Fidra Books
Encyclopedia
Fidra Books is a publisher based in Edinburgh
which specialises in reissuing forgotten children's books, especially those from the 1940s onwards.
It was set up in 2005 by Malcolm and Vanessa Robertson, who also opened Edinburgh
's only dedicated Children's Bookshop in November 2007. Fidra Books' first publication was Margot Pardoe
's The Far Island (Pardoe also wrote the highly successful Bunkle series which is also being republished).
Many of Fidra Books' publications include much-loved pony books by authors such as K.M. Peyton and Josephine Pullein-Thompson. 'It seems', as a Daily Telegraph article commented, that 'there are stirrings in the pony book business' and the genre is undergoing a renaissance.
Fidra Books also publishes other classic genres, such as adventure and school stories.
Fidra Books' other authors include Olivia FitzRoy
, Anne Digby
(author of the acclaimed Trebizon
books), Victoria Walker, Primrose Cumming
, Elinor Lyon
, Mabel Esther Allan
, and Ruby Ferguson
.
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
which specialises in reissuing forgotten children's books, especially those from the 1940s onwards.
It was set up in 2005 by Malcolm and Vanessa Robertson, who also opened Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
's only dedicated Children's Bookshop in November 2007. Fidra Books' first publication was Margot Pardoe
Margot Pardoe
Margot Pardoe was a children's author whose career spanned over 20 years from the late 1930s to the early 1960s. She wrote as M. Pardoe, and is best known for her Bunkle adventure series....
's The Far Island (Pardoe also wrote the highly successful Bunkle series which is also being republished).
Many of Fidra Books' publications include much-loved pony books by authors such as K.M. Peyton and Josephine Pullein-Thompson. 'It seems', as a Daily Telegraph article commented, that 'there are stirrings in the pony book business' and the genre is undergoing a renaissance.
Fidra Books also publishes other classic genres, such as adventure and school stories.
Fidra Books' other authors include Olivia FitzRoy
Olivia FitzRoy
Olivia FitzRoy was a British author of children's books. She was the granddaughter of the first Viscountess Daventry, raised to the peerage as widow of the Speaker of the House of Commons from 1928 until his death in 1943; her mother was a member of the famous Guinness family...
, Anne Digby
Anne Digby
Anne Digby is a prolific British children's author best known for the Trebizon series, published between 1978 and 1994.She attended North London Collegiate School, before becoming a magazine journalist and lived in Paris for a time. She then worked as a press officer for Oxfam in Oxford. Her first...
(author of the acclaimed Trebizon
Trebizon
Anne Digby wrote fourteen school story novels set in the fictional school Trebizon, published between 1978 and 1994. Like Enid Blyton's much earlier creation, Malory Towers, Trebizon is located in Cornwall....
books), Victoria Walker, Primrose Cumming
Primrose Cumming
- Primrose Cumming :Her writing career spanned over 30 years, and produced some fine examples of the pony book genre, combining accurate observation of human and equine with a certain wry humour...
, Elinor Lyon
Elinor Lyon
Elinor Bruce Lyon was an English children's author.Lyon was born in Guisborough, Yorkshire and educated at Headington School, Oxford. Her father was P. H. B. Lyon. After living for a time in Switzerland, she returned to Oxford to read English at Lady Margaret Hall just as World War II began...
, Mabel Esther Allan
Mabel Esther Allan
Mabel Esther Allan was a British author of about 130 children's books.Mabel Esther Allan was born at Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula. She decided to be an author at the age of eight; her father bought her a writing desk and taught her how to type...
, and Ruby Ferguson
Ruby Ferguson
Ruby Ferguson, 1899-1966, née Rubie Constance Ashby, was a British writer of popular fiction, including children's books, romances, and mysteries. She is best known today for her "Jill" books, a series of Pullein-Thompsonesque pony books for children and young adults.-Life and career:Ferguson was...
.