This week in 1858 saw the birth of E. Nesbitt, author of many wonderful books including 'Five Children and It', 'The Railway Children', 'The Treasure Seekers', 'The House of Arden', 'The Story of the Amulet' and 'The Enchanted Castle' to name but a few.
In celebration, here are some examples of the magnificent Minervian library, a collection of nearly 100 stories and plays written by contemporaries of Nesbitt; Maria, Clara, Malcolm and Alfred Cowan. London born, but Orkney residents in 1865 when they began to write their tales as children, the Cowans wrote in notebooks, sheaves of paper held together by pins and handmade jotters. The Minervian library became a functioning lending library between friends and aquaintances.
(Orkney Archive Reference D98)
Instead of a Friday afternoon boogie, let's have a Friday afternoon weep as Bobbie greets her long lost, beloved father at the train station.(sob!)
Darn you Archiver! I'm supposed to be working, but instead I'm crying my eyes out.
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