Edith Nesbit Novels at Central Library: Gallery

Edith Nesbit was in the news last week, with the Guardian reporting that Jacqueline Wilson has written an updated version of her 1902 novel Five Children and It. Imogen Russell Williams who writes a column on children’s books, said that she was ‘deeply torn’ by this news and pointed out that this is ‘not a neglected old tome in need of a dusting-off … Children are still reading it today without incentive’. For those interested in the original versions of Nesbit’s stories, the Devon Collection of Children’s Books at Central Library contains several early and first editions, including The Would-Be-Goods (1899), Five Children and It (1902) and The Enchanted Castle (1907). The gallery below contains some images from these…

The Would-Be-Goods Cover

We went out and sat with our feet in the stream

The fight was a very fine one

We tried to drag the bottom of the moat

Five Children and It – cover detail

The first glorious rush around the garden

They flew right over Rochester

You kids must learn not to make yourselves a nuisance

The Enchanted Castle cover

‘It’s the entrance to the enchanted castle,’ said Kathleen

The hall in which the children found themselves was the most beautiful place in the world

‘It’s a game, isn’t it?’ asked Jimmy