E. Nesbit

[Nigeyb]

E. Nesbit came up one our Celebrating the Middlebrow discussion thread....


https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I was listening to the BBC radio Open Book programme podcast yesterday (blimmin marvellous it was too - lots of great stuff) and in passing they mentioned that the next episode would include a discussion on the adult novels of E. Nesbit. What more reason do we need to start a discussion thread?

Furrowed Middlebrow publish The Lark one of E. Nesbit's novels for adults, which was published 1922

Yours for £1.99 on Kindle in the UK...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lark-Nesbit-...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Nesb...

Beautiful cover on Furrowed Middlebrow edition...



http://www.deanstreetpress.co.uk/book...

The E Nesbit society link...

http://www.edithnesbit.co.uk/

Let talk E. Nesbit....

[Susan]

E. Nesbit was one of my very favourite authors as a child. The Railway Children, Five Children and It, The Story of the Treasure Seekers and The Enchanted Castle... Endless reading pleasure. I haven't read any of her adult books, but I will certainly listen to the podcast.

[Patrick]

I've only read one Nesbit title so far, The Enchanted Castle. It is fantastic. The Dent hardcover edition with illustrations by Cecil Leslie is quite lovely.

[Susan]

I loved all of the books I read, Patrick. I am currently reading Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading and I recommend it highly. It is an absolute delight and is making me remember all of the books I loved as a child. (We haven't reached E. Nesbit yet, so I will see whether she pops up).

[Patrick]

I really like histories and critical works about children's literature, such as John Rowe Townsend's Written for Children: An Outline of English-Language Children's Literature.

[Susan]

Mr too, Patrick. Children's books are always special, I think. It is where you read the most intently, if you are a real bookworm :)

[Val]

Her children's books were favourites, but I haven't read any of her ones for adults.
The Children's Book is loosely based on her.

[Susan]

I never knew that, Val. Thanks - I will have to read that.

[Hugh]

The Lark was also chosen by Penelope Lively for a new Penguin Classics series of out of print titles. I heard her talking about it on Open Book yesterday.

[Nigeyb]

We're on message with this Nesbit revival then?


Talking of which the programme I mentioned earlier is now available..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09rx0h8

It is also downloadable on iTunes, from the BBC etc.

Mariella Frostrup talks to Australian crime writer Jane Harper about her new thriller Force of Nature; and....

...Penelope Lively shares her love of the little known adult novels of E. Nesbit, best known today for her children's books, including The Railway Children.

Hurrah!

I'll report back once I've listened

Mariella Frostrup is an excellent presenter and interviewer.

[Judy]

Great idea for a thread, Nigeyb. I loved E. Nesbit as a child, especially The Story of the Treasure Seekers - very funny, with wonderful roundabout sentences which led me to love Victorian writers.

I don't think I've read any of her adult novels, though I have read one or two short stories in collections.

I've just looked at the details of the Delphi complete collection of her works on Kindle.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

I wouldn't buy a Delphi complete works if there is an alternative, as I did buy a Thackeray one which was all garbled and they are too big to find your way through easily... but they mean some books are available which aren't easy to find anywhere else. Anyway, the table of contents lists the adult novels by her which are still in existence (sadly a couple are not):

THE PROPHET’S MANTLE
THE RED HOUSE
THE INCOMPLETE AMORIST
SALOME AND THE HEAD
DAPHNE IN FITZROY STREET
DORMANT
THE INCREDIBLE HONEYMOON
THE LARK

[Judy]

Just checked out the adult Nesbit titles listed above at Amazon, and there are free editions of a couple of them, The Incomplete Amorist and The Incredible Honeymoon. I helped myself to both. :)

[Patrick]

Wow, two of the novels remain unlocated? That is very unusual for "modern" books.

UPDATE: Nesbit's biographer Julia Briggs appears to have read the second of the two phantom titles, The Secret of Kyriels, as has one Goodreads reviewer.

[Judy]

Hugh wrote: "The Lark was also chosen by Penelope Lively for a new Penguin Classics series of out of print titles. I heard her talking about it on Front Row last week."

