Happy countryman / illustrated by C. F. Tunnicliffe

C. Henry Warren

RA Collection: Book

Record number

17/431

Author

Edition

2nd edition

Imprint

London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1946

Physical Description

viii, 151 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.

General Note

"The book production war economy standard. This book is published in complete conformity with the authorzsed economy standards." [colophon].
First published in 1939. This, the 2nd edition being the first printing of the illustrated edition.

Contents

Introduction to the second edition -- I. Essex born and bred -- II. The moleskin waistcoat -- III. A trayful of cherries -- IV. Cottage loaves -- V. Quarter-man and half-man -- VI. The fire brigade -- VII. Crooked stairs -- VIII. The poacher -- IX. Corn -- X. Some villagers -- XI. White hood with blue ribbons -- XII. Dibbling and plaiting -- XIII. Out of work -- XIV. Singing bird in a cage -- XV. A tussle with a colonel -- XVI. They wouldn’t believe me! -- XVII. No more a-roving -- Notes

Summary Note

"“Happy Countryman” is the story of Mark Thurston, an Essex farm-hand now eighty years old, and his efforts to wrest a living for himself and his family in the days when farm wages were only a few shillings a week. The story starts in his boyhood and is told mainly in his own words, the natural and forcible vocabulary of a man who, however unlettered, has nevertheless an ability to put a scene and a state of mind before you. The background is amplified by Henry Warren, whose knowledge of that particular countryside is unrivalled, but the story is Mark’s own.

In writing this book the author was concerned not only to tell Mark’s personal story but to draw from it the balance of good and evil in the countryman’s life. Mark, at eighty, feels himself in some way enriched by his experiences, bitter as some of them have been. But many of Mark’s breed have been lost to the land and not all the promises of better pay, better houses, have succeeded in bringing them back.

When this book was first published, one leading authority stressed its importance as a warning to our society. The intervening years and the threat of famine have greatly intensified its message: its story can be read and enjoyed by all. The new edition is illustrated, for the first time, by C.F. Tunnicliffe, one of the few contemporary artists with a knowledge of, and a feeling for, the land." [dust-jacket].

Provenance

The front pastedown carries a bookplate lettered 'Ex. Libris. In Gott ist mein Recht. G.K.A. WALKER. Date: 22 March 2001.'

Binding Note

Emerald green cloth boards with gilt lettering on spine

Subject

Country life — England — Suffolk
Farm life — England — Suffolk

Contributors