The letter
A letter from Dawnchild
At most five a year: one book, one picture, one reader’s memory, and first word when a book can be ordered. Nothing else, and one click stops it.
Send me the letter
Your address goes nowhere else. Every letter has an unsubscribe link at the top and at the bottom, and a reply reaches a person at hello@dawnchild.com.
What is in a letter
One book. What it is, where the copy came from, why it went out of print, and a page you can read there and then.
One picture. A plate or a drawing at full width, with the story of where it sat in the first edition and the line of the story it belongs to.
One reader’s memory. Who gave them the book, when, and what it was like, in their words. The letter is how the memories on this site get read.
First word. When a title has a printing date you hear before the site says so, with the link and the price. If there is nothing to say, no letter goes.
What is never in it
Countdowns, last chances, other people’s offers, or anything sold on. No letter is sent to fill a gap in the calendar.
What a letter looks like
A sample made from the first book on the list, so you can see the shape before you give an address.
The book: The Dawnchild, 1926
Beryl Irving wrote it and drew it, and Faber and Gwyer published it in London in 1926 with eight colour plates. First editions are scarce. Chapter One opens on a window-sill, where something stirs.
The memory
A reader’s memory of the book, in their own words and quoted with their permission: who gave it to them, when, and what it was like.
First word
The Dawnchild is printed to order in paperback, hardback and as an ebook. Next: The Family Week-End Book; after it, Elfin Song. The first letter goes out when it has a date.
How often, honestly
Five a year is the most we send, not a number to fill. A new title, a plate worth a whole letter, a memory that tells us something we did not know. In a quiet year there may be two. There will never be twelve.
If you already wrote to us
A suggestion or a memory does not sign you up for the letter. The email boxes that offer the letter do, including the one in the basket while the shop is closed, and every letter has a one-click way out.