Arthur Machen
Around 1890 Machen began to publish in literary magazines, writing stories influenced by the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, some of which used gothic or fantastic themes. This led to his first major success, "The Great God Pan". It was published in 1894 by John Lane in the noted Keynotes Series, which was part of the growing aesthetic movement of the time. Machen's story was widely denounced for its sexual and horrific content and consequently sold well, going into a second edition.
John Kneen
By 1910 Kneen had completed "A Grammar of the Manx Language", the work that was to later be called his "great work." However he did not have the means of publishing it, there not being sufficient public interest in a work of that type at that time. Kneen therefore deposited the manuscript of the book in the Manx Museum library. The importance of the work then came to the attention of the Trustees of the Museum, who petitioned Tynwald for £250 to pay for its publication. This was achieved and it was finally published in 1931.