Member: Essexman

Hi, Paul

I've just started a Cherrys thread on the CHILDREN'S BOOKS board. Hope you have time to add to it.

Regards,

‘Aurélien Arkadiusz’

posted by AurelArkad at 5:34 pm (EST) on Aug 5, 2009

Paul, Great to hear from you.

My user name at Book Group Online is Aurélien Arkadiusz. (I finally found a website that accepted the whole shebang!)

The two of us could build an interesting 'Cherrys' resource there. I've already inserted a link back to the EBS Forums, and the 'Cherrys' data there. I've made 'Lenoir' at that site aware of the start made at BGO, but so far he hasn't said anything about joining in.

Regards,

‘Aurélien Arkadiusz’

posted by AurelArkad at 8:47 pm (EST) on Jun 1, 2009

Hi, Paul

I hope that your health has continued to improve, and that you are keeping profitably busy entertaining.

Thought that you might like to eyeball the link below for Book Group Online, where I've begun building up a 'Cherrys' resource. It would be great if you could find the time to join in.

http://www.bookgrouponline.com/forum/sho...

Regards,

‘Aurélien Arkadiusz’

posted by AurelArkad at 11:56 am (EST) on May 27, 2009

Hi, I just joined this site. I noticed that you're a poetry fan. Have you read Unexpected Light? Here's a link: http://www.cechaffin.com

posted by CraigChaffin123 at 3:56 am (EST) on Mar 14, 2009

Hi there, Paul

Hope you are well on the road to recovery by this time.

Regards,

Aurélien

posted by AurelArkad at 6:03 pm (EST) on Feb 16, 2009

Hi there, Paul

Much snow around Newark?

posted by AurelArkad at 8:15 am (EST) on Feb 3, 2009

Merry Christmas, Paul, and a safe, happy and prosperous 2009.

‘Aurélien Arkadiusz’

posted by AurelArkad at 6:13 pm (EST) on Dec 11, 2008

Hi, Paul

Thanks for giving some thought to the website problem.

Yes, I'd also like to know why Will Scott's 'Cherrys' books are so $%&$#@ expensive on the net. Given that so many of them were reprinted, usually several times*, I sortta see them as "best sellers" insofar as children's books of the '50's and '60's ever were, so popularity simply has to come into it. Very likely this element of popularity largely comes from nostalgia by some of the original readers. But I strongly suspect, also, that some of these original readers shared their copies with their children and grandchildren, which would up the numbers hunting the books on the web.

Not counting the two of us, I am only in contact with three other 'fans' of the series:
1 'Lenoir', from South Africa, who set up that Cherrys thread at the EBS site;
2 'X' here at LibraryThing - he's the husband of one of the members here;
3 Steve, from who knows where.

Regards,

‘Aurélien Arkadiusz’

* One of my copies is a 5th impression.

posted by AurelArkad at 6:35 pm (EST) on Nov 12, 2008

Greetings, friend.

Great to hear from you again.

Happy hunting, Paul. Maybe a local historian, based in or near Herne Bay, might be able to locate Scott's 'The Old Cottage' for you, or at least say where it used to stand. Does any corner of a street map of Herne Bay look like 'St Denis Bay'?

Yes, Scott's 'Market Cray' was probably meant to be in Kent - doesn't the Windrush flow into the Thames (at Newbridge) close to what was the western end of Kent? So that part of the dedication in TCORH - "...from the beginning of Kent to the end of the Windrush,..." - would suggest that Kent was indeed Will Scott's playground, for all that he was Yorkshire-born.

Interesting that there's a Crayford and a Foot's Cray in Kent, and also a Cray River.

One reason the Market Cray maps interest me is that there are several features which are unlikely to be included in a totally invented place, which makes me wonder if what we are looking at is basically a real landscape, with just a few alterations and additions (eg River House and The Lawn).

I mean, if a writer sketches a map of an imaginary landscape for a series of books, Paul, he/she puts in 'typical' features + features that are going to be written about in the story. The Market Cray maps contain a number of features that are never mentioned in any of the 14 books, including one highly unusual building (I'm an architecture nut) that surely would only have been included if it was drawn from real life. Worth thinking about.

Regards from Kiwiland in the Spring,

‘Aurélien Arkadiusz’

posted by AurelArkad at 6:31 pm (EST) on Oct 12, 2008

Hello again, Paul

Another thing about Will Scott's 'Cherrys' series that I keep wondering about is 'Captain Cherry' himself.

