{{short description|1911 novel by Vaughan Kester}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox book | name = The Prodigal Judge | title_orig = | translator = | image = The Prodigal Judge.png | caption = | author = Vaughan Kester | illustrator = M. Leone Bracker | cover_artist = | country = United States | language = English | genre = | publisher = Bobbs-Merrill Company | pub_date = March 11, 1911<ref name="pubdate">(5 March 1911). [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/03/05/104821021.pdf A Book-Review Contest], ''The New York Times''</ref> | english_pub_date = | media_type = Print (hardcover) (448 p.) | preceded_by = | followed_by = }}
'''''The Prodigal Judge''''' is a novel written by American novelist Vaughan Kester and published in 1911.<ref name="nytimesreview">(2 April 1911). [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/04/02/104823242.pdf "The Prodigal Judge": Mr. Vaughn Kester's Much-Heralded Novel Has a Flavor of All Its Own], ''The New York Times''</ref><ref name="slt">(12 March 1911). [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045396/1911-03-12/ed-1/seq-21/ A Tale of Early Days], ''Salt Lake Tribune'', p. 21, col. 1.</ref><ref name="timesdis">(13 March 1911). [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85038615/1911-03-13/ed-1/seq-7/ Among the Books (review)], ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'', p. 7 col. 4.</ref><ref name="heraldreview">(11 March 1911). [http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201911/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201911%20-%206762.pdf Swift Action Marks 'The Prodigal Judge' (review)], ''New York Herald'', p. 16, col. 3.</ref><ref name="20threview">Rich, Amy C. (April 1911). [https://books.google.com/books?id=gLQRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA94 Books of the Day (review)], ''Twentieth Century Magazine'', pp. 94-95</ref>
Kester wrote the novel while living at Gunston Hall in Virginia. A best-seller, it was the second-best selling fiction book in the United States in 1911.<ref name="hackett">Hackett, Alice Payne. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cOI8AQAAIAAJ Seventy Years of Best Sellers 1895-1965], p. 107 (1967) (the lists for 1895-1912 in this volume are derived from the lists published in ''The Bookman (New York)'')</ref><ref name="best2">[https://books.google.com/books?id=xqVXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA121 The "Best Sellers of 1911"], in ''The American library annual 1911-12'', pp. 121-24 (1912)</ref><ref name="quotesquotes">(1 April 1911). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Lv67AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1420 Quotes about book], ''Publishers Weekly'' (a multi-page ad with quotes from booksellers about the book)</ref> Kester died in July 1911, but not before enjoying the knowledge his book had reached the top of the bestseller lists.<ref name="deadtwo">[https://books.google.com/books?id=_VUeAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA130 In Memoriam], ''The Bookman (New York)'' (October 1911), pp. 129-30</ref>
To promote the book, publisher Bobbs-Merrill Company held a "book review contest", with prizes of $250, $150, and $100 for the first through third best reviews published in the first month of the book's release, judged by a panel consisting of Yale University professor William Lyon Phelps, magazine editor John Sanborn Phillips, and writer William Allen White.<ref name="pubdate"/> Third place went to H. L. Mencken.<ref name="star">(20 August 2011). [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/6748020/ A Book Review Contest], ''Indianapolis Star''</ref>
==Adaptations== [[File:The Prodigal Judge (1922) - 1.jpg|thumbnail|right|Macklyn Arbuckle in 1922 film version.]] It debuted at the Bronx Opera House in December 1913 with George Fawcett playing the judge.<ref name="play1">(9 December 1913). [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/12/09/100291212.pdf "The Prodigal Judge": George Fawcett Appears in a Dramatization of Vaughn Kester's Novel], ''The New York Times''</ref>
It was also made into a silent film of the same title directed by Edward José, starring Jean Paige and Macklyn Arbuckle (as the judge), released in 1922.<ref name="film1">(11 February 1922). [https://books.google.com/books?id=7EdJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA787 The Prodigal Judge (Review)], ''Exhibitors Trade Review'', Vol. 11, No., 11, p. 787</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== * [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5129 ''The Prodigal Judge''] full text at Project Gutenberg * [https://books.google.com/books?id=cRFUAAAAYAAJ ''The Prodigal Judge''], full scan via Google Books
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Prodigal Judge, The}} Category:1911 American novels Category:1911 English-language novels Category:Novels set in North Carolina Category:Novels set in Tennessee Category:American historical novels Category:Novels set in the 1830s Category:American novels adapted into films Category:American novels adapted into plays Category:Bobbs-Merrill Company books