The Countryman's Bedside Book

This re-issue of BB's classic memoir will be enjoyed by all who appreciate fine country writing, and who believe passionately in the resilience of Mother Nature, despite the follies of mankind.

Denys Watkins-Pitchford (better known as BB) wrote these wonderful essays on the English countryside in the 1930s - a time of peace and renewal between two world wars. The book was finally published in 1941 when, as BB puts it, England was 'in the darkest hour of our history.'

BB captures here in words and sensitive wood engravings the wonders of English wildlife and countryside.

Includes essays on:

• ravens and rookeries
• the stone curlew
• the purple emperor butterfly
• a woodcutter's house
• an encounter with a wildfowler one frosty dawn
• a night fishing on the Solway
• the strange behaviour of song thrushes
• the rescue of a black labrador
• a favourite copse
• the accidental death of a groom
• village characters
• hedgerows - and many more topics

Availability:

Illustrations:
48 Black & white illustrations

Pages:
272

Published:
Sep 08, 2006

ISBN:
9781873674949

About the Author:

Denys Watkins-Pitchford, or 'BB' as he is known, was born in 1905. He grew up in Northamptonshire, where he spent many hours out in the open air as ill health prevented him from being sent to boarding school.

He studied art in Paris and at The Royal College of Art in London, and for seventeen years was art master at Rugby School.

He was already illustrating books before he began to write under his pseudonym, 'BB'.

The Sportsman's Bedside Book (1937) was the first to carry these now famous initials, followed by Wild Lone, the Story of the Pytchley Fox (1939) and Manka, The Sky Gypsy, The Story of a Wild Goose (1939). He was awarded the Carnegie Medal for The Little Grey Men (1941), the tale of the last gnomes in England, which established him in the forefront of literature for children. Many titles followed for both adults and children, and his reputation as a naturalist was further enhanced by his contributions to The Field, Country Life and Shooting Times.

He died in 1990.

Denys Watkins-Pitchford, or 'BB' as he is known, was born in 1905. He grew up in Northamptonshire, where he spent many hours out in the open air as ill health prevented him from being sent to boarding school.

He studied art in Paris and at The Royal College of Art in London, and for seventeen years was art master at Rugby School.

He was already illustrating books before he began to write under his pseudonym, 'BB'.

The Sportsman's Bedside Book (1937) was the first to carry these now famous initials, followed by Wild Lone, the Story of the Pytchley Fox (1939) and Manka, The Sky Gypsy, The Story of a Wild Goose (1939). He was awarded the Carnegie Medal for The Little Grey Men (1941), the tale of the last gnomes in England, which established him in the forefront of literature for children. Many titles followed for both adults and children, and his reputation as a naturalist was further enhanced by his contributions to The Field, Country Life and Shooting Times.

He died in 1990.