Sources of Information

These are the sources I consulted while editing the Savery manuscripts and writing my annotations. They are in alphabetical order. All of these are available at the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, University of Southern Mississippi.

AbeBooks. Advanced Search. Victoria, BC: Advanced Book Exchange, Inc. 1996-2009. Access at http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchEntry.

There are sixteen different used-book Internet sources listed by AddALL, below, but I consulted AbeBooks fifty times for each instance I used one of the others, AddALL included. Besides serving as a dependable intermediary between buyer and seller, AbeBooks has listings that are in themselves a useful research tool. In five years, only one seller declined to look for a Savery story in a book he/she listed, while I reciprocated the help I received on numerous occasions by providing additional information or corrections to sellers. AbeBooks is deficient in one regard: it lists too few books in languages other than English. Cf. ZVAB.

Adams, Pauline. Somerville for Women : An Oxford College 1879-1993. Oxford University Press. 1996. 394.

Savery was a member of Somerville College at Oxford. Writing wittily and cogently, Adams makes her case that Somerville women were (are) different. She does not write about Savery, but several times quotes the memoir Savery wrote for Joanna Richardson. As Librarian at Somerville, Adams twice provided assistance to me, and I was privileged to meet her at the time of the college gaudy in 2006.

AddALL. Used and Out of Print Search. 1998-2008. Access at http://www.addall.com/used/ .

I used AddALL to look for used books on the Internet for some time before I shifted to AbeBooks, above. AddALL included AbeBooks as one of its sources, so it seemed that using AbeBooks would only reduce the scope of my search; however, there are very few books listed by AddALL that are not listed by Abebooks, and the latter service provides greater ease of search and, most importantly, allows you to look at entries beginning with those that are newly listed. Once a particular book has been located on AbeBooks, AddALL may be used to compare its price depending upon which service sends it to you. In May of 2009, a search for "Constance Savery" on AbeBooks resulted in 545 listings, while AddALL listed 772. I did not attempt to discover how many of the AddAll listings are for the same identical volume, nor do I know how many of those listed by AddALL were not listed by AbeBooks. It would be nice to know.

Adley, D. J. and W. O. G. Lofts. Identification Guide to the D. C. Thomson & John Leng Children's Annuals, 1921 to 1965. Wellington, Somerset: Yesterday's paper. 1986.

It is relatively easy to find a list of an author's books. It is rarely possible to find a list of their short stories. Consequently, one looks everywhere, and this is one of the places I looked. Savery wasn't listed.

A.L.O.E., i.e. A Lady of England. Pseudonym of Charlotte Maria Tucker. The Silver Keys. New York: George Routledge & Sons. Undated, but written in the mid-19th century.

Savery wrote about A.L.O.E. in a METHODIST MAGAZINE article, The Attic Bookshelf: Indian ALOE. I wanted to read something by A.L.O.E. before writing my comments, and this book was inexpensive and available.

Amazon. Seattle: Amazon.com, Inc. 1996-2009. Access at http://www.amazon.com/ .

Is there anyone who uses the Internet and doesn't shop at 'the river?' Amazon is the Internet's premier source for new books, and following its purchase of Abebooks is now a respectible source for used and out-of-print books as well. When searching on "Constance Savery" there, I found 85 titles. Several of these were for books that were "currently unavailable," while others listed a number of different places where that title was available. Amazon's book reviews have their critics, but, taken with a grain of salt, they are very helpful. I still use Abebooks to find old books.

American National Red Cross. AMERICAN JUNIOR RED CROSS BRAILLE MAGAZINE. Vol. 20, No. 6. Washington: American National Red Cross. Mar. 1961.

Savery wrote a "mugglewuff" story for the AMERICAN JUNIOR RED CROSS NEWS that was republished in a Braille edition, and when I found this volume, I was sure it must be one of the same series. Alas, Savery's story came out in Braille in 1938, two years, presumably, before this series of magazines made their first appearance. Nevertheless, this oversized volume is a fascinating publication. The Braille pages were prepared by volunteers, and an elementary classroom provided an embossed metal cover. It is now in the de Grummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi.

AMICUS. Canadian National Catalogue. Canada: Library and Archives Canada. 1999-2009. Access at http://www.collectionscanada.ca/amicus/index-e.html .

Properly speaking, Library and Archives Canada was created by an act of the Canadian Parliament in 2004. The web site is older. While it is still not possible to find a listing of every book in every library in the Dominion, AMICUS goes a long way toward achieving that objective. The catalogue ranges from documents in national archives to children's books in branch libraries in the Northwest Territories, and a great part of the material is available through the Inter-Library Loan program (ILL). The service is not limited to Canadians, and it includes sending copies of journal articles. As you would expect from a Canadian site, their services are offered in both English and French. Wow!

Antikvariat. Antiquarian Titles in Scandinavia. Sweden. 2006-2009. Access at http://www.antikvariat.net/ .

Antikvariat accesses the inventories of 92 booksellers across Scandinavia, but I have yet to find any of the eight Savery translations there. Perhaps you will be more fortunate. The pages are available in English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, or Finnish.

Atkinson, M.E. The Monster of Widgeon Weir. London: The Bodley Head. 1943.

This book has a plot similar to Savery's The Monster of Loch Grea and was cited as a reason for returning the latter. Savery wrote the better book, but Atkinson got there first.

Austen, Jane and Another Lady. Sanditon. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1975.

Marie Dobbs (Another Lady) could have done worse in taking on and completing Jane Austen's fragment. The 'apology' that she added at the end of the book is interesting and informative. Her book is among the references, because Savery contemplated a completion of Sanditon and wrote a sample chapter in 1948 before abandoning the project. Savery also signed herself 'Another Lady' for her completion of Charlotte Brontë's Emma, so Dobbs and Savery are sometimes credited with each other's work.

Baker, Nina Brown. Constance Savery. New York: WILSON LIBRARY BULLETIN, 23(3). November, 1948. 222.

While it was written too early to inform us about the second half of Savery's life and makes no attempt to list all of her books, this is the best of the biographical sketches.

Barley, The Rev. Alfred George. Old Froxfield. Wilts, Berks. and Hants. County Paper. 1935. Privately printed as book, 1978, for the Friends of All-Saints, Froxfield.

Some of the language in Savery's poem Remembered Charms is drawn from Barley's book, or, alternatively, both draw from an unknown common source.

Barr, Pat. A Curious Life for a Lady. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books. 1985. Originally published, 1970.

This lively biography of Isabella Bird faithfully echoes that intrepid traveler's purple prose so that narrative and quotation blend almost imperceptibly. Savery's 1800-word biography, Isabella Bird Bishop, barely touches the high points of an astonishing life.

Barrows, Marjorie, ed. The Children's Hour: Vol. 16, Science Fiction & Reader's Guide. New York: Grolier, Inc. 1953. 262.

Barrows also edited CHILD LIFE, which has eighteen issues with Savery's work. Four of her stories are in The Children's Hour along with this twelve-line biographical sketch.

Bartlett, John; Emily Morison Beck, ed. Familiar Quotations, Fifteenth Edition. Boston : Toronto: Little, Brown and Company. 1980.

When one wishes to identify or verify a quotation, Bartlett's remains the standard reference. Savery quotes from many authors, assuming that no attribution is required, but I am glad to have Bartlett's assistance.

Bede. A History of the English Church and People. Trans. and introd. by Leo Sherley-Price. New York: Dorset Press. 1955. 364.

I do not know if Savery drew her information about The Father of History from Sherley-Price's introduction or if both found it in a common source, but I suspect the former. It is entirely accidental that my comment here so closely resembles my annotation of Barley's book above.

Berry, Paul and Mark Bostridge. Vera Brittain : A Life. Boston: Northeastern University Press. 2002 [Orig. publ. 1995]. 581.

On page 140 are ten lines from a Savery letter describing her first encounter with Winifred Holtby, but my greater interest was in the description of Somerville College while Savery was a student there. Even after Brittain left Somerville, she returned there in her writings and, like Savery, never forgot Oxford. A carbon copy of the long(!) letter from Savery, to Joanna Richardson, is in the manuscript collection at the University of Oregon. The Somerville Library at Oxford has the original.

The Bishop of Rochester et al. Towards the Conversion of England. Westminster: The Press and Publications Board of the Church Assembly. 1945. Reprinted May 1946.

This is Savery's Book by Fifty Authors. You can find it for sale on the Internet if you try several permutations of the title. This isn't the liveliest book you will ever read, a natural consequence of many writers signing off (or not signing off) on their colleagues' contributions.

BokBörsen. Kop & Salj. Tvaaker: Bokbörsen.se. 2000-2009. Access at http://www.bokborsen.se/  NOTE: There is no umlaut in www.bokborsen.se.

