Richard Jefferies' Letters to Aunt Ellen
In his letters to Aunt Ellen Harrild, written between 1856 and 1873, Richard Jefferies recalls his memories of Sydenham where he lived with his aunt during early childhood. He recounts his uncle’s ‘electric machine’, Christmas parties at Round Hill House and visits to Hastings and Lewes with his aunt and the young Baxters. Richard also describes early bouts of ill-health – no doubt, the early symptoms of tuberculosis that eventually killed him. In others he confided his failings, humiliations, ambitions and plans as a young man. His letters reveal his naϊvety and are very touching.
Cover image of Jefferies Farm at Coate: oil painting by Kate Tryon circa 1910.
These letters are published in full for the first time with the permission of the British Library. The book was published on 6 November 2009 in softback and includes illustrations and photographs of people and places portrayed in the letters.
Richard Jefferies' Letters to Aunt Ellen
Petton Books
Soft-back with 30 illustrations in black and white.
ISBN: 978-0-9563751-0-0
UK Price £4.50. Second class postage UK £1.
Richard Jefferies: an Index of themes, thoughts and observations
Richard Jefferies: an Index of themes, thoughts and observations provides a basic index to the principal elements in Jefferies’ published work (the latter are also listed in the book in date order of publication). It is partly a word-index (e.g. names of species) and partly a subject-index (e.g. Nature and Man, Farming, Religion) – the emphasis is on the non-fictional writings but where fictional works are explored, the Index includes passages where Jefferies makes personal statements or observations that connect with his main themes.
Where possible, the Index refers to the most commonly available edition of Jefferies’ works. The book has been printed in hard-back as a companion book to The Forward Life of Richard Jefferies.
Richard Jefferies: an Index of themes, thoughts and observations
By Hugoe Matthews and Phyllis Treitel
Published in 2008 by Petton Books.
Hardback, 250 pages.
ISBN: 978-0-9522813-2-0
Price £15. Postage (UK): £2.50
The Forward Life of Richard Jefferies
The Forward Life of Richard Jefferies: a chronological study documents events or facts pertinent to Richard Jefferies’ life that can be dated with reasonable accuracy. The information is placed in chronological order from the date of marriage of his parents to his death. It is a most useful reference book and a good read.
The Forward Life of Richard Jefferies: a chronological study
By Hugoe Matthews and Phyllis Treitel
Published in 1994 by Petton Books.
Hardback (green cloth cover), 244 pages.
ISBN: 978-0-9522813-0-9
Price £12. Postage (UK): £2.50
The Interpreter: a biography of Richard Jefferies
For over forty years, Audrey Smith’s biography of Richard Jefferies has been hidden away. In 2007 her son, John, discovered the volume of research undertaken by his mother that included this work. He donated a copy of the typescript to the Richard Jefferies Society and noted that: “Though time has moved on, at the least the material will act as a snapshot of the state of Richard Jefferies’ studies at the time, and of course she might still have filled a gap in the knowledge by accessing sources now unavailable to present researchers.”
The Interpreter: a biography of Richard Jefferies
By Audrey Smith
Published in 2008 by Blue Gate Books.
ISBN: 978-0-9555874-3-6
Softback, 200 pages.
Introduction by Prof Eric Jones, illustrations & photographs.
Price £5. Postage (UK): £1.50.
Adventures in the Vale of the White Horse: Jefferies Land
Adventures in the Vale of the White Horse: 'Jefferies Land' by Kate Tryon
Kate Tryon visited ‘Jefferies Land’ six times in the early 1900s. She was an ardent admirer of the nature writing of Richard Jefferies and followed his philosophy of life. Having re-read his works many times, she wanted to capture scenes on canvas that had inspired the author’s words set around Jefferies’ birthplace and home – a small dairy farm at Coate set in the foothills of the North Wessex Downs. Her first visit to north Wiltshire took place in 1910. She wrote: ‘The lark, the nightingale and Richard Jefferies – those are the three things that brought me to England.’ Her ‘adventures’ are told through the third person of Eleanor Hale of Boston, albeit that some of the events relate to Kate’s later visits to the area.
The book is a charming memoir – the writing is fluent, relaxed and often amusing. She knows her Jefferies thoroughly and her quotes and allusions are always apposite. As an American she takes a wry, oblique but deeply affectionate look at English rural society just before the outbreak of the First World War and dispenses much valuable information about the people and places she meets.
The artist’s grand-daughter, Kate Schneider, visited Coate in September 1997. She donated her grandmother’s manuscript. Sheila Povey, who showed the American visitor around the Richard Jefferies Museum, has documented the memoir and added photographs and pictures that only enhance this delightful tale.
The memoir is published in a limited edition of 100 copies one hundred years after it was written. There are about 100 photographs and illustrations, mostly the work of Kate Tryon herself. 27 of her original oil-paintings are reproduced in colour.
Adventures in the Vale of the White Horse: Jefferies Land
By Kate Tryon
Soft-back, 240pp with 100 photographs - 27 in colour
ISBN: 978-0-9563751-1-7
Published by Petton Books on 14 August 2010
Price £12; UK Postage and Packing £1.50
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