George MacDonald and his Wife

by Greville MacDonald, George MacDonald

{ 19.78 x 26.13 cms} Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden Leaf Printing on round Spine (extra customization on request like complete leather, Golden Screen printing in Front, Color Leather, Colored book etc.) Reprinted in 2018 with the help of original edition published long back [1924]. This book is printed in black & white, sewing binding for longer life, printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, we processed each page manually and make them readable but in some cases some pages which are blur or missing or black spots. If it is multi volume set, then it is only single volume, if you wish to order a specific or all the volumes you may contact us. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want to know more about our old treasure so we brought it back to the shelves. Hope you will like it and give your comments and suggestions. - English, Pages 617. EXTRA 10 DAYS APART FROM THE NORMAL SHIPPING PERIOD WILL BE REQUIRED FOR LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. COMPLETE LEATHER WILL COST YOU EXTRA US$ 25 APART FROM THE LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. {FOLIO EDITION IS ALSO AVAILABLE.} Complete George Macdonald and his wife 1924 Greville Macdonald, G. K. Chesterton(Intro.)

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

583 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1924

About the author

1856-1944

Reviews

[Justin Wiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tonight I finished reading Greville MacDonald's moving biography about his Father and Mother, George MacDonald And His Wife. This book was a gift from my friend Bill Leachman, and was published in 1924.
George MacDonald was an incredible husband, father, writer, poet, mystic, and thinker. His Unspoken sermons, The Princess and The Goblin, At The Back of The North Wind, Diary of An Old Soul, Phantastes, Alec Forbes of Howglen, Lilith, The Golden Key, and The Day Boy and The Night Girl, are all very powerful reads.
My favorite writer, C.S.Lewis, led me to MacDonald's works years ago, and through his influence I have met some incredible people in Oxford, England, California, and in my native state of North Carolina. Greville gives a very moving context of MacDonald's Celtic ancestry, boyhood in Scotland, how he came to marry his beloved Louisa, who was an English woman, his career as a writer, preacher, teacher; his friendships with Mark Twain, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lewis Caroll, his devotion to his family, his struggles and doubts which strengthened his faith, his literary legacy, his fascinating theology, and his authenticity in living out his faith.
Reading this book made me weep tears of sorrow and joy, reminded me of why I wrote Surprised by Agape, and gave me an even greater appreciation for the great Scottish writer. I highly recommend this book.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a long and detailed book, and quotes at length from letters, many of which are interesting in terms of seeing MacDonald writing at full bore without correcting his stuff. It’s full of famous names too: the MacDonalds, in spite of their constant poverty, had friends from all sorts of circles, particularly literary ones. There’s a good deal about John Ruskin and Lewis Carroll, for instance, both of whom were very friendly with the family. It's interesting that on Wikipedia, on the Ruskin entry, MacDonald doesn’t appear at all (though there are some curious interpretations of things that the MacDonalds had dealings with in regard to Ruskin), and there’s nothing about the MacDonalds in the entry on Lady Byron either, even though she was philanthropically with them in the years before her death.
This isn’t to say that Greville is making anything up – he’s well-known for his own writings and his own connections – but I guess it just goes to show that what one biographer thinks is important, may not be to other people.
Greville seems determined to put absolutely everything he can find into the book, and this includes material about him as a child of this remarkable father, as well as stories about various uncles, aunts, cousins and so on who made some impact, or died young, or whatever. There's a lot of death of close relatives here, people dying long before their time, and being deeply mourned.
Greville doesn't try and speak for his father or mother (in spite of her name not appearing in the title, she's just as important here as George); he lets their own words and actions speak. He must have carefully guarded a huge amount of correspondence and diary material, as well as having a good memory for incidents and details.
Be prepared to take your time over this; it's long. But worth it for its insights into two remarkable people.

[Eddie Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a while ago at a time when I was fixated on George MacDonald. A fixation would be necessary to seek out and find this thick book and read it. But it was O so good and inspiring to read about George (& his wife. The Victorians had an annoying tendency to title biographies like this) and their many kids living the by-the-seat-of-their-pants artist's lives in the heyday of Victorian arts and letters. Especially inspiring was George's good-natured but hot-blooded rebellion against the stuffy church fueled by his natural mysticism and good faith in every thing working out. They were the sort of family that out of the blue would receive gifts of monies just when most needed, like when they were about to lose their house. Now isn't that nice?

It was written by, I believe, his grandson, so its filled with lots of loving intimate details and the textures of a rich life richly lived.

[Jason Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have greatly profited from MacDonald’s writings- his romances, his poetry, and especially his fairy tales. His son’s biography paints a detailed and touching portrait of this prolific author. I was touched by all his trials of health, losing children, and a near-constant struggle with having enough income.

Through it all, MacDonald’s deep joy, boundless creativity, and rock-solid faith pervade his life. Many letters are included revealing his heart.

