Short Stories 1895-1926 (83 page)

The Lord Fish
(LF) (1933)

De la Mare's second volume of short stories for children. It was illustrated by Rex Whistler, and contained seven stories. In a note at the end, de la Mare wrote as follows: ‘Four of the stories included in this volume appeared in print for the first time some years ago in
Joy Street,
but they have been revised – titles and all. “Dick and the Beanstalk”, “The Old Lion” and “Sambo and the Snow Mountains” are new.'

A Froward Child
(1934)

The story that was collected in WBO (1936) was published separately in 1934.

The Wind Blows Over
(WBO) (1936)

Contained eleven short stories (with an illustration by Barnett Freedman), of which two, ‘In the Forest' and ‘The Talisman', had been serialized in 1904 and 1907 respectively. In a note at the beginning of the book, de la Mare states that ‘both have been revised'. WBO (1936) appeared in October 1936.

The Nap and Other Stories
(1936)

A selection of six stories published in collections that was done for the Nelson Classics. They were ‘Selina's Parable' and ‘The Bowl' from R (1923), ‘Maria-Fly' from Br (1925), ‘The Nap' and ‘All Hallows' from C (1926), and ‘An Ideal Craftsman' from OE (1930).

Stories, Essays and Poems
(SEP) (1938)

Thirteen short stories were included in this selection of his writings that Mildred Bozman prepared in close collaboration with the author for Everyman's Library. They had all been published in collections, and were as follows: ‘The Almond Tree', ‘Miss Duveen', ‘The Three Friends' and ‘The Riddle' from R (1923), ‘Lichen' from DDB (1924), ‘Missing' from C (1926), ‘At First Sight', ‘The Green Room' and The Orgy: An Idyll' from OE (1930), ‘Sambo and the Snow Mountains' from LF (1933), and ‘In the Forest', ‘A Revenant' and ‘A Nest of Singing-Birds' from WBO (1936). There was an introduction by the author. See also the Introduction on page
vii
.

Animal Stories
(1939)

A volume of stories about animals for children, with wood-cuts from Edward Topsell's
Historie of Foure-footed Beastes
(1658). One story, ‘The Lord Fish' from LF (1933), was by de la Mare. The rest he had collected together, re-writing some of them.

The Picnic and Other Stories
(1941)

A selection of eight stories already published in collections. They were ‘Miss Duveen' and ‘The Three Friends' from R (1923), ‘The Nap' and ‘The Wharf' from C (1926), ‘The Picnic' from OE (1930), and ‘Cape Race', ‘Physic' and ‘Miss Miller' from WBO (1936).

Best Stories of Walter de la Mare
(BS) (1942)

This selection of sixteen stories published in collections was made by de la Mare himself. It contained: ‘The Almond Tree', ‘Miss Duveen', ‘Seaton's Aunt' and ‘The Vats' from R (1923), ‘Missing', ‘The Nap' and ‘All Hallows' from C (1926), ‘Crewe', ‘The Orgy: An Idyll', ‘The Picnic' and ‘An Ideal Craftsman' from OE (1930), and ‘What Dreams May Come', ‘Physic', ‘Miss Miller', ‘The House' and ‘The Trumpet' from WBO (1936). No stories for children were included.

The Old Lion and Other Stories
(1942)

A selection of four stories from the children's collections, illustrated by Irene Hawkins. They were ‘Maria-Fly' from Br (1925), and ‘The Lord Fish', ‘The Old Lion' and ‘Sambo and the Snow Mountains' from LF (1933).

Mr Bumps and His Monkey
(1942)

Dorothy P. Lathrop did the illustrations for this edition of ‘The Old Lion' (LF (1933)), published in Philadelphia in 1942.

The Magic Jacket and Other Stories
(1943)

A selection of four stories for children from R (1923) (‘The Riddle'), Br (1925) (‘Miss Jemima') and LF (1933) (‘The Magic Jacket' and ‘Dick and the Beanstalk'). It was also illustrated by Irene Hawkins.

The Orgy
(1943)

Reprinted by itself with an illustration by Frank R. Grey. In OE (1930) the story was called ‘The Orgy: An Idyll'.

The Almond Tree
(1943)

Reprinted by itself with an illustration by Frank R. Grey. The story originally appeared in R (1923).

The Scarecrow and Other Stories
(1945)

Another selection of four stories from the two children's collections, illustrated by Irene Hawkins. They were ‘Broomsticks', ‘The Lovely Myfanwy' and ‘Visitors' from Br (1925), and ‘The Scarecrow' from LF (1933) (called The Scarecrow or Hodmadod' here).

