O MORE THAN HAPPY COUNTRYMAN. By H.E. Bates. Illustrated by C.F. Tunnicliffe.

.# 1943 1st edition. 4to (184 x 250mm). Pp104. B/w vignette and full-page illustrations by C.F. Tunnicliffe. Green cloth, spine and upper board lettered in white.

.# "Country life is, as I have tried to show in these pages, the best life in the world," writes Mr. Bates. But what will it be like after the war? ...It is a big question, and Mr. Bates offers a considered answer". Bates' considered answer was that "he wants to see town and country ever more closely allied". This is indeed what has happened in the intervening seventy years, leaving us with far less countryside and far less power to grow our own food. That said, the text is readable, as ever with H.E. Bates, and Tunnicliffe's illustrations are great. A fine book with a somewhat eccentric plan for our future. Chapters include: Et decorum est pro patria mori; The Great House; Sea days, sea flowers; Mr. Pimpkins; The future garden; The garden on leave; The new country; The old tradtion; The green hedges; O more than happy countryman.