The Annotated Wind in the Willows, for Adults and Sensible Children (or, possibly, Children and Sensible Adults)

This annotated edition of a well-loved classic, with almost 350 footnotes, tracks its literary allusions, influences, and legacies; identifies the river of River Bank and the canal into which Toad is thrown, and every plant and animal in the text; offers insight into Grahame's life and losses (including the suicide of his son to whom these tales were first told); and furnishes to a new generation the references and assumptions that any Edwardian parent and child should have known without thinking. Annotated lovingly but critically by two historians - one American, one British - who grew up with the source text, this volume contextualises, and explains with humour and insight, a classic of the genre - and why it is a classic. From railways to classism to nursery suppers, the editors place the text before a new generation with the knowledge that its first audience should have had - and what we have learnt since.