The Windsor Collection

An appalling apocalypse came upon all life and therefore upon all literature’ G.K.Chesterton. The ‘apocalypse’ brought a new vision of the world and new writers to describe the vision. It was not surprising to find Galsworthy, Wells and Bennett still in fashion but the literary scene was no longer the preserve of the well educated middle class. The effect of Lawrence, Conrad, Tressell [albeit posthumously and with just one work] and their like ensured that the disadvantaged themselves would start to fight their own battles with the 'pen that is mightier than the sword’. W.H. Davies, with the backing of George Bernard Shaw, was among the first to break the mould.

It was an England of changing perceptions of sexual roles, the class system and the way that people saw themselves changing in a very transitory world. Strangely enough this ‘identity crisis’ was largely brought about by Irish writers, two in particular. George Bernard Shaws ‘New Man’ as well as being the protagonist in much of his drama was also Shaw himself - supporter of voting rights, education for all, income equality, abolishment of property rights. The prefaces to his plays were little short of political pamphlets. Radically anti war, his plays examined mans thoughts and his beliefs. Truly a writer fit for his time.

James Joyce was a true European. His revolutionary Ulysses was the start of Modernism in the novel and the move towards a stream of consciousness approach as opposed to a solid narrative structure.

English artistic conventions were being rocked to the core and here was Lawrence, son of a miner, writing about the sexual angst of men and women. England would no longer be the land of our forefathers-for good or ill. ‘ A mirror up to nature’ it may be but what power literature has!

	Sorrell and Son by Warwick Deeping	from £34.49
	Captain Stephen Sorrell returns from the First World War decorated with the Military Cross but unnerved by the conflict. His mercenary wife has deserted him for ‘one of the fellows who stayed behind’ and left him responsible for their son Christopher. A promised position in an antique shop fa ... more on this title.
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	Riceyman Steps by Arnold Bennett	from £27.49
	It’s 1919 shortly after the termination of the 1st European holocaust. Henry Earlforward, a middle aged North London Bookseller, courts and marries Violet Arb, a widow who has inherited the confectioners shop opposite his own premises in Riceyman Square. Henry and Violet engage the services of Elsie as ‘char ... more on this title.
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	Lawrence Loves by D. H. Lawrence	from £7.99
	David Herbert Lawrence was born into a mining family in Nottinghamshire in 1885. He created his finest work shortly after the finish of the First World War. Two of the themes in his writing are the gradual disintegration of the class system and the customs and sexual mores of people across cla ... more on this title.
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	Four Faultless Felons by G. K. Chesterton	from £17.99
	In pursuit of the elusive Count Raoul De Marillac, journalist Asa Lee Pinion encounters four of the Count's friends calling themselves "The Club of Men Misunderstood". The men tell of their black and revolting crimes and how these deeds gained them the dubious honour of being made to appear worse than they are. Unusual and ... more on this title.
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	The Marvellous Land of Snergs by Edward Wyke-Smith	from £18.49
	Once upon a time there was a marvellous land of Snergs. Miss Watkyns, a teacher who loved children, lived there. Just over the river lived Golithos, a not so friendly giant, who also loved children – with a lot of salt! He had a friend called Mother Meldrum, the wickedest witch that ever lived. ... more on this title.
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	Garden Rubbish by W.C.Sellar and R.J.Yeatman	from £8.99
	"Your Garden writers go on in a way that simply wouldn't be allowed if you were writing about anything else: in fact Nature is the only thing an author can be as futile about as he likes and get away with it just the same. I have little doubt that you have taken full advantage of this extraordinary state of affairs. Most bo ... more on this title.
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