The Brother of Daphne

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The Brother of Daphne
The Brother of Daphne 1942 reprint.jpg
1942 Ward Lock reprint
Author Dornford Yates
SeriesBerry books
GenreShort stories
Publisher Ward Lock & Co [1]
Publication date
1914 [1]
Media typePrint
Pages304 [1]
Followed by The Courts of Idleness  

The Brother of Daphne is a 1914 collection of comic short stories by the English author Dornford Yates (Cecil William Mercer), the first book published under the pen name he had been using for magazine pieces since 1910. This was also the first book to feature the group of characters that featured in many of his future works: Bertram ('Berry') Pleydell, his wife and cousin Daphne Pleydell, Daphne's brother Boy Pleydell, another cousin Jonathan ('Jonah') Mansel, and Jonah's younger sister Jill Mansel. The group of five - Berry, Daphne, Boy, Jonah and Jill - later came to be known collectively as 'Berry and Co'. [2]

Contents

The short stories in the collection were originally published in The Windsor Magazine , [3] their publication in book form having been suggested to Mercer by the Windsor's editor Arthur Hutchinson. [4]

Plot

Fifteen short stories recounting the comic adventures of Boy, Daphne, Berry, Jonah and Jill, set in Hampshire, Devon, The Cotswolds, and Austria. They are narrated in the first person by Boy.

Background

Mercer was living in London and working as a barrister at the time these stories were written. He had sold short stories previously to Punch (1910), The Harmsworth Red magazine (1910) and Pearson's Magazine (1910 and 1912) before developing a working relationship with The Windsor Magazine that continued (with breaks during the war years and between 1929 and 1935) until the magazine's final issue in 1939. The Berry family characters first appear in "The Babes in the Wood" in Pearson's in September 1910, in a story that has never appeared in book form. [5]

Chapters

ChapterBook TitleWindsor TitleDateVolumeIssuePagesIllustrator
IPunch And JudyPunch And JudyOctober 1911XXXIV202541-551H Radcliffe-Wilson
IIClothes And The ManThere Is A TideAugust 1913XXXVIII224263-271G C Wilmshurst
IIIWhen It Was DarkA Drive In The DarkNovember 1911XXXIV203669-676Fred Pegram
IVAdam And New Year's EveFair ExchangeJanuary 1914XXXIX229209-218G C Wilmshurst
VThe Judgement of ParisThe Judgement of ParisJune 1914XL23479-86G C Wilmshurst
VIWhich To AdoreWhich To AdoreMarch 1914XXXIX231486-494G C Wilmshurst
VIIEvery Picture Tells A StoryEvery Picture Tells A StoryJuly 1914XL235201-208G C Wilmshurst
VIIIThe Busy BeersBusy BeesSeptember 1911XXXIV201391-398A Wallis Mills
IXA Point Of HonourA Point Of HonourOctober 1913XXXVIII226501-507G C Wilmshurst
XPride Goeth BeforePride Goeth BeforeApril 1914XXXIX232672-678G C Wilmshurst
XIThe Love SceneThe Love SceneSeptember 1913XXXVIII225383-391G C Wilmshurst
XIIThe Order Of The BathThe Order Of The BathMay 1914XXXIX233685-693G C Wilmshurst
XIIIA Lucid IntervalA Lucid IntervalNovember 1913XXXVIII227621-627G C Wilmshurst
XIVA Private ViewA Private ViewJuly 1913XXXVIII223141-148G C Wilmshurst
XVAll FoundAll FoundFebruary 1914XXXIX230371-378G C Wilmshurst

Illustrations

The first edition of the book, published in 1914, included plates of the illustrations by George Cecil Wilmshurst (1873-1930), originally included in TheWindsorMagazine serialisations, for the stories included as chapters 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. The illustration from Chapter 15 "All Found" was also used on the dustjacket of the first edition. Wilmshurst's illustrations for chapters 5 and 7, and the illustrations by the three artists from the 1911 serialisations, were not included in the book. The book was reprinted in 1920, and that and subsequent editions did not include any illustrations.

Dedication

Critical reception

The book was reviewed favourably by Punch in August 1914. The reviewer called the stories "agreeable nonsense", in which the narrator "apparently could not go out for the simplest walk without meeting some amiable young woman, divinely fair and supernaturally witty, with whom he presently exchanged airy badinage". [6]

Dramatisation

An episode of the ITV Hannay series, "A Point of Honour", was based on the eponymous story published as Chapter IX of The Brother of Daphne, but the source was uncredited.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "British Library Item details". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  2. ↑ Usborne 1974, pp. 28-29.
  3. ↑ Smithers 1982, Appendix I.
  4. ↑ Smithers 1982, p. 78.
  5. ↑ The Best of Berry (Dents Classic Thrillers 1989) introduction by Jack Adrian
  6. ↑ "Our Booking-Office. (By Mr Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks)". Punch. 19 August 1914.

Bibliography

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