Thanks, Hugh! Odd that Penguin chose to republish The Lark when Furrowed Middlebrow had republished the same book less than a year earlier, but maybe both editions were in production at the same time?

Here is the cover of the Penguin version to compare:

[Nigeyb]

I prefer the Penguin cover - it's wonderful. Both are lovely though.


And the intro by Penelope Lively explains what she's doing waxing lyrical about E. Nesbit's adult books on Open Book

[Judy]

Patrick wrote: "UPDATE: Nesbit's biographer Julia Briggs appears to have read the second of the two phantom titles, The Secret of the Kyriels, as has one Goodreads reviewer. "

That's exciting, Patrick - maybe it will come back into print? So many lost films have been rediscovered and then brought out on DVD or Blu-ray!

[Judy]

Thanks, Nigeyb - here is a link to the Open Book episode with Penelope Lively talking about Nesbit's adult novels:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09rx0h8

[Nigeyb]

It's further up in the thread too Judy :-)


But hey, better twice that not at all

[Judy]

I hadn't seen that earlier message, Nigeyb, because I was writing a post at the same moment as you! But yes, better twice than not at all, as you say...

[Judy]

A pain that the only Goodreads reviewer to have read that rare book hated it and gave it one star...

[Hugh]

Nigeyb wrote: "It's further up in the thread too Judy :-)


But hey, better twice that not at all"

Sorry - I should have seen that and was actually thinking of the same programme - I got a little confused by the Furrowed Middlebrow reference too...

[Patrick]

Judy wrote: "Patrick wrote: "UPDATE: Nesbit's biographer Julia Briggs appears to have read the second of the two phantom titles, The Secret of the Kyriels, as has one Goodreads reviewer. "

That's exciting, Pat..."

Hard to say. I think that Delphi could not get their hands on a copy of The Secret of Kyriels, but WorldCat lists eight copies in libraries.

The Marden Mystery is another story. Julia Briggs says it was published in Chicago in 1894. Why Chicago? If we could answer THAT, we would perhaps be on the way to discovering a copy.

Personally, I think that something is askew here; I suspect the novel was never actually published. If it had been published in Chicago, a copy should have been submitted to the Library of Congress, but LoC does not have it.

It would be good to have proof of publication in the form of a review. A listing in a publisher's catalogue or announcement would not cut it; I know of books that have been so listed but that never appeared.

[Susan]

You would be a good literary detective, Patrick.

I am currently listening to the podcast featuring E Nesbit's The Lark. She certainly had a very interesting life and, like so many authors, was literally churning out books as she was the sole breadwinner.

[Judy]

I'm definitely tempted to try Nesbit's adult books, and I'm also interested to see that she wrote a lot more children's books beyond those I remember as a child.

Although The Story of the Treasure Seekers was my personal favourite, I think her best-known titles are probably The Railway Children and Five Children and It.

A year or two ago I saw a stage production of The Railway Children "live" at the cinema, in a broadcast from a rail station, and there was a film of Five Children and It a few years ago with Eddie Izzard doing the voice of the Psammead.

[Susan]

Treasure Seekers was my favourite too, Judy.

[Nigeyb]

Nigeyb wrote: "The BBC radio Open Book programme is now available..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09rx0h8

It is also downloadable on iTunes, from the BBC etc.

Mariella Frostrup talks Penelope Lively shares her love of the little known adult novels of E. Nesbit, best known today for her children's books, including The Railway Children.

Hurrah!

I'll report back once I've listened"

Highly recommended. Like Mariella and Penelope, I also conclude it was a great shame that E. Nesbit never wrote a memoir, or about herself. Her domestic circumstances were challenging to say the least, or so it appeared to me.

I was also intrigued to learn that she was a founder member of The Fabian Society.

[Patrick]

Susan wrote: "You would be a good literary detective, Patrick.

I am currently listening to the podcast featuring E Nesbit's The Lark. She certainly had a very interesting life and, like so many authors, was li..."

I would love to be a literary detective!

One area of particular interest to me is manuscript novels that have never been published, but that are languishing in university special collections because authors' papers are archived there. We have the technology to make these available pretty cheaply now, but it hasn't started to happen in a major way yet.