THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE

Glenys Adams flicks back through the pages of a treasured cast off

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When I was a child in the 1950s, I often visited by grandparents, and played with the neighbours’ children, all older than me. They passed down to me things that I still treasure. Richard gave me his wonderful Bayko set. My lifelong companion Teddy was a cast off from David, and then there was Judith, who gave me her complete Arthur Mee’s The Children’s Encyclopedia. I began reading through it from Page 1 but didn’t get very far. However, it sparked a desire to know more, and I loved its smell and the illustrations, and often dipped into the mix of fact and fiction, lessons for life and daring adventures. And I still have these wonderful books, a maroon covered set in 10 volumes.

Volume 1 begins with a frontispiece entitled Brothers and Sisters Are We All. A tissue overlay states these are “your little friends in other lands”, and names the nationalities, led by the white sailor-suited American, flanked by Spanish and French girls. Facing this is a long letter from Arthur Mee. He begins by addressing his “little friends” and describes a girl who is fascinated by the world around her and who is constantly asking questions. “So the questions would come until the mother was more puzzled than the little maid herself... until she cried out for a book that will answer all the questions.

“This”, says the compiler, “is the book she called for. It is a big book for little people, and it has come into the world to make your life happy and wise and good. That is what we are meant to be. That is what we will help each other to be. Your affectionate friend, Arthur Mee.”