Arthur Ransome (1884 -1967) wrote on many subjects, including reporting to the British Government on the Russian Revolution. However, he is best known for this series of children's books (of which this is the first and most famous), which follows a number of resourceful boys and girls as they sail, camp, and have adventures, both real and imaginary. In these, Ransome celebrated the outdoor activities he loved and the places in England, especially the Lake District, dearest to his heart. The sixth book in the series, Pigeon Post (1936), won the first Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's literature; however, its successor, We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea (1937), is widely considered Ransome's masterpiece. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

First illustrated edition, 9th impression dust-jacket; 8vo (205 x 145 mm); black and white illustrations and vignettes, map endpapers in black, white, blue and green, light foxing to map and blank endpapers, the odd encroachment to extreme page edges from spotted for edge of text block, bookseller's label to upper blank secondary endpaper, otherwise very clean and bright; publisher's blue cloth boards, spine lettered in gilt, rubbed at extremities, fading to edges and spine (ends bumped), illustrated green and black dust-jacket (9th impression), somewhat browned and spotted, more so to flap-folds, spine and rear panel, partial split to rear panel at spine-fold, spine ends heavily chipped but jacket not price-clipped or restored, a good, unsophisticated copy; 349, [1] pp.