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W. H. Hudson: Autobiography, letters & diaries

This page lists autobiographies and collections taken from W.H. Hudson's letters and diaries.

The books are ordered by publication date with the most recent at the top.


There are five W.H. Hudson pages on the site:

Nature writing: original books

Nature writing: later collection

Letters / autobiography

Fiction

Biography / bibliography


 

The Unpublished Letters of W. H. Hudson, The First Literary Environmentalist, 1841-1922, Volume 2

Editor: Dennis Shrubshall

Edwin Mellen Press

2006

Contents:

  • The Letters (continued)
  • Appendices:
    Undated Letters
    Biographical Register of Correspondents
    Analysis of Correspondence by Calendar Years
    Bibliography
  • Index to Letters
"Most of the letters in this collection were written by Hudson to carefully chosen friends and confidants, among whom were well-known authors, poets, artists, naturalists, conservationists and the indomitable Ranee Margaret of Sarawak, consort of the second white Rajah, Sir Charles Brooke. They are personal, uninhibited communications never intended for publication, in which he poured his thoughts onto paper as fast as his pen could cope. From these letters, we gain an understanding of the real Hudson. They give insight into his days as a collector of bird skins in South America and his lifelong dedication to, and work for, wild bird conservation in Britain. There are accounts of his English rural rambles: of landscapes, flora, wildlife behavior, lodging places, people he met, their modes of life and the stories they told, some of which he included in his books. Hudson criticizes books, poetry and their authors; remarks on the progress and publication of his own books; and comments on journal contributions, journals and their editors."

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The Unpublished Letters of W. H. Hudson, The First Literary Environmentalist, 1841-1922, Volume 1

Editor: Dennis Shrubshall

Edwin Mellen Press

2006

Contents:

  • Foreword by Martha S. Vogeler
  • Acknowledgements
  • Introduction
  • The Letters
"Most of the letters in this collection were written by Hudson to carefully chosen friends and confidants, among whom were well-known authors, poets, artists, naturalists, conservationists and the indomitable Ranee Margaret of Sarawak, consort of the second white Rajah, Sir Charles Brooke. They are personal, uninhibited communications never intended for publication, in which he poured his thoughts onto paper as fast as his pen could cope. From these letters, we gain an understanding of the real Hudson. They give insight into his days as a collector of bird skins in South America and his lifelong dedication to, and work for, wild bird conservation in Britain. There are accounts of his English rural rambles: of landscapes, flora, wildlife behavior, lodging places, people he met, their modes of life and the stories they told, some of which he included in his books. Hudson criticizes books, poetry and their authors; remarks on the progress and publication of his own books; and comments on journal contributions, journals and their editors."

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Landscapes and Literati: Unpublished Letters of W.H.Hudson and George Gissing

W.H. Hudson & George Gissing

Editor: Dennis Shrubsall, Pierre Coustillas

Michael Russell Publishing

1985

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Birds of a Feather: Unpublished Letters of W.H.Hudson

W.H. Hudson

Editor, introduction: Dennis Shrubsall

Wood engravings: Marcus Beaven

Moonraker Press

1981

"In 1906 John Harding, a London actor who was a keen student of birds, wrote a letter to Hudson about the Dartford Warbler; this was the beginning of a regular correspondence between the two men - almost entirely about birds - that continued until Hudson's death 16 years later. Harding treasured these letters from his friend and preserved them carefully; they are now published here for the first time. They have been edited by Dennis Shrubsall, author of W.H. Hudson: Writer And Naturalist and an authority on his work, who has contributed an introduction and detailed notes, and are illustrated by ten wood engravings made especially for the book by Marcus Beaven.".

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Diary concerning his voyage from Buenos Aires to Southampton on the Ebro, from 1 April 1874 to 3 May 1874

W.H. Hudson

Notes: Doctor Jorge Cesares

Foreword: Herbert Faulkner West

Westholm Publications

1958

Written for Hudson's brother Albert Merriam Hudson.

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Letters On The Ornithology Of Buenos Ayres

W.H. Hudson

Editor: David R. Dewar

Foreword: Herbert F. West

Cornell University Press

1951

Includes twelve letters published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London in 1870 and 1871.

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W. H. Hudson's Letters To R. B. Cunninghame Graham

W.H. Hudson

Editor, introduction: Richard Curle

Drawings of Hudson and Cunninghame Graham: Sir William Rothenstein

Golden Cockerel Press

1941

126 pages with introduction, letter to Cunningham Graham and a few letter to Cunningham Graham's mother. Limited edition of 250 numbered copies.

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Men, Books & Birds

W.H. Hudson

Notes, introduction: Morley Roberts

Eveleigh, Nash and Grayson

1925

A collection of 186 letters written by Hudson to Morley Roberts between 1897 and 1922.

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Letters from W. H. Hudson, 1901-1922

Editor: Edward Garnett

E.P. Dutton

1923

UK publication 1925 Dent

295 pages with over 150 letters.

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Far Away And Long Ago: A History Of My Early Life

W. H. Hudson

J.M. Dent & Sons

1918

Preamble to chapter 1: "It was never my intention to write an autobiography. Since I took to writing in my middle years I have, from time to time, related some incident of my boyhood, and these are contained in various chapters in The Naturalist in La Plata, Birds and Man, Adventures among Birds, and other works, also in two or three magazine articles: all this material would have been kept back if I had contemplated such a book as this. When my friends have asked me in recent years why I did not write a history of my early life on the pampas, my answer was that I had already told all that was worth telling in these books. And I really believed it was so; for when a person endeavours to recall his early life in its entirety he finds it is not possible: he is like one who ascends a hill to survey the prospect before him on a day of heavy cloud and shadow, who sees at a distance, now here, now there, some feature in the landscape - hill or wood or tower or spire - touched and made conspicuous by a transitory sunbeam while all else remains in obscurity. The scenes, people, events we are able by an effort to call up do not present themselves in order; there is no order, no sequence or regular progression - nothing, in fact, but isolated spots or patches, brightly illumined and vividly seen, in the midst of a wide shrouded mental landscape."

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Idle Days in Patagonia

W. H. Hudson

Chapman and Hall

1893

Opening lines:

"The wind had blown a gale all night, and I had been hourly expecting that the tumbling, storm-vexed old steamer, in which I had taken passage to the Rio Negro, would turn over once for all and settle down beneath that tremendous tumult of waters. For the groaning sound of its straining timbers, and the engine throbbing like an overtasked human heart, had made the ship seem a living thing to me; and it was tired of the struggle, and under the tumult was peace. But at about three o'clock in the morning the wind began to moderate, and, taking off coat and boots, I threw myself into my bunk for a little sleep. Ours, it must be said, was a very curious boat, reported ancient and much damaged; long and narrow in shape, like a Viking's ship, with the passengers' cabins ranged like a row of small wooden cottages on the deck: it was as ugly to look at as it was said to be unsafe to voyage in. To make matters worse our captain, a man over eighty years old, was lying in his cabin sick unto death, for, as a fact, he died not many days after our mishap; our one mate was asleep, leaving only the men to navigate the steamer on that perilous coast, and in the darkest hour of a tempestuous night."

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Last updated August 2013