This Swedish site provides a medium for linking buyers and sellers, either bookshops or private persons. BokBörsen provides descriptions, but they do not involve themselves in the transaction that follows, except to pass messages from one party to the other. When I found two books here that I wanted, the seller, a private collector, did not choose to complete a transatlantic sale in English. Subsequently, he sold them to a dealer, who also listed them on BokBörsen and was quite willing to send me the books along with an invoice for their payment. At last look BokBörsen was listing Swedish translations of books by Doreen and Christine, Savery's sisters.

Bowker's Literary Prizes and Their Winners, see Richter.

British Broadcasting Corporation. BBC Annual 1936. London: British Broadcasting House. 1936.

The 1936 Annual covers the calendar year 1935. The Children's Hour receives respectable, but cursory treatment, and Savery's stories are not mentioned.

----. BBC Annual 1937. London: British Broadcasting Corporation Broadcasting House. 1937.

The 1937 Annual is for the year 1936. As with the annual for the preceding year, Savery is not mentioned.

Bronté, Charlotte. The Professor : Emma and Other Poems. New York: A. L. Burt, Publisher. Undated. 201-218.

A. L. Burt spelled Brontë with an acute accent rather than an umlaut, neither of which are welcome on some browser pages, and I don't know why Emma is referred to as a poem. I don't suppose it matters. The Professor and Emma have been printed together by a number of other publishers. Savery's last published book, Emma, was a completion of the Brontë fragment, and I used this edition to confirm that Savery did not edit Brontë's words (in contrast to Burt, who used American, rather than British spelling).

Brosse, Thérèse. War-Handicapped Children. UNESCO. 1950. 35.

Near the end of World War II Savery was asked to write about a child on the European continent. Her unpublished short story, Wonder Ball was one response. The novel Welcome, Santza was more successful and drew part of its inspiration from war orphans described in Brosse's book.

Bruce, J. Collingwood. (Handbook to) The Roman Wall. Twelfth Edition, Sir Ian Richmond, ed. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Harold Hill & Son Limited. 1966.

I perused this as background for the two Savery poems entitled Remembered Charms. The book told me more than I wanted to know about the wall and less than I hoped about the Rudge Cup. The book was first published in 1863, and subsequent editions have not changed its basic character.

Bullen, Frank T. The Log of a Sea-Waif. New York: D. Appleton and Company. 1899.

Savery wrote about Frank Bullen and his works in Sea Magic and I Must Read them Again: Piper of the Sea. Having read one Bullen title out of obligation, I read others for pleasure.

---. With Christ at Sea: A Religious Autobiography. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1906.

Savery recommended this in Piper of the Sea, op. cit., so I read it.

Bunyan, John. The Holy War. Project Gutenberg, Ver.04.29.93.

The Holy War is referred to repeatedly in Savery's serial, Bunyan's Barn, and some of Bunyan's names, such as Eye-Gate, which are now part of the language, are sprinkled through Savery's other books. The eText was convenient.

---. The Pilgrim's Progress. London: The Religious Tract Society. Undated with 1904 inscription.

Savery's appreciation in METHODIST MAGAZINE, I Must Read them Again: The Pilgrim's Progress, begins with a description of various editions of the old English classic, so I left my paperback on the shelf and bought this volume for my review. It was an aesthetic, not a literary decision.

Bulwer-Lytton, Sir Edward. The Last Days of Pompeii. New York: A. L. Burt Company. Undated.

I took this book home in some trepidation. The author has inspired the annual Bulwer-Lytton contest for the 'worst possible opening line for a fictious work,' and the bookseller could not help exclaiming -- after I made my purchase -- "I can't wait to tell someone I sold a copy of The Last Days of Pompeii." Savery had mentioned it in The Attic Bookshelf: In the Golden Dawn, but I had already written my annotations for that article and could have left Bulwer-Lytton to gather dust a while longer. What did I find? Would you like to buy a venerable classic in good condition?

Burney, Fanny. Evelina. London: Everyman's Library, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. 1909. Reprinted 1946.

Burney is best known for Evelina and Cecilia, so I read those while searching for her diary, below.

---. Select Passages from Her Diary and Other Writings. From L. B. Seeley, ed., Fanny Burney and Her Friends. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1895.

The selection of incidents in Savery's I Must Read them Again: Fanny Burney's Diary convinces me that Savery read this very book. Why not? I had neither access to all of Burney's diaries nor inclination to read them all, and Savery, who was busier than I, found more than she needed here for a short article.

Buxton, David, ed. South Wiltshire. Stroud, Gloustershire: Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd. 1992. Plate 17.

When I was looking for an image to portray the very young Savery walking through Froxfield in Remembered Charms, this collection of pictures from the 1890's and early 1900's provided it. No matter that it wasn't a picture of Savery, nor that there were two other girls in the picture, nor that it was Harnham, not Froxfield. It was Wiltshire, after all, and what are a few details after a century? The other two girls vanished into a Photoshop® bit-bucket.

Cassell's Latin Dictionary (Latin-English and English-Latin). New York : London: Funk & Wagnalls Company. Rev. by J.R.V. Marchant and Joseph F. Charles. Undated.

Savery's Latin was far superior to mine. I consulted Cassell's.

CBandM, Collecting Books and Magazines, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia. Access at http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/.

CBandM comes in two varieties; see below.

The Yahoo Group is prohibited from buying and selling, but provides data and allows collectors to talk to one other. Although the Australian site provides an abundance of information, it is also a place to find or list the books and magazines that you are seeking or selling. Recently the web editor asked for a nominal donation, $10.00 (Au), to allow the site to continue, and you should consider that. Whether you give or not, you will profit by visiting, especially, but not exclusively, if you are Australian.

CBandM, Yahoo!® Groups. Yahoo! Inc., Sunnyvale CA.

CBandM was a "group site" devoted to Children's Books and Magazines. It was an excellent place to search for information about a favorite author, magazine, or fictional character, and if the extensive archive did not provide an answer, posting a question there would usually evoke a quick response. You didn't need to join the site to use their archive, but I think membership was required to post a question or submit information. There was no charge for membership. Alas, the group is no longer active.

Chamberlin, Roy B. and Herman Feldman. The Dartmouth Bible. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1950. 471, 506.

Chamberlin and Feldman condensed the King James translation to facilitate teaching the Bible as literature. I mention an editor's note in my annotation of Dearest Joe, a Savery piece about Joseph Addison.

Charles, Mrs. Rundle. The Diary of Mrs. Kitty Trevylyan. London: T. Nelson and Sons. 1893.

When Savery wrote The Attic Bookshelf: Cornish Storyland, she recommended a number of books, including this one. It was also recommended by being available and inexpensive.

Chaundler, Christine. The Children's Author. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd. 1934.

In 1934 Chaundler was a successful children's author, especially of school stories. Her advice to writers is succinct, reasoned, and accurate, and it is supported by lists of children's periodicals and publishers with many of their preferences. When writing about who published Savery in the 1930's, I was grateful for Chaundler's information and opinions.

ChooseBooks / ZVAB. US Office: Ithaca, NY. 1998-2007. Access at http://www.choosebooks.com/ .

It doesn't hurt to have some German when consulting ChooseBooks / ZVAB, but English will get you by. German booksellers replying to you in "English" may be less fluent. Maximum understanding results when they try inaccurate English with you and you try inaccurate German with them. Of course, there is no problem if either of you is fluent in both languages. ChooseBooks speaks of a "international book selling site," but its books are almost entirely in English or German. Search on "Savery" since "Constance" is an English spelling and discard the references to painter Roelandt Savery. Seven Savery novels and a short story were translated into German, and in July of 2024 I found the short story and five of the translations here.

Clark, W.R. (ed.). Little Charlie's Life by Himself. London: Saunders, Otley, and Co. 1858.

Properly, this is Charles Young's autobiography, but as the author was about six years old when he began it, The Rev. Mr. Clark is listed as editor. I found this every bit as charming as Savery did when she described it in The Attic Bookshelf: Charles Writes His Life for METHODIST MAGAZINE.

Coates, John. The Watsons: Jane Austen's fragment continued and completed. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. 1958.

I mention this excellent attempt to do the impossible--continue and complete Jane Austen--when annotating Savery's completion of Charlotte Brontë's Emma. Even dyed in the wool Janeite's will find Coates' book well worth reading.

Coleridge, Sara. Memoir and Letters. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1874.

This 528-page memoir, edited by Edith, Sara's daughter, is full of love and loyalty for the famous poet who, never at home or able to support his gifted child, remained at the center of her literary life long after his death. The three titles I list for Coleridge's daughter are mentioned in The Attic Bookshelf: Sara Coleridge.

---. Phantasmion. Pickering. 1837.

I have not seen the extremely rare and expensive first edition, but a facsimile can be downloaded from the Internet, so it is now possible to read this cult favorite, described as a precursor for Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

---. Pretty Lessons for Good Children. London: Elkin Mathews & Marrot Ltd. 1927.

I was not impressed by these verses, written by a fond mother for her small children and published at their father's orders. As late as 1927 it was reprinted, so I may be overlooking something. In any event, Savery celebrated Coleridge's life, not her poetry.

