The Way Through the Woods

 

The Way Through The Woods

They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.
It is underneath the coppice and heath,
And the thin anemones.
Only the keeper sees
That, where the ring-dove broods,
And the badgers roll at ease,
There was once a road through the woods.

Yet, if you enter the woods
Of a summer evening late,
When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools
Where the otter whistles his mate
(They fear not men in the woods
Because they see so few),
You will hear the beat of a horses feet
And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road through the woods...
But there is no road through the woods!

--Rudyard Kipling, from Rewards and Fairies.

The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919) by Rudyard Kipling

 

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

by Rudyard Kipling

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,

I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.

Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

2

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn

That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:

But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,

So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

3

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,

Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,

But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come

That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

4

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,

They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;

They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;

So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

5

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.

They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.

But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know." 

6

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life

(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)

Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

7

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,

By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;

But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."  

8

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,

And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true

That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four–

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

9

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man

There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.

That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,

And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

10

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins

When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,

As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,

The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Notes

 

In Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Gods of the Copybook Headings", the "Gods of the Copybook Headings" represent the fundamental truths of human nature and the importance of timeless wisdom. 

Explanation

• The poem's title refers to the proverbs and maxims that were printed at the top of copybooks used by 19th century British schoolchildren. 
• The poem's speaker argues that these moral statements are relevant no matter the time or place, and that disregarding them will lead to failure. 
• The poem critiques political idealism and false promises of peace, abundance, and equality. 
•  

"Stick to the devil you know" means it's better to stay with someone or something familiar, even if you don't like them, because the unknown could be worse; essentially, choosing to deal with a known negative situation rather than risking a potentially more negative one you're unfamiliar with.

Key points about the phrase:

"Devil" represents a negative person or situation: It's not meant literally, but as a metaphor for something unpleasant you're already familiar with.

"Know" signifies familiarity: You may not like the current situation, but you understand its downsides.

Implies caution towards change: This phrase suggests that changing to something new, even if it seems potentially better, could lead to worse outcomes.

Into the Archive: Serious Business

Cancer Ward, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1969 Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)

"Cancer Ward tells the story of a small group of patients in Ward 13, the cancer ward of a hospital in Tashkent, Soviet Uzbekistan, in 1955, two years after Joseph Stalin's death. A range of characters are depicted, including those who benefited from Stalinism, resisted, or acquiesced. Like Solzhenitsyn, the main character, the Russian Oleg Kostoglotov, spent time in a labor camp as a "counter-revolutionary" before he was exiled to Central Asia under Article 58.

The plot focuses on a group of patients as they undergo crude and frightening treatment in a squalid hospital. Writer and literary critic Jeffrey Meyers writes that the novel is the "most complete and accurate fictional account of the nature of disease and its relation to love. It describes the characteristics of cancer; the physical, psychological, and moral effects on the victim; the conditions of the hospital; the relations of patients and doctors; the terrifying treatments; the possibility of death." Kostoglotov's central question is what life is worth, and how we know if we pay too much for it. – Extracts from Wikipedia.

I have been trying to grow my familiarity with the work of Solzhenitsyn so I was pleased to find this copy for $20 at our library’s used book shop. The publishing history of Cancer Ward is fraught: it first came out as samizdat (self-publishing, without state approval in the USSR) with various unauthorized translations in the UK (Bodley Head) and the US (Dial Press) following soon. I am not sure what the status of this copy is; first authorized American edition? The bookplate inside says it belonged to ‘The C. R. Spences’ and there was a magazine review clipping from ‘SR’ (Southern Review of Books?) November 9, 1968 to help confuse dating. Hard cover.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1965; first Vintage International Edition 1994)

“In Cold Blood is a non-fiction novel by the American author Truman Capote, first published in 1966. It details the 1959 Clutter family murders in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas.

