Hard cover book. The Midnight Folk Author: John Masefield Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd Date: 1930-1940 Further Information: Two-tone quarter binding dark green/black spine and quarter shelf-back with red cloth sides, with hand-lettered ink text on the spine "The Midnight Folk / Masefield"). The spine has a Library label with an inscription.fictionThe Midnight Folk (first published in 1927) is a celebrated fantasy novel for young readers written by John Masefield. The story centres on a young, lonely orphan named Kay Harker, who lives in a country house guarded by his stern governess. Kay learns that his great-grandfather, Captain Harker, lost a valuable treasure—the plunder of the Santa Barbara—that was entrusted to him. Kay sets out on a quest to locate the lost treasure. Guided by his cat, Nibbins, and an assortment of talking animals, witches, goblins, and nocturnal creatures (the titular 'Midnight Folk'), Kay journeys through magical, dream-like realms. The story seamlessly weaves together British folklore, nautical high adventure, piracy, and childhood wonder.warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, book, the midnight folk, john masefield, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, pattison collection, warrnambool library, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library

Hard cover book. Martin Hyde “The Dukes Messenger” Author: John Masefield Publisher: Wells Gardner Darton & Co Date: 1928 to 1949 Further Information: Blue Cloth hardcover with lettering and patterning to spine in black. Publisher Logo to front cover with title & authors name. The spine has a Library label with an inscription.fictionMartin Hyde, the Duke's Messenger is a historical novel set in the late 17th century, following a young boy named Martin Hyde as he moves from a carefree childhood in rural Suffolk into a web of intrigue in London. Orphaned young, Martin goes to live with his uncle in London, where he becomes tangled up in royal conspiracies and secret missions. After his father's death in 1685, the 12-year-old goes to live with his uncle and eventually becomes messenger for James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, as Monmouth tries to build support for his claim to the English throne after the death of Charles II. It's often compared to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island or Kidnapped a boy's-own adventure that takes Martin overseas and eventually back to England to take part in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, with a rival working for the Crown whom he has to outwit. A reviewer also notes a small, restrained love-story thread Martin's messenger rival turns out to be a girl in disguise which nudges the book slightly outside the standard boys'-adventure genre of its era.warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, martin hyde the dukes messenger, john masefield, book, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, pattison collection, warrnambool library, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library

Hard cover book. Jim Davis Author: John Masefield Publisher: Wells Gardner Darton & Co Date: 1912-1920s Further Information: Green Cloth hardcover with lettering and patterning to spine in black. The spine has a Library label with an inscription.fictionJim Davis is a classic British sea-adventure novel written for young adults. Set along the Devon coast of England in 1812, the story follows a twelve-year-old orphan named Jim Davis. While exploring local caves and coastlines, Jim inadvertently stumbles upon a ring of night-riders and smugglers led by a fierce, charismatic captain named Marah. To protect their operational secrets, the smugglers kidnap Jim and take him to sea. The novel details his reluctant adventures aboard smuggling luggers, evasions of the coastguard, skirmishes, and his eventual effort to escape and return to civilian life.warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, book, jim davis, john masefield, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, pattison collection, warrnambool library, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library

Hard cover book. Sard Harker Author: John Masefield Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd Date: 1924 Further Information: Red Cloth hardcover with lettering and patterning to spine in black. The spine has a Library label with an inscription.fictionThe novel centres on Chanticleer "Sard" Harker, a serious, stoic first mate aboard the trading ship Pathfinder. While anchored off the coast of the fictionalised South American nation of Santa Barbara a recurring setting in Masefield's fiction Harker experiences a vivid, recurring dream predicting that a woman named Doña Margherita Luisa Rosa is in grave danger. Driven by a strict sense of duty and premonition, Harker goes ashore to track down the estate where she is staying to deliver a warning. This decision plunges him into an extraordinary physical ordeal: separated from his ship and framed for murder, Harker must trek through hostile jungles, arid deserts, treacherous swamps, and rugged mountain passes while battling corrupt local officials, bandits, and a sinister occultist/cult leader named Don Hirsch Gomez.warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, book, sard harker, john masefield, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, pattison collection, warrnambool library, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library

Hard cover book. Eggs & Baker or The Days of Trial Author: John Masefield Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd Date: 1936 Further Information: Navy blue cloth with pictorial end papers hardcover with lettering and patterning to spine in black. The spine has a Library label with an inscription.fictionEggs and Baker, or The Days of Trial (1936) is a novel by the English poet and Poet Laureate John Masefield, best known for verse ('Sea-Fever', The Everlasting Mercy) and children's classics like The Box of Delights and The Midnight Folk, published the previous year. The story is set inland in Masefield's imagined English county of Tatchester/Condicote his recurring fictional geography, also used in The Box of Delights. The plot centres on a long-running trial of two men one a 'half-wit' accused of shooting and killing a gamekeeper while poaching. The real protagonist, though, is a baker who is losing business and standing in the community because of his socialist sympathies, and who takes up the accused men's cause at real cost to himself. A contemporary Kirkus review called it 'a totally unexpected book from Masefield, and a disappointing one', and wondered whether it was intended as 'a spoof on the law, or a serious commentary on problems of justice'.warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, masefield, john, eggs and baker, john masefield, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, pattison collection, warrnambool library, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library

