This new Wordsworth Collector’s Edition of Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 classic will make an attractive addition to any child’s library, or any grown-up’s for that matter. With a stylish cover illustration, compact hardback format, and gleaming gold foil, it makes the perfect present.
As for the story, readers of seven and upwards who love nature, animals and adventures of a gentler kind will be entertained by the cast of anthropomorphised characters and enthralled by the pastoral setting. In many ways, the animals aren’t animals at all - they’re essentially human, a gaggle of wealthy gentlemen with plenty of leisure time for “messing about on the river”. Amusingly and fittingly, the author’s original title was Mr Mole and His Mates, for this classic has friendship at its heart.
HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
'There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.'
A timeless and celebrated children's classic, Grahame's The Wind in the Willows has delighted for nearly 100 years. In the idyllic English countryside, Mole, Badger, Rat and Toad encounter adventure at every turn - whether it's gipsy caravans, Rat's love for the river, or Toads passion for motorcars, the loveable friends and their escapades continue to delight children and adults alike.
Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh, Scotland but in early childhood, after being orphaned, moved to live with his grandmother on the banks of the River Thames in southern England. He was an outstanding pupil at St Edward's School in Oxford and wanted to attend Oxford University but was not allowed to do so by his guardian on grounds of cost. Instead he was sent to work at the Bank of England in 1879, and rose through the ranks until retiring as its Secretary in 1908 due to ill health. In addition to ill health, Grahame's retirement was precipitated in 1903 by a strange, possibly political, shooting incident at the bank. Grahame was shot at three times, all of them missed. Grahame's marriage to Elspeth Thomson was an unhappy one. They had only one child, a boy named Alastair, who was born blind in one eye and was plagued by health problems throughout his short life. Alastair eventually committed suicide on a railway track while an undergraduate at Oxford University, two days before his 20th birthday on 7 May, 1920. Out of respect for Kenneth Grahame, Alastair's demise was recorded as an accidental death. Kenneth Grahame died in Pangbourne, Berkshire in 1932.
