[www.abebooks.com]

Gavin Callaghan Wrote:
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> [www.abebooks.com]
> ovelist-phantastes-fantasy/george-macdonald.shtml?
> cm_mmc=nl-_-nl-_-C120504-h00-georgeAH-121224GN-_-0
> 1cta&abersp=1


Very interesting - those that are available in Paperback (Phantastes, and Lilith - maybe some more) are regrettably very poorly bound and will not withstand more than one read through without falling apart. Would love to see a compendium re-issued in hard-back - probably still expensive but not in the $2000 range

I think all of MacDOnald's books are, or were, available from Johannesen. Those are remarkable books -- basically handmade by a family in backwoods California and priced surprisingly low.

Here's how they made the books:

[www.johannesen.com]

I have a number of these, including (NB!) the 3 "Variorum" volumes of MacDonald's weird-supernatural novel Lilith. When I ordered mine, I requested that one volume would be bound in green cloth, one in red, and one in blue, and they complied. The illustrations in my Johannesen edition of Phantastes are not as crisp as I'd have wished, but they are still a real addition to the pleasure of the book. They are by Arthur Hughes, who was, I think, on the edges at least of the Pre-Raphaelites.

Another nice way to read some MacDOnald is in the three Ballantine Adult Fantasy editions -- Lilith, Phantastes, and (the one I don't have yet) Evenor, all with Gallardo covers.

I have a bunch of copies of George MacDonald novels sitting on my shelf, which I inherited from my dear old dad, and which date back to the 19th century. They seem to all be published in the USA, so none are "first editions". But they are very old. I wonder if they would be worth anything.

MacDonald was a popular writer in his day and some of his books were easy to get hold of. Let me guess -- they're A. L. Burt editions -- ? If so, they probably aren't "worth" a lot as old books, although, personally, I've read a number of his relaistic novels, as well as his great fantasies, and enjoyed them (e.g. Wilfrid Cumbermede, Robert Falconer, Sir Gibbie, Malcolm, Marquiz of Lossie, Castle Warlock, Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood....). Th sensibility evident in these is pretty far from that of CAS, though -- !

Dale Nelson Wrote:
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> MacDonald was a popular writer in his day and some
> of his books were easy to get hold of. Let me
> guess -- they're A. L. Burt editions -- ?

No A.L. Burt editions. The ones that have actual print dates are the following:

THE SEABOARD PARISH, 3rd Ed. (London: Strahan & Co., 1869).
WILFRED CUMBERMEDE (New York: Charles Scribner & Co., 1872).
ANNALS OF A QUIET NEIGHBORHOOD (New York: George Routledge & Sons, 1873).
MALCOLM (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1877).
THE MARQUIS OF LOSSIE (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1877).
THE MARQUIS OF LOSSIE (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1878).
LILITH (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1895).

Others list a copyright date, but no print date. These are:

WARLOCK O'GLENWARLOCK (New York: D. Lothrap & Co. [copyright 1881]).
WEIGHED AND WANTING (New York: George Routeledge & Sons, Ltd. [copyright 1882]).
WHAT'S MINE'S MINE (Philadelphia: David McKay [copyright 1886]).
HEATHER AND SNOW (New York: Harper & Brothers [copyright 1893]).

I have about seven other MacDonald volumes, including PHANTASTES which seem to be from the same period, but list no date at all, from publishers like George Routledge & Sons, David McKay, John W. Lovell Co., Henry T. Coates & Co. (all US publishers) and Kegan Paul [et al], Ltd.. (in London). Seems as though everyone and his brother was getting in the act.

I have still to read most of them. I enjoyed HEATHER AND SNOW, LILITH and PHANTASTES. I've also read his juvenile novels (but not in century-plus-year-old editions).

A great thing to bequeath to one's heirs. I'd like to read THE SEABOARD PARISH especially as it is an early work. How'd you like HEATHER AND SNOW-is that one a poetry collection? I have a 6-volume large-sized Collier's edition of Dickens with gold-embossed characters on its green covers, and 16-24 illustrations per volume. A gift also, but its fine print does not invite the unenamored reader. The front pages don't show date of publication. I read PHANTASTES and LILITH in a 3rd printing of Vol. 1 of the 2-volume Eerdman's paperback ed. of "the complete stories and fairy tales" (lol!), 1979. The "complete" claim is pretentious of course. Anyway, reading the 2 novels back-to-back was awe-inspiring. I take it MacDonald's original version oof LILITH isn't the one I have? I'm sure that Smith read PHANTASTES, but see no reference to it in his letters. He must have loved the various well-chosen literary quotations heading each chapter. Take my humble advice and read (gingerly) THE SEABOARD PARISH. I'll expect a full report...

jkh

Kipling Wrote:
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> A great thing to bequeath to one's heirs. I'd like
> to read THE SEABOARD PARISH especially as it is an
> early work.

It's a sequel to ANNALS OF A QUIET NEIGHBORHOOD, which I suppose was popular as it earned 2 sequels. THE VICAR'S DAUGHTER is the third in the series. I've read none of them, yet.

> How'd you like HEATHER AND SNOW-is
> that one a poetry collection?

Nah, it's one of his (more or less) "realistic" novels; though to a modern suburbanite like me, the 19th century Scottish highland setting feels like a whole other planet. It's about a vain and petulant young Scottish lord or "laird", who is kinda-sorta in love with a peasant girl, who (much to his chagrin), can outrun him, outride him, outfight him, and outscold him. She also talks in a thick Scottish dialect; and when he's with her, so does he, as do most other characters.

The Scottish dialect is a challenge for many of his novels. But I made it through HEATHER AND SNOW, and managed to decipher most of it, so I'm hoping it will be easier with the next one.

Bravo! to those who have persevered with the dialect in novels by MacDonald.

It's not their fault if folks were taught using the "sight-reading" method; but I believe that makes it harder for some readers to manage dialect passages than it is for those raised using the phonics method.

The fact is that much of the best of Sir Walter Scott uses dialect, and MacDonald's characters may exhibit what was once called a "racy" vigor when they speak Scottish.

(Nor are these the only two important authors for our genre who used dialect. Check out Kipling's superlative story "The Wish House," where the dialect is a rural English speech, and Stevenson's eerie "Thrawn Janet," where Scotland is, again, the locale.)

The 19th and early 20th centuries gave us many fine literary works that use "dialect." It is too bad that there's a convergence now, of two things that probably work against the enjoyment of it, the reading method just mentioned, and also the campus bugbear of "cultural appropriation."

John Buchan's Witch Wood is a fine weird novel with Scottish dialect that seemed overbaked to me. IN THE TENNESSEE MOUNTAINS by Craddock--a pseudonym of Mary Murfree, is tough to read because of the heavy regional dialect, but the settings are well drawn. Lovecraft could have done better with more attention to this aspect of his work-- one of the reasons I regard Smith as the better writer. Read HPL's Travel essays from Hippocampus before you disagree. There you'll see him at his best.

Yes, Thrawn Janet is creepy as heck. And I think not quite the same without the dialect.

I have not read Buchan's Witch Wood. So much to read, so little time ...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12 Jan 18 | 09:05PM by Platypus.