Hard cover book. The Box of Delights Author: John Masefield Illustrator: Judith Masefield Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd Date: 1935 Further Information: Navy blue cloth with pictorial end papers hardcover with lettering and patterning to spine in black. The spine has a Library label with an inscription. fictionThe Box of Delights is a children's fantasy novel by John Masefield, a sequel to The Midnight Folk, first published in 1935. Kay Harker is returning from boarding school when he finds himself mixed up in a battle to possess a magical box which allows the owner to shrink in size, to fly swiftly, to go into the past and to experience the magical wonders contained within. He's opposed by a wizard named Abner Brown and his gang of disguised bandits and witches masquerading as clergymen, and aided by talking animals, most memorably the cat Nibbins. It's a Christmas story at heart, steeped in English folklore, magic, and the atmosphere of a snowy Midlands winter.warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, book, the box of delights, john masefield, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, pattison collection, warrnambool library, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library

Hard cover book. Dead Ned Author: John Masefield Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd Date: 1938 Further Information: Green Cloth hardcover with lettering and patterning to spine in black. The spine has a Library label with an inscription.fictionThe full title for Dead Ned is The Autobiography of a Corpse Who Recovered Life Within the Coast of Dead Ned and Came to What Fortune You Shall Hear. The novel follows a young doctor who is hanged for a murder he did not commit, is rescued just in time, and rushed out of the country on a slave ship. The novel is an 18th-century-set adventure about a wrongly accused medical student, Ned Mansell. While he's aboard the slave ship, the story follows his journey as he is saved from the gallows at the last minute by friends who send him off to hide as a doctor on the vessel. It has a sequel, Live and Kicking Ned (1939), a seafaring novel about the African slave trade that continues the 1938 story.warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, book, dead ned, john masefield, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, pattison collection, warrnambool library, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library

Hard cover book. The Bird of Dawning Author: John Masefield Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd Date: 1933 to 1939 Further Information: Blue Cloth hardcover with lettering and patterning to spine in gilt. Front cover with title & authors name in gilt. The spine has a Library label with an inscription.fictionThe Bird of Dawning (1933) is a sea-adventure novel about the clipper ship Black gauntlet, which is racing home from China to London when she's struck at night by a passing steamer. Only about half the crew sixteen men escape into a lifeboat before she goes down. The 22-year-old second mate, Cruiser Trewsbury, takes command of the survivors and leads them on a roughly 700-mile open-boat voyage to the island of Fayal in the Azores, fighting sharks, dwindling water and food, a leaking boat, and the threat of mutiny along the way. Partway through, the survivors come across an abandoned, dismasted clipper still afloat and Cruiser gets the chance to jury-rig her and sail her home himself, turning survival into a race against time.warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, martin hyde the dukes messenger, john masefield, book, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, pattison collection, warrnambool library, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library

Hard cover book. Victorious Troy or The Hurrying Angel Author: John Masefield Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd Date: 1935 Further Information: First edition with original publisher's blue cloth binding with gold foil/gilt lettering on both the front board ("VICTORIOUS TROY / JOHN MASEFIELD") and the spine. The spine has a Library label with an inscription.fictionVictorious Troy or The Hurrying Angel (first published in 1935) is a dramatic maritime novel by John Masefield. Set in 1922, the story takes place aboard a full-rigged grain ship—the Hurrying Angel—sailing from Melbourne, Australia, back to the UK across the South Pacific. Deep in the ocean, the ship is hit by a catastrophic cyclone. The storm dismasts the vessel, kills or incapacitates the captain and senior officers, and leaves the ship in perilous condition. The hero of this novel is eighteen-year-old senior apprentice Dick Pomfret, who is forced to take command. Through sheer grit, seamanship, and leadership, Dick clears the wreckage, constructs a jury-rig mast, and navigates the battered ship towards safety. Grounded in Masefield's real-life young adult experiences aboard merchant sailing ships, the novel is celebrated for its technical accuracy, vivid descriptions of rough seas, and authentic nautical terminology.warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, book, victorious troy, the hurrying angel, john masefield, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, pattison collection, warrnambool library, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library

Ill, p.87non-fictionHere in brief compass is the thrilling tale of air crew adventure told by its navigator, who was one of three Australian in a crew of six manning a Marauder aircraft operating from Africa over the Mediterranean. The aircraft becomes involved in combat, in which two enemy fighters are drive off, one emitting clouds of smoke; but the Marauder, too, is crippled, and comes down in the Mediterranean near the Italian Island of Ustica. Rescue from the sea is followed by the rigours of captivity in Fascist barracks and compounds, of travel through Italy, of sharing British air raids with their captors, assuming careless ease while their musical comedy soldier captors cannot conceal their unease. An ingeniously planned escape is successful; five prisoners break from the compound, and this party, with intrepidity and endurance, gain a liberty which is also a life of great hardship. Italian peasant life provides great interest, and friendly folk protect the adventurous band from the Fascists, while they meet at the coast a mysterious English Captain, who later proves to be a Commando officer on a mission; when this mission is accomplished, and not before, he helps the several groups of escapees to liberty. A motor torpedo boat calls at midnight and, within six months, home in Australiaworld war 1939-1945 - aerial operations - australia, world war 1939-1945 - prisoners of war