Collins, David N. The Historiography of Christian Missions to Canada's First Peoples since 1970 in Aboriginal People and Other Canadians, Martin Thornton and Roy Todd, ed. Ottawa: University of Ottawa. 2001. pp 29-30, 57, 220.

Collins mentions Savery's biography of William Bompas, but dismisses it as derivative, adding nothing of interest to previous biographies. He adds a footnote stating that Savery wrote over thirty other "Stories of Faith and Fame" including one about Wilfred Grenfell. Collins is mistaken. Savery contributed only the Bompas biography to the "Stories of Faith and Fame."

Commire, Anne. Something about the Author, vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research . 1971. 186-188.

When I began my search for Savery's works, this long list of her books was very helpful, the interview told me a number of things I was glad to know, and the summary pointed me to the children's collection in the University of Southern Mississippi library.

Coombs, F.E.L. Tenderfoot to King's Scout. Canadian General Council of the Boy Scouts Association. Rev. 1948. 13-15.

This manual contains an illustrated three-page biography of Lord Baden-Powell including a three-paragraph description of how the young Baden-Powell found a single leaf smelling of beer near a trail and made the following correct deductions.

Thus we read the news that during the night a party of native women had taken beer to the enemy hidden in the hills. The women will have reached there about 6 o'clock. The men would probably start drinking at once, as the beer goes sour quickly; and they would by the time we approached their hiding place be getting sleepy.

Baden-Powell was not above puffing his own prowess, if other sources are to be believed, but this story was the unattributed inspiration for a Girl Guide assignment recounted by Savery in One Leaf on the Track.

Cummins, Maria S. The Lamplighter. New York: Hurst & Co. Undated.

Savery included this book in her METHODIST MAGAZINE series I Must Read them Again.

Cutt, M. Nancy. Mrs. Sherwood and Her Books for Children with facsimile reproductions of Mrs. Sherwood's The Little Woodman and His Dog Caesar, 12th ed. (1828) and Soffrona and her Cat Muff (1828). London: Oxford University Press. 1974.

Mrs. Mary Sherwood was born in 1775, the same year as Jane Austen. To Austen's six, Cutt lists 251 books for Sherwood, as well as a great number of revised editions and translations. Neither Cutt nor I would claim that Sherwood's genius equaled Austen's, but Cutt shows that Sherwood's influence was significant and lasting, and it was Sherwood's tradition, rather than Austen's, that influenced Savery.

Davey, Fred. Hamilton. Contributions to a Cornish Flora, Truro: Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, Vol. XV, 1901-1902. 128-129. Digitized by Google, cf. http://books.google.com/books.

Davey reports the recent extinction of Diotis candidissima in Cornwall, but adds that it still holds its own in Ireland, if you know where to look.

de Montreville, Doris and Donna Hill, ed. Third Book of Junior Authors. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company. 1972. 313 pp.

A continuation of the series by Kunitz and Haycraft (1934, 1951) and Fuller (1963) with 255 additional sketches. Savery is in the 1951 edition, so she is mentioned only in the cumulative index. It is a measure of her fame that the following were recognized twenty years after she was: L. Frank Baum, Elizabeth Goudge, "Crockett Johnson," Mary Norton, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and William Steig. Also honored were these younger talents: Isaac Asimov, Michael Bond, Betsy Byars, John Ciardi, Roald Dahl, Lester Del Rey, Syd Hoff, Richard Scarry, Charles Schulz, and Tomi Ungerer.

de Montreville, Doris and Elizabeth Crawford, ed. Fourth Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company. 1978. 370 pp.

More of the same. See Third Book above. The 280 new names include Judy Blume, Gwendolyn Brooks, Eric Carle, Arthur C. Clarke, Susan Cooper, Langston Hughes, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ogden Nash, and George Seldon.

de Villiers, Anne, Hazel Fox, and Pauline Adams. Somerville College, Oxford : 1879-1979 : A Century in Pictures. Oxford: Oxford, Ltd. 1978. 43.

When de Villiers was unable to complete her history of Somerville College in time for its 1979 centenary, this collection of photographs and drawing was issued, with a Foreword by College Principal Barbara Craig. I am sure alumnae were pleased to buy it. A stroke prevented de Villiers from completing her book subsequently, and when Adams published her own history in 1996, most of these illustrations, reduced in size, were included.

Dehqani-Tafti, Hassan. Design of My World. London:Lutterworth Press. 1959.

When the Anglican Bishop of Iran, Dehqani-Tafti, was a small boy, he was converted to Christianity by Miss W.A. Kingdon, an English missionary, who saw to it that he was properly educated. Miss Kingdon was also Christine Savery's godmother and 'Aunt Dolly' to the Savery household. This is the bishop's spiritual biography in which Miss Kingdon is mentioned frequently.

Doyle, Brian, ed. The Who's Who of Children's Literature. New York: Schocken Books. 1968. 379.

Savery wrote in her work diary that she filled out particulars for the Editor of U.S.A.'s "Who's Who" in September of 1943 for inclusion in their Monthly Supplement and mention in the annual general index. She is not among the three hundred authors listed here in 1968. The book is well-written and nicely illustrated. She is listed in a British edition.

Eaton, Anne Thaxter. Treasure for the Taking : A Book List for Boys and Girls. Rev. ed. New York: The Viking Press. 1957. Pp xi, 167.

After commenting in her foreward upon the rapidity with which children's titles come and go, Eaton writes one to four sentences about roughly a thousand of them. She found Enemy Brothers a "thoroughly interesting story, valuable for its picture of wartime England...." The review was placed in a chapter entitled "People You Might Meet" indicating her particular approval of Savery's characterizations.

eBay®. The World's Online Marketplace. San Jose: eBay, Inc. 1995-2005. Access at http://www.ebay.com/ .

There are probably other places than eBay where one may buy a 1930's magazine containing a Savery short story or article, but you will be fortunate to do so. I shop eBay for Savery material daily when I am at home and almost daily when travelling. Not experienced with eBay yet? Be warned: it is addictive!

Entwhistle, M. Tom Tiddler's Ground in Eagle Omnibus Number Eight. London: Edinburgh House Press. 1949.

This account of William Bompas was originally published as Eagle Book #45 and was then collected with five other numbers to be reprinted as an Eagle Omnibus. As an author of her own Eagle Book, She Went Alone: Mary Bird of Persia, Savery is likely to have read Entwhistle's account before writing her own biography of Bompas, God's Arctic Explorer. A Savery short story, Tom Tiddler's Ground, is not concerned with Bompas.

Etheridge, James M. and Barbara Kopala, ed. Contemporary Authors. Detroit: Gale Research Company. 1965. 366.

The entry for Savery lists most of her books, but the later compilation by Commire is more complete and includes more biographical information.

Farmer, David Hugh. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Fourth Ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1997. 200.

This is fascinating reading. The connection with Savery is St. Genesius, whose conversion is the basis for her one play, No King but Christ.

Farrars, Frederic W. Eric; or Little by Little. New York: W. L. Allison Co. 1880 (orig. pub. 1848).

With Tom Brown's School Days, which was published in the previous year, Dean Farrars introduced a new genré to literature, the 'school-story novel,' and, as the Harry Potter phenomenon testifies, school stories are alive and well more than 150 years later. In his 1880 preface, Farrar testified to his

...one single object--the vivid inculcation of inward purity and moral purpose, by the history of a boy who, in spite of the inherent nobleness of his disposition, falls into all folly and wickedness, until he has learnt to seek help from above.

After which, the preface fails to add, he dies. This book is one of four Awful Examples defended as a group by Savery: In Defense of 'All That'. It is also mentioned briefly in I Must Read them Again: The School Stories of Talbot Baines Reed. My own prejudices against Eric stem from two uncomplimentary references in Kipling's school story, Stalky and Company, where the boys are not angels and receive their help from above without appearing to seek it.

---. Gathering Clouds. New York: Longmans, Green, & Co. 1895.

This book was cited by Savery as one of many dealing with the early centuries of the Christian Era. I read it before writing about her article, The Attic Bookshelf: In the Golden Dawn.

Farrow, George E. The Little Panjandrum's Dodo. London: Skeffington & Son. 1899. Reprinted in "To the Land of Fair Delight." London: Victor Gollanz Ltd, 1960. Pp 142-293.

Evidently Savery remembered this book from childhood, since two sets of adolescents in her unpublished novel Meet Me at the Anchor share a fond enthusiasm for it, and Thistledown Tony's father reads it to him. The book is inferior to, but reminiscent of, Lewis Carroll with three children in pajamas and gowns moving from one dreamlike scene to another accompanied by fantastic creatures. The illustrations are Tenniel-like, too.

Fast, Vera. Missionary on Wheels. Toronto: The Anglican Book Center. 1979.