'Cherry' is not a common surname, but any computer search using CHERRY+EXPLORER will turn up the famous British explorer, Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1886-1959), and I also believe that this link would have been in the mind of any adult reading one of Scott's early 'Cherrys' books to his/her kids back in the 50's. One wonders if this is why Will Scott used the name 'Cherry'.

Also, is 'Captain Cherry meant to hold an army or a navy rank? And was this supposed to be a rank won in war service, or earned as a regular army or navy officer?

These are just some of the questions that only Scott's daughters (if they are still alive) and grandchildren could answer. As Scott is supposed to have written (and dedicated?) the first books in the series for his grandchildren, they should know things that we don't. But, short of hiring a private detective, how would one go about even identifying Will Scott's living descendants, let alone locating them?

And, yes, *stopping rant and getting off soapbox* I do enjoy the books for themselves. It's just that I've had all these questions bottled up for 30+ years, and no-one to talk them over with, so please forgive my keenness to know more that what is in the 14 books.

Regards,

‘Aurélien Arkadiusz’

posted by AurelArkad at 7:04 pm (EST) on Oct 1, 2008

Hello there, Paul

Great to hear back from you. I've been wanting to exchange ideas about Scott's Cherrys books for years [decades, actually].

I've only got the English editions, mostly in later printings 'cos my 2 or 3 older copies lack dustjackets and are falling to bits. {I need a dictionary to read French anyway, and I don't speak it.}

Lilian Buchanan's maps and pictures interest me because of their overall contribution to Scott's Cherrys series.

Thinking about it one day I realised that her sketches (covers as well as line-drawings on inside pages) fit in precisely with each other and also with her maps. Checking the maps and pictures in all 14 books confirmed that all the 'Market Cray' illustrations agreed with each other, St Denis Bay likewise. As you will know, such care and attention to detail is not at all usual throughout a series of children's books.

I've got several thoughts about how this came about, starting with my respect for Lilian Buchanan's own painstaking professionalism, but I'm guessing so I'll leave the details for some future posting.

What are your thoughts on Lilian Buchanan's contribution to the overall impact of the Cherrys series, Paul?

Regards,
‘Aurélien Arkadiusz’ in Kiwiland

posted by AurelArkad at 9:26 am (EST) on Sep 26, 2008

G'day Paul,

I don't know the person, but it's a pretty good list! It's unusual that you don't seem to see TYS collectors around, but when you do see them, they're serious collectors - you and him for example. I have been to that website a few times, but I couldn't find much in the way of old catalogue information, and the new books are a little too expensive for me.

It's the same with me - i buy sometimes and then realise i have it. I have a double of psychology, but tend to give away double to op-shops. For the price of a pint? what a bargain! They're so cheap over there, If i were ever in britain i would spend a few pound on cheap copies and ship them all back at once! I have TY swimming (grey-green cover), skiing, insurance, photography (EUP), and TY Body language, TYS Instant Reference: Geography (0-658-011022) - both ex-library and TYS norwegian book& tape c1997 if you're interested.

cheers,
dave

posted by binders at 1:43 am (EST) on Aug 13, 2008

G'day!

It was similar for me. i'd seen them around and wanted to learn french so thought of them. You can still get them here in op-shops for loose change, but not of course any of the op-shops around here - i've cleaned them out!
845! wow!
have you seen this page?
http://www.southerncape.co.za/recreation...

Those TY history books on russia sound interesting, I am interested, but i'm not sure what i have to swap. I'm not fussy about condition when i collect. I'll try to enter all of my TY books in the next week or so and you can see if anything takes your fancy.

cheers,
dave

posted by binders at 5:13 am (EST) on Aug 4, 2008

G'day again,

I've ordered the reissue of Teach Yourself to Cook, but i'm still waiting. I saw what must've been an advance issue of
TY To Fly in a shop here, and it looked really good.

I've been collecting for about a year and a bit, starting with TY French. i've about a hundred, half of which are language titles. I'm mostly collecting the old EUP editions because they seem to have more grammar in them. What got you started collecting them?

cheers,
dave

posted by binders at 1:12 am (EST) on Jul 30, 2008

G'day from the antipodes!

I notice you have a large collection of Teach Yourself books. I have started to collect them too. They make interesting primers for the various subjects don't you think? I just wanted to ask if you have seen the new editions of the original series, black and yellow covers, blue bindings etc, and wondered what your opinion of them was.

cheers,
dave

posted by binders at 9:27 am (EST) on Jul 22, 2008