Swallows and Amazons

First edition dust jacket cover 1930
Author	Arthur Ransome
Illustrator	1st edition was not illustrated, later editions illustrated by Clifford Webb and later Arthur Ransome
Cover artist	Steven Spurrier
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Swallows and Amazons series
Genre(s)	Childrens, Adventure Novel
Publisher	Jonathan Cape
Publication date	1 December 1930
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	352 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-224-60631-X
Followed by	Swallowdale

Swallows and Amazons is the first book in the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome and was published in 1930. It is set in the Lake District between the two World Wars. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Cover of Arthur Ransomes autobiography Arthur Mitchell Ransome (January 18, 1884 – June 3, 1967), was a British author and journalist, best known for writing the Swallows and Amazons series of childrens books, which tell of school-holiday adventures of children, mostly in the Lake District and the Norfolk... Steven Spurrier (July 13, 1878 – March 12, 1961), British artist and painter. ... In political geography and international politics a country is a geographical entity, a territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Swallows and Amazons is a series of childrens books by English author Arthur Ransome, named after the title of the first book in the series. ... Jane Frank: illustration from Thomas Yoseloffs The Further Adventures of Till Eulenspiegel (1957). ... The adventure novel is a literary genre of novels that has adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, as its main theme. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Jonathan Cape has been since 1987 an imprint of Random House. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... ISBN-13 represented as EAN-13 bar code (in this case ISBN 978-3-16-148410-0) The International Standard Book Number, ISBN, is a unique[1] commercial book identifier barcode. ... Swallowdale is the second book in the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome. ... Swallows and Amazons is a series of childrens books by English author Arthur Ransome, named after the title of the first book in the series. ... Cover of Arthur Ransomes autobiography Arthur Mitchell Ransome (January 18, 1884 – June 3, 1967), was a British author and journalist, best known for writing the Swallows and Amazons series of childrens books, which tell of school-holiday adventures of children, mostly in the Lake District and the Norfolk... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A world war is a war affecting the majority of the worlds major nations. ...

At the time Ransome had been working as a journalist with the Manchester Guardian, but decided to become a full-time author rather than go abroad as a foreign correspondent. He continued to write part-time for the press. The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ...

The book was inspired by a summer spent by Ransome teaching the children of his friends, the Altounyans, to sail. Three of the Altounyan children's names are adopted directly for the Walker family. Ransome and Ernest Altounyan bought two small dinghies called Swallow and Mavis. Ransome kept Swallow until he sold it a number of years later, while Mavis remained in the Altounyan family and is now on permanent display in the Windermere Steamboat Museum. However, later in life Ransome tried to downplay the Altounyan connections, changing the initial dedication of Swallows and Amazons and writing a new foreword which gave other sources.^[1][2] 2 GP14s, a Topper and a Graduate Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using (1) the sails and (2) underwater foils (centreboard and rudder). ...

Illustrations

The artist chosen for the first edition of the book was Steven Spurrier; however, Ransome objected to his style and so the first edition did not have any illustrations. Spurrier's drawing for the dust jacket had to be used. The second edition contained drawings by Clifford Webb but after Ransome successfully illustrated Peter Duck himself, he decided to do his own drawings for all the books including those already published and Webb's drawings were replaced in later editions. Steven Spurrier (July 13, 1878 – March 12, 1961), British artist and painter. ... Peter Duck is a metafictional book in the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome. ...

Plot summary

The story follows the Walker children (John, Susan, Titty and Roger), who sail a borrowed dinghy named Swallow, and the Blackett children (Nancy and Peggy), who sail a dinghy named Amazon. The Walkers are staying at a farm near a lake during the school holidays and want to camp on an island in the lake; the Blacketts live in a house nearby. The children meet on the island which they call Wild Cat Island, and have a series of adventures, involving sailing, camping, fishing, exploration and piracy. The story, set in 1930, includes a good deal of everyday Lakeland life from the farmers to charcoal burners working in the woods; canned meat, which the children fancifully refer to as pemmican, and ginger ale and lemonade, which they call grog, appear as regular food stuff for the campers; island life also allows for occasional references to the story of Robinson Crusoe. "Captain Flint", the Blackett's uncle James Turner, appears in some ways to be modelled on Ransome himself. Dinghy of the schooner Adventuress A dinghy is a small utility boat attached to a larger boat. ... The flag of 18th-century pirate Calico Jack Piracy is a robbery committed at sea, or sometimes on the shore, by an agent without a commission from a sovereign nation. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. ... Pemmican is a concentrated food consisting of dried pulverized meat, dried berries, and rendered fat. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Grog issue on board the HMS Endymion; circa 1905 Rum measure reputed to be from Trafalgar Black Tot Day, on board the HMS Phoebe; 31 July, 1970 For other uses, see Grog (disambiguation). ... Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1719 and sometimes regarded as the first novel in English. ...

Major characters in Swallows and Amazons

See also List of characters in Arthur Ransome books This is a listing of characters from the Swallows and Amazons series of books by Arthur Ransome. ...

