Posted by Wayne Hammond on April 13, 1998 at 15:15:42:
6) Jonathan Cape's records indicate that 4 pages were replaced before publication -- that is, cut out of the finished book and new pages inserted -- between p. 129 and p. 144 of the first printing of _We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea_ (Cape, 1937). The statement in the records could mean, however, 4 leaves (that is, 8 pages) rather than 4 pages replaced, if the record-keeper was not precise. In any case: if anyone has a copy of the first printing -- and I am interested _only_ in that printing, no others -- and is willing to open it to pp. 129-44 and look in the inside margins of the book for signs of leaves removed and new ones glued in, then may I ask: which pages were replaced? And how exactly were they replaced? As separate leaves (a leaf is 2 pages = front and back), or as a fold or folds (a fold is a sheet folded once to make 4 pages)? Sorry, this is a very technical question, and I can't even say why it's significant -- I don't know yet. Oh, and there should be a typographical error on p. 130, three lines from the bottom, where 'a flat top' has become 'ap flap to'.
7) Does anyone have a copy of the first American printing (only) of _We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea_ (Macmillan, 1938) in the dust-jacket? If so, are the words on the lower part of the jacket spine ('RANSOME | MACMILLAN') all in white, or in white 'shadowed' in black? Also, what does it say in the lower right corner of the front flap? The only jackets I've seen have this corner clipped; but one of these just shows the beginning of what could be 'Price $2.00' -- except that this statement is printed at the top of the flap, so would be superfluous at the bottom.
8) I have a reference to a Gregg Press, 1981 edition of _We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea_, with an introduction by Beryl B. Beatley, illustrations by Ransome, in the Gregg Press Children's Literature Series. Can anyone confirm this information? And does the introduction say that the children in the story never existed, or are wholly fictitious, or something along those lines? (You'd think that, living in Massachusetts, I could get a copy of this edition, published in Boston, on interlibrary loan, but I can't, and it's out of print.)
Wayne Hammond
Wayne.G.Hammond@williams.edu