Roy Rockwood signature
Around 1978 the Stratemeyer Syndicate made a sheet with the “official” signatures of pen names used on the series available in print at the time. This is the “Roy Rockwood” signature. The Syndicate staff practiced these signatures in case an occasion required a signed book to be sent out. Generally, though, they did not have book signings in the modern practice.

“Roy Rockwood” was a pseudonym used by both Edward Stratemeyer and for books produced through his Stratemeyer Syndicate.  

The most famous and best-selling series produced under the name was Bomba the Jungle Boy, a boy who grows up without his parents in the jungles of South America for the first 10 volumes and in Africa for the latter 10 volumes.  The character was used in a series of films with Johnny Sheffield in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  In 1934, the Fortune magazine article stated that Bomba was the best-selling boys’ series.

The name was used on Edward Stratemeyer-written stories for story papers and dime novels such as “Joe Johnson, the Bicycle Wonder” in Young Sports of America (1 Jun 1895—13 Jul 1895) and the serial version of “Lost in the Land of Ice” in Golden Hours (1 Dec 1900—26 Jan 1901) which was later published under the “Capt. Ralph Bonehill” name.

One serial story written by Stratemeyer and published under this name was “The Rival Ocean Divers” in Golden Hours (5 Jan 1901—23 Feb 1901).  This was published in book form by Stitt in 1905.  It became the first volume in what was originally called the Deep Sea series and later the Dave Fearless series.  The additional volumes were produced with the Syndicate method of Stratemeyer writing outlines and having ghostwriters write the volumes.  Weldon J. Cobb was the writer for volumes 2 and 3.

The Stratemeyer Syndicate series that used this name are:

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bomba the Jungle Boy

The most famous and best-selling series produced under the name Roy Rockwood was Bomba the Jungle Boy , a boy who grows up without his parents in the jungles of South America for the first 10 volumes and in Africa for the latter 10 volumes.  The character was used in a series of films with Johnny S...
Dave Dashaway

Dave Dashaway

The Dave Dashaway series is a Stratemeyer Syndicate series under the name Roy Rockwood . Like other titles under that pen name , Dave Dashaway is a boy's adventure tale.Much like Tom Swift and Ted Scott , this series had a heavy focus on aviation.Five titles were published between...
Dave Fearless

Dave Fearless

The first volume in what became known as the Dave Fearless series was written as a serial, "The Rival Ocean Divers," for the Golden Hours story paper in 1901. It was published in book form by Stitt in 1905. The sea creatures in the story were inspired partly by the findings of the U.S. Fish Commission...
Great Marvel

Great Marvel

The Great Marvel series used several different cover and jacket designs. Unlike many other series, the cover designs usually matched the plots of each volume.This Stratemeyer Syndicate series began in 1906 with the other Cupples & Leon offerings of that year. It was intended to be a series...
Speedwell Boys

Speedwell Boys

The Speedwell Boys series is about boys who like to go very fast, whether it is in a submarine, power launch, automobiles, motorcycles, or ice racers.This Stratemeyer Syndicate series was published under the pseudonym Roy Rockwood , the same pen name as a number of adventure stories like...