“Capote learned of the quadruple murder before the killers were captured, and he traveled to Kansas to write about the crime. He was accompanied by his childhood friend and fellow author Harper Lee, and they interviewed residents and investigators assigned to the case and took thousands of pages of notes. The killers, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, were arrested six weeks after the murders and later executed by the state of Kansas. Capote ultimately spent six years working on the book.

“In Cold Blood was an instant critical and commercial success. Considered by many to be the prototypical true crime novel, it is also the second-best-selling book in the genre's history, behind Vincent Bugliosi's Helter Skelter (1974) about the Charles Manson murders. Some critics also consider Capote's work the original non-fiction novel, although other writers had already explored the genre.” – Wikipedia.

Capote is another writer I’ve been interested in for a while, though I have never been too compunctious about getting his books. The fact that they had two copies there seemed to be a hint that now might be the time to expand. It’s a little battered but was only $2 and in a very readable softcover form.

Kim, by Rudyard Kipling (1901; this Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics Edition, 29^th Printing 1989)

“Kim is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning English author Rudyard Kipling. It was first published serially in McClure's Magazine from December 1900 to October 1901 as well as in Cassell's Magazine from January to November 1901, and first published in book form by Macmillan & Co. Ltd in October 1901. The novel is notable for its detailed portrait of the people, culture, and varied religions of India. "The book presents a vivid picture of India, its teeming populations, religions, and superstitions, and the life of the bazaars and the road." The story unfolds against the backdrop of the Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. The novel popularized the phrase and idea of the Great Game.

 “The story is set after the Second Anglo-Afghan War (which ended in 1881), but before the Third (fought in 1919), probably in the period of 1893 to 1898.

“Kim (Kimball O'Hara) is the orphaned son of an Irish soldier (Kimball O'Hara Sr., a former colour sergeant) and a poor Irish mother (a former nanny in a colonel's household) who have both died in poverty. Living a vagabond existence in India under British rule in the late 19th century, Kim lives by begging and running small errands on the streets of Lahore. He occasionally works for Mahbub Ali, a Pashtun horse trader who is one of the native operatives of the British secret service. Kim is so tanned and immersed in the local culture that few realise he is white.

“Kim befriends an aged Tibetan lama on a quest to free himself from the Wheel of Things by finding the legendary "River of the Arrow". Kim becomes his chela (disciple) and accompanies him on his journey, initially walking along the Grand Trunk Road. On the way, Kim learns about the Great Game and is recruited by Mahbub Ali to carry a message to the head of the British Secret Service in Umballa.” -Wikipedia. And so on.

Kipling is another familiar author I’ve wanted to expand into, and Kim seems the logical next step. Is it a kid’s book or not? It is about a kid. “Roger Sale, in his history of children's literature, concludes "Kim is the apotheosis of the Victorian cult of childhood, but it shines now as bright as ever, long after the Empire's collapse..." Sounds intriguing enough for me.

The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden (1960; Thirteenth Dell Printing, January 1976). A Dell Yearling Book.

“On an early summer evening, Mario Bellini finds a cricket chirping near his parents' newsstand in the Times Square subway station. Papa Bellini allows Mario to keep the cricket in the newsstand as a pet despite Mama Bellini's fear that the cricket will attract more bugs.

“The cricket's name is Chester. That evening, Chester meets Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat, best friends who live in an abandoned drainpipe near the newsstand. Chester tells them that he is from Connecticut and that he came to New York by being accidentally trapped in a picnic basket. Tucker and Harry show him Times Square, which he finds overwhelming.” – Wikipedia.

