The Annotated Wind in the Willows, for Adults and Sensible Children

by G.M.W. Wemyss

This annotated edition of a well-loved classic, with almost 350 footnotes, tracks its literary allusions, influences, and legacies; identifies the river of River Bank and the canal into which Toad is thrown, and every plant and animal in the text; offers insight into Grahame's life and losses (including the suicide of his son to whom these tales were first told); and furnishes to a new generation the references and assumptions that any Edwardian parent and child should have known without thinking. Annotated lovingly but critically by two historians - one American, one British - who grew up with the source text, this volume contextualises, and explains with humour and insight, a classic of the genre - and why it is a classic. From railways to classism to nursery suppers, the editors place the text before a new generation with the knowledge that its first audience should have had - and what we have learnt since.

ebook

First published July 5, 2013

About the author

GMW Wemyss lives and writes, wisely pseudonymously, in Wilts. Having, by invoking the protective colouration of tweeds, cricket, and country matters, somehow evaded immersion in Mercury whilst up at University, he survived to become the author of The Confidence of the House: May 1940 and of Sensible Places: essays on place, time, & countryside; co-author of When That Great Ship Went Down: the legal and political repercussions of the loss of RMS Titanic, and of The Transatlantic Disputations: Essays & Observations; and co-editor and co-annotator of The Complete Mowgli Stories, Duly Annotated, and The Annotated Wind in the Willows, for Adults and Sensible Children (or, possibly, Children and Sensible Adults). He is a partner in Bapton Books, a Very Small Imprint for Sound, Solid Works.

He has a blog in the steerage section of the Torygraph, and is on Facebook and Twitter, much to the dismay of any number of right-thinking people.

An out-and-proud anorak, his interests include Clumber spaniels; cricket; tea; hunting, shooting, and angling; beagling; squash; polo (No. 4); real ale, real cider, real perry, wine; rural pursuits; steam railways; draught horses; and Bristol motorcars. He is a member of various local and regional historical societies; various learned societies in the disciplines of politics, economics, and history; various hunts; the RSPB; the Royal Agricultural Society of England; the Rare Breeds Survival Trust; CAMRA; the British Beekeeper's Association; the Countryside Alliance; the British Deer Society; the British Horse Society; the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings; the British Association for Shooting and Conservation; the Conservative Party; the Henry Jackson Society; the Prayer Book Society; his Regimental Association; the Campaign for Christ Church (Oxon); &c.

Although a small, pink chap, he sings basso in the parish choir, when cornered.

Reviews

[Loreley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love annotated books, and I love The Wind of the Willows. It was a nostalgic read, but also refreshing, as all the notes came into play, adding new dimensions to an old story.