Short Stories 1927-1956 (97 page)

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Authors: Walter de la Mare

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The entries under the eight main collections, R (1923), DDB (1924, 1936), Br (1925), C (1926), OE (1930), LF (1933), WBO (1936) and Beg (1955), which have been used as the framework for
Short
Stories,
include all the known information about:

(a) the serialization of stories and their publication in book form before they appeared in those collections, and

(b) their later inclusion in other collections of de la Mare works during his lifetime.

It has occasionally been difficult to establish definitely whether serializations and appearances in book form were before or after the publication of a main
collection
(e.g.
Lispet,
Lispett
and
Vaine
(1923) and some of the stories in Br (1925)), and in such cases they have been listed under (a), even if some of them were a month or two later. They have also been assumed to be earlier in the footnotes to the stories for the sake of convenience. Except where there are indications to the contrary, all the books mentioned were published in London. Finally, where texts other than those in the eight main collections have been used in
Short
Stories,
they have been asterisked (*). For abbreviations, see page
x
.

Story
and
Rhyme
(1921)

A selection of his writings de la Mare made for schools and colleges. It included ‘The Almond Tree’ and ‘The Riddle’ that were collected in R (1923).

Lispet,
Lispett
and
Vaine
(1923)

Published by itself in a limited edition of 200 signed copies, with wood-engravings by W.P. Robins. The story was collected in R (1923) and later included in CT (1950).

The
Riddle
and
Other
Stories
(R) (1923)

De la Mare’s first volume of short stories, published in May 1923. It contained fifteen stories:

‘The Almond Tree’ (originally written in or before 1899)

(a)
English
Review,
August 1909
Story
and
Rhyme
(1921)

(b) SEP (1938)
BS (1942)*
The
Almond
Tree
(1943)
CT (1950)

‘The Count’s Courtship’ (originally written in or before 1899)

(a)
Lady’s
Realm,
July 1907

‘The Looking-Glass’

‘Miss Duveen’ (originally written in or before 1907)

(b) SSS (1931)
SEP (1938)
The
Picnic
and
Other
Stories
(1941)
BS (1942)*
CT (1950)

‘Selina’s Parable’

(a)
New
Statesman,
1 November 1919
Living
Age,
6
December 1919

(b)
The
Nap
and
Other
Stories
(1936)*

‘Seaton’s Aunt’ (originally written in or before 1909)

(a)
London
Mercury,
April 1922

(b)
Seaton’s
Aunt
(1927)
BS (1942)*
CT (1950)

‘The Bird of Travel’

(a)
Lady’s
Realm,
October 1908

(b) SSS (1931)

‘The Bowl’ (originally written in or before 1904)

(b)
The
Nap
and
Other
Stories
(1936)*
CT (1950)

‘The Three Friends’

(a)
Saturday
Westminster
Gazette,
19 April 1913

(b) SEP (1938)
The
Picnic
and
Other
Stories
(1941)*
CT (1950)

‘Lispet, Lispett and Vaine’

(a)
Yale
Review,
January 1923
Bookman’
s
Journal,
February 1923
Lispet,
Lispett
and
Vaine
(1923)

(b) CT (1950)

‘The Tree’

(a)
Century,
August 1922
London
Mercury,
October 1922

(b) SSS (1931)
CT (1950)

‘Out of the Deep’

(b) GS (1956)

‘The Creatures’

(a)
London
Mercury,
January 1920
(b) CT (1950)

‘The Riddle’ (originally written in or before 1898)

(a)
Monthly
Review,
February 1903
Story
and
Rhyme
(1921)

(b) SEP (1938)
The
Magic
Jacket
and
Other
Stories
(1943)
CSC (1947)*
CT (1950)

‘The Vats’

(a)
Saturday
Westminster
Gazette, 
16 June 1917

(b) BS (1942)*
CT (1950)

Ding
Dong
Bell
(DDB) (1924, 1936)

The original edition, published in April 1924, consisted of three short stories written round groups of epitaphs. It had a wood-engraving by Reynolds Stone. A fourth story was added in the 1936 edition. (See also ‘De Mortuis’ in
Short
Stories
1895

1926
, which has epitaphs in common with ‘Lichen’ and ‘Winter’.)

