i know, these are neither Fantasy & SF, nor Horror; but they are fascinating to any interested in the area, and in the particular directions of the more closely-focused books; and even throws a light (with the help of one Professor J. R. R. Tolkien) upon a particular obscure statement in Chaucer's Canterbry Tales, in The Clerkes Tale.
the following list is of what i have in stock, or intend to restock as directly as may be possible, if "out of stock" is indicated) where prices are given; stock is in new paperback edition, unless otherwise indicated.
if the titles you are hunting by Iona/Ioana & Peter Opie're listed as out of stock, or have no price indicated, or are not listed at all here, i may still be able to find them for you: e-mail me to ask: v$imt$v at my subdomain, i-m-t.demon.co.uk
Please use the same e-mail address to enquire about postage costs, and to order. (e-address written out without the "at" sign to reduce harvesting by spamlist-builders).
- The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren Oxford University Press "c format" (i.e. larger than b format) paperback ukL 7.95
two crease lines down the spine, fault across card of spine c. 1.5" pages beginning to brown from edges, copy was prepared for library use with the inclusion of a clear plastic ticket-wallet attached to the inside back cover
the book on english, scottish & welsh children's folklore & customs, as recorded by the Opies & their correspondents around the u.k. in the late fifties, and as earlier recorded or referred to through the centuries in various places in literature etc. (and also with various references to reports from other parts of the world, where relevant to the subject).
Prefaces by Iona & Peter, & by Iona Opie; chapters include: Introductory; Just for Fun; Wit and Repartee; Guile; Riddles; Parody and Impropriety; Topical Rhymes; Code of Oral Legislation; Nicknames and Epithets; Unpopular Children: Jeers and Torments; Half-Belief; Children's Calendar; Occasional Customs; Some Curiosities; Friendship and Fortune; Partisanship; The Child and Authority; Pranks; 417+xx = 437pp. (incl. titles and three Indices: 8pp. Geographical, 8pp. First Lines [of Rhymes & Songs], 9pp. General Index).
Marie-Therese (my big sister) worked in North Finchley Public Library when this book was listed on the OUP's 1959 publishing schedule; she suborned all available siblings into putting in a reservation each for it before publication, and also reserved it herself, so that she could be sure of having it in her hands for long enough to read it thoroughly...
[We had the library copy in the family home for what i remember as being three months - but may "only" have been six weeks - during the course of which we three eldest children read it (or in my case, as much of it as was on topics that then interested me) (i was seven, possibly rising eight), and the Borough Librarian had cause to investigate the book's unavailability to - well, the whole of the rest of the list of parents, teachers, academics and any and everyone else interested in the Urban District? London Borough? [it can't've been - Finchley was in the County of Middlesex!] of Finchley - it was a long list, and one comprised of people quite capable of expressing themselves articulately in letter, upon the telephone, and in person...
...i've since stocked TL&LoS at every book shop & mail-order service i've run, dip into my own copy from time to time at home, and still re-read it in full every once in a while. - ppint.]
[i was sufficiently captured by at least some of what i read therein, that enough stuck in my mind for long enough for something to start subliminally niggling me; and, some fifteen years later, this developed into an essay i published in "feetnotes", my erratically occasional fanzine, which i entitled "The Lore and Language of Conquest"...*g*
i sent a copy of it to the authors c/o OUP - i don't know whether it was passed onto them, though.
- Children's Games in DStreet and Playground
- A Nursery Companion
- The Oxford Book of Children's Verse
- The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse
- The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes
- The Oxford Book of Nursery Rhymes
- The Singing Game
after Peter's death, Iona continued to work in & further develop the field of research, study & knowledge that had been their shared enthusiasm & interest, even passion
- more titles & possibly copies in stock [or vice-versa] to be listed as i check up on their current availability;
this partial, provisional listing put up because i referred to tlalos (& linked to it) in my live-journal; more details, including advertised prices of in-print editions where appropriate, to come.