Jack Lindsay (20 October 1900 – 8 March 1990) was an Australian-born writer, who from 1926 lived in the United Kingdom, initially in Essex. He was born in Melbourne, but spent his formative years in Brisbane. He was the eldest son of Norman Lindsay and brother of author Philip Lindsay.
He was educated at Brisbane Grammar School and the University of Queensland, from which he graduated with first class honours in Greek and Latin. In the 1920s he contributed stories and poems to a popular weekly magazine, The Bulletin, as well as editing the literary magazines Vision (with his father Norman Lindsay) and London Aphrodite.
Lindsay founded, with P. R. Stephensen and John Kirtley, the Fanfrolico Press for fine publishing, initially in North Sydney. Jack Lindsay left Australia in 1926, never to return. When the University of Queensland Press tried to persuade him to come to Australia for the launch of The Blood Vote in 1985, he declined.
In the 1930s the Fanfrolico Press ceased as a business. Lindsay moved to the left politically, writing for Left Review and joining the Communist Party of Great Britain at the end of the decade, becoming an activist. He started writing novels while living in Cornwall. Lindsay's earliest novels were set in Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire; they included Cressida's First Lover (1931), Rome For Sale and Caesar Is Dead (both 1934). Lindsay's historical fiction also includes 1649: A Novel of a Year (1938), a novel about the trial of King Charles I. Lindsay wrote 1649 as an anti-fascist novel. He collaborated, amongst others, with Edgell Rickword.
During World War II, he served in the British Army initially in the Royal Signal Corps. From 1943 he worked for the War Office on theatrical scripts. After the war he lived in Castle Hedingham. Being a prolific writer, he published 169 books including 38 novels and 25 volumes of translations (from Latin, Greek, Russian, and Polish), as well as art, literary, classical, historical and political studies, biographies and autobiographies written from a Marxist perspective.
Lysistrata by Aristophanes (1925). Illustrated by Norman LindsayThe Mimiambs of Herodas (1929). Translated by Jack Lindsay, Decorated by Alan Odle, with a Foreword by Brian Penton.A Defence of Women for their Inconstancy & their Paintings by Jack Donne (1925)The Passionate Neatherd. A lyric sequence (1926)Marino Faliero (1927). DramaWilliam Blake; Creative Will and the Poetic Image (1927)The Metamorphosis of Aiax by Sir John Harington (1927). Editor with Peter WarlockPropertius in Love (1927) translatorLoving Mad Tom: Bedlamite Verses of the XVI and XVII Centuries (1927). Illustrations by Norman LindsayHelen comes of age. Three Plays (1927)The Complete Works of Gaius Petronius Done into English By Jack Lindsay with one Hundred Illustrations by Norman Lindsay; Comprising the Satyricon and Poems (1927, privately printed for sale to subscribers only)The Parlement of Pratlers by John Eliot (1928). Editor, illustrated by Hal CollinsHomage to Sappho (1928)Inspirations. An anthology of utterances by Creative Minds defining the creative act and its lyrical basis in life (1928). EditorThe Complete Works of Thomas Lovell Beddoes edited with a memoir by Sir Edmund Gosse and decorated by the Dance of Death of Holbein (1928). EditorDionysos: Nietzsche Contra Nietzsche. An Essay in Lyrical Philosophy (1928)Homer's Hymns to Aphrodite (1929)Hereward. A Play (1929, music by John Gough)Women in Parliament by Aristophanes (1929). Illustrations by Norman Lindsay, foreword by Edgell RickwordTheocritos, The Complete Poems (1929). Introduction by Edward Hutton, illustrations by Lionel EllisThe Complete Poetry of Gaius Catullus (1930). EditorMorgan in Jamaica (1930)Patchwork Quilt. Poems by Decimus Magnus Ausonius (1930). Translator, illustrations by Edward BawdenFauns and Ladies (1923). PoemsPoetical Sketches by William Blake. With an Essay on Blake's Metric by Jack