Arthur Mee PB: A Biography

Arthur Mee (1875-1943), best remembered as the creator of The Children’s Encyclopaedia, was more than a popular editor, journalist and travel writer; for a generation of young readers and their parents, the name Arthur Mee truly meant something. For many in his audience, the narratives and discourses embedded within his writing tied together and legitimised a trinity of beliefs that lay at the heart of his nonconformist faith and character: God, England and Empire. Despite the enormous appeal of his many published works, which during the first half of the twentieth century saw him become a household name and a major publishing brand, Mee has remained an ethereal figure. In Arthur Mee, the first full-length account of Mee’s life since 1946, Crawford draws upon a range of Mee’s correspondence to offer for the first time a realistic picture of the man at work and at home as an antidote to the overly romanticised image attached to his name. The book places Mee’s work within the wider cultural, political and social context of an England undergoing unparalleled societal change and technological advancement. Scholars of the history of education, children’s literature and beyond will find much of interest in these pages, and childhood devotees to Mee’s publications may well find themselves transported back to a time of wonder, imagination and hope.