I have recently found that a miniature painting by Rosemary Sutcliff that I was unaware of sold at Halls auctioneers in Shrewsbury in 2012. The Falconer is a watercolour on ivorine, signed and dated 1952. Rosemary was an expert miniaturist before she became a published author.
CB editions, as it says of itself, publishes “short fiction, poetry, translations and other work which, as the Guardian noted, ‘might otherwise fall through the cracks between the big publishers’ “. CB, I assume, is taken from the initials of the one-person band that is the publishing house, and who I think writes the blog Sonofabook which I have just enjoyed discovering.
Late last month a list of forty books that CB read when eleven or twelve was posted. “I found it in a shoe box after my mother died in 2004. I’ve written here about this list before, but then I put it in a safe place and lost it; now I’ve found it again, disguised as a bookmark, so it gets another airing.”
Rosemary Sutcliff features, unfortunately but understandably for a eleven-or-so-year-old , spelt with an ‘E’; the book was listed as The Eagles of the Ninth (sic), a slight if significant rewording of the title (The Eagle of the Ninth, just one eagle!). Forty years on CB knows well the author and the title:
There are just two women writers on the list, Baroness Orczy and Rosemary Sutcliff. And only one book, I think, that was specifically written for children (Sutcliff’s Eagle of the Ninth). ‘Young adults’ hadn’t yet been invented. Nor, of course, had PlayStations and Xboxes, which left a lot of time to fill.
The full list is:
Source: Sonofabook blog
I recently discovered Felix Felton (1911 – 72) who was a British actor, and a radio director and author. In 1961 he adapted Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Lantern Bearers (published in 1959) for a six-part series for Children’s Hour for BBC Radio. In 1962 he also adapted Dawn Wind (1961) for radio, playing the role of Einon Hen himself.
I am wondering why there were over 50 visits yesterday from Israel to here (http://www.rosemarysutcliff.com) when usually there are only 1 or 2 a day from there? Any of you reading this too can tell me? I would appreciate it.
This is the first few paragraphs of an academic article about Rosemary Sutcliff from 1981 (Children’s Literature in Education, Summer 1981, Volume 12, Issue 2, pp 90-102).
Source: Shadows on the downs: Some influences of Rudyard Kipling on Rosemary Sutcliff
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 