# fox hunting fiction



## polopony (17 October 2010)

As above; I'm searching for a fiction book about fox hunting for a present, have looked online but all (if any) reviews seem to be rubbish. So I wondered if you guys have read anything you could recommend. Any help much appreciated xx


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## 4x4 (17 October 2010)

Tongue in cheek 'Tales of a fox-hunting man'  by Siegfreed Sassoon.


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## polopony (17 October 2010)

Thanks, I'll have a look  Any other recommendations? xx


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## WelshD (17 October 2010)

Is it for a child? if so the Pullein Thompson sisters wrote one or two good stories


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## Alec Swan (17 October 2010)

If you look online, for David A.H.Grayling Antiquarian Books,  he has a Hunting section,  and it's well stocked too!!

If you can't find it,  then PM me,  and I'll give you his 'phone number.  He is the most delightful man,  and in the unlikely event that he doesn't have anything to suit you,  then he'll be able to head you in the right direction,  I feel sure.

Alec.


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## polopony (17 October 2010)

Thanks guys, busy searching now  and no Welsh D, its for my grandfather, but thanks anyway xx


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## Judgemental (17 October 2010)

I would strongly recommend:

STRANGE STORIES OF THE CHASE

By The Countess of Feversham with an Introduction by The Earl of Halifax MFH.

Plus 16 Line drawings by Peter Biegel.

Published by, Geoffrey Bles

Printed by, Redwood Press Ltd of Trowbridge Wiltshire.

There are eighteen different stories.

Namely:
The Shawdow of the moor
The haunted hunt
John Denis
The ghost pack
Things in earth
The Gormanston Foxes
A story of Robin Hill
The Bramham moor
The Lockwood Beck ghost pack
Balck foxes and the black arts
Hunting Hare and Witch
A closing memory of Lord Harrington
Hounds run to Master's Grave
The handsome companion
The phantom huntsman
The Skail Pool Fox
Colonel Weatherford's Bruch
The Rector of St Timothy's

All highly recommended and a rattling good read each and every one!


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## polopony (17 October 2010)

Brilliant Judgemental, thank you so much! Trouble is I'll buy him one, then he'll want them all! thanks again xxx


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## Judgemental (18 October 2010)

polopony said:



			Brilliant Judgemental, thank you so much! Trouble is I'll buy him one, then he'll want them all! thanks again xxx
		
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They are all part of the one book, i.e. all eighteen stories are contained in Strange Stories of the chase.


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## Maesfen (18 October 2010)

And a great book it is too, I'm sitting looking at it now!

Alternatively, if he likes reference type books there are always either the Baileys or Hunting Year Books, Thoughts on Hunting by Peter Beckford, Ronnie Wallace's Manual of Foxhunting.  If he's a pictures man then any by Jim Meads are good as is the one By John Minoprio on the Blue & Buff.

So much choice!


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## SusannaF (18 October 2010)

The Flambards trilogy by K M Peyton.

Surtees et al. Lots of old hunting books are available in PDF at www.archive.org.


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## EAST KENT (20 October 2010)

Absolute must..The Hunting Experiences of an Irish R.M.,  wonderful evocetive book of Irish life between the World Wars (I think) Oh my life,I still collapse with mirth thinking of Venus  ("Vay-ness") scoffing the wedding breakfast.


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## MissySmythe (20 October 2010)

EAST KENT said:



			Absolute must..The Hunting Experiences of an Irish R.M.,  wonderful evocetive book of Irish life between the World Wars (I think) Oh my life,I still collapse with mirth thinking of Venus  ("Vay-ness") scoffing the wedding breakfast.

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I ADORED the Irish RM! Wish I could see it again. And K.M. Peyton - the bliss of escaping schoolwork as a child was to have nose in a novel...


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## EAST KENT (21 October 2010)

MissySmythe said:



			I ADORED the Irish RM! Wish I could see it again. And K.M. Peyton - the bliss of escaping schoolwork as a child was to have nose in a novel...
		
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Oh ..but the book is better still ,it really does capture the irish way so well.


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## MissySmythe (21 October 2010)

EAST KENT said:



			Oh ..but the book is better still ,it really does capture the irish way so well.
		
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You have spurred me on to a secondhand book hunt! I shall track down the book of the Irish R.M!

Also, has anyone read 'Crab the Roan' by Kathleen Herald? I gather the author was actually K M Peyton writing under another name. Not specifically a hunting book but a wonderful horse story. Am still trying to find a copy of my own...


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## Orangehorse (21 October 2010)

The Irish RM was hilarious, definitely not PC.  

