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Saturday, 19 January 2013
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
The full Malcolm Saville Archive of Letters
A decade ago a collection of letters was purchased between Malcolm Saville and Mary Cadogan, who was considering writing his biography, and others were sent in by members. These have been held physically at the University of Worcester, at which this online version of photographic reproductions was produced. It can be accessed at http://eprints.worc.ac.uk/
Amongst other things, the letters reveal Malcolm Saville as Lone Pine weary ("surely 15 is enough"), a huge Jillies fan, and a desperate feeling that Marston Baines was the series by which he wished to be remembered. His last four years reveals his desperation at keeping his titles still in print, knowing he was regarded as old fashioned. Nevertheless his diligence year after year in answering readers letters led to a posthumpous Malcolm Saville Society being formed and thriving. Those replies to readers also had a marketing function, and newsletters were often included. "Please buy my books and get your friends to do so. This is how writers make their living".
The repository has three PDF files, Letters to Mary Cadogan 1978-79; Letters to Mary Cadogan 1980-82; and other letters.
Amongst other things, the letters reveal Malcolm Saville as Lone Pine weary ("surely 15 is enough"), a huge Jillies fan, and a desperate feeling that Marston Baines was the series by which he wished to be remembered. His last four years reveals his desperation at keeping his titles still in print, knowing he was regarded as old fashioned. Nevertheless his diligence year after year in answering readers letters led to a posthumpous Malcolm Saville Society being formed and thriving. Those replies to readers also had a marketing function, and newsletters were often included. "Please buy my books and get your friends to do so. This is how writers make their living".
The repository has three PDF files, Letters to Mary Cadogan 1978-79; Letters to Mary Cadogan 1980-82; and other letters.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Malcolm Saville: Collected articles by Stephen Bigger.
A collection of the following papers by Stephen Bigger can be found on http://eprints.worc.ac.uk/800. These are revisions of orginals published by the Malcolm Saville Society. Copyright: Stephen Bigger, 2010.
Some letters can be found on http://eprints.worc.ac.uk/799
Part 1. The Emerging Author
1. D J Desmond: the Anonymous Author. 2005
Malcolm Saville wrote occasionally under this name, and these works are discussed.
2. Malcolm Saville at My Garden Magazine. 2005
3. Apprenticeship: Malcolm Saville and David Severn 2003 The literary relationship between two beginning writers.
4. The Influence of J M Barrie on Malcolm Saville 2004 Malcolm Saville was fond of Dear Brutus by J M Barrie and this influenced his characterisation. 2004.
5. Did Malcolm Saville know W.E. Johns, author of Biggles? 2009.
Part 2. Values
6. Families in Difficulties
7. Romany Secrets: The depiction of Romanies in the writings of Malcolm Saville. 2002
8. Children Coping - Welcome the Jillies. 1998
9. Yellow Peril? The Depiction of the Chinese in the Fiction of Malcolm Saville 2002
Malcolm Saville's depiction of Chinese residents of Docklands.
10. Good People Working Together: The Lesson of Sea Witch Comes Home
Part 3. Locations
11. Why Choose Blakeney? Birds, Artists and Holidays in Digs. 2002 Post-war holidays and Malcolm Saville’s Jillies series.
12. Coping in dangerous waters: defining gender roles in the Ely Floods 2003 Relationships in The Luck of Sallowby (1952), Malcolm Saville’s fifth Jillies book, set in Ely floods.
13. Romanticised Landscape: Malcolm Saville’s Cornwall Real and fictional topography in Malcolm Saville’s Flying Fish Adventure 2003
14. Sea Watch at Southwold. 2004
Comparison of historical detail of the 1953 North Sea ‘great storm’ with Malcolm Saville’s Sea Witch Comes Home. Easter 2004.
15. Dartmoor, Flying Saucers and Military Secrecy 2005.
Links between flying saucers in two Saville stories, and other science fiction literature.
