Hook, Theodore Edward 1788-1841 creator text utu 2026 monographic en 1 online resource : multiple file formats "Jack Brag, vol. 1 (of 3)" by Theodore Edward Hook is a novel written in the early 19th century. A sharp social comedy, it follows Jack Brag—a vain, fast-talking tallow‑chandler’s son—who schemes to pass as a gentleman through hunting exploits, club pretensions, and flirtations with a sparkling young widow and her gentle sister, unsettling their more deserving admirers. At the start of the novel, Jack defies his sensible widowed mother, shirks the family business, boasts of aristocratic connections, and reveals tricks like renting a Grosvenor Street door-plate to fake status, while we meet the vivacious widow Mrs. Dallington, her shy sister Blanche, and their contrasted suitors—diffident Sir Charles Lydiard and impetuous Frank Rushton—who both, to their own surprise, worry about Jack’s influence. Jack then blusters over lunch with a “stranger” at a country inn, is exposed by his groom as riding hired horses, and is instantly humbled when the stranger proves to be Lord Ilfracombe traveling with his grand family. A brutal steeple-chase (with dead horses and injuries) is followed by Jack’s self-serving newspaper puff that lands him in legal trouble, sending him back to town where Rushton slyly encourages him to propose, hoping he’ll be rejected. The section closes by turning to Jack’s past through a letter from Nancy Brown, the woman he once promised to marry and then abandoned—signaling consequences that will complicate his new ambitions. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Release date is 2026-05-14 MWS, Finkler and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Originally published: London: Richard Bentley, 1837 English fiction -- 19th century PR London: Richard Bentley, 1837 https://archive.org/details/jackbraghook01hook https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78686 https://archive.org/details/jackbraghook01hook https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78686 UtSlPG 260607 20260610134826.0 78686