Now this copy might be considered a re-buy, as I have a very wrinkled paperback already, and this is a nice pristine soft-cover copy. I first read it back when I was in McQueeney Elementary. It became quite a series: “There were several sequels; Selden wrote six sequels to the book: Tucker's Countryside (1969), Harry Cat's Pet Puppy (1974), Chester Cricket's Pigeon Ride (1981), Chester Cricket's New Home (1983), Harry Kitten and Tucker Mouse (1986), and The Old Meadow (1987).” As you can see, most were published at a time when I was not following new children’s literature. I did get a hardback of Tucker’s Countryside (now in the Shadow Library) and they had a copy of Chester Cricket’s New Home there at the bookshop that I passed by. Chuck Jones adapted the original book into a half-hour animated special (April 1973), followed by two sequels, A Very Merry Cricket (1973) and Yankee Doodle Cricket (1975).

Going for $150 on Amazon. It figures.

Sweeping Up

Kipling: A Selection of His Stories and Poems, Volumes I and II, Selected by John Beecroft.

Contains: Vol 1: Kim, The Jungle Book, Just So Stories, Puck of Pook's Hill; Vol 2: 27 stories, Something of Myself (autobiography), 58 poems. There were (and as far as I can tell, still are) many of these available in used books stores for years. They were a sort of potted collection available from a book club, I think. [They lack these Jackets.]

Ranking: Keepers.

File Code: Collected Works. Kipling. Book Club Edition.

The Book of Lists I, II, III, by David Wallechinsky, Irving Wallace, Amy Wallace.

These were a hoot and a heap of fun. Not only were there bare lists to consider, but often there would be an explanatory paragraph for each item on the list: people, places, incidents, and objects throughout history gathered into piles for your consideration. They were a fun scrappy education in and of themselves.

Ranking: Nostalgic Keepers.

File Code: Lists. Trivia. Paperbacks.

Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People, by Irving Wallace, Amy Wallace, David Wallechinsky, Sylvia Wallace.

By the same people who brought you the Book of Lists, the collected dirty parts of biography. Gathered under headings like Actors, Writers, Painters, Politicians, and so on, it was a sort of a guilty pleasure to look at the bits usually left out of the more discreet histories prevalent at the time. I understand there is an updated version available now.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Biography. Filth! Filth, I Say! Entertainment. Paperback.

Just So

The King of Ireland’s Son, by Padraic Colum. Illustrations by Willy Pogany.

“The King of Ireland's Son is a children's novel published in Ireland in 1916 written by Padraic Colum, and illustrated by Willy Pogany. It is the story of the eldest of the King of Ireland's sons, and his adventures winning and then finding Fedelma, the Enchanter's Daughter, who after being won is kidnapped from him by the King of the Land of Mist. It is solidly based in Irish folklore, itself being originally a folktale.” – Wikipedia. Another ex-library book, and another pairing of Colum and Pogany. And another San Antonio library sale find. [As such, this is not my cover.] For all that is going for it, I can’t say I’ve read it as yet.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.

Celtic Fairy Tales, by Joseph Jacobs, Illustrations by John D. Batten.

Ex-library book, one in the series of Jacob’s fairy tale collections. Irish, Scottish, and Welsh stories, with great old pictures that were re-run by the likes of Peter Haining in their great scrapbooks of the 70’s. [Also not my cover.]

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fairy Tales. Hardback.

Hubble’s Bubble, by Elaine Horseman. Illustrations by John Sergeant.

“Hubble's Bubble, by Elaine Horseman, illustrated by John Sergeant (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1964). This book was actually in our middle school library, and I was pretty interested in it, but I could never check it out. This is because my last name is Babel, and anything with the word bubble or bobble in it was grist for the mocker's mills (and if you think no-one would have noticed me getting this book, you have forgotten how intensely public life in middle school is). Instead, I browsed it on the shelves, and was interested in the general set-up: five British children have a magical summer adventure in a cathedral court. The character I liked was Alaric Hubble, aged 12, a science enthusiast who buys an old book (from a disappearing shop, no less!) of what he thinks are chemistry experiments, but which turns out to be full of magical recipes. A lab in a secret room, animal transformations, and flying adventures ensue, along with the intrigue of keeping the adults from finding out. I am still in the process of reading this, so forbear to give a final opinion, but it is certainly redolent of period airs, from John Sergeant's line drawings to the advertisement for P. L. Travers "new" book, The Fox at the Manger, on the back.” -Power of Babel. I finished this secondhand library book and enjoyed it.

