Latest news on books, Summer 2011:: Another new Romany Book: "Romany on the Fells " by Phil Shelley and Leonard Hollands. For details visit the News page or click here for the flyer.
Romany Society Book Service: Contact details for buying books through the Society, including most of the out-of-print titles, are now available on the Collecting
the Books page
A new Romany book - "Romany in the Lanes" by Phil Shelley and Leonard Hollands has been published. For details visit the News page or click here for the flyer.
AND a facsimile edition of Hotchi the Hedgehog, the first of the Romany Readers books is aslo now available. More details are on the News page
For recent large print and audio format reprints see book news on the news page
As 'Romany', G. Bramwell Evens wrote 10 books (other writing is discussed on Romany's writings page). All can be obtained second-hand (sometimes with some determination!) and with only one recording surviving these are closest we can get to Romany's style of natural history broadcasting. Illustrations of many of the books, in their original, and subsequent, dustjackets are given on the Collecting the books page.
His first four books were published by the Epworth Press between 1929 and 1934:
1929 A Romany in the Fields
1930 A Romany and Raq (to be re-issued 2003 - see News)
1932
A Romany in the Country
(reprinted 2002
- see News and Collecting
the Books)
1934 A Romany on the Trail
The six later books were published by the University of London Press between 1937 and 1944:
1937 Out with Romany
1938 Out with Romany Again
1940 Out with Romany Once More
1941 Out with Romany By the Sea
1942 Out with Romany by Meadow and Stream
1944 Out with Romany by Moor and Dale
There were various spin-offs from these books, including the Out with Romany Calendars of the early 1940s, and various school readers - extracts from the books in limp covers designed for school use:
[1940-42] The Out with Romany Calendar (University of London Press)
[1940] Walks with Romany (E J Arnold 'Broadcast Echoes' No 25)
1946-1951 The Romany Readers (University of London Press)
1 Hotchi the Hedgehog
2 Smut the Hare
3 Flash the Fox
4 Spook the Barn Owl
5 Pete and Prue the Partridges
6 Nick the Weasel
7 Billy the Squirrel
8 Sleek the Otter
Romany's son, Glyn Evens, also published some Romany books, starting in 1939 with a volume by 'Raq', Romany's dog. He followed this with a Romany detective novel in 1949, and with two further Romany books in the 1950s.
1939 Romany Muriel and Doris (by ‘Raq’) (University of London Press)
1949 Romany Turns Detective (University of London Press)
1952 Romany on the Farm (Epworth Press)
1953 Romany’s Caravan Returns (Epworth Press)
Eunice Evens, Romany's widow, published a biography of her husband in 1946. Another tribute was published by Romany's friend H L Gee in 1949.
1946 Through the Years with Romany (University of London Press)
1949 Spirit of Romany (St Hughes Press)
Many of these books, particularly the 10 by Romany himself, were reprinted many times during the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Collecting the books - both reprints and the increasingly valued first editions - is discussed on the Collecting the books page. The Society operates a book service which tries to offer as many of these second-hand publications as possible. Second-hand book catalogues on the Internet are a good way to track down books - a link to one 'meta-catalogue' site is given on the Collecting the books page.
New books about Romany, or referring to Romany include Guy Loveridge's 1995 biography of Romany (which includes many excerpts from the books), and some of Terry Waite's recent books:
1993 Taken on Trust (by Terry Waite) (Coronet)
1996 Footfalls in Memory (by Terry Waite) (Coronet)
Other books referring to Romany include:
There is also a video, based on a recent regional television programme about Romany:
Notes on obtaining all these (new and old!) are given on the Collecting the books page.