strict Herbert Strang bibliography, these books should be grouped separately rather than inserted among The Air Scout, The Flying Boat, and the other male-branded adventures of the same period.

Is There a Chronological Story Order?

No single chronological order works across the complete Strang bibliography. The stories range from Richard I and Elizabethan England to the Napoleonic era, colonial wars, the Russo-Japanese War, the First World War, contemporary technological adventure, and imagined near-future transport.

Because the protagonists usually change, arranging the books according to their historical settings would produce an artificial sequence rather than clarify continuity.

Publication order is the better master framework.

A Short Herbert Strang Starter List

Readers who do not want to begin with dozens of books can use a smaller route that samples the major kinds of Strang adventure.

1. One of Clive’s Heroes
2. With Drake on the Spanish Main
3. King of the Air
4. Round the World in Seven Days
5. The Cruise of the Gyro-Car
6. The Air Patrol
7. Fighting with French
8. The Blue Raider
9. No Man’s Island

This is a discovery order, not a series chronology. It moves from historical adventure to technological fiction, wartime storytelling, and postwar survival adventure.

Herbert Strang Publication Status

Charles James L’Estrange died in 1947, while George Herbert Ely lived until 1958. Their original collaborative adventure fiction is complete.

Later ebook and print editions continue to appear because many Strang titles have entered public-domain publishing programs. A book carrying a 2015 or 2025 edition date is normally a reissue of a much earlier work, not a newly written Herbert Strang story.

The name also remains attached to older anthologies and edited series, so modern catalogues should be checked carefully before assuming that every listing represents another original novel.

Herbert Strang Reading Order FAQs

Was Herbert Strang a real person?

No. Herbert Strang was the joint pseudonym of George Herbert Ely and Charles James L’Estrange.

Do the Herbert Strang books need to be read in order?

Usually no. Most are standalone adventure stories with different protagonists. Publication order is useful for a complete read but is not normally required for understanding the plot.

Are Kobo and Brown of Moukden sequels?

They share the Russo-Japanese War as historical background but are better treated as thematic companions than as a conventional two-book character series.

Are One of Clive’s Heroes and In Clive’s Command different books?

No. In Clive’s Command is an alternate title used for One of Clive’s Heroes.

Are Samba and Fighting on the Congo the same story?

Yes. Fighting on the Congo was an alternate American title for Samba.

What is the best Herbert Strang book to start with?

One of Clive’s Heroes is a strong historical starting point. Choose Round the World in Seven Days if early aviation and technological adventure appeal more to you.

Is The Girl Crusoes a Herbert Strang book?

It was published under the related “Mrs. Herbert Strang” identity. It is best kept in a separate category from the books published simply as Herbert Strang.

The Clearest Way to Read Herbert Strang Today

Herbert Strang is best treated as a collaborative adventure-writing identity rather than as the creator of one enormous series. Most of the stories are self-contained, so readers can choose freely between historical campaigns, sea adventures, First World War stories, and technological fiction.

For a complete project, use original publication order, count alternate titles only once, and keep edited anthologies, historical series, and “Mrs. Herbert Strang” publications separate from the main adventure novels. That approach avoids the duplication created by more than a century of reprints and changing publisher catalogues.