Subtitled Eva Hasell and the Sunday School Caravan Mission, this is a warts and all biography of the indomitable founder of the SSCM. Savery's sister Doreen was a Canadian "vanner" for many strenuous summers and served as Secretary of the Mission when its founder, at age 86, finally relinquished her control.

Fowler, Ellen Thorneycroft. The Farringdons. London: Hutchinson & Co. 1900.

From Savery's article, The Attic Bookshelf: Novels of Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler, it appears that Fowler wrote over ninety novels, many of them interlinking, but I read only this one, chosen because of twins named Farringdon in Emeralds for the King and Haggiston Hall. Where did Savery find the time to read all the books she writes about?

Fuller, Muriel, ed. More Junior Authors. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company. 1963. 235 pp.

This is a companion to the Kunitz and Haycraft volumes. Among 268 names honored ten years after Savery were Ludwig Bemelmans, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit, Henry Pitz (one of her illustrators), Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, James Thurber, J. R. R. Tolkien, John R. Tunis, and E. B. White. The younger entrees included Beverly Cleary, Rumer Godden, Robert Heinlein, Manning de V. Lee (another Savery illustrator), Madeleine L'Engle, Astrid Lindgren, and Maurice Sendac.

Gaul, Alfred R. The Holy City: A Sacred Cantata. London: Novello and Company, Limited. 1893?

This cantata was commissioned for the Birmingham Music Festival, 1882. An advertisement on the outside back cover gives the impression that another Gaul cantata, Una, had just been performed at Norwich in 1892. As a bonus, one of the last pages of the book lists eleven other compositions by Gaul. Savery's appreciations of Gaul appeared in THE TIMES of London and the EAST ANGLIAN MAGAZINE.

---. The Holy City. Chime Record Company, Sacred Series 2001. Recorded by the Cincinnati Festival Choir---Thor Johnson, Cond. Undated.

This 33-RPM long-playing record appears to date from the 1960's. Chime is located in Cincinnati, suggesting that this was a local recording of a local concert. Gaul's name does not appear in record catalogs as a primary composer, but his name recurs in organ recitals for individual pieces, invariably drawn from this oratorio. I enjoyed the recording.

---. Joan of Arc : Historical Cantata for Mixed Voices, Op. 41. Boston: Oliver Ditson Co. ~1910.

This cantata, which never received the recognition accorded The Holy City, was first performed in Birmingham in 1887, and there are Internet mentions of its performance into the 1920's. It was a "bright and tuneful work" according to a 1902 review in the Cotswold Journal.

George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. Reader's Report by Bernard Miali on Jack Chelwood / or Wood called delight / by Constance Savery. One-page (two sides) typescript deposited in Manuscript Collection, Library, University of Reading. 1950

After a long plot synopsis, Miall concludes

This is a hectic and in some respects a most improbable story, containing more than its share of coincidences, but it is well told, it has a grip, and during the last few chapters one is really eager to learn how the hero escapes from the terrible Erivales. I am not sure whether it is intended for adults or for adolescents, but it would probably suit the circulating libraries. Of its kind it is really rather good.

Miall's plot synopsis is helpful for showing how greatly the novel changed between 1950 and its posthumous publication in 2004.

George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. Reader's Report by Malcolm Barnes on Jack Chelwood / by Constance Savery. One-page holograph deposited in Manuscript Collection, Library, University of Reading. 1950

Unlike Miall, Barnes had no trouble deciding. "It is a perfectly safe rejection," he concluded. I am grateful to Barnes. Thanks to him, we have a good book, rather than the one he found "most improbable," "rather infantile," "simple-minded," and "old-fashioned."

George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. Reader's Report by Michael Joscelyne on Attic bookshelves / by Constance Savery. One-page holograph deposited in Manuscript Collection, Library, University of Reading. 1965

Joscelyne didn't mince words: these 27 reminiscences were appropriate for the magazines in which they first appeared, but they were too short, individually and collectively, for a book. "Safe to reject," he concluded. The Attic Bookshelves manuscript is among the Savery papers at the University of Oregon.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Sixth ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America. 2003.

Although I followed MLA guidelines wherever I found them appropriate for a general audience and my extended bibliographic citations, I chose boldface type for primary dates and titles, spelled out words where the MLA advises abbreviations, and used uppercase letters to denote periodicals, among other departures. Nevertheless, it is well to know a rule before you make an exception to it, and I found this book a helpful reference.

Gibson and Sons. The Isles of Scilly: What to See and How to See It. Scilly Isles and Penzance: Gibson & Sons. 1925.

In August of 1926, Savery visited the Scilly Isles with her friend Gladys Gaisford. Savery kept a diary of the trip in a sketchbook with lively, if inexpert, drawings. In transcribing and printing her journal I sought a contemporary map, and this guidebook has a very nice one.

Google®. Search Engine. Mountain View, CA: Google Online. 2009. Access at http://www.google.com/ .

I use Google almost every time I turn on my computer. No Internet user needs a description of the service or is in doubt why I consult it.

Green, Evelyn Everett. Dickie and Dorrie. London: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., Ltd. 1906.

Savery was a great reader, and the heroes and heroines of her books tend to be readers as well. If not, someone reads to them, and Savery readily tells us what the books are. Dickie and Dorrie, which is read by two feuding children in Meg Plays Fair, investigates what might happen if some one took literally the command of Jesus to forgive ones enemies "seventy times seven times" --and then felt free to get even! Despite the scriptural basis for the plot, Green, like Savery, prefers that her characters act out their preaching, rather than doing it with words.

Grevatt, Wallace. BBC Children's Hour: A Celebration of those Magical Years. Sussex: The Book Guild Ltd. 1988.

Grevatt has filled 524 pages of densely written text with a plethora of names, dates, and program titles. Alas, Savery's stories are not listed in the few pages devoted to 1935 and 1936. I did learn that only between January 1937 and September 1939 did "Children's Hour" actually last sixty minutes. Grevatt quotes "Uncle Mac" Derek McCulloch in 1934:

The BBC knows that the children of today are the adult listeners of the very near future. In this department we work on the principle that a child wants to know things and we endeavour to tell them in the most entertaining way possible. We talk to children as equals. We believe children have intelligence and we do not insult it.

Hamm, E. V., ed. Somerville College: Register 1879-1971 (3rd ed.). Oxford: Somerville College. 1972.

Savery wrote about 175 letters while she was at Somerville College, 1917-1920, and she mentions hundreds of people. Often only a Christian name or a surname is given, and the register provides not only the missing names, but brief biographies as well. There is a copy at the Somerville Library, among other places. There were earlier editions in 1938 and 1959, edited by Hilda Bryant.

Harshaw, Ruth and Dilla MacBean. What Book Is That? New York: The Macmillan Company. 1948.

When Harshaw's In What Book? did not include a Savery story, I bought this one, but fared no better.

--- and Hope Harshaw Evans. In What Book? London : The Macmillan Company, Collier-MacMillan Ltd. 1970.

Ruth Harshaw was responsible for the jaw-breaking 'Carson Pirie Scott and Company Hobby Horse Book Club Foundation Library Plan' and hosted two weekly radio programs, "Battle of Books" and "(World?) Carnival of Books," for twenty years. Savery was Harshaw's guest for a BBC recording of the latter on September 18, 1956, where Welcome, Santza was featured. I hoped to find a Savery title among the 400 questions in Harshaw's book, but I was disappointed.

Hayden, Ruth. Mrs. Delany and Her Flower Collages. London: British Museum Press. 1980. Reprinted, 1986; new edition, 1992.

Besides providing handsome photographs of the collages, which were featured in the Savery piece, The Attic Bookshelf: Dearest Mrs. Delany: Her Letters and Memoirs, this attractive volume led me to notice that I was sometimes spelling the name 'Delaney' even after having read Savery's article. The collages are also mentioned in the short story Butterscotch Pie.

Herbert, George. The County Parson. The Temple. New York : Ramsey : Toronto: Paulist Press. 1981.

The first of Savery's twenty-four essays for the METHODIST MONTHLY about books and authors featured Izaak Walton's Lives, and the fourth of Walton's subjects was George Herbert. It is hard to read Savery's essay without wanting to read the Lives, and harder yet to read the Lives and not wish to sample George Herbert. This attractive trade paperback with its informative introduction by John N. Wall, Jr. more than suited my purpose.

Hite, Carolyn, Nashville: The Methodist Publishing House. Letter to Constance Savery dated Sep. 4, 1968.

This letter grants permission for Savery to expand the serial Savonarola's Children so that it may be published as a book, The City of Flowers, and provides data about the original serial.

Holland, Steve. Encyclopedia of Children's Literature v2.1. Colchester, Essex: Underworld Studios. 2002.

Holland's encyclopedia is an ongoing project. It is published on a CD for perusal using a computer, and I encountered minimal difficulties in doing so despite not having a Windows® machine. He lists hundreds of titles, sometimes with full tables of contents, other times with only the range of years in which a periodical or annual was published. Unfortunately, there is no update in prospect.

