I’ve read this personal fave from my youngster days many times and have a hard time resisting new editions, especially handmade private press editions that feature one of my favorite illustrators. As they say, with every re-read of a book you pick up new impressions and nuances, especially if the allusions and lessons are buried in it by crafty and skilled writers, and even more so when you read at different times and situations in your life. This read three things stuck out at me: one in the Mr. Badger chapter, one in The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and one in Toad’s Adventures.
The nuance I didn’t notice before regarding the Mr. Badger chapter was tucked away at the end when he was giving Mole a tour of his “domestic architecture.” I don’t remember remarking the bit about the Wild Wood, and Badger’s spacious abode, being reclaimed from a city of men whose population had mysteriously disappeared.
‘But what became of them all?’ asked the Mole.
‘Who can tell?’ said the Badger. ‘People come –they stay for a while, they flourish, they build — and they go. It is their way. But we remain. There were badgers here, I’ve been told, long before that same city ever came to be. And now there are badgers here again. We are an enduring lot, and we may move out for a time, but we wait, and are patient, and back we come. And so it will ever be.’
A bit eerie for this child of the ‘60s who recently realized his fear of nuclear war had died down a bit with the end of the old cold war only to be reawakened by the Ukrainian catastrophe and political comedy of errors on all sides. I guess I’ll be happy if the badgers at least get a benefit from the follies of man once the cities become reforested.
The second item was how much more I appreciated The Piper at the Gates of Dawn after hearing and loving how Mike Scott reads part of it on the 2019 Waterboys album Where the Action Is. No surprise, of course, as I also love the reading Tomás McKeown and they did of Yeat’s 1886 poem The Stolen Child on the 1988 Fisherman’s Blues album. The amazing illustration Zimakov did of the Piper is also one of my favorite illustrations in the book.
And the final thing was the food references. How did I miss this before? Or am I just more into food after eating at home much more through two years of pandemic? There’s Ratty and Mole’s picnic near the beginning:
‘There’s cold chicken inside it,’ replied the Rat briefly; ‘coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrollscresssandwichespottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater–‘
‘O stop, stop,’ cried the Mole in ecstasies: ‘This is too much!’
There is so much in the picnic basket that there isn’t even room for punctuation in the description.
And then the ‘Bubble and Squeak’ reference sent me to my Larousse Gastronomique to find out what it was. I always go there first for food. I mean, it’s a real book I have to open. But no luck so I had to g**gle it. Looks delicious. Now I’m going to have to make some to try it.
In his introduction, Peter Hunt tells us that The Wind in the Willows is often thought of as ‘one of the most elusive books in world literature‘:
…it is not what it seems to be.
But what does it seem to be? A children’s book about talking animals who lead an idyllic rural life in a lost Arcadian England? A farce about Mr. Toad, a rebellious buffoon, who steals cars and escapes from jail? In the collective cultural memory, it seems to be a whimsical, comforting sort of book; from a female–and a gay–perspective, it is an almost exclusively male pipe-dream.
Certainly, it’s hard to describe. I agree it is definitely not a children’s book, except in that great sense of teaching stories in oral traditions where everyone gets out of the story what makes sense for their level. It certainly doesn’t pass the Bechdel test but I think there is still something there for non-cis-male readers.
Hunt also makes the case that Grahame found out that “…writing fantasy presents a very tempting opportunity for personal satire and in-jokes.” And I’m a sucker for satire, figuring out in-jokes, and puns. Maybe that’s as good an explanation for my love of the book as there is.
Often the best part of reading The Wind in the Willows for me is the central character of the river. I’m a water person, having grown up a Navy brat always on the coast, and with my heartland in the Maryland waterways of my beloved Chesapeake Bay. With a brief land-locked exception for university, I’ve spent my six decades near water or the coast. I love when the physical world is treated like the character it is and not just a “resource” to be exploited. Maybe it is the pagan in me, which wraps back around to my enjoyment of the Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
…he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.
‘I don’t know that I think so very much of that little song, Rat,’ observed the Mole cautiously. He was no poet himself and didn’t care who knew it; and he had a candid nature.
‘Nor don’t the ducks neither,’ replied the Rat cheerfully. ‘They say, “Why can’t fellows be allowed to do what they like when they like and as they like, instead of other fellows sitting on banks and watching them all the time and making remarks and poetry and things about them? What nonsense it all is!” That’s what the ducks say.’ –p.12
…while the Otter and the Rat, their heads together, eagerly talked river-shop, which is long shop and talk that is endless, running on like the babbling river itself.
