Peter Duck by Arthur Ransome 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 Swallows and Amazons go on a pirate adventure with Captain Flint and Peter Duck. Soon their boat is on its way to a Caribbean treasure hunt and they find themselves up against shark, storm, earthquake - and the vilest pirate who ever eavesdropped at a porthole.

There are thirty six chapters: 1—'Quayside', 2—'Red Haired Boy', 3—'Trial Trip', 4—'Washing the Anchor', 5—'Peter Duck Spins His Yarn', 6—'And it Winds Up', 7—'Outward Bound', 8—'First Night at Sea', 9—'Beachy Head the Wight', 10—'Captain Flint's Fidgets', 11—'Words in the Dark', 12—'Blind Mans Buff', 13—'Decision', 14—'Quit of the Viper', 15—'Bill Finds His Place', 16—'The Madeiras at Dusk', 17—'Trade Wind', 18—'Land Ho!', 19—'Island Morning', 20—'Blazed Trail', 21—'Duckhaven', 22—'Goodbye to the Wild Cat', 23—'Swallow's Voyage', 24—'Digger's Camp', 25—'Diggers at Work', 26—'Threatening Weather', 27—'Great Guns', 28—'The Finding of the Treasure', 29—'Spanish Gallion', 30—'Dirty Work', 31—'The Only Hope', 32—'Whose Steps in the Dark?', 33—'All Aboard Once More', 34—'Waterspout', 35—''Bonies' And 'Mallies'' and 36—''Spanish Ladies''.

There are twenty one full page illustrations: 1—'The Adventurers Set Sail', 2—'The Swallows Join the Ship', 3—'The Red-Haired Boy Goes Overboard', 4—'The Wild Cat (Her Inside, Sails and Spars)', 5—'Practice with the Halyards', 6—'Nancy and Titty Sharing Their Misery', 7—'The Cooks' Galley', 8—'Roger's Night Scene', 9—'Run Down in the Fog', 10—'Sums', 11—'Morning Splashes', 12—'First Sight of Crab Island', 13—'Bill's Lamding', 14—'Map of Crab Island', 15—'Swallow at Sea', 16—'Settling in and Duckhaven', 17—'Hard at Work', 18—'The Treasure Found', 19—'The Vipers Come Aboard', 20—'In Duckhaven at Night' and 21—'Roger's View of the Waterspout'.