Coot Club by Arthur Ransome, First Edition with Dust Jacket

Arthur [Mitchell] Ransome (1884 to 1967)—English author and journalist, born in Leeds and best known for writing the Swallows and Amazons series of children's books (Swallows and Amazons, Swallowdale, Peter Duck, Winter Holiday, Coot Club, Pigeon Post, We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea, Secret Water, The Big Six, Missee Lee, The Picts And The Martyrs: or Not Welcome At All and Great Northern?). He was also the author of forty or so other titles including other children's books, fishing books, sailing books and books on politics

Jonathan Cape Limited—(Founded in 1919) British publisher founded in 1919 by Herbert Jonathan Cape (1879-1960), the son of a builder who started as an apprentice in the book trade. The company was initially named Jonathan Page and Company (Page was his mother's maiden name) and this changed to Jonathan Cape in 1921. Its most books and authors are probably: T. E. Lawrence, Arthur Ransome, the later Roald Dahl books, Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano, Fitzroy Maclean's Eastern Approaches, the James Bond series by Ian Fleming and more recently Anita Brookner, Margaret Atwood, Julian Barnes, Salman Rushdie. It is currently an imprint of Random House.

Swallows and Amazons—A series of 12 (Swallows and Amazons, Swallowdale, Peter Duck, Winter Holiday, Coot Club, Pigeon Post, We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea, Secret Water, The Big Six, Missee Lee, The Picts And The Martyrs: or Not Welcome At All and Great Northern?) children's books by English author Arthur Ransome, named after the title of the first book in the series. They involve the outdoor adventures of children, most notably John, Susan, Titty, and Roger Walker, Nancy and Peggy Blackett and Dick and Dorothea Callum. They portray an idyllic, yet also realistic, depiction of childhood adventure set in the 1930s. The series contains 12 books. The first book was originally published in 1930 and the last book was originally published in 1947. Titles in the series are: 1—'Swallows and Amazons', 2—'Swallowdale', 3—'Peter Duck', 4—'Winter Holiday', 5—'Coot Club', 6—'Pigeon Post', 7—'We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea', 8—'Secret Water', 9—'The Big Six', 10—'Missee Lee', 11—'The Picts and the Martyrs: Or Not Welcome at All', 12—'Great Northern?' and 13—'Coots in the North (Unfinished)'

The first of the Swallows and Amazons series without any Swallows or any Amazons. The D.s (from Winter Holiday) learn how to sail with Tom Dudgeon, who has cast off a motor cruiser from its moorings to protect a coot's nest. Now the cruiser is searching high and low for him in the Norfolk Broads ….

There are thirty chapters: 1—'Just in Time', 2—'Disappointment', 3—'What's the Good of Planning?', 4—'The Only Thing to Do', 5—'Aboard the Teasel', 6—'Put Yourself in His Place', 7—'Invitation', 8—'The Innocents', 9—'The Making of an Outlaw', 10—'Lying Low', 11—'Tom in Danger', 12—'Under the Enemy's Nose', 13—'The Titmouse Disguised', 14—'Neighbours at Potter Heigham', 15—'Port and Starboard Say Goodbye', 16—'Southward Bound', 17—'Port and Starboard Miss Their Ship', 18—'Through Yarmouth', 19—'Sir Garnet Obliges Friends', 20—'While the Wind Holds', 21—'Come Along and Welcome', 22—'The Return of the Native', 23—'Storm Over Oulton', 24—'Recall', 25—'The Rashness of the Admiral', 26—'The Titmouse in the Fog', 27—'William's Heroic Moment', 28—'Wreck and Salvage', 29—'Face to Face' and 30—'Postcript'.

Full page illustrations include : 'First Night in the Titmouse', ''the Launch Was Swinging Round'', 'Tom Came Sailing Home', 'George Owdon Was Looking Down at Him', 'They Had Seen Him', 'The Teasel (Sails and Inside)', 'On Horning Staithe', 'River Bure (Map)', 'Hullabaloos!', 'Painting Out Her Name', 'Dick Overboard', 'It Was the Margoletta', 'Off at Last', 'Tied Up to the Dolphin', 'Tied Up for the Night', 'Getting a Lift', 'Shopping in Beccles', 'Lee Rail Under', ''Don't Lose Sight of That Post!'', 'Breydon Water (Map)', 'The Wreck Was Drifting Along', 'The Come Along Says 'Come Along'!', 'Norfolk Broads: Northern Rivers (Map)' and 'Norfolk Broads: Southern Rivers (Map)'.