Beryl Irving · first published 1932 · this edition 2026
Daffy Goes to Sea
By Beryl Irving. Jacket by C. Cavania Sanders, frontispiece and drawings by the author.
Daffy Hetherington expects a dull holiday on the Welsh coast until the Derrick family sail into harbour aboard the yacht Gent Peter and sweep her into a treasure hunt through the creeks and estuaries, with the spiteful Una Atkins doing her best to spoil it. Beryl Irving wrote it six years after The Dawnchild, and Nisbet published it in London in 1932 with her frontispiece and a jacket painted by C. Cavania Sanders. It belongs with the sailing-holiday books of its decade and has been hard to find for many years. The text is newly set from the first edition, the Sanders jacket is reproduced on the cover, and the frontispiece is inside where it was, and a second, shorter Daffy adventure, Daffy Goes to Sea Again, first printed in a girls' annual and illustrated with Beryl Irving's own pen drawings, follows the novel. Read alone from about nine; read aloud from seven.
- Hardback211 pages, cased, frontispiece and pen drawings, 156 × 234 mm£23.00
- Paperback211 pages, frontispiece and pen drawings, 156 × 234 mm£12.00
- EbookEPUB, read on any device£9.99
Printed to order and sent tracked. In the UK, Standard takes about 8–11 working days and costs from £4.57 for one book; Express takes 5–6. The basket shows the exact price before you pay. Delivery and returns. Questions before you buy.
Look inside
Pages from the print file of this edition, shown at the proportions they print. Tap or click a spread to see it large.
A note on the book
Daffy Goes to Sea was published in London by Nisbet and Co. in 1932, six years after The Dawnchild. It is a different kind of book: no fairies, a real coast, a yacht, a treasure hunt, and a rival who would rather scuttle the ship than share the secret.
The first edition was bound in red cloth with a jacket painted by C. Cavania Sanders, the yacht under red sails that is reproduced on this cover. Beryl Irving drew the frontispiece herself. This edition adds a second, shorter Daffy adventure, Daffy Goes to Sea Again: The Story of a Weird Cruise, which first appeared in a girls' annual; it carries some fifteen of her pen drawings, several of them signed. The book has been hard to find for many years. The text is newly set from the first edition; spelling and punctuation are as published, and printer's errors have been silently corrected.
D. B.
| First edition | Nisbet and Co., London, 1932 |
|---|---|
| Extent | 211 pages |
| Illustrations | Frontispiece by Beryl Irving; cover from the jacket painting by C. Cavania Sanders |
| Trim | 156 × 234 mm |
| Hardback ISBN | 979-8-9997087-3-1 |
| Paperback ISBN | 979-8-9997087-2-4 |
| Publisher | Dawnchild Books |
Do you remember this book?
Tell us who gave it to you, when, and what it was like. We read every memory, answer the ones that ask a question, and with your leave quote the best of them on this page under a first name.
Next from Dawnchild
The Family Week-End Book, Beryl Irving, 1941. Hardback, forthcoming. After it, Elfin Song, Florence Harrison, 1912.