Ranking: Essential Nostalgia.

File Code: Fantasy. Children’s Novel. Hardback.

The King of the Golden River, by John Ruskin. Illustrated by Fritz Kredel.

A 1946 book that still has its jacket. Ruskin’s famous fairy tale and illustrated by the same artist who did our old copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Bought at Yesterday’s Warehouse.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fairy Tale. Hardback.

Rhymes and Verses: Collected Poems for Young People, by Walter de la Mare. With Drawings by Elinore Blaisdell.

Contains such great poems as ‘Dame Hickory’, ‘Some One’, ‘John Mouldy’, ‘I Saw Three Witches’, ‘The Ride-by-Nights’, ‘The Hare’, and many others, de la Mare’s poetry is always limpid, full of nature and mystery and an incantatory power. I bought this in the college bookstore.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Poetry. Anthology. Softcover.

Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling. Illustrated by the Author.

I got this copy years ago at Hastings, having already read it in the McQueeney library and seen some of the stories in tons of collections and textbooks. “Kipling began working on the book by telling the first three chapters as bedtime stories to his daughter Josephine. These had to be told "just so" (exactly in the words she was used to) or she would complain. The stories describe how one animal or another acquired its most distinctive features, such as how the leopard got his spots. For the book, Kipling illustrated the stories himself.” – Wikipedia.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy. Children’s Book. Hardback.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting. Illustrated by Michael Hague.

With some slight revisions to remove certain elements deemed racially insensitive. Perhaps I would prefer the original version with Hugh Lofting’s illustrations, but there it is; Michael Hague is a great illustrator, and I wanted his art. Dolittle is of course a classic work, and besides the Rex Harrison movie (good, but wearisomely long), I enjoyed the 1970 Depatie-Freleng cartoon series. A sailing ship, talking to animals, doctor bags and top-hats – a fine childhood brew!

Ranking: A compromised classic, but Essential.

File Code: Children’s Fantasy. Adventure. Hardback.

Secret Gardens, Alternate Childhood

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame. Illustration by Ernest H. Shepard.

A Scribner Library book, and as such had rather superior binding for a softcover. This was a copy John had for a while. It has all the Shepard illustrations, which have become rather “standard classic” for the book, and which are the main reason I keep it. Shepard visited the author when Grahame was an old, old man to get his approval. Has a map!

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Softcover.

The Golden Age, and Dream Days, by Kenneth Grahame. Both illustrated by Maxfield Parrish.

Reminiscences of childhood, and what it felt like to be a child, in constant conflict, it seemed with ‘the Olympians’, or grown-ups: “On the whole, the existence of these Olympians seemed to be entirely void of interests, even as their movements were confined and slow, and their habits stereotyped and senseless. To anything but appearances they were blind. For them the orchard (a place elf-haunted, wonderful!) simply produced so many apples and cherries: or it didn't—when the failures of Nature were not infrequently ascribed to us. They never set foot within fir-wood or hazel-copse, nor dreamt of the marvels hid therein. The mysterious sources, sources as of old Nile, that fed the duck-pond had no magic for them. They were unaware of Indians, nor recked they anything of bisons or of pirates (with pistols!), though the whole place swarmed with such portents. They cared not to explore for robbers' caves, nor dig for hidden treasure.” Written years before the birth of his son or the production of his most famous work, “The Wind in the Willows”, it serves as a celebration and a lament for a childhood that is gone, while at the same time being very clear-eyed about its limitations. “Dream Days” contains the story of “The Reluctant Dragon”.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Whimsical surveys of Childhood. Softcover.

The Reluctant Dragon, by Kenneth Grahame. Illustrations by Ernest H. Shepherd.

