Beyond the Wild Wood

Facts On File Inc. Very Good/Very Good. 1986. Hard Cover. Sm 4to 0871967405 Dust jacket complete except price clipped. Original cloth boards with bright gilt titling on spine. Illustrated end papers. No ownership marks. Numerous photographs. 224 pages clean and tight. The Wind in the Willows is among the best-loved and best-known titles in English literature, yet Kenneth Grahame has remained an elusive figure about whom little has been written. Born in 1859, Kenneth Grahame became the youngest Secretary of the Bank of England but this public image masked a man whose dream-world was in eternal conflict with reality. In Grahame's world time stood still - the innocence of childhood was preserved and England was the rural paradise that existed before railways and motor-cars invaded the countryside and industrialization destroyed traditional village life. In 1895, a collection of Grahame's essays about Victorian childhood was published as The Golden Age. It became a minor classic of its day. In 1908, Grahame introduced the world to Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad and The Wind in the Willows has since become a perennial best-seller. In this abridged version of Peter Green's classic biography of Kenneth Grahame, an image emerges of a man whose private life, social background and creative talent were inextricably interwoven. Beyond the Wild Wood is the first book to illustrate fully the life, times and countryside of Kenneth Grahame. It is essentially the story behind The Wind in the Willows. .