WOODFORDE, Christopher. A Pad in the Straw. London: J. M. Dent. 1952. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s green cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the splendid dust jacket designed by John Yunge-Bateman who illustrates the volume. A striking example, about fine. The cloth clean and bright, very mild discolouration to backstrip, but the boards bright and the binding tight and square. The contents clean and fine throughout. The dust jacket the correct first issue, unclipped with the price of 10s 6d net retained. Very gently nicked at the spine head, and with very mild rubbing to the foot and at the corners, a touch crimped in places.
A most delightful copy of this collection of Jamesian ghost stories, officially the first such collection of ghost stories for children (The Encyclopedia of Fantasy). The volume collects twenty eerie tales, most with schoolboys as protagonists, and all with antiquarian settings—‘mysteries concealed in some old library or ancient church or prehistoric domain’. It was Woodforde’s only foray into the supernatural world—a seemingly necessary deed given his role of Dean of Wells, a post once held by another antiquarian follower of M. R. James, R. H. Malden, who equally published one collection of ghost stories (Nine Ghosts, 1942). The illustrator, John Yunge-Bateman, was a versatile artist perhaps best remembered for his voluptuous illustrations of the Rubaiyat, but this particular jacket remains certainly one of his best works.
WOODFORDE, Christopher. A Pad in the Straw. London: J. M. Dent. 1952. 8vo. First edition. Publisher’s green cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, in the splendid dust jacket designed by John Yunge-Bateman who illustrates the volume. A striking example, about fine. The cloth clean and bright, very mild discolouration to backstrip, but the boards bright and the binding tight and square. The contents clean and fine throughout. The dust jacket the correct first issue, unclipped with the price of 10s 6d net retained. Very gently nicked at the spine head, and with very mild rubbing to the foot and at the corners, a touch crimped in places.
A most delightful copy of this collection of Jamesian ghost stories, officially the first such collection of ghost stories for children (The Encyclopedia of Fantasy). The volume collects twenty eerie tales, most with schoolboys as protagonists, and all with antiquarian settings—‘mysteries concealed in some old library or ancient church or prehistoric domain’. It was Woodforde’s only foray into the supernatural world—a seemingly necessary deed given his role of Dean of Wells, a post once held by another antiquarian follower of M. R. James, R. H. Malden, who equally published one collection of ghost stories (Nine Ghosts, 1942). The illustrator, John Yunge-Bateman, was a versatile artist perhaps best remembered for his voluptuous illustrations of the Rubaiyat, but this particular jacket remains certainly one of his best works.