The story plucked out of “Dream Days”, and graced by pictures by Shepard, this edition is notable by having been bought from a garage sale with stuff from a retired teacher (it is a Macmillan Reading Spectrum Book), and if you open up and smell it you catch the scent of my childhood education. Has been adapted by Disney, of course, and way back was ‘cartoonified’ into a part of an old Rankin/Bass show, but there was also a good stop-motion version played on “Long Ago and Far Away”.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Softcover.

Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt.

Not a book I read at school, but one I remember being around. I read it years later after seeing it discussed in some works about children’s literature and getting this cheap copy. I also remember helping one of the girls (Kaitlyn?) with a book report on it. Good, but I wasn’t particularly engaged. Has a movie adaptation.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Softcover

Tom’s Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce. Illustrated by Susan Einzig.

After hearing this book discussed in Humphrey Carpenter’s “Secret Gardens: The Golden Age of Children’s Literature” and catching an movie adaptation of it with Joan Plowright, I kept my eyes open for a copy, and found this one at Half-Price for 98 cents. The spine is none-too-good. What I have read of it I’ve enjoyed, but I haven’t given it a complete reading.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Softcover.

Godhanger, by Dick King-Smith. Illustrations by Andrew Davidson.

Read this under Mike’s encouragement then bought my own copy after. A beast-fable about the Sacrifice and Redemption. Reminds me rather of “The Book of the Dun Cow” and a Narnian ‘supposal’, with a bit of “Watership Down” and “Animal Farm” thrown in. King-Smith is the guy who wrote the book about Babe the Gallant Pig.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Fable. Hardback.

Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass, by Lewis Carroll. Illustrations by John Tenniel.

A secondhand Illustrated Junior Library copy, superseded now, I suppose, by The Annotated Alice. Still, a good handy nostalgic reading copy, or a lender. I remember once at Nanny’s during college it was one of my choices if I could only take 20 books with me out into space.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel(s). Hardback.

All the Mowgli Stories, by Rudyard Kipling. Illustrations by Richard M. Powers.

Unique in that it is just that, all of the Mowgli stories, without the non-Mowgli tales in the Jungle Books. It includes the first Mowgli story of all, “In the Rukh”, which ironically is the last in the timeline, when Mowgli is all grown up. I remember reading a library copy under the pecan tree by the driveway at Loop Drive, waiting for the mailman one summer. The carpet grass was still lush and green. I got a secondhand copy of this Junior Deluxe Edition years later.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Short Stories. Children’s Book. Hardback.

Puck of Pook’s Hill, by Rudyard Kipling.

Another old library sale acquisition, it is the story of two children who learn the history of England as Puck informs them through the connected adventures of a sword and a treasure, bringing back people from the old time to tell their part in the story, from Anglo-Saxon times to Magna Carta. Not quite as popular as the Jungle Books over here, it was pretty influential for a generation or two across the water for its exploration of the strands of ‘Englishness’. Plenty of adventure and magic, and I’m sure that T. H. White and Susan Cooper both owe a debt here. Has a sequel which I’ll get to. H. R. Millar had some famous illustrations for it; if I could find an inexpensive copy with them, I’d probably buy it. [ot my cover, which is a pale-green library re-binding.]

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.

Rewards and Fairies, by Rudyard Kipling.

A sequel to “Puck of Pook’s Hill”, with the children continuing their adventures learning about English history through the agency of Puck, ‘the oldest Old Thing in England’. The tales wander around in time, beginning in the Elizabethan era. Contains many famous poems between the stories, like “If” and “The Way Through the Woods”. I have read parts – but not all – of this book.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy/Historical. Novel. Softcover.

The Complete Fairy Tales of George Macdonald, Introduction by Roger Lancelyn Green.

