Journal 54

[Courtenay]

O Frabjous Day! Callooh! Callay! My Journal has arrived today.

I'm especially looking forward to Anita's article on one of my favourites, The Adventures of Pip.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Mine arrived by the mornings post. Will say it for my evenings read. Thanks Tony.

[Jack400]

I'm especially looking forward to Anita's article on one of my favourites, The Adventures of Pip.

Yes, I've just read that. As a child I would probably not have read it - "fairies are for girls"- probably why I've just learnt so much about nature!
Thanks Anita and Tony.

Jack

[walter raleigh]

Got home from work this evening and my copy of the new Journal was on the doormat! Won't have time to properly get to grips to it until later on in the week but it looks stuffed to the gills with lot's of great articles.

[Moonraker]

Just one article left to read. What a bumper crop! More comments later.

[Daisy]

I have read a number of the articles and they are all interesting. Has anyone else had to resort to a dictionary to find the meaning of "abligurition"? It wasn't listed in my on-line dictionary and I had to Google it. Thanks for expanding my vocabulary Terry, but I don't think I shall need to use it very often! - Very interesting article though.

[Moonraker]

It's usually Anita that has me checking the dictionary, but I gave up on this one. This is the definition I got:

lycanthropic edacity, lurcation, ingurgitation and gulosity; such omnivorousness and pantophagy;

[Tony Summerfield]

Has anyone else had to resort to a dictionary to find the meaning of "abligurition"? It wasn't listed in my on-line dictionary and I had to Google it.

In my 'day job' as a proofreader I use a very fat edition of Chambers and I can confirm that 'abligurition' is not listed in it and my online dictionary couldn't offer any alternative spelling, so I glossed over it and just assumed I was ignorant for not having the foggiest idea what it meant!

[Lucky Star]

Journal 54 has landed safely on my doormat. It looks wonderful as usual, the illustrations from the third holiday book are gorgeous. I shall commence reading it later.

[Daisy]

Google - Abligurition simply means spending lavish amounts of money on fine foods.
A bit simpler than your definition Nigel!

[Courtenay]

I haven't read through the entire Journal yet, but must put in a few words of praise and gratitude already to Anita for the article on The Adventures of Pip - an excellent piece, just as I expected. Anita, you've captured all the aspects of Pip's adventures that make these stories delightful and memorable to me, too! I really appreciated the quotes from other writings by Enid that show us more of her thoughts about nature study and how to instil in children this love of the natural world.

I love Anita's description here:

When it dawned on me that all the tales related to plants, creatures and weather patterns that I could see for myself, I was entranced. Not only was I entering Pip's fairy folk realm of magic and wonder, but he was teaching me about magical, wondrous aspects of the world in which I lived.... Somewhat paradoxically, the stories were at the same time fanciful and very real, shedding new light upon everyday things and encouraging me to observe wildlife more keenly, ask questions and find out more about things I'd previously taken for granted.

I bought a second-hand copy of The Adventures of Pip myself at the age of 9, and soon found myself entranced in just the same way - even despite the fact that many of the creatures, plants and natural environments that Pip encounters weren't to be found in my home country of Australia! But so much information from these same stories lodged in my imagination regardless, that now I live in England, I keep finding myself remembering and recognising things in nature that Enid, through Pip, first introduced me to.

I'd love to post my thoughts on other articles soon (when I've read a bit further!), but for now, I must also say how gorgeous the colour plates from The Third Holiday Book are! Tony, are they illustrations from some of the Pip stories?

[Nick]

Theres nothing i like better than being sat on the bed, drinking a horlicks and devouring the latest journal.

I'm only a few pages in but as usual another wonderful collection of stories, articles and letters. I particularly enjoyed Poppy's look at Fatty, Julian and Peter and on more than one occasion found myself chuckling with agreement, especially the though of Peter as a head master!

Many thanks to all the contributors

[Eddie Muir]

I've spent a very enjoyable evening reading the latest Journal from cover to cover. Many thanks to all the contributors for their superb articles and a special thank you to Tony.

[Spitfire]

The Eagle has landed! What gorgeous illustrations on the front cover, and for the centrepiece.

I shall devour, digest, and return to comment.

[Tony Summerfield]

I must also say how gorgeous the colour plates from The Third Holiday Book are! Tony, are they illustrations from some of the Pip stories?

All eight plates in the The Third Holiday Book are Pip ones, but like all the Holiday Books the plates don't refer to any of the stories. All the Pip stories were originally published in the Sunday Graphic between 1945 and 1949. There were actually 216 Pip stories and 137 of these have never appeared in book form as Anita mentions in her article, so they are still waiting to be collected somewhere! Three years ago Chorion (who owned the copyright at the time) were planning a series of cartoon films about Pip, but like so many other ideas this never got off the ground.