A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF
HENRY WILLIAMSON’S WRITING

This list is offered as a guide to the extent of Henry Williamson’s writing. It is not exhaustive and only first and major editions are given although many titles have modern paperback editions. In order to make the list more readily comprehensible, the two main series The Flax of Dream and A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight have been grouped together, although this slightly distorts the chronological order.
 

For items published since Henry Williamson's death, see HWS Publications page.

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Books about Henry Williamson

THE FLAX OF DREAM – a tetralogy. The four novels follow the life of Willie Maddison.
Vol. 1 The Beautiful Years Collins, 1921; rev. edn Faber, 1929; Dutton, USA, 1929. The lonely childhood of Willie, whose mother dies in childbirth, in the West Country in the early years of this century, who finds solace in the countryside around his home.
Vol. 2 Dandelion Days Collins, 1922; rev. edn Faber, 1930; Dutton, USA, 1930. Continues the story of Willie's childhood, with some hilarious accounts of escapades both at the local grammar school and roaming the countryside.
Vol. 3 The Dream of Fair Women Collins, 1924; Dutton, USA, 1924; Rev. edn Faber, 1931; Dutton, USA, 1931. Willie Maddison returns from the First World War and isolates himself in a remote Devon cottage, where he begins to write books but he is embroiled in a disastrous love affair with Evelyn Fairfax.
Vol. 4 The Pathway Cape, 1928; Dutton, USA, 1929. Willie returns to his writing and meets up with his childhood friend Mary Ogilvie. Their love story is set in idyllic scenes of the Devon countryside, but Mary’s family object and in despair Willie decides to leave Devon but is drowned as he tries to cross the estuary. His bereft friends hold a Shelley-like scene on the beach to bid him farewell.
A further revised edition in one volume, Faber, 1936. (This is considered to be the definitive edition, but many readers prefer the original versions.)
The Lone Swallows Collins, 1922; rev. edn illus. by Charles F. Tunnicliffe, Putnam, 1933. (This was HW’s second book.)
 A collection of lyrical essays describing the minutely observed sights and sounds of the countryside in the early years of the twentieth century.
The Peregrine’s Saga, and Other Stories of the Country Green Collins, 1923; pub. as The Sun Brothers, Dutton, USA, 1925; edn illus. C.F. Tunnicliffe, Putnam, 1935.
 A collection of vivid short stories which include badgers, ravens, peregrine falcons and a humble roadside weed.
The Old Stag Putnam, 1926; edn illus. C.F. Tunnicliffe, Putnam, 1933.
 

A further collection of short stories, the central one being ‘Stumberleap’ (the old stag) but including the amusing ‘Flight of the Pale Pink Pyjamas’ and the highly dramatic account of ‘The Yellow Boots’.
Tarka the Otter Putnam, 1927; Dutton, USA, 1928; edn illus C.F. Tunnicliffe, Putnam, 1932; Penguin, 1937; Puffin p/b 1949 to present day; edn illus. by film stills, intro. Richard Williamson, Bodley Head, 1978; edn illus. by photographs by Simon McBride, intro. Richard Williamson, Webb & Bower, 1985; The Folio Society, 1995.
 The story follows the birth, ‘joyful water-life’ and inevitable death by otter-hounds of a male otter in the rivers and countryside of North Devon.
The Linhay on the Downs limited edn. Woburn Books, 1929.
 

 

 Two short stories: a ‘linhay’ is a shelter for animals on the moors and the story tells the simple tale of two people who take shelter there from a sudden storm. The second story is about an old woman gathering sticks on the beach. They are superb examples of the short story genre.
The Ackymals limited edn. Windsor Press, USA, 1929.
 
 An allegory linking the death of a baby with the shooting of small birds wrongly supposed to be stripping the pea harvest of John Kift. Incorporated into The Village Book.
The Wet Flanders Plain limited edn. Beaumont Press, 1929; Faber, 1929; Dutton, USA, 1929; edn with intro. Richard Williamson and additional material, Gliddon Books, 1987; p/b ditto.
 Henry Williamson’s thoughts as he returned to the battlefields ten years after the end of the First World War, with the underlying theme of homage to all those who had died.

The Patriot’s Progress  Sutton Publishing, 19 August 1999, p/b edn, ISBN 0 7509 2234 6, £6.99. (Co-edition with the Imperial War Museum.)

