On Verrill's Barton’s Mills and the Savage Land books

On Barton’s Mills and the Savage Land books

Barton’s Mills, a book written by and with ‘decorations’ by A. Hyatt Verrill, was originally published by Appleton in 1932. He describes the book as “In a broad way this book is the story of my own ancestors.”

In 1955, just one year after the author’s death, the book ‘The Savage Land’ appeared in the U.K., more notably in New Zealand and Australia. This was published by Panther Books, and credit was given to the original publisher, Appleton, but without referring to the original title. No explanation is given anywhere to the change in title. Savage Land is a very spartan (frugal) printing with no wasted pages.

My copy of Barton’s Mills is a 1976 reprint, again crediting Appleton’s 1932 original. It contains an ‘Introduction’, that is missing from the Savage Land.