Illustrations by Arthur Hughes. This book came out in 1961, gathering together eight fairy tales by MacDonald, riding, if the cover is any indication, on the new popularity of Tolkien and Lewis in the counterculture. I’ve read most of these stories elsewhere, but not all, and it is good to have them all in one place. It is in pretty good condition for a softcover that is older than I am, which probably argues for its not having been read very much. It is sometimes hard to get through MacDonald’s style here because it gets very thickly ‘fairy-tail-ese’ in places.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Anthology. Fairy Tales. Softcover.

The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear, Collected and Introduced by Holbrook Jackson. Illustrations by the Author.

A very handy Dover book, which makes my Companion Library Double-Book dispensable, I suppose, except for nostalgia. A little more complete of a collection, too.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Nonsense. Poems and Tales. Softcover.

Carbonel: The King of the Cats, by Barbara Sleigh.

A duplicate/withdrawn old copy from the Schertz Library that I was glad to find at a garage sale. It’s missing the title page. Made entirely obsolete by the new copy, I suppose, except that it’s exactly alike the edition I read at school, with the witch’s hat on the spine.

Ranking: Nostalgic Necessity.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.

The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm, by Norman Hunter. Illustrations by W. Heath Robinson.

“Professor Branestawm is a series of thirteen books written by the English author Norman Hunter. Written over a 50-year period, between 1933 and 1983, the children's books feature as protagonist the eponymous inventor, Professor Theophilus Branestawm, who is depicted throughout the books as the archetypal absent-minded professor. Professor Branestawm is always at work in his "Inventory" creating bizarre inventions, all of which either malfunction or work in unanticipated ways, and which lead him into incredible adventures, often accompanied by his friend Colonel Dedshott of the Catapult Cavaliers (soldiers who use catapults as their only weapon), and his housekeeper Mrs. Flittersnoop.” – Wikipedia. Quite popular and much-adapted on British television, this is a re-print of the first book. If I had read them as a child I am sure I would have been a fan; the eccentric inventor professor is a character I always admired (like Cavor in the Harryhausen version of ‘First Men in the Moon’). Here is the trope in spades, and the Professor is the hero rather than a second banana to the Adventurer, as he so often is in stories.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Short Stories. Whimsy. Hardback.

Mistress Masham’s Repose, by T. H. White. Illustrations by Fritz Eichenberg.

Now here is a White book we found everywhere in used bookstores; I got this copy (I think) from Yesterday’s Warehouse. Maria is heiress to the vast and ruinous estate of Malplaquet, where Cook (the last remaining domestic) has to ride a bicycle to get from the kitchen to the dining room. The crumbling, money-poor grounds are managed by Mr. Hater and Miss Braun, who are seeking for some way to swindle Maria out of her inheritance, and the poor girl’s lonely existence is only somewhat ameliorated by an absent-minded but enormously learned Professor who rents the gamekeeper’s cottage and surrounds himself with thousands of books. Malplaquet was once a rich and important place, visited by famous figures in history and literature, and one day in exploring an old pleasance on an island, Maria runs across a batch of Lilliputians straight out of “Gulliver’s Travels”. Much of the book tells about how the tiny people live, and the rest is Maria’s efforts to protect them, first from her own thoughtlessness and then from the exploitation of her greedy guardians. An examination of power and its perils, as well as an adventure tale.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.

Mary Poppins, by P. L. Travers. Illustrations by Mary Shepard.

You cannot be a student of classic children’s literature without having a copy of Mary Poppins. This secondhand copy is worn and a little stained. It is the only one of the series I have; there are seven others. There have been, of course, several adaptations, the most famous being the 1964 Disney movie, which was so successful that it had a rather disastrous effect, as there was then cranked out a number of lengthy musicals adapted from children’s books, with indifferent results, as producers tried to chase the Poppins money. Better and of more interest is “Saving Mr. Banks”, which follows Travers’ life story and Disney’s efforts to get the film made. Good book, but not precisely my cup of tea.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.

