Re: Coniston frost, publishing PM


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Posted by John Wilson on January 08, 2009 at 00:18:32 user hugo.

In Reply to: Re: Coniston frost posted by Peter Ceresole on January 06, 2009 at 19:52:10:

PM was published in wartime. As Hugh Brogan explains (Life, pages 386-390) Cape had paper for 25,000 copies at the printers in August 1942 and Howard was “blinded by the prospect of selling 20,000 before Christmas”. AR planned to “telescope two chapters (together) somewhere in the middle”.

But Genia read the rough draft and wrote a devastating letter to AR about it – “adventures spurious, dragged-in unconvincing, farcical” and hoped Howard (of Cape) would use the paper for reprinting others, “anything is better than to have a book to your name of which you are ashamed”.

But in December he showed his mother the book, and as she liked it, “the book has actually gone to the printers” as they had the paper and (even more difficult) the zinc for making the blocks. Her letter caused relief at Capes – one of the partners said to the other “We’ve got the Ransome manuscript" who replied "God bless his mother”. So it was published in 1943. Well I like PM too!

Winter Holiday was based on the Big Frost of 1895, though Windermere was also frozen over from end to end for weeks in 1929 (Life page 19).



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