Stories for the Children

摘要

You would be able to count the number of really memorable waterways novels for adults on the fingers of one hand. That tiny list would have to include AP Herbert's The Water Gipsies (1930); the same author's almost unknown, but thoroughly enjoyable The House by the River (1920); and Fitchett's Inn by Bernard Ash (1955). Many other novels have been published, especially in recent years. In complete contrast, when you come to consider what the book trade calls 'canal Juvenilia', there is a large and rich range of published worksf spanning more than a century. Heading the catalogue is a very collectable octet of tales that ail originally appeared towards the end of the Victorian era. None of these eight works seems to have been reprinted within living memory, and they are re1asonably scarce.