16. Muker, North Yorkshire: The Mysteries of Muker: Or Which Steps, Which Barn and Which Crackpot?
Part 4. Life in the 1940s
17. Spirit of the Place: Writing about England.
18. Small Creatures, and the Truth in a Tale Series. Nature writing.
19. Railways of Adventure. The place of railways in Malcolm Saville’s fiction. 2004 and 2007.
20. Harvest Holiday: A Happy Return to Townsend Farm. 2008
21. A Death in Normandy. The background to Mary and Michael’s father. 2009.
Two more articles about Malcolm Saville and Yorkshire (Goathland, Whitby and Wharram Percy) can now be found at http://eprints.worc.ac.uk/1499.
Some letters can be found on http://eprints.worc.ac.uk/799
Part 1. The Emerging Author
1. D J Desmond: the Anonymous Author. 2005
Malcolm Saville wrote occasionally under this name, and these works are discussed.
2. Malcolm Saville at My Garden Magazine. 2005
3. Apprenticeship: Malcolm Saville and David Severn 2003 The literary relationship between two beginning writers.
4. The Influence of J M Barrie on Malcolm Saville 2004 Malcolm Saville was fond of Dear Brutus by J M Barrie and this influenced his characterisation. 2004.
5. Did Malcolm Saville know W.E. Johns, author of Biggles? 2009.
Part 2. Values
6. Families in Difficulties
7. Romany Secrets: The depiction of Romanies in the writings of Malcolm Saville. 2002
8. Children Coping - Welcome the Jillies. 1998
9. Yellow Peril? The Depiction of the Chinese in the Fiction of Malcolm Saville 2002
Malcolm Saville's depiction of Chinese residents of Docklands.
10. Good People Working Together: The Lesson of Sea Witch Comes Home
Part 3. Locations
11. Why Choose Blakeney? Birds, Artists and Holidays in Digs. 2002 Post-war holidays and Malcolm Saville’s Jillies series.
12. Coping in dangerous waters: defining gender roles in the Ely Floods 2003 Relationships in The Luck of Sallowby (1952), Malcolm Saville’s fifth Jillies book, set in Ely floods.
13. Romanticised Landscape: Malcolm Saville’s Cornwall Real and fictional topography in Malcolm Saville’s Flying Fish Adventure 2003
14. Sea Watch at Southwold. 2004
Comparison of historical detail of the 1953 North Sea ‘great storm’ with Malcolm Saville’s Sea Witch Comes Home. Easter 2004.
15. Dartmoor, Flying Saucers and Military Secrecy 2005.
Links between flying saucers in two Saville stories, and other science fiction literature.
16. Muker, North Yorkshire: The Mysteries of Muker: Or Which Steps, Which Barn and Which Crackpot?
Part 4. Life in the 1940s
17. Spirit of the Place: Writing about England.
18. Small Creatures, and the Truth in a Tale Series. Nature writing.
19. Railways of Adventure. The place of railways in Malcolm Saville’s fiction. 2004 and 2007.
20. Harvest Holiday: A Happy Return to Townsend Farm. 2008
21. A Death in Normandy. The background to Mary and Michael’s father. 2009.
Two more articles about Malcolm Saville and Yorkshire (Goathland, Whitby and Wharram Percy) can now be found at http://eprints.worc.ac.uk/1499.
Sunday, 27 September 2009
Some Saville Letters
Throughout his professional life as an Author (he always used the capital), Malcolm Saville wrote to anyone who contacted him, running an active and personalised fan club. He took this opportunity to encourage his fans to buy more books. Some were adults, and to these he tended to admit more, such as his exhaustion with the Lone Pine series.
Between 1978 and 1981, Malcolm Saville corresponded with Mary Cadogan, the writer on children's literature. She was planning a biographical book which did not in the end come to pass.