Holtze, Sally Holmes, ed. The Fifth Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company. 1983. 344 pp.

Here are 239 sketches of authors and illustrators, among them Jan and Stan Berenstain, Marc Brown, Tomie dePaola, John D. Fitzgerald, Lois Lowry, Anne McCaffrey, and Shel Silverstein. This series was begun by Kunitz and Haycraft (1934, 1951).

---. The Sixth Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company. 1989. 345 pp.

See The Fifth Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators, above. A few names from the 236 sketches in The Sixth Book are Anne Lindberg (the daughter), Barry Moser, Gary Paulsen, and Raffi.

---. The Seventh Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company. 1996. 355 pp.

See The Fifth Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators, above. Here are 235 more pieces, including Norman Bridwell, "Mr. Rogers," R. L. Stine, and Catherine Stock, a favorite of mine. Although Savery's sketch appears in the 1951 volume, the cumulative index in this one confirms that some of the more prolific female authors, such as Enid Blyton, Angela Brazil, Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, Dorita Fairlie Bruce, Winifred Darch, and Elsie Oxenham, were never listed.

THE HORN BOOK MAGAZINE. Boston: The Horn Book, Inc. Published six times a year, 1925-?

THE HORN BOOK carried the subtitle "Books and reading for children and young people" and provided biographies of authors and illustrators, reviews of recent books, editorials, and announcements from publishers. The issue for September - October 1943 is 72 pages long, of which 16 are advertising, and includes a favorable review of Savery's Enemy Brothers.

Ingham, Sarson C. J. The White Cross and the Dove of Pearls. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1892.

Savery reviewed this book for her METHODIST MAGAZINE series The Attic Bookshelf. Although it is for a different novel by Ingham, I cannot resist quoting a critic's comment printed opposite the title page: "Amongst religious novelists this writer is one of the few displaying originality and scope of intelligence beyond average limits."

Jakes, T. D. Follow the Star. New York: Berkley Books. 2003.

I purchased this book in pursuit of a Savery poem printed in an anthology with the same title. The poem isn't here, but the book is recommended for a series of engaging reflections on Christmas themes.

Jeffrey, M. Helen. The Trumpet Call Obey. London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott. 1968.

I consulted this history of the Sandes Soldiers and Airmen's Centres in hopes of finding mention of Savery's sisters, Irene and Christine. Christine was editor of FORWARD, the Centres' magazine, and both sisters received the award of M.B.E. for their service to the British Empire through the Sandes Centres. The sisters were not mentioned, but knowing about the Sandes Centres may have helped me when I contacted them successfully for copies of the short story and poems that Constance Savery wrote for FORWARD.

Jenkin, M. E., London: The British Broadcasting Corporation. Letter to Constance Savery dated Sep. 2, 1935.

Referring to "Clock-Shop Tales, Stories 2 and 3," the letter offers to broadcast them, but reminds the author that Children's Hour broadcasts are rarely published.

Johnson, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language, Ninth Ed. London: J. F. and C. Rivington et al. 1790.

In addition to preparing this bibliography, I also edited Savery's The Memoirs of Jack Chelwood, which purports to be a document written around 1800. Consequently, I went to Johnson as my first authority for spelling, hyphenation, and a prohibition against -s' or -s's to indicate the genitive case.

Jones, Sydney R. The South of England. Twickenham, Middlesex: Senate. 1998. 93-167.

This pleasant walk through the countryside provided background for the two poems entitled Remembered Charms. I could have reviewed them without it, but I'm glad that I didn't.

Kay, Ernest, Editorial Director. The International Authors and Writers Who's Who, Tenth Ed. Cambridge: International Biographical Center. 1986. 615.

The 14-line entry for Savery includes an up-to-date address, but no titles are listed after 1961, so all of the Lutterworth books have been excluded. She is listed as a life member of the Brontë Society, but it would be some years later before it was generally known that she was 'Another Lady' who had completed Charlotte Brontë's Emma.

Kiefer, James. Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of London. Internet www.satucket.com/lectionary/Robert_Grosseteste.htm . 2002.

Kiefer's biographies are widely distributed on the Internet with his permission. This one is intended for use with the Anglican lectionary on October 9. Kiefer cuts to the quick and arouses interest in his subjects. Savery wrote an article about Robert Grosseteste for THE CHRISTIAN GRADUATE.

---. King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls, 1883-1968.

An original booklet was printed, presumably by the school, about 1968. This reprint on glossy paper was issued ten years later. There is no mention of Savery, who taught there from 1923 to 1925, but there is a picture of her headmistress, Miss Keen, on page 2.

Kirkpatrick, D. L., ed. Twentieth-Century Children's Writers. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1978. 1507.

I expected that Savery warranted inclusion in these hundreds of pages of fine print listing the works of over six hundred English-language authors, but I was mistaken. In the preface, Naomi Lewis writes

...it is with the reading and listening children that creeds, taboos, and superstitions not only begin, but end.

Savery's Christian perspective was not the answer sought by the compilers of this volume.

Knight, K., ed. Catholic Encyclopedia, Online Edition. Internet. 2023.

Savery wrote a number of biographical pieces about church figures such as Ulfilas, Bede, and Savonarola, and her only play concerns St. Genesius. I have found the Catholic Encyclopedia an invaluable reference in annotating these works, and I have been tempted frequently to spend $29.99 to purchase the encyclopedia in CD-ROM format. Were it harder to use the encyclopedia on line, I would probably do so.

Kunitz, Stanley J. and Howard Haycraft, ed. The Junior Book of Authors, New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1934. 400 pp.

The first edition of this book is too early to mention Savery, but it is beautifully printed on good stock and contains 268 biographical or autobiographical sketches of children's authors and illustrators. The cumulative index in The Third Book of Junior Authors and in the editions that follow do not include the 1934 edition.

---. Ibid. Second Edition, Revised. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company. 1951. 266.

This edition contains 289 sketches, 160 of which are revised and repeated from the first edition, while 129 are new, among them Savery's. which is of particular interest to readers of the poem Remembered Charms, the short story The Tea Party, or any of the two books and one story set at 'King Arthur's School': Danny and the Alabaster Box, Redhead at School, and Improving Inky. The quality of the new edition is inferior to the first.

The Ladies' Treasury. Vols 1 and 2. London: Ward and Lock. 1858.

Savery wrote two articles about The Ladies' Treasury: A Victorian in Training for THE TIMES and I Must Read them Again: 'Conduct and Carriage in Society' for METHODIST MAGAZINE. The two volumes provide 688 pages of very good advice in very small print, and the lady who subscribed to this journal and read it diligently could not fail to profit from its advice and instruction, provided she could stay awake. The German grammar is especially recommended.

Le Feuvre, Amy. Teddy's Button. Cambridge: Lutterworth Press. PB, 1989.

When Savery wrote In Defense of 'All That', she was responding to "Teddy's Button" and All That, an attack by Elizabeth Catherwood on evangelism through children's literature. Teddy's Button was one of Catherwood's four Awful Examples, but I found it lively and engaging, and Savery, who read it as a child, said it was

-- a sunny, wholesome little book for ever linked in my mind with blue skies, green fields, and apple-blossoms.

The nice-looking modern edition indicates that Teddy's Button has sold over one million copies, no proof of excellence, but sure evidence of its continued appeal.

Löfgren, Eva M. Index to Mrs. Strang's Annual for Girls, 1919 - 1940. Writer's Book Machine. Undated.

No city of publication is listed for this useful pamphlet. "Mrs. Strang's Annual for Girls" became the "Oxford Annual for Girls" in 1927, and Savery had one or more stories in five of the latter annuals, a total of seven stories in all. When I read Löfgren's little book, I was able to verify that the seven I had found were all there were. More scholars should index children's annuals!

Logan, Harriett. Stump the Bookseller. Shaker Heights, OH: Loganberry Books. 1995-2024.

Do you remember something, but not much, about a children's book you are trying to locate? For four dollars you can post here the little that you do remember, and Logan or someone browsing her web page will probably remember the rest. While you are waiting you can try to answer the "stumpers" left by others.

Magic Lantern Society. Slide Readings Library. Magic Lantern Society, 61 Desford Road, Newbold Verdon, Leicester LE9 9LG. ? - 2007. Access at www.magiclantern.org.uk/ .

Savery wrote at least seven services of songs, a category of composition so out of fashion that only the Magic Lantern Society has examples for the public to peruse, an accidental outcome of publishers who provided paper 'reading copies' of lantern slides. Or, perhaps it was the other way around. For a small donation, the slide readings library will provide you with a copy of anything they have. Or, if magic lanterns interest you, you could join their society.

Mee, Arthur. Wiltshire. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1939. Reprinted 1943 and 1948. 174-175.

