Books stories and articles by Violet Needham
Books and articles about Violet Needham
Books and articles by Violet Needham
A bibliography of Violet Needham compiled by Lance Salway was issued in Souvenir 2, Summer 1986 and revised in Souvenir 24, Winter 1993. This, in turn, was revised for publication in The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories, 2003 (see below) and further brought up to date (September 2005) by Richard Cheffins. The bibliography includes details of all known editions of her works including foreign translations.
Full-length Novels
(click on a to see the cover and more information on this book)
Illustrated by Anne Bullen. Collins, 1939; Collins (Crown Library), 1954; Collins (Junior Fontana paperback), 1956; Collins (Evergreen Library), 1967; Collins (Armada Lion paperback), 1971; Girls Gone By Publishers, 2005; Stockholm, Ljus, 1947, as Svarta ryttarna, translated by Gundia Johansson.
Illustrated by Anne Bullen. Collins, 1940; Collins (Crown Library), 1952; Collins (Evergreen Library), l970; Vicenza, Paoline, 1954, as La Corona di Smeraldi, translated by Aldo Fulizio, illustrated by Manuel Barbato; Girls Gone By Publishers, 2006.
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1942; Tom Stacey, 1971; Girls Gone By Publishers, 2006.
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1943; Collins (Crown Library), 1956; Stockholm, B. Wahlstrm, 1951, as Tvillingarna och trollhornet, translated by Holger Norelius; Girls Gone By 2010.
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1944; Collins (Seagull Library), 1958; Jane Nissen Books, 2003.
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1945; Collins (Crown Library), [1952]; Collins (Seagull Library), 1957; Girls Gone By 2006.
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1946; Collins (Crown Library), 1953; Collins (Evergreen Library), 1968; Collins (Armada Lion paperback), 1971; Vicenza, Paoline, 1954, as I Conti di Monte Lucio, translated by C. Bignoli, illustrated by Manuel Barbato.
The Bell of the Four Evangelists
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1947; Collins (Crown Library), 1953; Girls Gone By 2011.
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1948; Collins (Crown Library), [1952].
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1950; Collins (Seagull Library), 1957; Children’s Book Club, n.d.; Girls Gone By 2007.
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1951; Girls Gone By 2009.
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1952; Collins (Crown Library), 1957; Girls Gone By 2013 [forthcoming].
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1953; Girls Gone By 2012.
Illustrated by Will Nickless. Lutterworth Press, 1954.
Richard and the Golden Horse Shoe
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1954; Girls Gone By 2008.
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins, 1955.
The Secret of the White Peacock
Illustrated by Joyce Bruce. Collins,1956; Girls Gone By 2008.
Illustrated by David Walsh. Lutterworth Press, 1957.
Illustrated by Richard Kennedy. Collins, 1957; Girls Gone By 2009.
The Violet Needham Society, 1991; in The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories, illustrated by William Zawadski. The Violet Needham Society, 2003, 21-118.
[An extract from an uncompleted final novel] in Souvenir 34, Spring 1997, 4-9; [A larger extract and synopsis] in The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories Illustrated by William Zawadski. The Violet Needham Society, 2003, 119-141.
Short Stories
‘Marvell’s Folly’ [An excerpt from The Bell of the Four Evangelists] in Best Children’s Stories of the Year III, selected and edited by Leonard Gribble. Burke, n.d. [?1948].
‘A Secret Mission’ [An excerpt from The Boy in Red] in Best Children’s Stories of the Year IV, selected and edited by Leonard Gribble. Burke, n.d. [?1949].
‘The Cobbler’ in The Guide Gift Book. Girl Guides Association, 1950. Reprinted in Souvenir 7, Spring 1988, 2-11; The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories. The Violet Needham Society, 2003, 142-151.
‘The Siege’ in Collins Children’s Annual. Collins, n.d. [1950]. Reprinted in Collins Bumper Story Book. Collins, n.d. [1953?]; The Children’s Own Story Book. The Children’s Press, 1957; Souvenir 2, Summer 1986, 2-7; The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories. The Violet Needham Society, 2003, 163-169.
‘Paid in Full’ in Every Girl’s Annual. Juvenile Productions, n.d. [?1952]. Reprinted in Souvenir 22, Spring 1993, 2-5; 23, Summer l993, 6-11; The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories. The Violet Needham Society, 2003, 152-162.
‘The Manor of Bellamy’ in Adventure Stories for Girls. Odhams Books, 1956. Reprinted in Souvenir 13, Spring 1990, 2-13; The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories. The Violet Needham Society, 2003, 170-182.
‘The Minstrel’s Quest’ in The Crackerjack Girls’ Own Book. The Children’s Press, 1960. Reprinted in Souvenir 11, Summer 1989, 2-13; The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories. The Violet Needham Society, 2003, 183-194.
(for adults) 'Marion', Temple Bar: a London magazine for town
and country readers, Vol.125 (Sept-Dec.1901).
Reprinted in Souvenir 65, Summer 2007.