The Dutch Cheese and Other Stories
(1946)

The fourth selection of children's stories illustrated by Irene Hawkins, containing five this time: ‘The Dutch Cheese', ‘Lucy', ‘The Three Sleeping Boys of Warwickshire' and ‘Alice's Godmother' from Br (1925), and ‘A Penny a Day' from LF (1933).

Collected Stories for Children
(CSC) (1947)

Brought together in one volume all except three of de la Mare's stories for children in Br (1925) and LF (1933), and also ‘The Riddle' from R (1923). The three omitted were ‘Pigtails, Ltd.', ‘The Thief' and ‘A Nose' in Br (1925). It contained seventeen stories in all, and was illustrated by Irene Hawkins. The second edition (1957) was illustrated by Robin Jacques. See also the Introduction on page
vii
.

The Collected Tales of Walter de la Mare
(CT) (1950)

A selection published in New York of twenty-four out of the forty-seven stories in R (1923), DDB (1924, 1936), C (1926), OE (1930) and WBO (1936). It was edited by Edward Wagenknecht. ‘The Connoisseur' (C (1926)) was given complete. The stories were as follows. R (1923): ‘The Almond Tree', ‘Miss Duveen', ‘Seaton's Aunt', ‘The Bowl', ‘The Three Friends', ‘Lispet, Lispett and Vaine', ‘The Tree', ‘The Creatures', ‘The Riddle' and ‘The Vats'; C (1926): ‘Missing', ‘The Connoisseur', ‘The Nap', ‘All Hallows' and ‘The Wharf'; OE (1930): ‘Willows', ‘The Orgy: An Idyll' and ‘An Ideal Craftsman'; DDB (1936): ‘Strangers and Pilgrims'; and WBO (1936): ‘Cape Race', ‘Physic', ‘The Talisman', ‘In the Forest' and The Trumpet.

Selected Stories and Verses of Walter de la Mare
(SSV) (1952)

This Puffin included six of de la Mare's stories for children: ‘The Dutch Cheese' and ‘The Sleeping Boys of Warwickshire' from Br (1925), and ‘A Penny a Day', ‘The [Magic] Jacket', ‘Dick and the Beanstalk' and ‘The Old Lion' from LF (1933).

A Beginning and Other Stories
(Beg) (1955)

De la Mare's last major published work before his death in 1956. It came out sometime after June 1955. It contained thirteen short stories, and of these ‘The Quincunx' had been serialized in 1906, ‘Odd Shop' in 1937 and ‘The Guardian' in 1938. Others too had originally been written years before, e.g. ‘A Beginning', the title story, which dates from before 1900. But some were recent.

In his introduction, de la Mare wrote as follows: ‘Most of (the stories) have passed through changes – seldom rich, alas, but occasionally strange. Some of them are middle-aged. And, worse, may only too clearly look it. Most have been revised repeatedly; while some were born all but spick and span, only a springtime or so ago. One of them, cut down by half, actually came into being when Queen Victoria was still on the throne. Some of them, finally, in a different shape, have been “on the air”, and many have been serialized …' See also the Introduction on page
vii
, and Unpublished Stories in
Short Stories 1927–1956.

Walter de la Mare: Ghost Stories
(GS) (1956)

A Folio Society selection of seven de la Mare ghost stories, edited by Kenneth Hopkins and with lithographs by Barnett Freedman. It included ‘Out of the Deep' from R (1923), ‘The Green Room' from OE (1930), ‘The House' and ‘A Revenant' from WBO (1936), and ‘The Quincunx', ‘An Anniversary' and ‘Bad Company' from Beg (1955).

Eight Tales
(1971)

This was a selection of eight very early de la Mare stories, all of them serialized (except possibly ‘A:B:O.') but none later collected, that Edward Wagenknecht embarked on in about 1952 with de la Mare's approval. They were ‘Kismet' (1895), ‘The Hangman Luck' (1895), ‘A Mote' (1896), ‘The Village of Old Age' (1896), ‘The Moon's Miracle' (1897), ‘The Giant' (1901), ‘De Mortuis' (1901) and ‘A:B:O.' (dated 1896 or earlier according to Theresa Whistler). Wagenknecht wrote an introduction and the volume was published by Arkham House, Sauk City, Wisconsin. See also the CT (1950) entry and the Uncollected Stories sections in
Short Stories 1895–1926
and
Short Stories 1927–1956.

The Dutch Cheese and Other Stories
(1988)