Old Joe (1927)
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 See also Unpublished Stories in Short Stories 1927–1956.
‘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‘The Orgy: An Idyll’ (for Part II of the story, see Unpublished Stories in Short Stories 1927–1956)
(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)
Seven Short Stories (SSS) (1931)
A selection of seven stories published in collections that was illustrated by John Nash. They were ‘Miss Duveen’, ‘The Bird of Travel’ and ‘The Tree’ from R (1923), ‘Maria-Fly’ from Br (1925), and ‘Missing’, ‘The Nap’ and ‘The Wharf’ from C (1926).
The Dutch Cheese (1931)
Published in New York, this contained two children’s stories from Br (1925), ‘The Dutch Cheese’ and ‘The Lovely Myfanwy’, together with illustrations by Dorothy P. Lathrop. It should not be confused with The Dutch Cheese and Other Stories (1946).
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.’
‘The Lord Fish’
(a) Number Four Joy Street (Oxford, 1926)
(where it was called ‘John Cobbler’)
(b) Animal Stories (1939)
The Old Lion and Other Stories (1942)
CSC (1947)*
‘A Penny a Day’
(a) Number Five Joy Street (Oxford, 1927)
(where it was called ‘Wages’)
(b) The Dutch Cheese and Other Stories (1946)
CSC (1947)*
SSV (1952)
‘The Magic Jacket’ (in LF (1933) and SSV (1952)
it was called ‘The Jacket’)
(a) Number Six Joy Street (Oxford, 1928)
(b) The Magic Jacket and Other Stories (1943)
CSC (1947)*
SSV (1952)
‘Dick and the Beanstalk’
(b) The Magic Jacket and Other Stories (1943)
CSC (1947)*
SSV (1952)
‘The Scarecrow’ (in LF (1933) it was called ‘Hodmadod’)
(a) Number Three Joy Street (Oxford, 1925)
(where it was called ‘Old Joe’)
Old Joe (Oxford, 1927)
(b) The Scarecrow and Other Stories (1945)
(where it was called ‘The Scarecrow or Hodmadod’)
CSC (1947) (where it was called ‘The Scarecrow’)*
‘The Old Lion’
(b) The Old Lion and Other Stories (1942)
Mr Bumps and His Monkey (Philadelphia, 1942) (the story was given this title here)
CSC (1947)*
SSV (1952)
‘Sambo and the Snow Mountains’
(b) SEP (1938)
The Old Lion and Other Stories (1942)
CSC (1947)*
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.
‘What Dreams May Come’
(a) John O’London’s Weekly, 1 December 1934
(b) BS (1942)*
‘Cape Race’
(a) Yale Review, September 1929
(b) The Picnic and Other Stories (1941)*
CT (1950)
‘Physic’
(a) Nash’s Magazine, June 1936
Harper’s Magazine, August 1936
(b) The Picnic and Other Stories (1941)
BS (1942)*
CT (1950)
‘The Talisman’
(a) Lady’s Realm, March 1907 (where it was called ‘The Talisman of Weisshausen’)
(b) CT (1950)
‘In the Forest’
(a) Black and White, 27 August 1904
(b) SEP (1938)*
‘A Froward Child’
(a) Times Weekly Edition, 10 November 1932
A Froward Child (1934)
‘Miss Miller’
(a) Story-teller, August 1930
(b) The Picnic and Other Stories (1941)
BS (1942)*
‘The House’
(a) Observer, 25 December 1932
(b) BS (1942)*
GS (1956)
‘A Revenant’
(b) SEP (1938)*
GS (1956)
‘A Nest of Singing-Birds’
(a) Yale Review, December 1933 (where it was called ‘Parleyings’)
Lovat Dickson’s Magazine, January 1934
(where it was also called ‘Parleyings’)
(b) SEP (1938)*
‘The Trumpet’
(a) Virginia Quarterly Review, October 1936
(b) BS (1942)*
CT (1950)
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.
‘Odd Shop’
(a) Listener, 31 March 1937 (where it was called ‘Odd Shop: A Dialogue for Broadcasting’)
‘Music’
(a) Adelphi, April-June 1952 (where it was called ‘Music from the Sea’)
‘The Stranger’
(a) London Magazine, September 1954 (where it was called ‘The Stranger: A Dialogue’)
‘Neighbours’
‘The Princess’ (two notes on the TS read ‘13.3.37’ (the day on which it was broadcast by the BBC) and ‘revised again Jan. 1954’)
(a) Good Housekeeping, October 1952
‘The Guardian’
(a) John O’London’s Weekly, 10 June 1938
The Best British Stories of 1939, ed.
Edward O’Brien (Boston, 1939)
Second Ghost Book, ed. Cynthia Asquith (1952)
‘The Face’
(a) World Review, December 1950
‘The Cartouche’
(a) Encounter, December 1954
‘The Picture’
(a) Argosy, February 1955
‘The Quincunx’
(a) Lady’s Realm, December 1906
(b) GS (1956)
‘An Anniversary’ (originally written in or before 1945)
(a) Saturday Book, No. 12 (1952)
(b) GS (1956)
‘Bad Company’
(a) Listener, 1 April 1954
(b) GS (1956)
‘A Beginning’ (originally written in about 1900)
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)
A new selection of eight children’s stories, published in the Puffin Classics series. It had six stories from Br (1925), ‘The Three Sleeping Boys of Warwickshire’, ‘Alice’s Godmother’, ‘The Dutch Cheese’, ‘Broomsticks’, ‘Miss Jemima’ and ‘The Lovely Myfanwy’, and one from LF (1933), ‘The Lord Fish’, and one from R (1923), ‘The Riddle’. It was different from the volumes published in 1931 and 1946.
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF EARLIEST KNOWN PRINTED VERSIONS*
1895
Kismet uncoll 7 August 1895 The Sketch
The Hangman Luck uncoll 4 November 1895 Pall Mall Gazette
A Mote uncoll August 1896 Cornhill Magazine
The Village of Old Age uncoll September 1896 Cornhill Magazine
The Moon’s Miracle uncoll April 1897 Cornhill Magazine
Short Stories 1895-1926 Page 71