And there’s not many animals more magical for me than otters and badgers. I’ve seen a good many sea otters off the coast of Cambria California but have only seen river otters twice in my lifetime and count myself lucky for that as a lifelong suburbanite. I might have caught a glimpse of a badger once but I’ll never know for sure.
I love when the physical world is treated like the character it is and not just a “resource” to be exploited. Maybe it is the pagan in me, which wraps back around to my enjoyment of the Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
And my new saying whenever the world seems out of control?
‘They are going it, the weasels!’
It works in so many situations in our mad world.
This is my first book from Mad Parrot Press’ team of Chad Pastotnik and Jim Dissette but I have admired many of their books from afar (looking at you Heart of Darkness) and been lucky enough to review Moon as Bright as Water from their Chester River Press imprint. This Mad Parrot edition is quite a beauty. It’s my favorite edition of The Wind in the Willows and would definitely be my ‘Desert Island’ book edition of this title (books seem much more logical on a desert island than the usual lists of ‘Desert Island Discs’ one sees. How am I going to actually play my Blonde on Blonde record on a desert isle? But I probably could read for as long as I survived…).
I’ve always been a fan of Vladimir Zimakov’s work, so this book had me at ‘hello’. Once I heard he was doing the illustrations for the book from Chad back in the planning stages, I hoped I would be able to acquire a copy. Zimakov’s style and artistry is perfect for book illustrations: classical lines with touch of the punk attitude that comes through even clearer in his work with musicians like Amanda Palmer. That style works especially well for this book. He is also a delightful person to talk to about books, art, music, and literally anything, as you will find out if you ever have the pleasure to meet him at his table at CODEX or elsewhere. I’m always happy to have any of his art in my books or on a dustjacket but this book is a treasure trove of Zimakov! Check the Mad Parrot website if you want to see more of his illustrations for the book above and beyond what I’ve included here, and of course you can see more of Zimakov’s work for other projects at his website.
If you’ve been paying attention to all the supply chain issues throughout the world, and you’re a paper lover like me, you might know that the papers used for books like this are also suffering. In fact, the Zerkall mill that has been a source of paper for many fine- and private-press books is reportedly shutting down. Thank goodness we have Papeterie Saint-Armand in Quebec for our North American presses. Chad worked with the papermaker for the special Canal paper used in the book. And it is special. I really like that the paper is the same for both the text and the illustrations as it makes the book quite easy and enjoyable to read. The printing is exceptional and finds just the right balance in the impression: not so heavy as to be annoying and not “just a kiss.” You can feel the impression on the page and also to see just a hint of the impression on the other side of the page in just the right indirect light. I tried to capture Badger’s head peeking out above the text but just couldn’t do it justice in the photo. Again, it’s all about the light and I just can’t get my camera to behave like my eye. Go figure.
The page size is large: 27 x 61cm. There is a lot of text on a given page but the Centaur typeface reads well and the layout of so much text on the page did not overwhelm this reader at all. Apparently, the page size also dictated using photopolymer plates instead of linotype as there was no room in the pressroom to store that much type. And the printing is quite uniform given the variations in humidity Pastotnik had to put up with in printing the sheets damp over the 6 months of printing. There were also challenges with some paper weight variance that sounded a bit more than usual due to the aforementioned supply chain issues at the mill. Quite remarkable given that the printing was done by hand one sheet, one color at a time on a Vandercook proof press.
The binding is quite fitting for Grahame’s book: the green quarter leather with an orange book cloth is suitably rustic for the story. You can imagine mole smartly dressed in exactly those same colors. The cover features a leather inlay of one the illustrations. And the shiny coppery title stamp along the spine is a nice touch as well.
As I alluded to before, this might be the penultimate edition of The Wind in the Willows, so you better hurry if you want one. There are only a couple armfuls of them left.
AVAILABILITY: As of this writing, I believe there are 10 or so copies of the standard edition available from the press. All of the special edition has been sold out but I would sure like to see one of those beauties. Hopefully some photos will be posted to their website or their social media feed.
REVIEW NOTES:
This is one of a handful of favorite books that I have multiple fine or private press editions. I reviewed the Folio Society limited edition here a decade ago and I’ll probably review the new Hand & Eye Letterpress standard edition as well once I am ready for another reread of The Wind in the Willows.
For lovers of The Wind in the Willows, there is what looks to be a nice trade edition from French publisher Caudette with beautiful traditional illustrations by Chris Dunn. It came out in French and then they did a Kickstarter for an English edition that ends on 5/1/2022, after which I expect one will be able to order either edition directly from the publisher. I might go in for the French edition just to use a story I know so well to help improve my high-school-back-of-the-class-I’m-only-here-to-have-a-better-chance-of-getting-into-university reading of French.