 

This starkly powerful novel of one man’s experiences in World War I captures to the full the grim flavour of the ordinary man caught up in a conflict over which he has no control. John Bullock is the archetypal common soldier, fighting from blind patriotism for a cause he does not understand, living through the bewilderment of his brutal initiation into army life, and finally facing the terrors of trench warfare on the battlefields of France. Illustrated with the lino-cuts of William Kermode, this book draws on Williamson’s own war experiences, and is a vivid and unforgettable portrayal of the war machine.

'Its power lies in the descriptions, which have not been surpassed in any other war book within my knowledge... It amounts to a tremendous, and overwhelming, an unanswerable indictment of the institution of war.’ – Arnold Bennett

‘Henry Williamson’s Great War classic survives very strongly.’ – New Statesman

‘It is a masterpiece...’ – Harpers & Queen
The Village Book Cape, 1930.

 

 The stories in this volume provide a true picture of life in the village of Georgeham and the surrounding countryside in the 1920s, covering Winter and Spring.
The Labouring Life Cape, 1932; pub. as As the Sun Shines, Dutton, USA, 1932.
 A companion volume, covering Summer and Autumn capturing village life at a time long lost.
The Wild Red Deer of Exmoor limited edn. 1931; Faber, 1931.

 

 Puts forward the arguments for and against the hunting of deer in a chatty and story like way, showing us that the theme is not black and white but all shades of grey. It shows us this problem has existed for many years.
The Star-born edn illus. C.F. Tunnicliffe, Faber, 1933; rev. edn illus. Mildred Eldridge, Faber, 1948.

 

 Supposedly written by the fictional Willie Maddison of The Flax of Dream novels, this book is thus a pendant to that tetralogy, but its strange mystical content makes it stand apart. The story is set in the gorge of the River Lyd on Dartmoor, but has a surreal element as the spirit world of nature pervades our world, until we no longer know which is the real world.
The Gold Falcon or the Haggard of Love Faber, 1933; rev. edn Faber, 1937.
 

 

 Originally published anonymously, this book caused a great stir when it first appeared, as it contains several caustic vignettes of well-known writers and critics of the time. It is the story of Manfred, war-hero and poet, who flees to America to seek new experience but all goes wrong yet again, until he pilots himself back across the Atlantic in a desperate attempt to reach his dying wife in England, but midway crashes into the sea and after a dying vision, drowns.
On Foot in Devon Maclehose, 1933.

 

 A walk undertaken by Williamson in 1933 along both the north and south coasts of Devon, lifted out of the ordinary by the lively conversation Henry has with himself along the way.
The Linhay on the Downs and Other Adventures in the Old and New Worlds Cape, 1934. Contains the important essay ‘Reality in War Literature’.
 Apart from printing the original stories and many more about Devon and the English countryside, a large section is devoted to articles written during a visit he made to Georgia and South Carolina in the USA.
Devon Holiday Cape, 1935.
 Ostensibly a walk over Exmoor and Dartmoor with close friends, it is again the conversation which gives this book a twist.
Salar the Salmon Faber, 1935; edn illus. C.F. Tunnicliffe, Faber, 1936; Penguin, 1949; edn illus. Michael Loates, with intro. Richard Williamson, Webb & Bower, 1987.
 A year in the life of Salar (leaper) in the rivers running off the western side of Exmoor, showing the reality of exhilaration and danger of his water-existence.
Goodbye West Country Putnam, 1937, Little Brown, USA, 1938.

 

 A journal recording Williamson’s wide-ranging thoughts and activities over one year as he prepares to leave the West Country. This is the most truly autobiographical volume he wrote.
The Children of Shallowford illus. with family photographs, Faber, 1939; rev. edn Faber, 1959; new illus. edn with Afterword by Richard Williamson, Macdonald, 1978.
 An enchanting picture of Williamson’s family growing up in the freedom of the countryside around their home next to the River Bray.
The Story of a Norfolk Farm Faber, 1941.

 

 Williamson bought a very run-down farm on the north Norfolk coast in 1937. This is the story of his struggle to reclaim it within the problems of rural England just before the onset of the Second World War.
Genius of Friendship: T.E. Lawrence Faber, 1941; Henry Williamson Society, 1988.
 Tells the story of the friendship between Williamson and Lawrence.
As the Sun Shines Faber, 1941.
 Using the title of the American edition of Labouring Life, this volume is in fact a utilitarian war-time volume containing extracts from many of Williamson’s books.
The Incoming of Summer  Collins, undated.
 A further volume of extracts, possibly for use by schools.
Life in A Devon Village Faber, 1945. Tales of a Devon Village Faber, 1945.
 These companion volumes were rearrangements of the stories from the earlier Village Book and Labouring Life.
The Sun in the Sands Faber, 1945.
 

