{"product_id":"the-annotated-wind-in-the-willows-the-annotated-books-9780393057744","title":"The Annotated Wind in the Willows (The Annotated Books)","description":"\u003cp\u003eTo celebrate The Wind in the Willows  scholar Annie Gauger offers this beautifully illustrated edition of Kenneth Grahames classiccomplete with rare photographs of the Grahames  their friends  and illustrations from the first five editions. Believe me  my young friend  there is nothingabsolutely nothinghalf so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.the Water Rat to the Mole  An instant bestseller upon its initial publication in 1908  The Wind in the Willows has become one of the beloved stories of all time. How could Ratty and Mole have known when they took to the river over one hundred years ago that they would begin a phenomenon that would produce one of the most oft-quoted lines in British literature  and inspire everyone from the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh to Pink Floyd? Drawing from more than a decade of research  Annie Gauger  one of the worlds leading experts on Kenneth Grahame and The Wind in the Willows  now presents a fascinating new annotated edition that reintroduces readers to Otter  curmudgeonly Badger  and rollicking  boastful Toad  while revealing the secrets behind this treasured classic.  In The Annotated Wind in the Willows  readers will discover the sheer joy of the original text  restored to the original 1908 version  illustrated with hundreds of full-color imagesincluding the beloved drawings by E. H. Shepard and Arthur Rackham. This edition also includes Shepards famous map of the Wild Wood and rarely seen images by illustrators Graham Robertson  Paul Bransom  Nancy Barnhart  and Wyndham Payne.  In an illuminating preface  Gauger explains how Grahame came to write the novel  which began as a bedtime story and then became a series of letters he wrote to his son  Alastair. This edition reproduces the original letters in their entirety and includes nearly a thousand delightful annotations on everything from automobiles (Toad drove an Armstrong Hardcastle Special Eight) and early motorcar etiquette to modern manifestations (Disneylands Mr. Toads Wild Ride). She reveals how William John Cavendish Bentinck-Scott  the peculiar Fifth Duke of Portland  built an extensive network of underground tunnels  thus inspiring the character of Badger  and she puts Grahames work in literary context  comparing him to Dickens  Rudyard Kipling  A. A. Milne  and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Finally  new to this edition  long buried in the Kenneth Grahame papers  are the notes  letters  and writings by Alastair Grahame and his governess  including several pieces by Kenneth Grahame himself that have never been published before.  With a stunning  lyrical tribute to Grahame by Brian Jacques  the internationally best-selling author of the Redwall series  The Annotated Wind in the Willows should prove a most beautiful and enduring tribute to Grahames masterpiece. 182 illustrations  color throughout\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45529592430645,"sku":"ByrdShop_0393057747","price":223.43,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780393057744.jpg?v=1780938233","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-annotated-wind-in-the-willows-the-annotated-books-9780393057744","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}