Procure Childrens Literary Houses Compiled By Rosalind Ashe Displayed In Manuscript

Literary Houses is a most unusual book, which was originally published in, Two authors have selected eight classic children's books, all of which have a strong sense of place, They have then chosen illustrators to convey what it would be like to live in these dwellings, And "dwellings" is the only appropriate word, since they vary between a medieval castle, a deserted island, a boat, and even a rabbit hole.


"As well as the March family's comfortable home, here is a beached boat, a fortified stockade on a desert island, and a cosy sweetsmelling barn.
Here also is an eighteenth century Boston silversmith's shop, a vast lonely manor house and a medieval castle, "

And now you may have an idea of which books have been selected, They are:

"The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett
"The Sword in the Stone" by T.
H. White
"Little Women" by Lousia May Alcott
"Charlotte's Web" by E, B. White
"David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens
"Johnny Tremain" by Esther Forbes
"Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe and
"Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll

The choice of books is interesting, spanning both English and American literature.
Perhaps this reflects the inclinations of the authors, I can well believe that these might be their own especial favourites,

Rosalind Ashe is a novelist who was born and brought up in Jamaica and Canada, educated at Oxford University and now lives in England.
As well as her novels and articles, short stories and magazine serials, she has also written two companion volumes to this book, called "Literary Houses" and "International Literary Houses".


Her coauthor is the awardwinning American Science Fiction writer Lisa Tuttle, who has written books with George R, R. Martin, as well as many short stories and novels of her own, She is married to the Science fiction writer Christopher Priest, and again, lives in England, on the outskirts of London,

"A book is like a house, It is only after you open the cover, or open the door, that you discover what it is really like, "



And certainly turning each page of this book is a surprise, The font chosen for the text is unusual it has a bold, dense, modern look, There are full colour illustrations, line drawing, maps and plans, Sometimes there will be mostly text, with a border of illustrations, or a small picture included in the text, At other times, there may be a double spead of richly detailed art work, an illustration worthy of being pored over for several minutes.
Each description of the house or dwellingplace and its setting have been pieced together from the author's original text, but the illustrations reveal much extra research into the period furniture, paintings and architectural detail.
The authors and illustrators have evidently gleaned clues from the original text, but there are details of boatbuilding, weaponry, silversmith's tools and so on, which must have some from elsewhere.


The styles for each set of illustrations to the stories varies, Some are lush and saturated with colour, such as those in "The Secret Garden" and "Alice in Wonderland".
Both of these beautiful series of illustrations are by Una Woodruff, I think these are my personal favourites, I loved the pictures of Misselthwaite Manor, marooned on the moors:



and of course those of the garden itself, abandoned for years behind high, ivyclad walls.
Here we get a chance to see it for ourselves, if we just turn the page, . .

These illustrations are unique, owing little or nothing to the illustrators who had come before, not even those to "Alice in Wonderland" which has been illustrated so very many times before most famously by John Tenniel.
Yet the illustrations by Una Woodruff perfectly convey the settings they describe, Una Woodruff has also worked with Lisa Tuttle on the children's story "Catwitch",

"Venturing further in, you can sense the atmosphere and learn from the rooms and how they are furnished something of the people who live there.
You may even wonder what it would be like to live there yourself, "

"The Sword in the Stone" is also quite detailed, using line and wash illustrations, There is a double page spread of every child's dream medieval castle, plus a plan of the "Forest Sauvage", Those illustrations to "Little Women" and "Charlotte's Web" are watercolours and a little sketchier perhaps, The drawings illustrating "David Copperfield" use thick crayon, and are too sketchy and full of movement to be to my taste, although there is quite a neat plan of Mr Peggotty's boathouse, and the interior depicted is surprisingly detailed for such an unforgiving medium.


"Johnny Tremain" is illustrated by Denis Ryan's pictures, Now we are back

to pen and ink wash, with a spectacular illustrated map: a double page spread of Boston Harbour with Charlestown and Roxbury, showing all the inlets, plus plans of the buildings, and oversize pictures of sailing ships:



The interior of the workshop is also beautifully detailed, and facinating to study.
"Robinson Crusoe" uses crayon again, but with a less bold technique, This time the colours are faded, and shaded to give an impressionistic feel,

Each of the eight chapters relates one of the classic stories, using a fictitional narrator, In "The Secret Garden" it is not Colin, or Mary, or Dickon, It is an Other person a different visitor, In "David Copperfield," it is not Master Davy as you might expect, but another visitor, come to see Little Em'ly, and who is shown all over the boat and even shown Davy's own little room.
Sometimes, as in these cases, we never learn the name of the narrator, At other times it is clear, It is the rat who narrates "Charlotte's Web", It is Laurie who narrates "Little Women", It is an owl in "The Sword in the Stone",

This is actually a very effective literary device, It gives us an intimate feel, Also, for those who know these stories well, it reminds us happily of the contents of the book, with a faithful rendering of the original writer's style.
Quite a lot of the events in each story are covered, so I suspect that it works better as an entertainment for adults, rather than an introduction for children or for those who have not yet read the books.


"We have tried to capture some of the flavour of each book, a little of the magic which has made these literary houses seem so real.

So, turn the page, Open a door. "

A lovely and effective idea, presented in an oversize book in order to best show the artwork, A gorgeous gem of a book, discovered on a charity bookstall, that certainly delighted me with reminders of some favourite children's classics and vivid detailed pictures of some of the homes featured in the stories.
So we have the inside and outside of Misselthwaite Manor plus the secret garden itself, a view inside Merlin's tower from the Sword in the Stone and many others.
Looking through the book, studying the drawings and being reminded of the stories made me want to revisit each one with renewed vision.


Mr Peggoty's boat house is featured, Perhaps David Copperfield woukd be considered too weighty a novel for most young readers but looking at the detailed interior of the boathouse would surely whet any imagination to learn more.


Describes and provides illustrations, maps, and plans of eight famous fictional houses featured in "David Copperfield," "Little Women," "Robinson Crusoe," "Alice in Wonderland," "Charlotte's Web" and other classic stories.
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