I bought this book to provide background for Remembered Charms and found a very little on the pages listed above; however, this is a anecdotal treasury with an outstanding fold-out map of Wiltshire, so it deserves a place among the references. Mee is listed on the title page as editor, rather than author, probably because of the contributions of sixteen photographers. C.S. Lewis once wrote of him:

I have been told that Arthur Mee never met a child and never wished to: it was, from his point of view, a bit of luck that boys liked reading what he liked writing. This anecdote may be untrue in fact... (C.S. Lewis: On Stories..., Walter Hooper, ed., p 32)

Meigs, Cornelia, Anne Eaton, Elizabeth Nesbitt, and Ruth Hill Viguers. A Critical History of Children's Literature. New York: The Macmillan Co. 1953. 535-536.

Viguers wrote an appreciation of Savery in the last of this book's four sections, and her compliments of Enemy Brothers were quoted by Christine Savery in a letter to Constance. After I read the letter, I located the book and found it very informative.

Mitchell, Thomas. In His Steps. London: T. Mitchell. 1933.

Savery was not the only author to create a Service of Song based upon Sheldon's In His Steps. This one had appeared two years earlier than Savery's. I find Mitchell's version more fragmented, in part because it includes more of the characters, plot elements, and preaching. Savery has the music for fifteen hymns to Mitchell's twelve, but Mitchell suggests singing Come Unto Me, All Ye Who Labour from Handel's Messiah as well as some familiar hymns where he provides a verse, but not the music. Like Savery, Mitchell uses Sheldon's words rather than his own, billing himself as a compiler rather than an author. The Service is available from the Slide Readings Library of the Magic Lantern Society, above.

More, Hannah. "The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain," and other tales. New York: Derby & Jackson. 1857.

Among the many titles that Savery lists in The Attic Bookshelf: Some Small Pink Books is this one by Hannah More, and the title story takes place in Savery's home county, Wiltshire. More never let her story interfere with her preaching, but she was a lady of wit, too. Here's both quote and proof of the quote in one sentence (from Florio):

He lik'd those literary cooks
Who skim the cream of other's books;
And ruin half an author's graces
By plucking bon-mots from their places.

Q.E.D.

Northcutt, Cecil. Send Me among Savages: Chalmers of Papua. Melbourne: Eagle Books #38, The Book Depot. 1949.

This booklet, together with one by J. Reason, below, were of interest to me, because they indicated that Eagle Books were published in Melbourne as well as in London, and Savery's 'Eagle', She Went Alone: Mary Bird of Persia, might have been published there, also. The first two 'Eagles' may have been published in Melbourne only because both were concerned with South Sea missionaries, but others, including Savery's, were published there, too.

Oxford University Press. The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in two volumes. Glasgow : New York : Toronto : Melbourne : Wellington : Cape Town : Salisbury : Ibadan : Nairobi : Dar es Salaam : Lusaka : Addis Ababa : Bombay : Calcutta : Madras : Karachi : Lahore : Dacca : Kuala Lumpur : Singapore : Hong Kong : Tokyo : Oxford University Press. 1971.

No scholar requires an introduction to the OED, which I consulted frequently with an ever-increasing respect for Savery's vocabulary.

---. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Second Edition. London: Oxford University Press. 1955.

Savery uses quotations freely and sees no point in attributions that an educated person would consider redundant. Personally, I found this reference, and Bartlett's, necessary and useful.

Parker, Rowland. Men of Dunwich. London: Collins. 1978.

The 'lost town of Dunwich' that disappeared under the sea was not far from Savery's home in Southwold and captured her imagination. A town that does just that is mentioned in The Lucky Spoon, another is featured in The Clock House under the Sea, and a third in A Pleasance of Cockleshells. The citizens of the first and third had less than sterling characters, and Parker's book verifies that. So little is known of the historical Dunwich that Parker uses his imagination freely, and we are the beneficiaries.

Powers, Mala. Follow the Star. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1980.

My manuscript copy of A Pleasance of Cockleshells mentions a poem beginning "O cold blew the storm wind..." that appeared in an anthology entitled Follow the Star, but this attractive book isn't the one.

Quigly, Isabel. The Heirs of Tom Brown. London: Chatto & Windus. 1982.

Although she quotes frequently and cogently from other authors, Quigly has nothing to say about Savery; however, school stories aside, she does describe me:

People interested in school stories often have one obscure author they value above the other obscure ones, think neglected, and would like to see reappraised.

Quigly reports that these enthusiasts are mistaken: their preferred stories have "much of a muchness in interest." I trust Quigly was herself mistaken in generalizing about enthusiasts. Having failed to predict Harry Potter, she was egregiously in error in her last sentence:

The school story flourished while the public schools, in their nineteenth-century form, flourished. When they joined the modern world the school story died.

Reason, J. The Bricklayer and the King: Nott of the South Seas. Melbourne: Eagle Books #16, The Book Depot. 1947.

Cf. Cecil Northcutt.

Reed, Talbot Baines. The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch. London: The Religious Tract Society. Undated, but 19th Century.

When Savery wrote I Must Read them Again: The School Stories of Talbot Baines Reed, she impelled me to buy two of his books, and they were quite enough to persuade me to read a few more, see below. Savery was right in one regard, it is in the school stories that Reed really shines. It is quite the opposite with Savery, whose heart wasn't in her school stories.

---. The Cock-house at Fellsgarth. London: Latimer House Limited. First published 1893. This edition dated 1948.

This is justly celebrated as one of the better Reed school stories. See paragraph above.

---. The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's. London: Office of "The Boy's Own Paper." Undated, but 19th Century.

Here's another splendid school story by Reed, perhaps the liveliest of the lot, and that is a high compliment! See The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch.

---. The Master of the Shell. London: The R.T.S. Office. Undated, but 19th Century.

This is a little more serious than most of Reed's school stories, but there is still plenty of fun. See The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch.

---. My Friend Smith. London: The Religious Tract Society. Undated, but 19th Century.

This novel begins at a school, a rather bad school, and moves to London. That's fair enough, because Savery, in I Must Read them Again: The School Stories of Talbot Baines Reed, does not restrict herself to his school stories. On page 235 of the book we read, "My friend Smith was certainly a queer fellow." He certainly was.

---. Sir Ludar. London: The Office of THE BOY'S OWN PAPER. Inscribed 1926.

Sir Ludar, the hero of this romantic period piece, keeps 300 men within a fortress so his brother can win a glorious victory by pitting his own 300 against 500 of the enemy outside the gates. Unfortunately, while Sir Ludar dallies with his lady love, the brother is killed. If you like your characters courageous, loyal, strong, and stupid, this is the book for you; otherwise, stick to Reed's school stories.

---. Tom, Dick, and Harry. Sydney: Shakespeare Head Press. 1948.

This is not the best of Reed's books, but it has the wildest boys, and that is something. See The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch.

---. The Willoughby Captains. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1882.

Take some older boys, some younger boys, and a master or two. Mix well and serve. There is a cad or two here, but no flawless heroes. Still, the better fellows prevail, and Willoughby is the beneficiary. See The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch.

Richards, P.L.C. Lands Called Dumbleton. Dumbleton. Rev. July, 1986.

This twenty-four page illustrated booklet was written by John C.L. Ellis-Mitchell, who donated the copyright to the Dumbleton Parochial Church Council. It was revised by the Rev. Peter Richards, and I have listed his name as author, because he was Rector when the Savery Sisters were living at Cherry Trees in Dumbleton.

The booklet lists the little that is known of Dumbleton's origins, particularly the Lords of the Manor, describes "Dumbleton Hall in its golden days", Dumbleton cricket, and St. Peter's Church, among other topics. I had a room in the Dumbleton Hall Hotel in July of 2013. The Hall's conversion for use as a Hotel occurred after 1986 and is not mentioned.

Richardson, Joanna. Enid Starkie. London: John Murray (Publishers) Ltd. 1973. 31-2, 34, 36, 40-43.

Like Savery, Enid Starkie was born in 1897, attended Somerville College during World War I, and was a member of the first graduating class in which Oxford permitted women to receive their degrees. Richardson wrote to Savery in 1971 requesting information about Starkie's undergraduate days and received a 26-page closely-typed memoir that is now in the Somerville library. There is little enough about Starkie, but a great deal about Somerville life and Somerville dons. Among twelve other citations, here is Richardson quoting Savery quoting Starkie (pp 42-43):

Constance Savery watched

Enid Starkie's stocky little figure bristling with defiance as she rebuked English phlegm and stolidity in the course of a College debate.

You are a mouldy lot, you English. It's awfully hard to get up a fight. When I go out to tea at home, I always come back with a black eye.

Savery liked that comment so well that she put it into the mouth of an Irish soldier when she wrote Enemy Brothers.

Richter, Anne J., ed. Literary Prizes and Their Winners. New York: R. R. Bowker Co. 1946. 59.

It is necessary to read the Preface to find Anne Richter's name, which does not appear on the cover or the title page. Consequently, the book is known familiarly as "Bowker's" after its publisher.