‘Lichen’

(a)
Lady’s
Realm,
September 1907

(b) SEP (1938)*

‘“Benighted”’

(a)
Pall
Mall
Magazine,
July-December 1906

‘Strangers and Pilgrims’ (1936)

(a)
Yale
Review,
March 1936

(b) CT (1950)

‘Winter’

Miss
Jemima
(1925)

Published by itself at Oxford, with illustrations by Alec Buckels. The story was collected in Br (1925), and later included in
The
Magic
Jacket
and
Other
Stories
(1943) and CSC (1947).

Broomsticks
and
Other
Tales
(Br) (1925)

The first volume of short stories for children, with designs by Bold, the second being LF (1933). It had twelve stories, of which three were omitted from CSC (1947): ‘Pigtails, Ltd.’, ‘The Thief’ and ‘A Nose’.

‘Pigtails, Ltd.’

(a)
Atlantic
Monthly,
August 1925

‘The Dutch Cheese’

(a)
Lady’s
Realm,
May 1908

(b)
The
Dutch
Cheese
(New York, 1931)
The
Dutch
Cheese
and
Other
Stories
(1946)
CSC (1947)*
SSV (1952)

‘Miss Jemima’

(a)
Number
One
Joy
Street
(Oxford, 1923)
Miss
Jemima
(Oxford, 1925)

(b)
The
Magic
Jacket
and
Other
Stories
(1943)
CSC (1947)*

‘The Thief’

(a)
G.K.’s
Weekly,
21 March and 4 April 1925

‘Broomsticks’

(a)
London
Mercury,
October 1925
Yale
Review,
October 1925

(b)
The
Scarecrow
and
Other
Stories
(1945)
CSC (1947)*

‘Lucy’

(a)
Number
Two
Joy
Street
(Oxford, 1924)

(b)
Lucy
(Oxford, 1927)
The
Dutch
Cheese
and
Other
Stories
(1946)
CSC (1947)*

‘A Nose’

‘The Three Sleeping Boys of Warwickshire’

(a)
Virginia
Quarterly
Review,
October 1925

(b)
The
Dutch
Cheese
and
Other
Stories
(1946)
CSC (1947)*
SSV (1952)

‘The Lovely Myfanwy’

(b)
The
Dutch
Cheese
(New York, 1931)
The
Scarecrow
and
Other
Stories
(1945)
CSC (1947)*

‘Alice’s Godmother’

(b)
The
Dutch
Cheese
and
Other
Stories
(1946)
CSC (1947)*

‘Maria-Fly’

(a)
G.K.’s
Weekly,
19 and 26 September 1925

(b) SSS (1931)
The
Nap
and
Other
Stories
(1936)
The
Old
Lion
and
Other
Stories
(1942)
CSC (1947)*

‘Visitors’

(a)
Forum,
October 1925

(b)
The
Scarecrow
and
Other
Stories
(1945)
CSC (1947)*

Two
Tales
(1925)

This was published in July 1925 in a limited edition of 250 signed copies, and had the first printed versions of ‘The Connoisseur’ (C (1926)) (full version) and ‘The Green Room’ (OE (1930)). See C (1926) and OE (1930) below.

The
Connoisseur
and
Other
Stories
(C) (1926)

Contained nine short stories, and was published in May 1926. Two sections of ‘The Connoisseur’, the title story, called ‘The Seven Valleys’ and ‘En Route’ that had appeared in
Two
Tales
(1925) were omitted in C (1926). They were restored in CT (1950), probably with de la Mare’s approval, and they have been retained in this volume.

