Arthur Ransome Literary Pages
Guides, Sources, Articles, Reviews, Booklists, Trivia
| Guides | Guides and Indexes to Arthur Ransome, TARS and related works and compilations | |
|
Guide to Swallows & Amazons novels |
Bill Wright | A detailed summary of the characters, plots etc. of the 12½ novels |
|
The Children's Books of Arthur Ransome |
Robert Thompson | A survey of the dozens of editions of the twelve children's books of Arthur Ransome |
| Online Index to Mixed Moss | Peter Hyland | Online Authors and Subjects Index to the TARS publication Mixed Moss current to March 2008, together with a list of major articles published in Despatches. |
| Sources | Some of the sources for the characters, places and events of Ransome's books for children. *=complete text | |
| The Great Frost | Anonymous | From the Kendal and County News, February 1895. |
| *Mehalah: a Story of the Salt Marshes |
S. Baring-Gould | A novel that "has much of the cannibal atmosphere of Secret Water" (Hardyment). |
| * The Riddle of the Sands | Erskine Childers | A Ransome favourite in Captain Flint's houseboat library |
| *Thorstein of the Mere | W.G. Collingwood | With a magnificent introduction by AR himself |
| * Robinson Crusoe | Daniel Defoe | Titty's favourite reading on Wild Cat Island |
| Casabianca | Felicia D. Hemans | "The boy stood on the burning deck" – The poem Nancy and Peggy already knew. |
| *Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse | Joseph Jacobs | The children's story which gave Mavis Altounyan her nickname |
| Bevis: the Story of a Boy | Richard Jefferies | Chapters 10-13 ('Savages') from a 19th century forerunner of Ransome |
| A General History of the Pyrates |
Captain Charles Johnson |
The true stories of those naughty pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny. |
| *The Cruise of the 'Alerte' | E.F. Knight | A hunt for pirate treasure on a crab-infested tropical island. Seems familiar? |
| *The 'Falcon' on the Baltic | E.F. Knight | Find out why this was Ransome's favourite among Knight's books ... |
| *Sailing | E.F. Knight | As used by John in WDMTGTS and by Dick in P&M. |
| *The Fairy Books | Andrew Lang | A childhood favourite of Ransome's', Lang's Fairy Books clearly influenced AR's Old Peter's Russian Tales |
| *
The "Blue Bird" among the Norfolk Reeds |
Walter E.Ledger | An inspiration to Ransome, both as a sailor and as a writer. |
| I Sailed with Chinese Pirates | Aleko E. Lilius | Was Lai Choi San a model for Missee Lee? Read Lilius and decide for yourself. |
| *Sea Songs | John Masefield | The 1906 article in Temple Bar from which AR learned his Sea Chanties. |
| Sir Walter Raleigh's Third Voyage | Thomas Masham | From Hakluyt's Voyages vol. 4 (See Peter Duck, chapter 36). |
| * Moby Dick | Herman Melville | "The greatest of all books ever written" (Arthur Ransome) |
| The First Crossing of Greenland |
Fridtjof Nansen | Text and pictures showing how Nansen developed and trialled his sailing-sledges |
| Farthest North | Fridtjof Nansen | Pictures and text from the other book by Nansen that inspired Winter Holiday |
| *Sailing Alone Around the World |
Joshua Slocum | "Boys who do not like this book ought to be drowned at once." (Arthur Ransome) |
| *Voyage of the 'Liberdade' | Joshua Slocum | "One of the best stories of a small-boat voyage that have ever been written." (AR) |
| * Treasure Island | Robert Louis Stevenson |
A major influence on Arthur Ransome, and on the Amazon pirates. |
| The Holm Bank Hunting Song |
Traditional | As sung by old Mr. Swainson in Swallowdale |
| Articles etc. | A selection of writings that examine Arthur Ransome and his work from a variety of angles | |
| "Sevens - I think that is what this talk is about" |
Taqui Altounyan | Slightly revised version of talk given to South-West region of TARS in 1994 |
| From How the Heather Looks | Joan Bodger | An excerpt from Joan Bodger's book How the Heather Looks recounting an interview with Arthur Ransome in 1958. |