• John Walker – Eldest of the Walkers and captain of the Swallow
• Susan Walker – Second eldest of the Walkers and mate of the Swallow
• Titty Walker – Able Seaman of the Swallow. This name, the nickname of the real life Mavis Altounyan, has caused titters among generations of children, causing it to be changed to Kitty in at least one filmed adaptation of the book
• Roger Walker – Youngest of the Walkers and ship's boy of the Swallow
• Nancy Blackett (Ruth) – Captain of the Amazon
• Peggy Blackett (Margaret) – Nancy's younger sister and mate of the Amazon
• James Turner – Nancy and Peggy's uncle. Known to the children as Captain Flint

Places in Swallows and Amazons

According to Ransome, every place in his book can be found in the Lake District, but he took different locations and placed them in different ways. It is generally accepted that the lake is a fictionalised version of Windermere, but the surrounding countryside more closely resembles that around Coniston. Wild Cat Island, the location of the island camp, has elements from Peel Island in Coniston and Blakeholme in Windermere. ^[3] Coniston Water as seen from Holme Fell, 3 kilometres to the north. ... Peel Island is one of the three islands of Coniston Water in the English Lake District, Cumbria. ...

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

In 1962, the BBC produced an adaptation of Swallows and Amazons. The British Broadcasting Corporation,which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ...

In the summer of 1973, EMI adapted the story of Swallows and Amazons in colour for the big screen and went up to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria to film it on the actual locations of the Arthur Ransome novel. Released in 1974, directed by Claude Whatham and produced by Richard Pilbrow, the film starred Virginia McKenna and Ronald Fraser in the main adult roles and Simon West (John), Sophie Neville (Titty), Zanna Hamilton (Susan) & Stephen Grendon (Roger) as some of the children. This has been made available on video, both in VHS and DVD, in the UK, but is not readily available in the US and elsewhere. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Cumbria (IPA: ), is a shire county in the extreme North West of England. ... Virginia McKenna & Elsa (stand-in) Virginia McKenna O.B.E. (born June 7, 1931 in London, UK) is a British stage and screen actress. ... Ronald Fraser, known as Ronnie, (born 11 April 1930) was a British actor who was part of the 1950s and 1960s film scene in the UK. The numerous film credits to his name include two versions of Pygmalion, Trial of the Pink Panther, the raunchy Come Play With Me, The... Suzanna Hamilton is a British actress born in 1960 in London. ...

The Royal National Theatre confirmed in April 2007 that a stage musical adaptation of Swallows and Amazons is in development. The Divine Comedy's frontman Neil Hannon is writing.^[4] The Royal National Theatre from Waterloo Bridge The Royal National Theatre is a building complex and theatre company located on the South Bank in London, England immediately east of the southern end of Waterloo Bridge. ... The Divine Comedy is a pop band from Northern Ireland fronted by Neil Hannon. ... Neil Hannon (born 7 November 1970[1]) is a singer and songwriter, best known as the creator (in 1989) and frontman of the orchestral pop group, The Divine Comedy. ...

Release details

• 1930, UK, Jonathan Cape (ISBN ?), Pub date 1 December 1930, hardback (First edition, unillustrated)
• 1931, UK, Jonathan Cape (ISBN ?), Pub date ? ? 1931, hardback (First "Clifford Webb" illustrated edition)
• 1931, USA, J.B.Lippincott company, Philadelphia (ISBN ?), 1931. Hardback, no full illustrations, front and back plates plus chapter headings by Helene Carter.
• 1938, UK, Jonathan Cape (ISBN ?), Pub date ? ? 1938, hardback (First "Ransome" illustrated edition)
• 1958, USA, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (ISBN 0-397-30015-8), Pub date ? June 1958, hardback
• 1995, UK, ISIS Audio Books (ISBN 1-85695-974-0), Pub date ? August 1995, audio book cassette (unabridged)
• 1999, UK, Jonathan Cape (ISBN 0-224-60631-X), Pub date ? ? 1999, hardback
• 2001, UK, Red Fox Classics (ISBN 0-09-950391-3), Pub date 5 April 2001, paperback
• 2001, UK, Red Fox (ISBN 0-09-942733-8), Pub date 5 October 2001, paperback
• 2005, UK, Gabriel Woolf (ISBN 0-9550529-0-4), Pub date ? July 2005, audio book CD

See also

• Swallows and Amazons (series)
• List of characters in Arthur Ransome books
• Roger Altounyan - real-life scientist; Ransome named characters in the story after Altounyan and his sisters.

Swallows and Amazons is a series of childrens books by English author Arthur Ransome, named after the title of the first book in the series. ... This is a listing of characters from the Swallows and Amazons series of books by Arthur Ransome. ... Dr. Roger Altounyan (1922­-1987) was a Syrian-born Armenian physician and pharmacologist who pioneered the use of sodium cromoglycate as a remedy for asthma. ...

References

1. ^ Autobiography of Arthur Ransome, Arthur Ransome, ed. Rupert Hart-Davis, 1976
2. ^ The Life of Arthur Ransome, Hugh Brogan, 1984
3. ^ Arthur Ransome and Captain Flint's Trunk, Christina Hardyment,1984
4. ^ Inthenews.co.uk article revealing the Royal National Theatre's plans for a stage musical adaptation of Swallows and Amazons