Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome and Stephen Spurrier, First Edition

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 and Stephen (Sic) Spurrier (1878 to 1961)—British artist and painter, who exhibited at the Royal Academy, developed dazzle camouflage for ships for the Admiralty and produced illustrations for Swallows and Amazons, which were not used except for the endpapers and dust jacket. These illustrations were published later in 'The Swallows and The Amazons' by produced by Amazon Publications

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, in which the four Walker children (The Swallows, John, Susan, Titty and Roger) set up camp on an uninhabited island, but the Amazons (the two Blackett girls, Nancy and Peggy) have a prior claim on the island and declare war. Meanwhile the pirate Captain Flint blames the Swallows for damaging his boat ….

There are twenty nine chapters: 1—'The Peak in Darien', 2—'Making Ready', 3—'The Voyage to the Island', 4—'The Hidden Harbour', 5—'Island Life', 6—'More Island Life', 7—'Skull and Cross-Bones', 8—'The Arrow with the Green Feather', 9—'The Parley', 10—'In Alliance', 11—'Leading Lights', 12—'The Charcoal Burners', 13—'The Letter From Captain Flint', 14—'The Birthday Party', 15—'A Fair Wind', 16—'Robinson Crusoe and Man Friday', 17—'The Amazon River', 18—'Titty Alone', 19—'Swallows in the Dark', 20—'The White Flag', 21—'Taking Breath', 22—'Grave News From Houseboat Bay', 23—'Captain Flint Gets the Black Spot', 24—'He Makes Peace and Declares War', 25—'The Battle in Houseboat Bay', 26—'The Treasure of Cormorant Island', 27—'Two Sorts of Fish', 28—'The Storm' and 29—'The Sailors' Return'.