| Whose side was he on? | Roland Chambers | An article in the Guardian on Ransome's "double life" and possible relationship with MI6, and/or the opposition. |
| Motive and Motif in Swallows and Amazons and Pigeon Post |
Kirsty Cochrane | Talk given at Second TARS Literary Weekend, Pulborough, October 1993. |
| The Lost Club | Roger Dobson | Paper on Ransome's Bohemia in London. |
| The Beckfoot Flag | Jill Goulder | How character influences plot in Arthur Ransome |
| A Syrian Boathouse | Jill Goulder | The search for the Altounyan's boathouse and lake in Aleppo |
| Taqui Altounyan | Christina Hardyment | Obituary from the Independent 18th July 2001 |
| Brigit Sanders | Christina Hardyment | Obituary for the 'Ship's Baby', and co-founder of TARS from the Independent, 17th November 1999. |
| It's a Wise Child | Isobel Laidler (with Jill Goulder) |
The characters of the Swallows and the Amazons and how they were affected by the absence of their fathers and by Ransome's relationship with his daughter |
| Dreaming of the deep and crisp and even |
Martin Kettle | The Guardian, 1st January 1994. |
| Namesake Animals in the Swallows & Amazons Books |
Molly McGinnis | Articles about the "Totem" (Namesake) title animals and animals that drive the stories in the Swallows & Amazons books. |
| Reasons for Ransome | Susan Price | Extract from Books for Life (catalogue of Susan Price Collection, National Library of New Zealand). |
| The Chemistry of Pigeon Post | Adam Quinan | Original article |
| The Art of Telling What Happened | Arthur Ransome | An article from The Eyewitness, 4th April 1912, pp 502-3. |
| Swallows and Amazons: How it came to be Written |
Arthur Ransome | An article from the USA journal The Horn Book, Feb. 1931, pp. 38-43. |
| Tea with Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Ransome | Ellen Tillinghast
Report by a member of TARSUS | |
| Arthur Ransome as a Children's Writer |
Nicholas Tucker | Talk given at Second TARS Literary Weekend, Pulborough, October 1993. |
| Mavis Guzelian | Nicholas Tucker | Obituary for the original Titty from the Independent, 8th July 1998. |
| Reviews | Original reviews of books by, and about, Arthur Ransome | |
| The Souls of the Streets (1904) | One review from The Week's Survey | |
| Bohemia in London (1907 & 1912) | Nine reviews to date | |
| Old Peter's Russian Tales (1916) | Three original reviews | |
| Six Weeks in Russia in 1919 (1919) | Seven reviews, from the generally enthusiastic to the definitely hostile.. | |
| Racundra's First Cruise (1923) | Six original reviews | |
| Rod and Line (1929) | One review | |
| Swallows and Amazons (1930) | Seventeen reviews | |
| Winter Holiday (1933) | Eight reviews to date | |
| We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea (1937) | Eight reviews so far | |
| Puffin reissue of 1969 | One review so far, by William Trevor | |
| Autobiography ed. Hart-Davis (1976) | Nine reviews | |
| Signalling from Mars: Letters of Arthur Ransome ed. H. Brogan | Two reviews | |
| Arthur Ransome: a Bibliography by Wayne G. Hammond |
Specially contributed review by Dave Thewlis | |
| A sailor with strange credentials | Jeremy Swift | A review of Racundra's Third Cruise |
| Booklists | These lists, which require revision, concentrate on books that are currently in print. An excellent place to start looking for new books is the TARS Stall; sale of some items is restricted to members of TARS. | |
| Books by Arthur Ransome | ||
| Arthur Ransome Trivia | Trivia about Arthur Ransome's stories, places, things, and all manner of other things. | |
| The Trivia List | Originally compiled by Tim Johns from many contributors, and subsequently maintained by Woll Newall. | |
| The Literary Pages were originally compiled by Tim Johns and are maintained by Andrew Goltz, Woll Newall, and Dave Thewlis. |