A Peter Pan problem (bibliographical)

[Evertype]

I have a bibliographical problem. "Peter and Wendy" is the 1911 novel by J. M. Barrie. "Peter Pan and Wendy" was an authorized abridgement by May Byron published in 1915. In 1938 Máiréad Ní Ghráda published "Tír na Deo" 'The land of always' in Irish. The book states that it is a translation of "Peter Pan and Wendy" by Barrie. Barrie's 1911 "Peter Pan" 1911 has 17 chapters. May Byron's 1915 "Peter Pan and Wendy" has 13 chapters. "Tír na Deo" has 14 chapters, the titles of which look more like those of "Peter and Wendy" than of May Byron's abridgement. Moreover the text is rather different so Ní Ghráda may have abridged or altered some herself.

BUT

The Penguin "Peter Pan" (containing "Peter and Wendy" and "Peter in Kensington Gardens" (ed. Zipes) states that there was a "Peter Pan and Wendy" by Barrie: "the story of 'Peter Pan' extracted from 'Peter Pan and Wendy', illustrated by F. D. Bedford, authorised school edition, London: Henry Frowde, Hodder and Staughton, 1915".

So. Was there a Barry abridgement "Peter Pan and Wendy" with 14 chapters? (I am about to publish a new edition of "Tír na Deo".) "Tír na Deo" has the Atwell illustrations. I am going to try to make a comparison of the content of, say, the Mermaid chapter. Certainly the beginning of "Tír na Deo" does not begin as "Peter and Wendy" or Byron's "Peter Pan and Wendy".

Any insights here? Thanks!
Michael Everson

[GOSH]

It is confusing, I agree! You are  correct in the chronology:
- 1911: JM Barrie's Peter and Wendy
- 1915: first authorised abridgement by May Byron entitled Peter Pan & Wendy (incidentally, the first time this title was used)

This was followed by:
- 1921: May Byron's version published with illustrations by Mabel Lucie Attwell still entitled Peter Pan & Wendy

- To complicate matters, there was also a retelling of the play by Daniel O'Connor in 1907, originally entitled The Story of Peter Pan, published by G Bell & Sons (with Barrie's approval) with illustrations by Alice B Woodward. This is a very different text from Barrie's novelisation or Byron's version but often reprinted nowadays under the title Peter Pan (and misattributed to Barrie). (May Byron's version is also sometimes nowadays misattributed to Barrie in modern editions, by the way.)

Zipes has his facts wrong: the authorised school edition (with F D Bedford's illustrations) was not published by Henry Frowde, but Humphrey Milford at Oxford University Press in 1915. I believe this is an adapted version of JM Barrie's text, as its foreword states "this is the story of the play that has been arranged for school use". It contains 10 chapters, with the same headings as Barrie's 1911 novel, but leaving out 7. (By the way, Henry Frowde was the publisher of Peter Pan's ABC illustrated by Flora White, which only has a few lines of text.)

I have a copy of Tir na Deo but always assumed it was May Byron's text because of the Mabel Lucie Attwell illustrations so it's interesting to hear the Irish version is actually different! I think you're probably right in thinking the translator abridged and adapted the story even more, and no-one minded (or noticed).

Will you therefore be publishing a new edition of Tir na Deo 's 1938 text, or a new translation based on the original? As far as I can see, there has never been an Irish translation of Barrie's own Peter & Wendy, which is a shame as none of the other adaptations start with the classic "All children, except one, grow up".

Will you be including illustrations, either by Attwell or Bedford (both still in copyright) or another artist?

If you wanted to discuss this further or have more details of the editions held in our records, feel free to contact me at peterpan@gosh.org.

Christine

[Evertype]

The Irish edition is rather different indeed. It wasn't uncommon for translations from that period to be altered somewhat. Recently I published a new edition of the 1922 translation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland—Eachtra Eibhlíse i dTír na nIontas—in which the Dodo is turned into a Sandpiper along with other animals (all native to Ireland), and in which many Irish songs (or parodies) are added to the text. (Reasons of nationalism, Gaelicism, that sort of thing.)

I'm publishing a new edition of Tír na Deo's text. You're right, it doesn't begin with "All children, except one, grow up." I'm including the Atwell illustrations by arrangement with the Estate. If ever I did a version of the 1911 novel, I'd use the Bedford illustrations, by arrangement with the Estate.

[Evertype]

Here are the chapter titles from Tír na Deo with English translations:

1 Wendy agus a Muintir 'Wendy and her People'
2 An Scáil 'The Shadow'
3 An tÉalú 'The Escape'
4 An Turas go Tír na Deo 'The Journey to Neverland'
5 An tOileán 'The Island'
6 An Bothán 'The Cabin'
7 An Teach faoi Thalamh 'The House under Ground'
8 Bá na Murúch 'The Bay of the Mermaids'
9 An tÉan 'The Bird'
10 Oíche thar Oícheanta 'Night of Nights'
11 Fuadach na nGarsún 'The Kidnapping of the Boys'
12 Long na bhFoghlaithe Mara 'The Ship of the Pirates'
13 An Teacht ar Ais 'The Journey Back'
14 Nuair a d’fhás Wendy suas 'When Wendy grew up'