Nanny McPhee: The Collected Tales of Nurse Matilda, by Christianna Brand. Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone and stills from the movie.

I had heard of “Nurse Matilda” before thanks to Humphrey Carpenter, I think; it was somewhat in the ‘Mary Poppins’ tradition. After I saw the movie, which I greatly enjoyed, I decided to get the book – or should I say books, as this is an omnibus edition of the three in the series – and found, as usual, that movies and their source material can be very different critters. For all I know they may be very good books, but I lost interest and haven’t read them much.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Omnibus. Fantasy. Softcover.

The Three Royal Monkeys, by Walter de la Mare. Illustrations by Mildred E. Eldridge.

I got this book for 20 cents at a Seguin Library book sale. I had been aware of it for years, but there was something about the ambiance of this copy, its era of binding, that really drew me. And the price was certainly right. I had enjoyed de la Mare’s poetry for years and reading it I certainly found it was a poetic book. The story of Nod and his brothers journeying to a home they have never seen, Nod’s maturing as they adventure, and all the mystery and wonder they encounter, make it a tale for the ages. The original title is “The Three Mulla-Mulgars”, and the original illustrations were by Dorothy P. Lathrop; I would probably buy another copy if they had her pictures in it. I finally got Kenny to read it during one of his ‘read aloud on Facebook’ during the Covid-19 lockdown; I had been trying to get SOMEBODY else to read it for years. John drew Nod as one of the figures in one of his famous birthday drawings for me. [Lacks this jacket; library rebinding.]

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.

The Phoenix and the Carpet, by E. Nesbit.

A Dell Yearling Classic, with an Afterword by Susan Cooper, who mentioned it in “The Dark is Rising”. “ The Phoenix and the Carpet is a fantasy novel for children, written by E. Nesbit and first published in 1904. It is the second in a trilogy of novels that begins with Five Children and It (1902), and follows the adventures of the same five children: Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane and the Lamb. Their mother buys the children a new carpet to replace one from the nursery that they have destroyed in an accidental fire. The children find an egg in the carpet, which hatches into a talking Phoenix. The Phoenix explains that the carpet is a magic one that will grant them three wishes a day. The five children go on many adventures, which eventually wears out their magic carpet. The adventures are continued and concluded in the third book of the trilogy, The Story of the Amulet (1906). – Wikipedia. I used to have an ‘Octopus’ book that had all three novels in it, but I must have thoughtlessly sold it or given it away.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Softcover.

Anderson’s Fairy Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen. Select Tales, Translated by Mrs. E. V. Lucas and Mrs. H. B. Paull. Illustrations by Arthur Szyk.

If I must have an edition of Andersen’s literary fairy tales, it’s just as well it be this one. It is a companion volume to the old Grimm’s Fairy Tales we had since earliest childhood; it is illustrated by the great Arthur Szyk, and it is as old as 1947, if the inside inscription is to be trusted. Bought, I believe, from Yesterday’s Warehouse. A Grosset and Dunlap edition. A strange distant connection to Chesterton, as Mr. E. V. Lucas, a famous author in his time, was his childhood friend, and this was his wife.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fairy Tales. Hardback.

The Little Grey Men, by Denys Watkins-Pitchford. Illustrated by the Author.