 

 Starting with Williamson’s life in the years immediately following the First World War, and supposedly autobiographical, this book actually drifts off into fictional scenes of what might have been!
The Phasian Bird Faber, 1948.
 

 

 Set on the Norfolk farm, Williamson entwines the stories of the struggles of the stranger, Wilbo, to improve the farm in the difficult war years with that of the rare Reeve’s pheasant’s struggle for survival. In the end they both die from the senseless greed and ignorance of poachers and soldiers. The climactic scene of death at a time of severe frost is classic Williamson.
The Scribbling Lark Faber, 1949.
 

 

 Ostensibly a children’s story about two monkeys, Zig and Zag, who escape from a zoo and in a hilarious romp disguise themselves and an old horse and win The Derby, this book is actually an allegory about social conditions.
Tales of Moorland and Estuary Macdonald, 1953.
 A selection of short stories set in Devon, including an extraordinary ghost story.
A Clearwater Stream Faber, 1958.
 A more factual account of Williamson’s life in preparing the River Bray at Shallowford for salmon fishing at the time of Salar the Salmon.
Some Nature Writers and Civilisation The Wedmore Memorial Lecture 1959 for the Royal Society of Literature. Pub. in Essays by Divers Hands, Vol. xxx, the Proceedings of the Royal Society Literature; Rep. as a separate pamphlet; printed in Threnos etc., Henry Williamson Society, 1994.
 Williamson’s thoughts on W.H. Hudson and Richard Jefferies.
In The Woods, a biographical fragment Saint Albert’s Press for the Aylesford Review, 1960.
 A description of a trip taken during the Second World War to harvest logs from a small wood in Devon.
A CHRONICLE OF ANCIENT SUNLIGHT - The series follows the life of Phillip Maddison from the time of his birth at the end of the nineteenth century until the early 1950s. Although based on the life of Henry Williamson himself and his family and friends, there is a very large fictional element that enhances the overall structure. The work as a whole shows life in England in the first half of the twentieth century, a time of upheaval and change encompassing two world wars, in great detail.
Vol. 1 The Dark Lantern Macdonald, 1951; 1984; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1994.
 Sets the scene of the last years of the nineteenth century in south-east London following the life of Richard Maddison (based on Williamson’s father) as he meets and courts Hetty, describing their strange secret marriage and the birth of their son, Phillip.
Vol. 2 Donkey Boy Macdonald, 1952; 1984; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1994.
 Phillip’s young life as a difficult child with a worried father and anxious mother is intertwined with the background of the Boer War and the growth of the Suffragette movement.
Vol. 3 Young Phillip Maddison Macdonald, 1953; 1984; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1995.
 Phillip’s schooldays, his first passionate and unrealistic love for the beautiful well-to-do Helena Rolls and his escape into the world of nature. The world of his family is further explored, especially Aunt Dora’s role in the Suffragettes, and includes the loss of the Titanic.
Vol. 4 How Dear Is Life Macdonald, 1954; 1984; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1995.
 Opening with Phillip’s first day at work in the Moon Fire Office in 1913, it leads to his enlistment in the Territorial Army in early 1914 until the inevitable mobilisation when war is declared.
Vol. 5 A Fox Under My Cloak Macdonald, 1955; 1984; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1996.
 Depicts the early months of the war and particularly the 1914 Christmas Truce, which affected the whole of Henry Williamson’s life.
Vol. 6 The Golden Virgin Macdonald, 1957; 1984; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1996.
 Phillip is invalided home after being gassed and lives rather wildly to the horror of his father, but then is sent out for the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, again wounded he returns home. He has been involved with Lily but in the final scene she is killed in a Zeppelin raid over London.
Vol. 7 Love and the Loveless Macdonald, 1958; 1984; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1997.
 Phillip trains as a transport officer and returns to France in charge of donkeys and men in the appalling situation in the Front Lines, leading up to the hopelessness and desolation of Passchendaele.
Vol. 8 A Test to Destruction Macdonald, 1960; 1984; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1997.
Phillip is on home duties in a Suffolk barracks but is determined to return to the Front and is soon back on the Hindenburg Line, where he is temporarily blinded. Back in England Phillip is sent on convalescent leave to the West Country and is awarded the DSO. Then the war ends and Phillip is demobilised.
Vol. 9 The Innocent Moon Macdonald, 1961; 1985; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1998.
 Phillip obtains a lowly post for a London newspaper and begins to write short stories and articles. He pursues a series of unfulfilling love adventures, and then goes to live in the West Country where he meets the gentle childlike Barley.
Vol. 10 It Was the Nightingale Macdonald, 1962; 1985; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1998.
 Phillip and Barley are married and are idyllically happy, and visit the battlefields of France, which disturbs Phillip. Barley becomes pregnant but tragically dies giving birth to Billy. Phillip is distraught but then meets Lucy who comforts him and knowing Billy needs a mother, they marry.
Vol. 11 The Power of the Dead Macdonald, 1963; 1985; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1999. Phillip is farming in the West Country but gets drawn into the financial problems of Lucy’s family. He struggles with his writing and finds himself reliving the battles of the war. He is constantly unhappy and irritable, but eventually meets Felicity, who is like Barley.
Vol. 12 The Phoenix Generation Macdonald, 1965; 1985; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1999.
 The domestic scene remains complicated. Set against the background of the 1930s, this volume explores the rise of Fascism and Phillip goes to Germany where he gets invited to the Nuremberg Rally and is impressed by all he sees. On his return, Phillip buys a farm in East Anglia as the threat of war looms once more.
Vol. 13 A Solitary War Macdonald, 1967, 1985; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1999.
 The difficulties of Phillip’s farming life and the suspicions of the local people in the opening months of the Second World War.
Vol. 14 Lucifer Before Sunrise Macdonald, 1967; 1985; p/b Sutton Publishing, 1999.

