William Bowen – författare

For two centuries (1540-1740) the Sidney family of Penshurt Place, Kent, produced poets, courtiers, collectors, and at least one revolutionary. Increasingly aware of the cultural ideal of the learned nobleman and of libraries as representations of that ideal, the Sidneys amassed one of the largest gentry libraries in England of their period. This edition of their library catalogue provides a vivid portrait of the birth, growth, and eventual demise of the distinguished family’s library collection.Comprised of nearly 5000 entries, the catalogue is presented with a full introduction describing the Sidneys’ intellectual world and life, their reading and collecting, the women collectors of the family, and the dispersal of the library in 1743. The editors employ all the resources of contemporary bibliography, print and digital, to identify the titles in the catalogue, and where possible to locate the Sidneys’ own copies still extant, as well as architectural analysis to identify and describe the library room at Penshurst, now lost to nineteenth-century renovations.

The Old Tobacco Shop: A True Account of What Befell a Little Boy in Search of Adventure is a children''s fantasy novel by William Bowen that was named a Newbery Honor book.Five-year-old Freddie meets the owner of a nearby tobacco shop, Mr. Toby Littleback; his old-maid aunt, Aunt Amanda; and Mr. Punch, a hunchbacked man who sits outside the shop holding cigars. Toby warns young Freddie never to touch the jar shaped like a Chinese man''s head because it is filled with magic tobacco. Freddie can''t resist, and after smoking the tobacco he finds he and his friends on The Sieve, a leaky ship on the Spanish Main. They are first captured by pirates, then escape with the pirate treasure. Later they meet a Persian rug merchant who gives each of them their heart''s desire. In the end Freddie falls ill, and goes into a coma. When he awakens he finds himself at home, recovered from the tobacco-induced dream.

Sometimes, being disobedient brings unbelievable surprises.When five-year-old Freddie is warned by Toby Littleback, the proprietor of the local tobacco shop, never to touch the jar shaped like a man’s head, he can’t resist.Suddenly Freddie is transported to the Spanish Main, as pirates pursue his sinking ship in the search for hidden treasure. How will he escape their clutches and return home?A cross between ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, this action-packed fantasy story for children features flying carpets, skulduggery, and gold. Perfect for fans of fantasy adventure fiction.William Alvin Bowen (1877-1937) was an American attorney and children’s author. His best-known work was fantasy novel ‘The Old Tobacco Shop: A True Account of What Befell a Little Boy in Search of Adventure’, which was runner-up in the inaugural Newbery Medal in 1922. His other works include: ‘The Enchanted Forest’ (1920), ‘Solario the Tailor: His Tales of the Magic Doublet’ (1922), ‘Merrimeg’ (1923), ‘Philip and the Faun’ (1926), and ‘Gossip from the Sixteenth Century’ (1938).