ie They are  NOT coming from overseas !!

Over the Bridge

An Essay in Autobiography 

- by Richard Church -

Illustrated by 

ISBN-13: -

Publisher: Heinemann, London, UK 

Published: 1956

Binding: HARDcover with Dustjacket 231 pages  

Condition: Read & displayed condition! HERE in MELBOURNE! A retired display copy as illustrated!

Edition:  FIRST Book Club EDITION: 5th printing  1956

TIGHT,  SCARCE   HARDCOVER with Dustjacket ~  IN  MELBOURNE  ... 

WHY do ebayers buy from US?

Because you KNOW what you're getting. My close up photos are of the actual item!!

Remains read and stored. It is Tight -  neat, no inscriptions or marks within. Appears as in my photos - this is the exact copy!!  A nicely preserved copy - superb!

Minor discernible shelf wear to the red boards, the interior is tight and spotlessly clean with 231 pages. THIS copy is the FIRST EDITION: Only printing from 1956 - the UK publishing by Heinemann, London. There are line illustrations by  .

Incredibly SCARCE title - this is a very good vintage copy!!

In original red boards HARDcover binding, in publisher's pictorial dustcover whichhas edgewear and minir marks - not price clipped.

(Stored with 2019!)

Measures approx.  6¾  x 5¾  inches or 25  x  17cms

SYNOPSIS ....

Over the Bridge, the first volume of Richard Church's personal essays, originally published in 1955, takes the reader through the poet's Edwardian childhood adventures. With his detailed descriptions and insightful observations Church paints an idyllic image of his early years passed in the safety of the close-knit lower middle-class home where his loving, hard working parents did all they could to protect their sons from the harsh reality of Britain at the end of the Victorian era. He ponders with humour the disappointments of his first school endeavours; his academic failure made him feel an outcast until it was discovered that not a poor intellectual capacity but rather the child's poor eyesight was to blame for his lack of concentration and understanding of his school subjects. And finally Church takes us through his teenage years, which began happily with a promise of undisturbed literary and artistic pursuits at Camberwell Art School but were soon tainted with worry over the diminishing health of their beloved mother – the pillar of the Church family.

Over the Bridge is not only a touching portrait of Church's childhood self but also an intriguing and detailed picture of the social and economic realities of the Edwardian era. In 1955 Over the Bridge was awarded the Sunday Times Prize for Literature.

About the Author

Richard Thomas Church CBE (26 March 1893 – 4 March 1972) was an English writer, poet and critic; he also wrote novels and verse plays, and three volumes of autobiography. ... The first volume of Church's autobiography, Over the Bridge (1955), was awarded the Sunday Times Prize  for Literature while the novelist Howard Spring described it as "the loveliest autobiography written in our time," pointing out that the writer had "found life full of enchantment, and how not the least of its enchantments was its challenge." The second volume, The Golden Sovreign, appeared in 1957. That year Church was named a CBE.  

Very  Entertaining read!

Review

“A work of art ... a true poet's re-creation of his childhood” –  J. B. Priestly, The Sunday Times

“I do not claim to have read all the great autobiographies, but Over the Bridge, without a single exception, is the finest I have come across. His prose ... shines throughout with poetic imagery and felicitous phrase” –  John Stewart Collis, Time & Tide

“Over the Bridge is vivid, packed with people, incident and movement; lighted by truth; and beautifully written” –  The Times

FIVE STARS… The first of three volumes of his autobiography, published in 1955, covering his childhood in London between the late 1890s and 1913. Church was a poet and novelist and the book gives an interesting picture of what it was like to live in London in those days in an ordinary lower middle class family. When published it won the Sunday Times prize for literature.

SUPERB  … Just loved the language and the descriptions. Can't wait to read the next one.

WHAT A JOY!…. We did this for O-level in 1972 and our English teacher tested us on 'facts per chapter' at the rate of one chapter a week. Remembering the word 'caduceus' from one of these tests I thought I'd revisit it. What a joy. Beautifully written, funny, ironic, self-deprecating - far above my 15-year-old self's appreciation. The lamp-lighter's pole is indeed featured.

A wonderful book so well written……. which painted a picture of the vanished world of, the first half of the 20tH Century. I had lost my copy, and it was a joy to receive it ... Especially as it was a used library book!! I had no idea he had published so much prose and poetry. I will be getting more of his books soon

TERRIFIC  …. I first read this when it was published in the 1950s and was delighted to find that I still remembered and savoured the opening chapter almost word for word. The condition of the book was just as described by the vendor so I shall not be frightened to buy 2nd hand books from Amazon when necessary in future.

 Secret gem … I first came across this book in school, nearly forty years ago, but rediscovered it twenty years later in a secondhand bookshop. This is the simple, uninflected memoir of a happy london childhood, in and around the turn of the last century (i.e. 1899/1900). The joy of it is in the writing. Perhaps a little old-fashioned now, having been written in 1955, but the prose rings with a clarity and precision that makes it an absolute joy to read. The historical detail is amazing, too, with descriptions of Battersea and other parts of London that have been changed totally since his childhood. If you have an interest in Edwardian London, early cycling (his father was a rabid cycling enthusiast) or plain, simple quality writing, then this is the book for you!

FIVE STARS… The first of three volumes of his autobiography, published in 1955, covering his childhood in London between the late 1890s and 1913. Church was a poet and novelist and the book gives an interesting picture of what it was like to live in London in those days in an ordinary lower middle class family. When published it won the Sunday Times prize for literature.