Books by Norman Douglas

George Norman Douglas (1868-1952) was a British writer. He was born in Th├╝ringen, Austria. Douglas was brought up mainly at Tilquhillie, Deeside. He was educated at Yarlet Hall and Uppingham School in England, and then at a grammar school in Karlsruhe. His most famous work South Wind is a fictionalised account of life in Capri, with controversial references to moral and sexual issues. His travel books such as his 1915 Old Calabria were appreciated for the quality of their writing. They also combine erudition, insight, whimsicality, and some fine prose. These works include Siren Land (1911), Fountains in the Sand, described as "rambles amongst the oases of Tunisia" (1912), Old Calabria (1915), Together (Austria) (1923) and Alone (Italy) (1921).

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"First published in 1921"--Title page verso.

Travel author Norman Douglas shares his experiences and photographs of Calabria, a beautiful and historic yet secluded region of rural Italy, as it was at the turn of the 20th century.A wonderful guide to a region home to breathtaking landscapes and ancient ruins, Old Calabria contains many details of the region and is described from a perspective of the eloquent and well-informed author. The manners of the locals, the customs and appearance of their villages and farmsteads, and the agriculture of the countryside, are narrated evocatively.Over the centuries Calabria has received migrants from Asia, Africa and elsewhere, and the profile of the people - who clearly descend from these migrants - that Douglas has much interest. The cultural and religious customs of Calabria are shown to have evolved somewhat in isolation to the rest of Italy, and life is shown to move slowly and place great emphasis upon traditions and the Roman Catholic faith.

Norman Douglas, one of the 20th century's great travellers in Italy, was for most of his life inextricably, passionately, connected to the Bay of Naples. This breathtaking sweep of sea and coastline - dominated by Vesuvius and with Pozzuoli and Sorrento standing sentinel - was Douglas' first experience of Italy. It was here, on the island of Capri, that he died, some 55 years after first buying a villa in Naples. Siren Land, Douglas' first travel book, is a homage to a part of the world that captivated him more than any other. Weaving the myths of the Sirens into the landscape and history of the region, Douglas writes with knowledge and an irrepressible exuberance of the past and the present, of legends and archaeology, folklore and daily life, patron saints, local ghosts, wine and the wind. As the summer draws to a close, Douglas' prose becomes suffused with a melancholy tinged with excitement at what still remains to be discovered: 'relics of Roman rule, of old Hellas, or medieval romance... These are the delights of Siren Land'. 'What makes Siren Land exceptional is the quality of the telling. Weaving scholarship, impressions, fact and fantasy into an intricate fabric as enchantingly entertaining and full of human interest as the best of fairy tales or ancient myths. One of the most memorable books of its genre' - Mark Holloway, in his introduction to Siren Land.

"Full of zest and high spirits." - The Christian Science Monitor. Witty, elegant novel of ideas unfolds on a Mediterranean island where a community of expatriates, eccentrics, and ne'er-do-wells is rocked by murder, volcanic eruptions, art forgery, and other nefarious doings.

Calabria. A dramatic peninsula of rugged mountains and windswept coastlines facing Sicily - 'the most beautiful kilometer in Italy' - wrote Gabriele d'Annunzio of its coastline. This book presents an account of the author's adventures which are woven with history.

This collection has the dubious distinction of being one of the most pirated books of all time. Since its first appearance in 1928, illegal editions have appeared with remarkable regularity. The reason? Once considered obscene - it reprints a large number of the most ''savoury'' limericks known - it is also very, very funny due in great part to the author''s dead-pan commentaries and ''geographical index''. Douglas'' erudition effortlessly traverses topics as diverse as the mudflats of Leigh-on-Sea, the dahlias of Central America and the habitat of the Silesian tapeworm.