Non-Fiction
‘Francis of Assisi: The Upside-down Saint’ in The Children’s Book of Famous Lives, edited by Eric Duthie. Odhams Press, 1957, 187-193; Reprinted in The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories. The Violet Needham Society, 2003, 195-199.
‘Joan of Arc : the Saint who Freed France’ in The Children’s Book of Famous Lives, edited by Eric Duthie. Odhams Press, 1957, 222-227. Reprinted in The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories. The Violet Needham Society, 2003, 200-203.
‘Florence Nightingale : the Woman who Brought Help to Men’ in The Children’s Book of Famous Lives, edited by Eric Duthie. Odhams Press, 1957, 279-286. Reprinted in The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories. The Violet Needham Society, 2003, 204-208.
‘To Rome’ in Souvenir 4, Spring 1987, 2-10. Reprinted with revised notes in Souvenir 31, Spring 1996, 15-23.
‘A family record’ in Souvenir 31, Spring 1996, 3-12.
Series
The Stormy Petrel or Empire series
l. The Black Riders (1939)
2. The Emerald Crown (1940)
3. The Stormy Petrel (1942)
4. The House of the Paladin (1945)
5. The Betrayer (1950)
6. Richard and the Golden Horseshoe (1954)
7. The Secret of the White Peacock (1956)
8. The Red Rose of Ruvina (1957)
Of these, 1 and 2 are more or less chronologically parallel but are not in themselves related. Characters from both, however, appear in the rest of the series.
6-8 deal with a younger generation, the child heroes of 1-5 appearing in the later books as (young) adults.
The Windri/Monte Lucio pair
1. The Woods of Windri (1944)
2. The Changeling of Monte Lucio (1946)
Ruritanian-historical. The characters of 2 are the great-grandchildren of those of 1.
The Boy in Red pair
1. The Boy in Red (1948)
2. The Avenue (1952)
Historical, dealing with the revolt of the Netherlands and the Glorious Revolution. The characters of 2 are descended from those of 1.
Contemporary stories
The Horn of Merlyns (1943)
The Bell of the Four Evangelists (1947)
Pandora of Parrham Royal (1951)
How Many Miles to Babylon? (1953)
The Great House of Estraville (1955)
These are not a series, but characters from some books reappear in others, e.g. the twins from The Horn of Merlyns appear in The Bell of the Four Evangelists, as does Hugh Vallance from The House of the Paladin (Stormy Petrel series). The Great House of Estraville is set in the (fictional) Mediterranean country of Monte Lucio, as in The Changeling of Monte Lucio, but although the earlier story is mentioned there is no other connection.
The Adventures pair
Adventures at Hampton Court (1954)
Adventures at Windsor Castle (1957)
Time-slip stories written to illustrate the history of the palace and castle; no connection between them.
Posthumously published works
The Sword of St Cyprian (1991 and 2003)
An Accursed Heritage (2003) – an unfinished work of which a fragment has been published by the Violet Needham Society.
No connection between them or with anything else.
Books and articles about Violet Needham
Most studies of Violet Needham have been published in Souvenir, the journal of the Violet Needham Society, but to have included them here would have unbalanced this bibliography and they have been excluded. However, a comprehensive index to issues 1-50 (Spring 1986-Summer 2002) of Souvenir, compiled by Lance Salway, was issued with the Summer 2003 issue of Souvenir (No.53).
[Bottoms, Janet]. ‘Needham, (Amy) Violet’ [by] JFB in The Cambridge Guide to Children’s Books in English, [ed. by] Victor Watson. Cambridge university Press, 2001, 507. Clare, Hilary.
Clare, Hilary, 'The Children’s Books of Violet Needham' in Book and Magazine Collector 62, May 1989, 20-6.
Clare, Hilary. ‘Violet Needham : a biography’ in The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories. The Violet Needham Society, 2003, 11-16.
Crabb, Judith. The Password is Fortitude : an Evaluation of Some Children's Books by Violet Needham. Seacombe Gardens, S. Australia, Hermit Press, 1992 (Hermit Press Pamphlet No.2). Ltd ed. of 100 signed copies.
Fisher, Margery. 'Ruritania' in The Bright Face of Danger by Margery Fisher. Hodder and Stoughton, 1986, 81-108.
Salway, Lance. ‘Survival of the Fittest'. Children’s Book News 4, i, January/February 1969, 191-5.
Salway, Lance. [‘Violet Needham'] in Twentieth Century Children’s Writers, edited by Tracy Chevalier. 3rd ed. St James Press, 1989, 712.
Salway, Lance. ‘Violet Needham : a bibliography’ in The Sword of St Cyprian and other stories. The Violet Needham Society, 2003, 17-20.
‘Violet Needham : an afterword’ [to Judith Crabb’s pamphlet] in The Pioneer Books Magazine, 1, Spring 1994, 45-46.
Wright, Hilary [i.e. Hilary Clare]. ‘Violet Needham : The Last of the Victorians’ in The Junior Bookshelf, October 1983, 191-5.