I loved the Molly Keane books, same sort of period.  As she said in an interview towards the end of her life, it was an age and way of life coming to an end.  I remember the heroine got into trouble if she didn't wear a coat over her breeches as the servants could see her legs.  And they were always getting into scrapes with hounds and horses and racing and getting "quinched."

Molly wrote the books to get dress money and they were more or less about her life of horses and hunting.  Good stories.  She didn't write for years and then went on to write some still about Ireland and the crumbling mansions, with the crumbling people inside, not horsey but still wonderful and moving.

For children there are the Pullein-Thompson "We Hunted Hounds" and two others in the series I can't remember the name of.


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## Simsar (2 January 2011)

Judgemental said:



			I would strongly recommend:

STRANGE STORIES OF THE CHASE

By The Countess of Feversham with an Introduction by The Earl of Halifax MFH.

Plus 16 Line drawings by Peter Biegel.

Published by, Geoffrey Bles

Printed by, Redwood Press Ltd of Trowbridge Wiltshire.

There are eighteen different stories.

Namely:
The Shawdow of the moor
The haunted hunt
John Denis
The ghost pack
Things in earth
The Gormanston Foxes
A story of Robin Hill
The Bramham moor
The Lockwood Beck ghost pack
Balck foxes and the black arts
Hunting Hare and Witch
A closing memory of Lord Harrington
Hounds run to Master's Grave
The handsome companion
The phantom huntsman
The Skail Pool Fox
Colonel Weatherford's Bruch
The Rector of St Timothy's

All highly recommended and a rattling good read each and every one!  

Click to expand...

My brother bought me this book for Christmas thanks to Sarah and I have just finished it & thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. If anyone would like to recommend more stunning reads I would appreciate it!!  

Simon


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## Maesfen (2 January 2011)

Happy New Year one and all!

When you come up you can go back with an armful of books, too many to mention here but include Market Harborough, In a Grass Country, both Sasoon's, Foxhunter's Companion, The Harbourer, Huntsman's Rambles, some Surtees and lots more; as I said, too many to mention but you're very welcome to borrow them.


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## Doormouse (2 January 2011)

WelshD said:



			Is it for a child? if so the Pullein Thompson sisters wrote one or two good stories
		
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My OH who has been in hunt service for 25 years and hunted several packs found my Pullien Thompson books when we last moved and read the hunting ones avidly and declared them an excellent read so not just for children!


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## spacefaer (2 January 2011)

The Foxhunter's Bedside Book - W Brock
Reminiscences of a Sporting Artist - Lionel Edwards
A Sportsman's Bedside book - BB
Scarlet and Corduroy - Lionel Edwards
Strange Stories of the Chase - Countess Feversham

of cours, Surtees, Sassoon - love KM Peyton (Flambards) and The Irish RM for ever!


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## JenHunt (3 January 2011)

in my search for literature on hunting I came across this list.... thought it might be helpful!

http://www.irishfoxhunting.ie/read.htm


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## Judgemental (7 January 2011)

I suppose all this trail or drag hunting is a work of fiction, bearing in mind the Oxford Dictionary's definition of Fictitious is: imaginary, unreal, conterfeit, not genuine.

Sorry, felt like having a winge, I don't like the present arrangments and they are unacceptable.


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## SusannaF (7 January 2011)

Not fiction, but beautifully researched and written and full of anecdotes you want to read out loud: _Ladies of the Chase_, by Muriel Buxton.

The authors of _The Irish RM _are among the real-life characters.


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## Smitty (7 January 2011)

Another vote for The Irish RM.  Fabulously entertaining.  Also second Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon, although this is more of a bioghraphy I think.

One not mentioned so far is 'Horseman' - Memoirs of Captain J H Marshall.  This is an autobiography, published in 1970 and probably out of print for many years but well worth getting hold of if you can.


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## muffinino (7 January 2011)

I thrid Memoirs Of A Foxhunting Man. I had two lovely copies for Christmas, including a First Illustrated Edition, and am reading them at a brisk canter on the train to and from work - helps cheer me up in the morning  Beautifully written and entertaining from one of this country's very great writers. I'm hoping to get copies of the sequels, Memoirs Of An Infantry Officer and Sherton's Progress, although they deal with his fighting during the First World War anfd its aftermath, so they may not be as fun


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## Christmas Crumpet (7 January 2011)

Which Molly Keane books? Have just had a look but don't know which ones to get. Or do I start from the beginning and work my way through them all?!! Just want to read the horsey/hunting ones!!


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