The Swallows and Amazons novels: Swallows and Amazons; Swallowdale; Peter Duck; Winter Holiday; Coot Club; Pigeon Post; We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea; Secret Water; The Big Six; Missee Lee; The Picts and the Martyrs; Great Northern?

London: Jonathan Cape,, 1930-47. A rare complete set of this classic children's series First editions, first impressions, all in the dust jackets. Together, these works "changed British children's literature, affected a whole generation's view of holidays, helped to create the national image of the English Lake District, and added Arthur Ransome's name to the select list of classic British children's authors" (Hunt, p. 13). The debut title, consisting of 2,000 copies only, "sold slowly at first, taking two years to earn its advance of £100". By 1948, "the house journal of Jonathan Cape announced that the one millionth copy, of the total copies printed of the twelve books in the 'Swallows and Amazons' series, would soon be on sale" (Hammond). The series has inspired many adaptations, including the 1963 BBC children's series, the 1974 film starring Virginia McKenna and Ronald Fraser, and the 2016 film starring Andrew Scott and Harry Enfield. In 2010, a musical version of the first book premiered at the National Theatre. 12 works, octavo. Original green cloth, spines and front covers lettered in gilt and blind, colour map endpapers. With dust jackets. Housed in six green cloth folding boxes. Line drawings by Ransome and Clifford Webb, maps by Stephen Spurrier. Ownership inscriptions and labels in three volumes. Spines gently cocked, mild fading to cloth of first two works, occasional marks and bumps, foxing to edges and outer leaves, contents clean; jackets presenting well, The Big Six price-clipped, Secret Water front flap with publisher's overprice sticker, early volumes with chips and a couple of tears, paper restoration to Peter Duck and Great Northern?, affecting text, tape reinforcement to verso of The Picts and the Martyrs, effects of water damage to Secret Water, overall spines a little toned, front panels bright: a very good set in like jackets. Hammond A25a-36a. Peter Hunt, Approaching Arthur Ransome, 1992.