Lindsay. (Scholartis Press 1927)The Modern Consciousness: An Essay Towards an Integration (1928)I See the Earth: Poems by Elza De Locre, Illustrated by Peter Meadows (pseudonym for Jack Lindsay), (Scholartis Press 1928)Cressida's First Lover (1931)The Complete Works of Gaius Petronius (Rarity Press, 1932). Translator, illustrated by Norman LindsayThe Golden Ass. (The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, Limited Editions Club, 1932). Translator, illustrated by Percival GoodmanMedieval Latin Poets (1934)I am a Roman (1934)Rome for Sale (1934)Caesar is Dead (1934)Last Days With Cleopatra (1935)Despoiling Venus (1935)Storm at Sea (Golden Cockerel Press, 1935). Illustrated by John FarleighThe Romans (1935). Illustrated by Pearl BinderRunaway (1935). Illustrated by J Morton SaleWho Are the English? (1936). PoemCome Home at Last (1936). Short storiesAdam of a New World (1936). A novel about Giordano BrunoWanderings of Wenamem 1115-1114 B.C (1936). NovelRebels of the Gold Fields (1936)John Bunyan: Maker of Myths (1937)The Anatomy of Spirit: An Inquiry into the Origins of Religious Emotion (1937)Sue Verney (1937)Marc Anthony. His world and his contemporaries (1937)To Arms: A Story of Ancient Gaul (1938). Illustrated by Martin Tyas1649: A Novel of a Year (1938)Brief Light: A Novel of Catullus (1939)A Handbook of Freedom: A Record of English Democracy through Twelve Centuries (1939) with Edgell Rickword, later editions as Spokesmen for LibertyLost Birthright (1939)A Short History of Culture from Prehistory to the Renascence (1939)England, My England: A Pageant of the English People (Fore Publications, 1939) Key Books pamphlet No. 2Giuliano the Magnificent (1940). Editor, Dorothy JohnsonHannibal Takes a Hand (1941)The Stormy Violence (1941)Light in Italy (1941)Socialist Russia? (c.1941)We Shall Return; a Novel of Dunkirk and the French Campaign (1942)Into Action: the Battle of Dieppe (1942). PoemThe Dons Sight Devon (1942)Beyond Terror (1943). NovelPerspective for Poetry (Fore Publications, 1944). Pamphlet, Key Essays No. 1Second Front (1944). PoemsThe Whole Armour of God (1944). DramaRobin of England (1944). DramaMarxism and Contemporary Science: or The Fullness of Life (1944)The Barriers Are Down (1945)Hullo Stranger (1945)New Lyrical Ballads (1945). Anthology, editorJolly Swagman The Australians at Home Current Affairs No 91 (1945)British Achievement in Art and Music (1945)Time to Live (1946). NovelFace of Coal (1946) with B. CoombesThe Subtle Knot (1947)Anvil: Life and the Arts: A Miscellany (1947). EditorPoems by Robert Herrick (Grey Walls Press 1948). EditorSelected Poems of William Morris (Grey Walls Press, 1948). EditorDaphnis & Chloe (1948, Daimon Press). Translator, illustrated by Lionel EllisCatullus: The Complete Poems (Sylvan Press, 1948). TranslatorMen of Forty-Eight (1948)Song Of A Falling World: Culture During The Break Up Of The Roman Empire A.D. 350–600 (1948)Mulk Raj Anand: A Critical Essay (1948)Clue of Darkness (1949)Three Letters to Nikolai Tikhonov (1950, Fore Publications Key Poets No. 7). PoemsPaintings and Drawings By Leslie Hurry (Grey Walls Press 1950). IntroductionCharles Dickens (1950)A World Ahead (Fore Publications, 1950). ravel to the USSR 1949Fires in Smithfield – a novel of Mary Tudor's Reign (1950)Peace is our answer. Poems. With further prefactory poems by P. Eluard, P. Neruda, L. Aragon and a Foreword by J.G. Crowther. Linocuts by Noel Counihan (1950)The Passionate Pastoral: An 18th Century Escapade (1951) novelThe USA Threat to British Culture - Special edition of ARENA No.8, June/July 1951. EditorByzantium into Europe (1952)Rising Tide (1953). Illustrated by James BoswellBetrayed Spring: a novel of the British way(1953)Rumanian Summer: A View of the Rumanian People's Republic (1953) with Maurice CornforthCivil War in England (1954)The Moment of Choice (1955)George Meredith: his Life and Work (1956)The Romans Were Here - The Roman Period In Britain And Its