Cuckoo Time. A Drama of Westmorland Village Life in Four Acts

Grasmere [no publisher] 1927. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 215 x 141 mms., pp. [ii], 60, original printed wrappers (slightly soiled). Eleanor Foster Simpson (1873 - 1959) was born in West Brompton in 1874 and married Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley in 1918. The following information about her and her husband is from the National Trust and the web page queenslandfamilytrees.com: "Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley was a fierce defender of the Lake District countryside, always ready to battle or bully a committee, and challenging and defying the builders of bungalows and railways. He crusaded hotly for the formation of a National Trust - an ambition he achieved in 1895, together with Miss Octavia Hill, a social reformer, and Sir Robert Hunter, a lawyer. When he died, Rawnsley bequeathed the house to the National Trust. However, his wife Eleanor continued to live at Allan Bank after his death. Eleanor Rawnsley was a prominent figure in the Grasmere Village community. Having lived in Grasmere for the best part of 70 years she was involved in almost every aspect of village life. Eleanor is still remembered by locals for her passionate desire to continue her late husband's conservation work as well as her curious interest and knowledge of Lake District dialects. Some remember the annual dialect plays that she would host at Allan Bank, encouraging villagers to get involved." COPAC and WorldCat combined seem to find only four copies of any editions of the play. COPAC finds two copies of the first edition from 1927: BL and Oxford. COPAC finds only one copy of the second edition from 1935: BL. To this count WorldCat seems to add only one copy of any edition: a copy of the second edition from 1935 at Memorial University, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.