FIRSTS ONLINE Winter 2020

13. NORTON, Mary
A Collection of Correspondence between Mary Norton,
her publisher and other Interested Parties, Relating to the
Publication of Are All the Giants Dead?, including 4 ALS
and 11 TLS (one photocopied) from the author
V.p.: N.p., V.d.
A small quantity of typed and holograph correspondence, and associated
materials, between and concerning Mary Norton, her publisher, and
interested parties, relating to the publication of Are All The Giants Dead?,
various sizes and dates, the whole housed in a manila folder. Some papers
(mostly outsized) a little edgeworn, but overall very well preserved.
Mary Norton [1903-1922] is best known as the author of The Borrowers
series, and the creator of the source material for Disney’s 1971 classic,
Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Norton was born in London and travelled
widely, but after the dissolution of her first marriage in 1972 she moved
to Ireland, with her second husband, the writer Lionel Bonsey. It was
here, in Westwood House, Rosscarberry, County Cork, that she
wrote Are All the Giants Dead?, published in 1975, a novel about the
melancholy that befalls the heroes and heroines of fairy stories when
they’re living in a retirement home, their days of adventure behind them.
The earliest documents in the file are two ALS from Norton to the
Children’s Books Editor at Dent, Gwen Marsh. The first, undated,
begins: ‘Dear Gwen, Although I have a new ‘Borrowers’ half written, I
broke off to write the enclosed (‘Are all the Giants Dead?’). It is in one
way not quite a children’s book but I hope the story line may carry it
through to most ages. I am sending it to Mr. Dent who has been so kind
to me over guarantees etc.’ (Dent had published the first five Borrowers
title by this time. It’s interesting to note in the light of this letter that
the sixth and final Borrowers book, was not published until 1982.) In
the second letter, sent from the same Cadogan Place address as the
first and dated 21 March 1974, Norton supplies rewrites to the opening
chapter of the book, and also writes: ‘I so enjoyed my luncheon with you
and Mr. Dent. Thank you both so much!’.
The same month, Marsh wrote to Norton’s agent offering an advance
of £2000 on the book, and outlining proposed royalty arrangements.
Tantalisingly, she also writes: ‘It is understood that if we were to get
involved with Maurice Sendak as an illustrator these royalty rights would
be revised. (The book was eventually illustrated by Brian Froud, who was
contracted by June 1974.) The Editorial Proposal Form is enthusiastic,
and publication is set for 27 June 1975.
In the first of many TLS present in the file, dated 23 November 1974
and written on her Westwood House notepaper, Norton pronounces
herself more than happy with Froud’s work: ‘The drawings are quite
wonderful. Brian is a genius! If you could send me his address, I will write
to him personally. There is so much to see in them. One is always finding
new details. Please thank him.’ Discussions between Norton and Marsh
continue -- the sourcing of the poem which appears at the front of the
book, the choice of author’s photograph (‘I am sending the photograph
back in the forlorn hope you will use it. I am afraid you may have the one
with a terrible (false) toothy smile, which I hate!’) -- and the dedication
is settled: ‘It is ‘TO OLIVER KNOX, WHOSE FAULT IT WAS.’ He
encouraged me to write 200 words a day.’ (In the end, no author’s
photograph was used.)
By January 1975 discussions are well advanced with Harcourt, Brace,
who went on to publish the US edition of the book, using Froud’s
illustrations. And some time early in 1975, in a photocopied TLS,
Norton writes to object to part of the proposed author’s blurb: ‘...that
is the phrase ‘in a Queen Anne house, which they have renovated most
beautifully.’ I know it is not meant to be so, but it sounds so terribly
vulgar, in a nouveau riche, Homes-and-Gardens ‘ours-is-a-nice-’ouse’
sense. I would have liked it to be just ‘lives in County Cork, and it was
here that ARE ALL THE GIANTS DEAD was written. ... I don’t think
it is any business of the world in general whether I am living with my
second husband or my sixth, nor that one’s house is nicely decorated.
Some people might think it awful!’ (Norton lost the argument: the
offending phrase appears in the book’s blurb.)
Published in June 1975 in an initial print run of 20,000 copies, the first
critical response was not heartening. On 18 July, Gwen Marsh wrote
to Norton: ‘What a rubbishy review the Sheffield Morning Telegraph
has given you! ...if he cannot appreciate your simple, subtle, graceful
style he must be blind. ... [T]he whole piece is too stupid. Please, we beg
of you, don’t be downhearted. Of course, they’ll be people who don’t
take to this story or prefer The Borrowers, chacun à son gout....’. In an
ALS reply, Norton writes: ‘ He is at perfect liberty not to like the book
-- but it is not right to attribute imaginary motives etc. to the author. ...
Thank you again, dear Gwen, for writing so kindly and so promptly.’ Later
reviews are more positive, and so is the professional response. Norton
writes: ‘David Heneker (Irma La Douce, Half A Sixpence, Charlie Girl,
etc.) and his wife are coming to stay on Wednesday. He wants us to try
to collaborate on a musical of ‘Giants’. By the same token, I had a long
loving letter from Joshua Logan!’
A handwritten postcard from Elaine Moss to Vanessa Hamilton of Dent,
sent in 1976, brings slightly embarrassing news about the book’s title:
‘The poem by Hilary Pepler which Mary Norton mis-remembered (I’m
afraid) ... begins “Are all the dragons dead...”!! The file is silent on Mary
Norton’s response.
A fine collection of material, never before offered for sale, telling in
great detail the publication history of a book from one of the twentieth
century’s best-loved children’s authors.
£2,500 (plus 20% VAT to EU purchasers)
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