1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, Comprising All the Parts You Can Remember, Including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates

Sellar, Walter Carruthers and Yeatman, Robert Julian; introduction by Sherrin, Ned

Edité par The Folio Society, London, 1990

A propos de cet article

First thus/First printing/As new Wikipedia describes "1066 and All That" as "a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England" which is accurate, as far as it goes, but doesn't really tell the whole story or why it quickly became such an integral part of English-language culture. Writers are still using variations of its title as shorthand with their own works almost a hundred years after it was first published. Essentially what the authors Walter Carruthers and Robert Yeatman did was tell the story of England the way a schoolchild would if asked, "So, what did you learn in history class this year?" and the taps were opened. (Only, it being the 1920s when they were writing, and Caruthers and Yeatman coming from the class they did, the child would undoubtedly be a schoolboy, not a girl, from one of England's elite boarding schools, so that is the voice we hear tell the story in short bursts.) We get all the bits that would stick in the mind of a nine or ten year old, which does not necessarily mean the important bits.or even the accurate bits. In their "Compulsory Preface" the authors noted that also does not mean dates, because nobody remembers dates-they started out with four, then eliminated two of them, because their research at the Eton and Harrow cricket matches revealed that they "are not memorable." It makes for a lot of fun for anybody interested in history, or even for those who are NOT interested in history, because, as Carruthers and Yeatman say, it consoles the reader for not keeping it all straight. The Folio Society is known for its lavish slipcased reprints of previously published works, and this edition is no exception. One thing that makes it a little different, though, is that in many ways it is trying to at least give the feel of the original. For one thing, it includes the original drawn ink illustrations by John Reynolds. For another, it is printed in Old Style types, such as might have been used when it was originally published in the UK in 1930 or the US in 1931. It has a light brown, slightly ridged and lined binding, seeming to appear as an old-time student's notebook. The black lettering on the binding, which is designed to look like handwritten scrawl (though still perfectly legible) reinforces that point. It is printed and fills up most of the front cover and the spine. What fills up the back cover, though, is a reproduction of a huge ink splotch, with smears and droplets splattering out everywhere-the rest of the back cover, the spine, the front cover, and even the edges of the text block, though some could call that speckling. Our copy appears unread, with no signs of wear or damage, inside or out. It was released without a dust jacket but with a slipcover, covered with the same paper (but without that ink splotch!) No signs of wear on the slipcase, but a couple of faint small brown spots on front and back. This is just the copy to own for anyone of the many people with fond memories of this book-elegant, yes, but not too precious to enjoy on its own humorous merits.

N° de réf. du vendeur 699

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: 1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, Comprising All the Parts You Can Remember, Including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates
• Éditeur: The Folio Society, London
• Date de parution: 1990
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Illustrateur: Reynolds, John
• Édition: First thus.
• État de l'article: As new
• État de la jaquette: dj
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Elegant Editions
  • All Other Fiction