Richard Middleton's biography, written by his close friend Henry Savage, opens with a disclaimer: "While we were acquainted I had not only no inclination to gather facts relating to him, but an excessive contempt for facts in general.... Middleton himself was no fact-lover. He preferred fancies." Most accounts of Middleton describe him as a man of childlike egotism, "Shaggy Peter Pan with a briar pipe" in the words of poet Louis McQuilland. While Middleton always considered himself a poet, his prose earned him a living and his highest, albeit posthumous, reviews. He is best known for "The Ghost Ship," a lighthearted ghost story. His prose ranges from fanciful, mostly melancholy tales for children to essays celebrating childhood and criticizing the decrepit state of English letters.

Middleton did not achieve much critical attention until after his suicide in 1911 at age twenty-nine, when Savage collected and published his works. The...