 

 Continues the story of life on the Norfolk farm with all its complexity and problems in great detail. Phillip struggles against all odds to make the farm efficient and to write to earn money to keep things going. Increasingly distraught, as the war ends his marriage is over, Billy has been killed in a raid over Germany, and Phillip decides to sell the farm and return to Devon.
Vol. 15 The Gale of the World Macdonald, 1969; 1985; p/b edn Sutton Publishing, 1999.
 
 

 

 Phillip lives alone in a remote and primitive cottage on Exmoor but his life is very complicated. Desperately searching for love and support he turns back and forth from the schizophrenic Laura to his sophisticated cousin Melissa, and Miranda, the young daughter of local friends. Everyone gathers for the traditional annual cricket match in the Valley of the Rocks near Lynton on the North Devon coast. Phillip in despair goes up onto the moor intending to light a huge fire and commit suicide but a huge storm erupts and he is hit by lightning. The torrent pours down the gully of the River Lyn annihilating the people and houses of Lynmouth (based on the real tragic event). Miranda is drowned but Melissa nurses and comforts Philip who, as the series ends, prepares to start writing his great series of novels – his chronicle of his friends in ancient sunlight.

The Henry Williamson Animal Saga Macdonald, 1960;

 (Tarka the Otter, Salar the Salmon, The Epic of Brock the Badger, Chakchek the Peregrine).
Collected Nature Stories Macdonald, 1970; p/b edn Little Brown, 1995; (The Peregrine’s Saga, The Old Stag, Tales of Moorland and Estuary).
The Scandaroon Macdonald, 1972.

 

 Henry Williamson’s last book tells the story of a boy and a pigeon, the pigeon-racing world, and the poisoning of peregrine falcons who kill the pigeons to eat. The human details and descriptive narrative combine to make a classic story.
Books edited by Henry Williamson include:
An Anthology of Modern Nature Writing   Nelson, 1936.
Richard Jefferies: Selections of his Work Faber, 1937
Hodge and his Masters, Richard Jefferies Methuen, 1937
Norfolk Life, by Lilias Rider Haggard Faber, 1943
My Favourite Country Stories Lutterworth Press, 1946
Unreturning Spring: Being the Poems, Sketches, Stories & Letters of James Farrar   Williams & Norgate, 1950.
‘Introductions’ by Henry Williamson in other books include:
Douglas Bell A Soldier’s Diary of the Great War  
James Farrar The Unreturning Spring   Williams & Norgate, 1950; reprinted in Threnos etc., HWS, 1994 (q.v.).
John Heygate Decent Fellows Cape, 1930; intro. in USA edn only; reprinted in Threnos etc., see below
Victor Yeates Winged Victory 2nd imp. Cape, 1935; reprinted in Threnos etc., see below
The Wiper’s Times Foreword by Henry Williamson, compiled by Patrick Beaver Peter Davies, 1973

For items published since Henry Williamson's death, see HWSoc. Publications page.

Society Online Bookshop

Books about Henry Williamson