Shrubsall, Dennis

Lieutenant Colonel (ret.) Dennis Shrubsall has spent 30 years researching, writing, and lecturing about W.H. Hudson.

Private Reflections and Opinions of W. H. Hudson (1841-1922), the First Literary Environmentalist
2008 0-7734-5021-1
This work brings together a carefully categorized and thoroughly indexed consolidation of W.H. Hudson’s statements. This book contains three black and white photographs.

Price: $159.95


Unpublished Letters of W. H. Hudson (1841-1922), the First Literary Environmentalist
2006 0-7734-5456-X
William Henry Hudson (1841-1922) was a significant literary figure during late nineteenth and early twentieth-century England, where his writings were much admired by fellow authors including such popular writers as John Galsworthy, Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford. Hudson was an unusual combination: an arcane, enigmatic figure to whom the poet laureate, John Masefield, attributed four of the most romantic books of their time, and a distinguished naturalist, the author of outstanding books of travel in Latin America and rural England, definitive texts on the ornithology of Argentina and popular books about British birds. His standing as a British writer derives support from the fact that, without seeking it, he was elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and appointed to its academic committee. His place in Hispanic Letters is signified by his inclusion in The Oxford Companion to Hispanic Literature.

Most of the letters in this collection were written by Hudson to carefully chosen friends and confidants, among whom were well-known authors, poets, artists, naturalists, conservationists and the indomitable Ranee Margaret of Sarawak, consort of the second white Rajah, Sir Charles Brooke. They are personal, uninhibited communications never intended for publication, in which he poured his thoughts onto paper as fast as his pen could cope. From these letters, we gain an understanding of the real Hudson. They give insight into his days as a collector of bird skins in South America and his lifelong dedication to, and work for, wild bird conservation in Britain. There are accounts of his English rural rambles: of landscapes, flora, wildlife behavior, lodging places, people he met, their modes of life and the stories they told, some of which he included in his books. Hudson criticizes books, poetry and their authors; remarks on the progress and publication of his own books; and comments on journal contributions, journals and their editors.

Price: $499.95


Walking with W.H. Hudson Through the English Landscape: The Home Country of the World’s First Literary Environmentalist
2008 0-7734-5172-2
Presents a comprehensively dated and authoritative account of all of William Henry Hudson’s English travels, not only of his many “rambles’ while gathering the subject material for his books, but also those of a more personal nature. This book has twenty-two black and white photographs.

Price: $159.95


Writings of W. H. Hudson, the First Literary Environmentalist 1841-1922
2007 0-7734-5312-1
This study provides a précis for each of William Henry Hudson’s (1841-1922) books and gives an account of the development, writing, publication, reception and critique of each. Further, the work identifies those parts of each book which appeared first in journals and details the differences between those two versions and between first and rewritten editions of Hudson’s books. Finally, the book dates the experiences Hudson wrote about and identifies the places and people he failed to name or to whom he gave pseudonyms.

Price: $239.95