Cornwall's Wonderland

Florence Mabel Quiller-CouchProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 288K words
Chapters: 29

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Cornwall's Wonderland by Mabel Quiller-CouchAuthor: Quiller-Couch, Mabel, 1866?-1924,Language: English, Class: GR: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation: Folklore, Release Date: Oct 3, 2008

Editor's review

Cornwall's Wonderland, written by Mabel Quiller-Couch and classified under folklore, has been made available as a free electronic edition by Project Gutenberg. The word "Wonderland" in the title signals its orientation: this is not a conventional travel guide but a collection of folk narratives built around Cornish local legends, marvel tales and the character of the place. The value of such a work lies in preserving local oral culture; readers can see how settings such as the coast, moors and old castles intertwine with motifs of fairies, omens and local taboos. The author's narration is generally plain and readable, making the book a light entry point for understanding the folklore of southwest England. It may be read as cultural preparation before a trip, or as material for comparative folklore, set alongside Irish and Welsh folk tales to observe similarities and differences within the Celtic cultural sphere. The electronic edition has no illustrations or detailed notes, so keeping a map at hand and locating the places where stories unfold while reading will add a stronger sense of immediacy; for research citation, note that the book was written relatively early and some records carry the compiler's period perspective.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the folklore and local legends of Cornwall, England
Travelers planning a trip to southwest England who want cultural preparation
Beginners and enthusiasts in comparative folklore or Celtic culture

Not a good fit for

Practical, tool-oriented travelers seeking transport and accommodation information
Folklore researchers expecting systematic academic sourcing and detailed provenance
Readers who prefer a unified narrative thread and dislike fragmented stories

Reading tips

Begin with the table of contents and pick entries related to places you plan to visit, as cultural preparation before the trip.
Keep a Cornish map at hand and mark story locations as you read to build a sense of space.
Read alongside collections of Irish or Welsh folk tales and note similarities and differences in motifs.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable as a travel guide?

Not really. It belongs to folklore, focusing on local legends and marvel tales rather than practical information such as transport, accommodation or routes. It can be read as cultural background before a trip, but specific itinerary planning still requires a modern travel guide.

Are the stories original to the author or collected from folk sources?

Judging from the title and its folklore classification, the content revolves around Cornish local legends and represents an arrangement and retelling of folk narratives rather than purely original fiction. The sources and degree of rewriting for each piece are not described in detail in the available information, so caution is advised when citing them.

Is the English difficult to read?

The narrative language is generally plain, but place names, dialect words and folklore terminology can pose obstacles. Readers at approximately CET-4 level can attempt it; reading with a map and dictionary is recommended, starting with shorter pieces to build familiarity before moving on to longer stories.

Comments

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About the author

Florence Mabel Quiller-Couch Author · English

Mabel Quiller-Couch (Quiller-Couch, Mabel, 1866?–1924) was a British writer and editor of children's literature, born in Bodmin, Cornwall, and the sister of the literary critic Arthur Quiller-Couch. She co-wrote several works with her sister Lilian and was also a prolific independent author; nine of her works are held in this collection, mostly centring on children's growth and character formation and commonly classified as inspirational coming-of-age stories. Her representative titles include Paul the Courageous, Kitty Trenire, The Carroll Girls, Cornwall's Wonderland, Dick and Brownie, The Story of Jessie, Better than Play, and The Making of Mona, and she also compiled an anthology of children's poetry. Her writing is gentle and plain, using everyday stories to convey courage and kindness, and found a readership among children's books of her time. Public information on her education and detailed life is limited. She died in 1924.