The Junior Scholastic Gold Seal Award is given at irregular intervals to those juvenile books "that are considered to be an enriching experience in the lives of young Americans."

There were three award winners in 1944, of which one was Savery's The Good Ship Red Lily (Longmans).

Rix, Alan T. The Duchess of Somerset's Hospital (alias The Almshouse or College) at Froxfield in the County of Wiltshire between 1686 and 1986. Marlborough, Wilts: Kennet Press. May 17, 1986.

This excellent history provides background for the poem, Remembered Charms, and the story, The Tea Party. Savery's father was chaplain to 'The College' when she was a little girl.

Rockness, Miriam Huffman. A Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lilias Trotter. Hardback 1999, paperback 2003. Grand Rapids, WI: Discover House Publishers.

This 1999 biography of Trotter is longer than Savery's manuscript Always a Tramp, in part because Rockness includes extracts from Trotter's diaries, but both authors were drawn to many of the same passages in Trotter's published works. Rockness's title provides an apt summary of a remarkable life.

Rossetti, Christina. The Convent Threshold. Reprinted from Goblin Market, "The Prince's Progress and Other Poems." London: Macmillan. 1879. Access at www.poetry-archive.com/ .

The title of the Savery story, Stair After Golden Skyward Stair, is taken from these lines of the Rosetti poem:

I choose the stairs that mount above,
Stair after golden skyward stair,
To city and to sea of glass.

Savery's simple story is as deliberately commonplace as the poem is deliberately ethereal, and I recommend reading them together.

Savary, A. W. A Genealogical and Biographical Record of the Savery Families (Savory and Savary) and of the Savery Family (Saverit, Savery, Savory, and Savary). Boston: The Collins Press. 1893. Reprinted, 2001, on CD as Savery Families by A. W. Savary. Orange Park, FL: Quintin Publications.

This is clearly the book Savery cites in her work diary. The bulk of the book is concerned with Savery immigrants to America, but there is some interesting information about the English Saverys. There is no clear link to the author's family. The text of the CD can be searched if one has a little patience.

Savery, Chris. Camp Robber. London: Lutterworth Press. 1962.

Savery's sister, Christine, wrote for young men and boys, and I read her books for comparison. This is one of the better ones.

---. The Far-Farers. London: Lutterworth Press. 1960.

This is another book by Savery's sister.

---. Journey with Mark. London: Lutterworth. 1965.

This was the most popular of Christine Savery's books.

---. Letter to Joan Lake accompanying a copy of Emma autographed by Constance Savery and inscribed with the date Jan. 24, 1980. Merrybent, 8 Dairy Lane, Dumbleton, Evesham WR11 6TP.

The letter describes celebrations following the publication of Emma, mentions that Dent, the publisher, accepted the manuscript by return mail, regrets that Dent used 'another lady' rather than the author's name, and remarks that "Constance now aged 82 still writes..." and "...has been at it from the age of 3!"

---. Pilgrim's Logbook. Anderson, IN: Warner Press. 1973

Part diary, part guidebook, and part devotional, this is Chris Savery's description of the Holy Land for those who cannot journey there in person.

---. The Raven Flew North. Stirling: Stirling Tract Enterprise. Undated with 1952 inscription.

Unlike the books from Lutterworth, this one spells the author's name Christine, rather than Chris. As I mention elsewhere, what I like best about the book is a note from the publisher on the dust-wrapper:

Parents are advised, when giving their children this book, to arrange beforehand a definite understanding as to what constitutes a reasonable bedtime hour.

---. Red Knights from hy brasil. London: C.S.S.M. 1955.

A lively tale, set in Ireland, with complications aplenty.

---. The Siege of Blackbrae. London: Lutterworth Press. 1971. Reprinted 1981.

The book isn't inspired. Neither characters nor plot are memorable, and the conclusion is a routine homily; however, it remained in print for many years.

Savery, Doreen. Colour-Blind. London: Victory Press. 1956.

Colour-Blind is a pleasant, but rather conventional, love story set in Switzerland.

---. Sorrel's Secret. London: Victory Press. 1960. Reprinted 1967.

Another of Savery's sisters, Doreen wrote far fewer books than either Constance or Christine, but this one proved popular and remains easily available.

Savery, J. M., Rev. "The Book" and its Story. London: Samuel Bagster and Sons Limited. 1911.

I bought this on the assumption that it was written by Savery's father, John Manly Savery, a pastor. The Bodleian Library Catalogue lists the author as John Manby Savery, but the British Library gives John Manly Savery. I presume the error is at the Bodleian. Savery was a man of his times, writing conservatively with a dutiful respect for Protestant martyrs, but showing a keen interest in contemporary archeology and citing its findings.

Schimmelpenninck, M(ary) A(nn). Select Memoirs of Port Royal, vol. 1, 4th ed. London: Hamilton, Adams & Co. 1835. Vol 2, Fifth Ed., London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts. 1858

Savery wrote about this author's life in The Attic Bookshelf: A Rose-Coloured Performance. The Port Royal memoirs were mentioned only in passing, but it was the only example of the author's work that I was able to find and read. I am indebted to its clear exposition for what follows.

The abbey of Port Royal was established in 1204, but fell into "a lamentable and awful degree of relaxation" until it was cleansed and revitalized by Marie Angelique Arnauld, who received a political appointment as abbess when she was a young girl, underwent a religious conversion, survived a dangerous illness, and emerged at nineteen years old so firmly committed to her profession that she turned the abbey into a celebrated seat of piety and learning. Unfortunately, the learning derived from Jansenius, who so offended the Jesuits that they succeeded in having the Port Royal community excommunicated as heretics, hounded and dispersed its nuns, and saw its buildings razed to the ground. Few victims have been so forgiving of their enemies or so joyful in adversity.

I purchased the second volume some time after the first. There is a third volume to the Longman edition that I have not seen.

Sheldon, Charles M. His Brother's Keeper. London: Frederick Warne & Co. 1899.

Savery adapted Sheldon's book in 1936 to create a Service of Song with the same title. The book was read a chapter at a time by Sheldon to his congregation on successive Sunday evenings. The congregation did not thereby escape hearing sermons.

---. In His Steps. Philadelphia: Henry Altemus Company. 1899?

Like His Brother's Keeper, q.v., this book was read by Sheldon to his congregation and introduced the question 'What would Jesus do?' as a guide to Christian behavior. In 1935 Savery used Sheldon's words to create a Service of Song. This Service is very, very difficult to find, but Sheldon's book, reprinted and updated, is easily available.

Sherwood, Mrs. (Mary Martha). The History of Little George and His Penny. Second American Ed.. Hartford: Goodwin & Co. 1824.

Measuring just 2-7/8 by 5-3/8 inches, this is one of the titles cited by Savery in The Attic Bookshelf: Some Small Pink Books. George would like to have "a great deal of money," but his grandfather is only willing to give him a penny with the promise of half-a-crown if the penny is spent wisely. Three times the offer is repeated, and three times George fails. Mrs. Sherwood brings George alive, so we forgive her the heavy morality that accompanies her tale.

---. Little Henry and His Bearer. Edinburgh: William P. Nimmo & Co. 1881.

This may have been a small pink book in its time, see Waste Not, Want Not below, but it is a dull red now, and I suspect it was red when it was new. Poor Henry never had a chance. Only by dying young with the praise of Jesus on his lips could he hope to convert his Hindu bearer and his worldly mother. The bearer, Boosy, was a heathen to Mrs. Sherwood, but he was love personified to Little Henry, and it is hard to draw adequate comfort from this account of him on the last page:

He was received into Mr. Smith's family, and removed with him to a distant part of India, where shortly after he renounced caste, and declared himself a Christian. After due examination, he was baptized, and continued till his death (which happened not long after) a sincere Christian.

---. Waste Not, Want Not. London: The Religious Tract Society. Undated with 1879 inscription.

As an author of improving books, Mrs. Sherwood was cited by Savery in The Attic Bookshelf: Some Small Pink Books. The heroine of Sherwood's story, Mary, is the daughter of the widow Fairchild who "never spared correction when it was necessary that it should be used." Further, "it was not possible that she should afford to send her to school, neither did she wish it." Mary is put out to service with Mrs. Shirley, who is godly, but almost as poor as the widow and leaves nothing when she dies five years later. Thereafter, Mary works hard, supports her mother and lives happily with the blessings of the Lord. Another girl, less well-instructed than Mary, comes to a miserable end. I have seen two identical editions, both with 1879 inscriptions, but the cover of one is blue and the other is red.

Sims, Sue and Hilary Claire. The Encyclopædia of Girls' School Stories, v. 1. Aldershop, Hants : Brookfield, VT: Ashgate. 2000. 351-361, 385-392.

This useful book is expensive, but available as an interlibrary loan. If you are very patient, you can find an inexpensive used copy in good condition that has been discarded by a library. The biographical information about Savery is short, complimentary, and contemporary (1996). It is short, because Savery wrote few books about schools. The compliments are significant, because the encyclopædia is anything but complimentary about the evangelistic genré. It is contemporary, because one of the authors spoke to Savery on the phone and found her, aged 98 or 99, 'mentally alert and interested in everything.'