You can read some of these, and other letters on here
Between 1978 and 1981, Malcolm Saville corresponded with Mary Cadogan, the writer on children's literature. She was planning a biographical book which did not in the end come to pass.
You can read some of these, and other letters on here
Monday, 31 August 2009
Malcolm Saville and BBC Children's Hour.
Owen Dudley Edwards writes (British Children's Fiction in the Second World War, p.212) of Saville's Mystery at Witchend as "the BBC 'Children's Hour' serial subsequently given book form". In fact, Mystery at Witchend was published on 1st October 1943, and broadcast on Friday afternoons, 5.20 - 6.00pm for four weeks starting Friday 8th October. The adaptation of the book was by Barbara Sleigh, an author in her own right who worked with her husband for the BBC. Sleigh's script is now published(2008) by David Schutte (ISBN 978 0 9546801 5 1) .
ODE talks elsewhere of simultaneous publication and broadcast, which is about right, since the decision to broadcast and the preparations must have been pre-publication. Whether the story had been commissioned for broadcast is beyond the evidence - a new untested writer being asked to write a war story is unlikely, and more likely that Sleigh knew Saville (Geoffrey Trease was a common friend and confirms the friendships in his autobiography) and liked the story which she had read pre-publication (although I am uncertain whether she knew Saville prior to the broadcast decision). A spy story perhaps suited the feel of the time, when threat of invasion had receded and children could feel empowered to contribute to the war effort. In fact, MI6 histories report that by this time spies were not much of a threat so that popular vigilance endangered innocent aliens more than spies.
ODE gives a detailed footnote (352-3 fn45) confirming these timings and commenting on the experienced cast. This had not been an economy production. ODE comments at length (253-7) that Mystery at Witchend was Saville's best book.
ODE talks elsewhere of simultaneous publication and broadcast, which is about right, since the decision to broadcast and the preparations must have been pre-publication. Whether the story had been commissioned for broadcast is beyond the evidence - a new untested writer being asked to write a war story is unlikely, and more likely that Sleigh knew Saville (Geoffrey Trease was a common friend and confirms the friendships in his autobiography) and liked the story which she had read pre-publication (although I am uncertain whether she knew Saville prior to the broadcast decision). A spy story perhaps suited the feel of the time, when threat of invasion had receded and children could feel empowered to contribute to the war effort. In fact, MI6 histories report that by this time spies were not much of a threat so that popular vigilance endangered innocent aliens more than spies.
ODE gives a detailed footnote (352-3 fn45) confirming these timings and commenting on the experienced cast. This had not been an economy production. ODE comments at length (253-7) that Mystery at Witchend was Saville's best book.
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
The Archive.
A group of letters and papers written by Malcolm Saville came into our possession in 2001: these are owned by the Malcolm Saville Society and kept in association with the International Centre for Children's Literature, Literacy and Creativity in the University of Worcester, a centre with I, as archivist, have been long associated. To this has been added items belonging to me personally, and copies of letters from MS to members. Through this blog, a number of these will be made public.
Lone Pine Club to Malcolm Saville Society
Malcolm Saville wished to feel close to his readers and encouraged them to write to him. Most had a personal reply, often quite long, so this must have taken some time. He established a centralised Lone Pine Club, with badges and other paraphanalia, later replacing this by encouraging local groups. This was undoubtedly a marketing ploy, since letter would generally include pleas to buy books, not just read them - authors have to live, you know. Reproductions of his newsheets are now available. The Malcolm Saville Society was formed in the 1990s, and it is no surprise that many members were once Lone Pine Club members.
The society promote walking trips to Saville locations, publish a magazine/journal called Acksherley!, and organise an annual Gathering in April. Their website is at www.witchend.com. MSS recently received its 1000th membership application.
The society promote walking trips to Saville locations, publish a magazine/journal called Acksherley!, and organise an annual Gathering in April. Their website is at www.witchend.com. MSS recently received its 1000th membership application.
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