While Mole and Rat are content to go out in a row boat or travel the roads in a caravan, Toad prefers the excitement of motor cars.
The timeless story of Toad, Rat, Mole, and Badger has delighted readers of all ages for more than eighty years.įriendly Rat, mild-mannered Mole, wise Badger, and kind-but conceited-Toad all live on the banks of the Thames. ‘It combines a love of nature with a nostalgia for boats, caravans and old cars, and hints at a more innocent time.Since its beginnings as a series of stories told to Kenneth Grahame’s young son, The Wind in the Willows has gone on to become one of the best-loved children’s books of all time. This volume won the Grand Prix Award at the Printing World Awards. The cloth cover is blocked in black and gold, with a printed label inset showing Ratty and Mole by the fireside. Care has been lavished on every detail, from the luxurious Modigliani paper to the endpapers and slipcase, both printed with pen-and-ink designs. This edition of Kenneth Grahame’s enchanting adventure, one of The Folio Society’s all-time best-sellers, features 83 wonderful illustrations by Charles van Sandwyk. His wonderful illustrations breathe new life into the much-loved heroes of Kenneth Grahame’s classic, magically evoking the idyllic and occasionally dangerous world of wild wood and river bank. The sheer familiarity of the characters has been a challenge to artists ever since, and Charles van Sandwyk has risen to it magnificently.
The Wind in the Willows is about many things – the changing seasons, the beauty and fragility of nature, the perils of the open road and the creeping tide of suburbia – but it is the glorious adventures of Toad, Mole, Ratty and Badger that have enchanted generations of children and their parents for nearly a century. Can the four friends win against the frightening denizens of the Wild Wood? And does our irresponsible hero really become ‘an altered Toad’? Even stern Badger cannot control Toad’s lunatic enthusiasms and wild antics, until they are all faced with a tremendous battle against the scheming stoats and wheedling weasels that have taken over Toad Hall. ‘Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped – always somebody else’s horizon! Oh, bliss! Oh, poop-poop!’ Soon he is risking life and limb indulging his new-found passion, experiencing brushes with the law and landing himself in prison, much to the concern of his friends. Mr Toad, irrepressible aristocrat and creature of crazes, shatters this rural calm with his discovery of the automobile. The first animal he meets is lively Ratty, who introduces him to the beauties of the river and the joys of ‘simply messing about in boats’. When Mole is drawn out of his underground abode (‘Hang spring-cleaning!’) by the imperious call of Spring, he is fascinated by the world above his home.
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