Arthur Quiller-Couch Arthur Quiller-Couch Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (; 21 November 186312 May 1944) was a Cornish writer who published using the pseudonym Q. Although a prolific novelist, he is remembered mainly for the monumental publication "The Oxford Book Of English Verse 1250–1900" (later extended to 1918) and for his literary criticism. He influenced many who never met him, including American writer Helene Hanff, author of "84, Charing Cross Road" and its sequel, "Q's Legacy". His "Oxford Book of English Verse" was a favourite of John Mortimer fictional character Horace Rumpole. Arthur Quiller-Couch was born in the town of Bodmin, Cornwall, by
Jonathan Couch "Natural History of British Fishes", and Yarrell was still more indebted to him in his "British Fishes", to all three editions of which (1836, 1841, and 1859) Couch was a copious contributor. His "Cornish Fauna", (part i. 1838, part ii. 1841), completed by his son Richard Quiller Couch in 1844, was another valuable piece of work. But his magnum opus was "A History of the Fishes of the British Islands," with coloured illustrations from his own drawings, (4 vols., London, 1860–65). This is a storehouse of information, carefully collected and sifted, as to the habits of fishes, and in many