‘Mr Kempe’

(a)
London
Mercury,
November 1925
Harper’s
Magazine,
November 1925

‘Missing’

(b) SSS (1931)
SEP (1938)
BS (1942)*
CT (1950)

‘The Connoisseur’ (without ‘The Seven Valleys’ and ‘En Route’)

(a)
Two
Tales
(July 1925) (full version)
Yale
Review,
July 1925 (full version)

(b) CT (1950) (full version)

‘Disillusioned’

‘The Nap’

(b) SSS (1931)
The
Nap
and
Other
Stories
(1936)
The
Picnic
and
Other
Stories
(1941)
BS (1942)*
CT (1950)

‘Pretty Poll’

(a)
London
Mercury,
April 1925

‘All Hallows’

(b)
The
Nap
and
Other
Stories
(1936)
BS (1942)*
CT (1950)

‘The Wharf’

(a)
The
Queen,
November 1924

(b) SSS (1931)
The
Picnic
and
Other
Stories
(1941)*
CT (1950)

‘The Lost Track’

Seaton’s
Aunt
(1927)

Reprinted by itself from R (1923) with wood-engravings by Blair Hughes-Stanton. It was also included in BS (1942) and CT (1950).

Lucy
(1927)

Reprinted by itself from Br (1925) at Oxford, with illustrations by Hilda T. Miller. It was also included in
The
Dutch
Cheese
and
Other
Stories
(1946) and CSC (1947).

Old Joe
(
192
7
)

At different times, this story had no less than four different titles. After appearing in
Number
Three
Joy
Street
(Oxford, 1925) and being printed by itself at Oxford in 1927, with illustrations by C.T. Nightingale, as ‘Old Joe’, it was included in LF (1933) as ‘Hodmadod’. In
The
Scarecrow
and
Other
Stories
(1945) it became ‘The Scarecrow or Hodmadod’, and in CSC (1947) ‘The Scarecrow’.

At
First
Sight
(1928)

One of de la Mare’s longest short stories, it was published by itself in New York in 1928 (in a limited edition of 650 signed copies) before being collected in OE (1930). The 1928 version had the sub-title ‘A Novel’. The story appeared again in SEP (1938).

On
the
Edge:
Short
Stories
(OE) (1930)

It contained eight short stories (with wood-engravings by Elizabeth Rivers), one of which had been serialized in 1905 (‘An Ideal Craftsman’); and it came out in September 1930. See also Unpublished Stories on page
515
.

‘A Recluse’

(a)
The
Ghost
Book,
ed. Cynthia Asquith (1926)

‘Willows’

(a)
Blackwood’s
Magazine,
September 1929
Virginia
Quarterly
Review,
October 1929

(b) CT (1950)

‘Crewe’

(a)
London
Mercury,
July 1929
Shudders,
ed. Cynthia Asquith (1929)
(where it was called ‘Crewe Train’)

(b) BS (1942)*

‘At First Sight’

(a)
Forum,
June-September 1927
At
First
Sight:
A
Novel
(New York, 1928)

(b) SEP (1938)*

‘The Green Room’

(a)
Two
Tales
(July 1925)
Bookman’s
Journal,
September 1925 (where it was called ‘The Green Room: A Bookshop Story’)

(b) SEP (1938)*
GS (1956)

‘The Orgy: An Idyll’ (for Part II of the story, see Unpublished Stories on page
515
.

(a)
Blackwood’s
Magazine,
June 1930 (where it was called ‘The Orgy’)
Yale
Review,
June 1930 (where it was called ‘The Orgy’)

(b) SEP (1938)
BS (1942)*
The
Orgy
(1943)
CT (1950)

‘The Picnic’

(a)
Criterion,
April 1930
Virginia
Quarterly
Review,
April 1930

(b)
The
Picnic
and
Other
Stories
(1941)
BS (1942)*

‘An Ideal Craftsman’ (originally written in or before 1900; and, according to de la Mare’s introduction to OE (1930), it ‘has not merely, like the rest, been revised, but has been twice re-written: once by myself and once by my old friend
Mr Forrest Reid, who also went over it again in proof’)

(a)
Monthly
Review
,
June 1905

(b)
The
Nap
and
Other
Stories
(1936)
BS (1942)*
CT (1950)

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