Other editions of book The Golden Age

* Illustrated* AnnotatedThe song of a childhood never lost, the celebration of innocence and mischief, the immortality of friendship, the unity of wonder and fear in that long-ago world where the “tall ones” seem to belong to another race entirely … these and more are the treasures to be found and regained in THE GOLDEN AGE.Kenneth Grahame is best known today for the masterpiece he wrote for his son, THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS; but it is this book that he loved best, and that sealed his reputation as one of England’s best beloved authors. Few books are as painfully and hilariously insightful toward the meaning of childhood, and the sacredness of nostalgia. THE GOLDEN AGE stands with Tom Sawyer, A Garden of Verses and The Jungle Book as one of the finest “children’s adventures for grownups” of all time.This illustrated edition included 51 beautiful period drawings and paintings, as well as complete annotations and translations by Kent David Kelly, editor of THE COMPLETE ALICE IN WONDERLAND and THE ILLUSTRATED WIND IN THE WILLOWS.(Includes the classic novel in full, with 51 illustrations. 17 chapters, 39,000 words, 160 pages.)

The Golden Age is a collection of reminiscences of childhood, written by Kenneth Grahame and originally published in book form in 1895, in London by The Bodley Head, and in Chicago by Stone & Kimball. (The Prologue and six of the stories had previously appeared in the National Observer, the journal then edited by William Ernest Henley.) Widely praised upon its first appearance — Algernon Charles Swinburne, writing in the Daily Chronicle, called it "one of the few books which are well-nigh too praiseworthy for praise" — the book has come to be regarded as a classic in its genre.

Looking back to those days of old, ere the gate shut behind me, I can see now that to children with a proper equipment of parents these things would have worn a different aspect. But to those whose nearest were aunts and uncles, a special attitude of mind may be allowed. They treated us, indeed, with kindness enough as to the needs of the flesh, but after that with indifference (an indifference, as I recognise, the result of a certain stupidity), and therewith the commonplace conviction that your child is merely animal.