“I picked this book up years ago from a place called Yesterday's Warehouse (since closed), something of an old curiosity shop, dedicated mainly to books. I'd never seen or heard of The Little Grey Men before, but rather liked the style of the illustrations and the general set-up (gnomes having adventures in the countryside and their rare interactions with human civilisation), so I bought it, enjoyed it well enough, and put it on my shelf. Only a couple of days ago I decided to put a few choice pictures from it on the blog, and thought I'd do a little research on the book and its author. I discovered that I was looking at the tip of an iceberg. The author, Denys Watkins-Pitchford, had written and illustrated some sixty books between 1937 and 1987. The Little Grey Men was published in 1942 and won the Carnegie Medal that year. Watkins-Pitchford, who only used his full name for credit as illustrator and preferred the short pseudonym of "BB" as an author, was author, illustrator, and 'countryman'; a sort of combination of naturalist, conservationist, and sportsman, and his books are renowned for their authentic detail. "BB" claimed that the inspiration for this book came from his actual sighting of a gnome when he was a small child. Whether he was serious or indulging in that sort of epic leg-pulling that is a certain element in English humor is unknown. Watkins-Pitchford passed away in 1990, but not before publishing a sequel (Down The Bright Stream), becoming a Member of the Order of the British Empire, and seeing a ten-part series adapted from The Little Grey Men on British television, called Baldmoney, Sneezewort, Dodder and Cloudberry, named after the gnomes in his book. His numerous books are still popular in the UK, and there is a society dedicated to his works.” – Power of Babel. [Lacks this jacket.]

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.

The World of Christopher Robin and The World of Pooh, by A. A. Milne. Illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard.

I bought this pair as a selection from Paperback Book club. “Robin” is all poetry about childhood, centered around a fictionalized version of Milne’s son; “Pooh” is the collection of short stories featuring the celebrated teddy Bear. Milne was originally most famous for his work as a playwright; he also contributed work to ‘Punch’. Then Pooh came along and swallowed him up like the bear he is. Although he had and has many fans of his sentimental vision of childhood, the voices have not been unanimous. Dorothy Parker famously said in a review that she ‘fwowed up’ at what she considered its treacly and twee prose, and T. H. White called Milne ‘swinish’. Well, I love it. Not deeply, perhaps, but defensively. John used to have a Calendar (1973, if I’m correct) ordered from the Weekly Reader with poems and illustrations from the ‘Robin’ collection. The real Christopher Robin had some resentment toward his father for ‘manipulating’ his childhood; there is some evidence, as later stuffed animals (like Tigger) were bought with an eye of how they would fit into the cast of toys and wild animals that populate the Hundred Acre Wood. We used to have an old Scholastic copy of “The House at Pooh Corner”; I think it may still exist somewhere; I’m not sure.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Poetry/ Stories. Children’s Books. Softcovers.

Seaward, by Susan Cooper.

A Hardback ex-library copy that I got at Half-Price books. “His name is West. Her name is Cally. They speak different languages and come from different countries thousands of miles apart, but they do not know that. What they do know are the tragedies that took their parents, then wrenched the two of them out of reality and into a strange and perilous world through which they must travel together, understanding only that they must reach the sea. Together, West and Cally embark upon a strange and sometimes terrifying quest, learning to survive and to love—and, at last, discovering the true secret of their journey.” – Amazon. I so much wanted to love this book, because, hey, Susan Cooper, but perhaps I am too old for her magic to work so completely on me again. It’s okay, but not great; I wasn’t sure even after reading the paperback and had to get this Hardback when it became available, just in case. Now the paperback has the better cover, and this has the better form, so I’m not sure which I would choose if it came down to choosing.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.

King of Shadows, by Susan Cooper.

“Nathan Field, a talented young actor, arrives at the newly rebuilt Globe theatre in London to play Puck in A Midsummer's Night's dream. As rehearsals begin, eerie echoes of the past begin to haunt Nat and he falls ill with a mysterious sickness. When he wakes, Nat finds himself in 1599, an actor at the original Globe - and his co-star is none other than the King of Shadows himself: William Shakespeare. Nat's new life is full of excitement, danger, and the passionate friendship that he has longed for since the tragic death of his parents. But why has he been sent to the past - and is he trapped there forever?” – Wikipedia. The answers are to help Shakespeare and no. A slightly better offering from Cooper, full of fine historical detail, and written, in a sense, for the 400^th anniversary re-opening of the Globe Theatre reconstruction.

Ranking: Keeper.

File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Hardback.