The Brother of Daphne

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]

The Brother of Daphne
1942 Ward Lock reprint
AuthorDornford Yates
SeriesBerry books
GenreShort stories
PublisherWard Lock & Co[1]
Publication date
1914[1]
Media typePrint
Pages304[1]
Followed byThe Courts of Idleness 

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]

Contents

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
Chapter Book Title Windsor Title Date Volume Issue Pages Illustrator
I Punch And Judy Punch And Judy October 1911 XXXIV 202 541-551 H Radcliffe-Wilson
II Clothes And The Man There Is A Tide August 1913 XXXVIII 224 263-271 G C Wilmshurst
III When It Was Dark A Drive In The Dark November 1911 XXXIV 203 669-676 Fred Pegram
IV Adam And New Year's Eve Fair Exchange January 1914 XXXIX 229 209-218 G C Wilmshurst
V The Judgement of Paris The Judgement of Paris June 1914 XL 234 79-86 G C Wilmshurst
VI Which To Adore Which To Adore March 1914 XXXIX 231 486-494 G C Wilmshurst
VII Every Picture Tells A Story Every Picture Tells A Story July 1914 XL 235 201-208 G C Wilmshurst
VIII The Busy Beers Busy Bees September 1911 XXXIV 201 391-398 A Wallis Mills
IX A Point Of Honour A Point Of Honour October 1913 XXXVIII 226 501-507 G C Wilmshurst
X Pride Goeth Before Pride Goeth Before April 1914 XXXIX 232 672-678 G C Wilmshurst
XI The Love Scene The Love Scene September 1913 XXXVIII 225 383-391 G C Wilmshurst
XII The Order Of The Bath The Order Of The Bath May 1914 XXXIX 233 685-693 G C Wilmshurst
XIII A Lucid Interval A Lucid Interval November 1913 XXXVIII 227 621-627 G C Wilmshurst
XIV A Private View A Private View July 1913 XXXVIII 223 141-148 G C Wilmshurst
XV All Found All Found February 1914 XXXIX 230 371-378 G 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 The Windsor Magazine 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
  • "To Her. Who smiles for me, though I essay no jest, Whose eyes are glad at my coming, though I bring her no gift, Who suffers me readily, though I do her no honour, My Mother."

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.

References
  1. "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
  • Smithers, AJ (1982). Dornford Yates. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0 340 27547 2.
  • Usborne, Richard (1974). Clubland Heroes. London: Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 0 214 20012 4.
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