I was surprised to learn how well-acquainted he was with authors of his day including Mark Twain and John Ruskin.

The book is long, but worth it for those who treasure the writings of this genius.

[Jonathan Latshaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good biography not only tells the events of the life but helps unveil the heart, mind, and motivations of the person to the reader. This book succeeds in this roughly half the time (the last chapter, for instance, was wonderful). All too often, though, the writing falls into a mere recounting of the events in George MacDonald’s life. I’m glad I read it, nevertheless.

[Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a really good overview of the life and works of George MacDonald, an incredible man who was preacher, poet, author, and literary critic. My summer research project at Taylor revolves around him and his life, and I'm grateful for this book—written by his son Greville—for providing some information on a man who I had known so little of previously. There are a lot of letters included in the text, and I'll admit I skimmed quite a bit (the reading list is very long for this project!) but I still enjoyed it and learned so much.

[Sean Meade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of MacDonald, and I enjoyed this book a lot. Two things I particularly enjoyed:

1. Some of the details from life that made it into Macdonald's books.

2. MacDonald's amazing letters of consolation to those who lost loved ones (and he experienced a lot of suffering himself.

I read this book online at this URL: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?i.... It was the Dial Press version, 1924.

[Micah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is an uncomfortable and disquieting thing to read an intimate, posthumous biography. One learns quickly of the experiences, perspectives, reactions, and pursuits of some previous individual and, despite the conclusions reached, is alarmed and jolted by the sudden ending or slow, spiral decay of the once thinking, reacting, dynamic subject of the text. For myself at least, death seems alway too close at hand to lose its freshness.

Greville MacDonald's biography of his father (and mother) is extensive. It is a step-by-step look at every turn of events leading to and throughout their lives, and it's really a good read for anyone with a knack for history in general. It also provides great insights not only to MacDonald's faith and perspectives, but as to the hard, artist's lifestyle that he chose and which sometimes seems to have chosen him. He was a starving artist most of his life, even with friends like Twain, Ruskin, and Tennyson and a pension from the Queen. Unlike most artists, he raised about a dozen kids, along with and occasional orphan or street urchin. MacDonald's family life was his world, and one into which he and his wife brought dozens of lifelong friends, who play heavily throughout the text.

The obvious flaw of the text is that the author inundates the reader with a sacred defense for nearly every questionable or confusing action his father ever took, whether personal, theological, or artistic. He tells us why his father's ideas on all subjects were the best available at the time, even when his father's own demeanor in his texts and letters implies that he questioned his own judgement. While it can make for grating reading, it's worth recognizing that a son's undying devotion is a pretty great legacy, perhaps the one of which MacDonald would be most proud.

Luckily, the book is heavy laden with text from many personal letters, both to an from MacDonald, so that the bias opinions of Greville MacDonald can be easily seen around to get the fuller picture, often from MacDonald Sr. himself. He deals often with poverty, often with death close at hand, often with disabling sickness, and often with misunderstanding of his work. Yet always he maintains an otherworldly self-possession, a capacity at least toward outward insistence on the rejuvenation of all things through the cleansing of death that brings new life.

As I read this book, I couldn't help marveling at how much I could use a MacDonald in my daily life, coaching me on through my trials, my misgivings, and my fear of death. This book may hit close to home.

[Adrian]

My book is not as per as per the cover illustrated. Rather, I think it's much older. Perhaps not the 1924 edition, but mine looks like it could be.
What should I say about this present from the Chair of the William MacDonald Society? Rev Phil Streeter, Author himself.
It was strange to read such an old book, yes, published in 1924, but the reading was much much older, taking one back well into the 1800s. Many times, I had to stop and look up an unknown or now unused English word.
The book and its letters take you back into another world. One cannot help but feel sad about the continued death of such young children and teens. I guess, though they used many descriptions, it was TB; I came along just at the time of those TB injections, thankful.
My other surprise was how many famous writers GM talked with and was friends with Dickings, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, and on and on.
My big surprise is how they constantly refer to being poor—no money, not even enough to pay for the servant's train ticket. It was a long read, but I am glad I did it. Have a go; it will conjure up a brand-new way of thinking. Can we have a new way of thinking from the 1800s? Fascinating.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography of 19th century Scottish author, lecturer and preacher written by his son. A panentheist & universalist, his theology was ahead of his time. Best known today for his fiction, for both adults and children, he also published 2 volumes of Unspoken Sermons, although his theology did come through in the fiction. Most famous books: Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, and Lilith.

[Donovan Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful book by a devoted son. Having read other biographies this is a useful resource for balancing other extremes. As another reviewer mentioned, the unpublished material is very insightful!

[Linlathen · Rating 5 out of 5]

For fans of George MacDonald, this books provides an insightful look at the man and his family and sheds light on imagery he used in his writing. This book also contains unpublished material. On a spiritual or devotional level, the book is also useful.