Smetham, James. Letters. London: MacMillan and Co. 1892.

In her last review for METHODIST MAGAZINE, The Attic Bookshelf: The Letters of James Smetham, Savery had such praise for this book that I picked it up with unreasonable expectations and found them, unreasonably, satisfied.

Spence, Basil and Hank Snoek. Out of the Ashes. London: Geoffrey Bles Ltd. 1963.

When the people of Coventry, with some help from the Queen of England, determined that a new building should be built on the site of their bombed out medieval cathedral, it was only natural that a beautiful coffee-table book should be published in celebration. This is it. Just before World War II ended, Savery wondered what, if anything, might be done: Experiment in Cooperation.

Starr, Leonara. To Please Myself. London: Herbert Jenkins, Ltd. N.d. [1948?].

Savery writes of a book by Starr that mentions the Savery sisters, but the quotation is not in this pleasant set of Southwold reminiscences.

---. To Please Myself Again. London: Herbert Jenkins. 1952.

See Starr, above. The quotation is not here either. Starr isn't plowing any new ground, and this still pleasing sequel is less engaging than the original.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Penguin Books. 1986.

Savery's article, I Must Read them Again: "Uncle Tom's Cabin", led me to read the classic again. The introduction by Ann Douglas in this edition was informative.

Trussel's EclectiCity. Access at //www.trussel.com/ .

If you want to know more about the background of this site, you will have to contact its author at steve@trussel.com. There is an astonishing amount of information here for anyone looking for a book (or any number of other things). There are scores of links to libraries, book-sellers, and other useful (and not so useful) web sites. Caveat emptor. What you see is what you get, but there are many worse places to spend an evening. Navigation is easier with one of the more popular web browsers. When I attempted to reach this site on 7 May 09, I was unsuccessful, but it was there when I tried again in 2012 and 2024.

NOTE: For Tucker, Charlotte Maria, see A.L.O.E.

Turner, Patricia. Constantly Satisfying: The books of Constance Savery in FOLLY No. 51, Sue Sims (Ed.), Bournemouth. Autumn 2007. 2-7.

As Turner wrote to me asking for information for her article and was generous in acknowledging her sources, I must praise her article, which reprints the Savery titles listed in Something about the Author and comments about a dozen of them including what is probably the only review in print of The Memoirs of Jack Chelwood.

Vardy, Winifred I. King Edward VI High School for Girls, Birmingham, 1883-1925. London: Earnest Benn Limited. 1928.

I bought this book in hopes of finding Savery's name and was not disappointed. The book ends with a 'University Honours List' with 500 names on it. The seventeenth name is W. I. Vardy, which may account for the list being there at all. Savery is listed twice:

1917. . W. Savery	Oxford, S.	Eng.   Ent. Schol.
1920. . C.W. Savery	Oxford, St. Hilda's	Eng., Final. Hons. II

She received her M.A. after this book was published. Oxonians are rare. When Savery was listed in 1917, she was only the eighth since 1887, while Birmingham and Cambridge had over a hundred each. Savery's sister Christine is listed as an Oxonian for 1925.

Mr. Gaul, cf. Mr. Gaul's Party, was as appreciated by Vardy as he was by Savery. The school served as a model for "King Arthur's School" in Redhead at School and Improving Inky.

Vaughan, Henry, Silurist. Poems (in two volumes). London: Lawrence & Bullen Ltd. 1896.

Savery likes Vaughan better than I do, perhaps because he was a twin. Cf. I must Read them Again: The Candle Saint: Henry Vaughan. These two volumes overwhelmed me, but I didn't put up much of a fight.

Viguers, Ruth Hill, Marcia Dalphin, and Bertha Mahony Miller. Illustrators of Children's Books : 1946/1956. Boston: The Horn Book. 1958. 299 pp.

Savery's name is listed as an author illustrated by Helen Torrey. Clifford Geary also illustrated one of her books during this period, but that attribution is not made under Geary's name. Marguerite De Angeli, Robert Lawson, and Henry Pitz, who illustrated for Savery at other times, are also listed.

Walton, Izaak. Lives. London: Falcon Educational Books. 1951.

Izaak Walton, Savery tells us in I Must Read them Again: Izaak Walton's 'Lives', is more honored than those he commemorated. There is gentle wit in these pages, but also much detail in which the wit can get lost. Skip freely!

Walton, Mrs. O. F. A Peep Behind the Scenes. London: The Religious Tract Society. Undated with 1929 inscription.

Despite the comment by Christopher Wright in the annotation that follows, I found the original version of Mrs. Walton's book no sadder than most morality tales, nor did I find its Christian message either concealed or subversive. As Awful Examples go, it is rather a failure. Savery also wrote an essay about the story in 1940 for THE SUNDAY AT HOME, q.v.

--- Ibid. South Plainsfield, NJ : Bridge Publishing, Inc. Revised and updated by Christopher Wright. 1982.

A Peep Behind the Scenes was one of the four Awful Examples defended by Savery's In Defense of 'All That'. I purchased the book to assess her viewpoint, only to discover that Wright had

...peeled away a lot of the sadness, and found a beautiful story underneath.

That was all very well, but the revision made this edition useless for my purposes, and I list it here as an Awful Example in its own right.

Ward, Martha E. and Dorothy A. Marquardt. Authors of Books for Young People. New York: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 1964. 222.

This is not a handsome book, and it has little to say about individual authors, but it does manage to cram in over a thousand of them, including Savery, who gets six sentences.

Ward, E. Honor. The Girl's Own Paper Index. Access from www.lutterworth.com/gop/.

The GIRL'S OWN PAPER (GOP) published only one Savery story: Ah! Did You Once--? Ward's index identified its volume (60) and starting page number (151) correctly enabling me to find the story. It was even more useful to know that I need not search issues of the GOP for any others.

Webster's Biographical Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts: G. & C. Merriam Company. 1972.

The twenty-four articles that Savery wrote for METHODIST MAGAZINE sent me again and again to this volume for further information about the authors she reviewed. In her historical works, Savery often refers to contemporary figures, and I was able to confirm how accurate those references were. In The Memoirs of Jack Chelwood, for example, a promontory on the fictitious St. Florian's Isle is named Shovell Point for Sir Cloudesley Shovell, who had a distinguished naval career between 1676 and 1707. Shovell is only one of forty-eight persons mentioned in that single novel, and I have not included another dozen from the Bible.

Wetherell, Elizabeth (pseudonym for Susan Warner). The Wide, Wide World. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1876.

This thick book with its tiny print must have pleased those who wanted their money's worth, but I hope Savery read a more legible copy before writing I Must Read them Again: 'The Wide, Wide, World.'

Wilson, John. The Recreations of Christopher North. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Company. 1854.

Savery's The Attic Bookshelf: Laurels Not Wholly Faded makes the case for Prof. John Wilson, but I find I haven't the patience.

Wood, Ken. Scribbling Rivalry / Traditional verse forms. Internet. 2002-2007.

I found Wood's definitions and examples helpful when I was annotating Savery's verse. Alas, the traditional verse forms are no longer on his web site.

Writer's Digest. The Writer's Market. Cincinnati: The Writer's Digest. 1925.

The Writer's Digest began publishing The Writer's Market in 1922 and has issued it every year since. The 1925 hardback edition has 124 pages, but almost half of them were left blank for 'Author's Memoranda," and they are not large: 4-1/4 by 6-1/2 in. By contrast, my 2002 edition is a trade paperback, 6-7/8 by 9-1/8 in., with 1100 pages of closely-packed, small print. Despite its size, I value the 1925 book for what the publishers it quotes had to tell authors such as Savery, who was beginning her career at that time.

Yonge, Charlotte. The Book of Golden Deeds. New York: The Christian Herald. 1895.

This book belongs properly in the piece called The Attic Bookshelf: Some Small Pink Books, but I read it in response to I Must Read them Again: Charlotte Yonge's Stories. From Regulus to Arctic explorers, Yonge celebrates the human spirit.

---. The Heir of Redclyffe. New York: A.L. Burt. Undated.

Savery is so insistent in her admiration of Yonge, e.g., Books for Black-Outs in THE TIMES of London, that it was essential I read her best-known novel.

ZVAB. The Professional European Catalogue of Antiquarian Books on the Internet. Munchen: Zentrales Verzeichnis Antiquarischer Bucher, Mediantis AG. 1996-2007. Access at www.zvab.com/ .

If you prefer English, the web site will redirect you to http://www.choosebooks.com, cf. ChooseBooks.

Text of this web site © 2010-2024 by Eric Schonblom. The unpublished works of Constance Savery are reproduced with the permission of her literary heir and copyright owner, J.D. Hummerstone. Revised 28 July 2024.