Place In Our History (1956)After the 'Thirties: The Novel in Britain and its Future (1956)Three Elegies (1956)A Local Habitation (1957)The Great Oak. A Story of 1549 (1957)Russian Poetry 1917–1955 (1957)Poems of Adam Mickiewicz (1957). TranslatorArthur and His Times – Britain in the Dark Ages (1958)The Discovery of Britain: a Guide to Archaeology (1958)Life Rarely Tells: An Autobiographical Account Ending in the Year 1921 and Situated Mostly in Brisbane Queensland (1958) autobiography (i)1764, the Hurlyburly of Daily Life Exemplified in One Year of the 18th Century (1959)The Loves of Asklepiades (Myriad Press, 1959). Translator, illustrated by Paul RudallDeath of the Hero: French Painting from David to Delacroix (1960)The Satyricon (1960). TranslatorModern Russian Poetry (1960). Editor and translatorThe Roaring Twenties – Literary Life in Sydney, New South Wales in the Years 1921–1926 (1960). Autobiography (ii)The Writing on the Wall: An Account of the Last Days of Pompeii (1960)The Revolt of the Sons (1960)The Golden Ass of Lucius Apuleius (1960). TranslatorWilliam Morris – Writer (1961)Ribaldry of Greece (1961). EditorRibaldry of Rome (1961). EditorAll on the Never Never (1961). NovelOur Celtic Heritage (1962)Fanfrolico and After (1962). Autobiography (iii)Cause, Principle, and Unity: 5 Dialogues by Giordano Bruno (1962)Masks and Faces (1963) novelDaily Life in Roman Egypt (1963)The Way the Ball Bounces (1964) novelChoice of Times (1964) novelNine Days' Hero; Wat Tyler (1964)Leisure and Pleasure in Roman Egypt (1965)Thunder Underground; a novel of Nero's Rome (1965)The Clashing Rocks: A Study of Early Greek Religion and Culture and the Origins of Drama (1965)Our Anglo-Saxon Heritage (1965)J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work: A Critical Biography (1966)The Sunset Ship: Poems of J.M.W. Turner (1966). EditorThe Elegy of Haido by Teferos Anthias (1966). TranslatorOur Roman Heritage (1967)The Ancient World: Manners and Morals (1968)Men and Gods on the Roman Nile (1968)Meetings with Poets. Memories of Dylan Thomas, Edith Sitwell, Aragon, Eluard & Tzara (1968)The Age of Akhnaten by Eleonore Bille-de-Mot (1968). TranslatorGreece, I Keep My Vigil For You by Teferos Anthias (1968). TranslatorCézanne His Life and Art (1969)The Autobiography of Joseph Priestley (1970). EditorThe Question of Totemism reopened (1970). PamphletThe Origins of Alchemy in Graeco-Roman Egypt (1970)Cleopatra (1971)Origins of Astrology (1972)Gustave Courbet: His Life and Art (1972)The Normans and Their World (1973)Blast-Power & Ballistics Concepts of Force and Energy in the Ancient World (1974)Helen of Troy, Woman and Goddess (1974)Faces & Places (1974). Illustrated by Norman LindsayDeath of a Spartan King and two other stories of the Ancient World (Inca Books, 1974). Illustrated by Noel CounihanDecay and Renewal. Critical Essays on Twentieth Century Writing (1976)The Troubadours and Their World (1976)Hogarth; His Art and His World (1977)The Monster City: Defoe's London 1688–1730 (1978)William Blake: His Life and Work (1978)William Morris (1979)War Or Peace. Twelve linocuts by Noel Counihan. Poems by Jack Lindsay (1979)Collected Poems (Chiron Press, 1981)The Crisis In Marxism (1981)Thomas Gainsborough: His Life and Art (1981)Trinity: Music, Poems and Drawings by Jack Lindsay (1982)The Blood Vote (publ. 1985, written 1937). NovelThe Mandrake Press 1929–30 (1985). Catalogue introductionWilliam Morris, Dreamer of Dreams (Nine Elms Press, 1991). EssayEdited by Lindsay, Honor Arundel and Maurice Carpenter. Poets included were:
Dai Alexander – Honor Arundel – John Atkins – Maurice Carpenter – Herbert Corby – Leslie Daiken – Idris Davies – Tom Farnol – Alun Lewis – Jack Lindsay – John Manifold – Geoffrey Matthews – David Martin – Frances Mayo – Hubert Nicholson – Harold W. Owen – Paul Potts – John Pudney – Arnold Rattenbury – M. Richardson – Joyce Rowe – Francis Scarfe – John Singe – Randall Swingler – Mike Whittock