A spot of family history

I had cause this evening to consult our copy of the Oxford Companion to English Literature. The cause being watching the 1982 film adaptation of Rebecca West's 1918 novel, 'The return of the soldier'. I learned that, despite her long and productive life, she did not make the cut there, and had to ask Bing about her later.

I also learned that the book was a 1951 Christmas present for my mother, that is to say two years after I was born, from a friend from her university days in Montreal. It looks to have been inscribed by my father, so perhaps he took the instruction. He also had proper handwriting, which he did not pass on to me.

At which point, out dropped a bit of dried flower, presumably a lucky four leafed clover. No way of knowing how long it had been there or who put it there. For some reason I associated to shamrock, which has three leaves and which has rather different flowers. See references 3 and 4. The only other mention in these pages was of the famous cutter, Shamrock, the sort of thing noticed at reference 5.

I then turned to the back of the book to find four appendices. One was about censorship and two were about copyright. And a fourth contained three tables about the perpetual calendar. The first of them, rather long, told me, inter alia, the date of Easter and the regnal year for every year since 1066. With footnotes covering the tricky bits, like Charles II counting his regnal years from the date of the execution of his father. Seemingly useful when dating old documents and books. I wonder if the current edition has kept them on? Has Rebecca now made the cut?

It only remains to think of a proper home for the four leafed clover.

PS: later: presently in Volume II of my ancient and unread copy of the 'Faerie Queene'. When will it turn up again?

References

Reference 1a: Oxford Companion to English Literature - Sir Paul Harvey - 1932. Third edition of 1946.

Reference 1b: Oxford Companion to English Literature - Dinah Birch - 2009. Seventh edition.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_West.

Reference 3: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/search?q=shamrock.

Reference 4: http://psmv2.blogspot.com/2014/02/spring-miscellany.html.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/07/ryde.html.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinah_Birch. I had not heard of her before this evening, but it seems that she is a serious student of English Literature. Can't be all bad as she is fond of 'Middlemarch'. A little younger than I am.