Henrietta's House: Week 3

US Edition, Glastonbury Abbey, Caves, Crypt & Paradise

The US edition of Henrietta's House by Elizabeth Goudge was alternately titled, The Blue Hills, and published by Coward-McCann in 1942.

“They turned to the right and the way got lovelier and lovelier. The trees thinned out a little and beautiful flowers began blooming everywhere about them; rambler roses and glorious hydrangeas, big white daisies swimming like moons in the shade, pink and white peonies and dahlias that were like a flame of fire.

"Mrs. Jameson. Oh, Mrs. Jameson!" cried Henrietta. "My dream house that I planned with Father has a garden among the trees just like this one!"

But Mrs. Jameson was not attending, because that bird was still singing and she was listening to it.”

🌿 Elizabeth Goudge, Henrietta's House (aka The Blue Hills)

When Elizabeth Goudge’s books were being published in the 1930’s through the 1970’s, they were always published in both the UK and the US at the same time. In a few cases, the title was changed by the US publisher to something they thought would work better for the American culture at that time. That meant that:

• The Herb of Grace became Pilgrim’s Inn

• Green Dolphin Country became Green Dolphin Street

• Henrietta’s House became The Blue Hills

The one exception to the alternate title appears to be that Linnets & Valerians was the same in the US. Its second title, The Runaways, was a second UK title. For some reason the UK publishers republished it later under a new name in the UK!

This post is about chapters 10-12 of Henrietta’s House, and contains the illustrations in the US edition (The Blue Hills), as well as Glastonbury Abbey, more illustrations of the caves, the Torminster crypt, and Grandfather on Paradise.

Hope you can join us!

Cloth cover of The Blue Hills, the US edition of Henrietta’s House

US edition: The Blue Hills

The print illustrations in the US edition of Henrietta’s House are quite a bit different in style from the UK edition. They are high contrast and printed in just two colors: green and black. They were created by American Aldren A. Watson:

“Aldren A. Watson (1917-2013) was an illustrator and designer as well as woodworker. He had written and illustrated many magazine articles and books, including The Blacksmith and Country Furniture, published by Norton. He lived and painted in Vermont and New Hampshire until his death in 2013.”¹