View source for E. Nesbit

{{Short description|English author and poet (1858–1924)}}
{{For|the American model|Evelyn Nesbit}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox
Writer/doc]] -->
|name         = Edith Nesbit
|image        = Nesbit.jpg
|caption      = Nesbit, {{circa|1890}}
|pseudonym    = E. Nesbit
|birth_date   = {{birth date|1858|08|15|df=y}}
|birth_place  = [[Kennington]], Surrey (now [[Greater London]]), England<ref name=isfdb/>
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1924|05|04|1858|08|15|df=y}}
|death_place  = [[New Romney]], Kent, England
|occupation   = Writer, poet
|period       = 1886–1924
|genre        = Children's literature
|subject      = 
|movement     = 
|signature    = 
|website      = 
|notableworks = {{bulletedlist|''[[The Story of the Treasure Seekers]]''|''[[The Railway Children]]''|''[[Five Children and It]]''}}
|spouse       = {{plainlist|{{marriage|[[Hubert Bland]]|22 April 1880|14 April 1914|end=died}}
{{marriage|Thomas Tucker|20 February 1917}}
}}
}}
'''Edith Nesbit''' (married name '''Edith Bland'''; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English writer and poet, who published her [[children's literature|books for children]] and others as '''E. Nesbit'''. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 such books. She was also a political activist and co-founder of the [[Fabian Society]], a [[socialist]] organisation later affiliated to the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]].

==Biography==
Nesbit was born in 1858 at 38 Lower Kennington Lane, [[Kennington]], Surrey (now [[London]]),{{efn|Lower Kennington Lane is now the northern half of Kennington Lane, between Kennington Road and Newington Butts; the house has been demolished and there is no commemoration. Galvin, in her biography (p. 2), claims that Lower Kennington Lane is now buried deep below a main road and supermarkets. This rests on a confusion between modern Kennington Lane and its constituent former parts, Upper Kennington Lane and Lower Kennington Lane. Lower Kennington Lane still exists, though renamed and renumbered, but most of the houses of the 1850s have gone. An earlier version of the ''King's Arms'' public house, now at 98 Kennington Lane, was numbered 44 Lower Kennington Lane. The 1861 census records Edith Nesbit at her father's Agricultural College further along the street.{{Cite web |url=https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record/browse?id=gbc%2f1861%2f0353%2f00225a |website=search.findmypast.co.uk |title=Find My Past 1861 Census |access-date=2020-07-29}} That site is now occupied by 20th-century public housing.}} the daughter of an agricultural chemist, [[John Collis Nesbit]], who died in March 1862, before her fourth birthday. Her mother was Sarah Green (née Alderton).{{sfn|Briggs|1987|pp=2–4}}

The ill health of Edith's sister Mary meant that the family travelled for some years, living variously in [[Brighton]], Buckinghamshire, France ([[Dieppe]], [[Rouen]], Paris, [[Tours]], [[Poitiers]], [[Angoulême]], [[Bordeaux]], [[Arcachon]], [[Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques|Pau]], [[Bagnères-de-Bigorre]], and [[Dinan]] in Brittany), Spain and Germany. Mary was engaged in 1871 to the poet [[Philip Bourke Marston]], but later that year she died of [[tuberculosis]] in Normandy.<ref>Elisabeth Galvin, ''The Extraordinary Life of E Nesbit'', p. 16.</ref>

After Mary's death, Edith and her mother settled for three years at Halstead Hall, [[Halstead, Kent|Halstead]], north-west [[Kent]], a location that inspired ''[[The Railway Children]]'', although the distinction has also been claimed by the [[Derbyshire]] town of [[New Mills]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://archive.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/2000/4/22/154169.html |title=Railway Children battle lines are drawn |newspaper=[[Telegraph & Argus]] |location=[[Bradford]] |date=22 April 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921064437/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/archive/2000/04/22/Bradford+District+Archive/8056084.Railway_Children_battle_lines_are_drawn/ |archive-date=21 September 2012 |access-date=29 December 2013}}</ref>

When Nesbit was 17, the family moved back to [[Lewisham]] in south-east London. There is a [[London Borough of Lewisham|Lewisham Council]] plaque to her at 28 Elswick Road.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/edith-nesbit |website=londonremembers.com |title=London Remembers: Edith Nesbit |access-date=2020-07-29}}</ref>

In 1877, at the age of 18, Nesbit met the bank clerk [[Hubert Bland]], her elder by three years. Seven months pregnant, she married Bland on 22 April 1880, but did not initially live with him, as Bland remained with his mother. Their marriage was tumultuous. Early on, Nesbit found that another woman, Maggie Doran, who lived with his mother, believed she was Hubert's fiancée and had also borne him a child. Nesbit's children by Bland were Paul Cyril Bland (1880–1940), to whom ''[[The Railway Children]]'' was dedicated, Mary Iris Bland (1881–1965), who married John Austin D Phillips in 1907,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/account/signin?returnurl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2finteractive%2f8913%2fONS_M19074AZ-0030%3fpid%3d2696214%26backurl%3dhttps%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3findiv%3d1%26dbid%3d8913%26h%3d2696214%26tid%3d%26pid%3d%26usePUB%3dtrue%26_phsrc%3dWUg3072%26_phstart%3dsuccessSource%26treeid%3d%26personid%3d%26hintid%3d%26usePUB%3dtrue%26_phsrc%3dWUg3072%26_phstart%3dsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3dtrue |title=Ancestry – Sign In |website=ancestry.co.uk}}</ref> and Fabian Bland (1885–1900).

A more serious blow came in 1886, when she discovered that her friend {{va|Alice Hoatson}} was pregnant by him. She had previously agreed to adopt Hoatson's child and allow Hoatson to live with her as their housekeeper. After she discovered the truth, she and her husband quarrelled violently and she suggested that Hoatson and the baby, [[Rosamund Edith Nesbit Bland|Rosamund]], should leave; her husband threatened to leave Edith if she disowned the baby and its mother. Hoatson remained with them as a housekeeper and secretary and became pregnant by Bland again 13 years later. Edith again adopted Hoatson's child, John.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Langley Moore |first=Doris |title=E. Nesbit: a biography |url=https://archive.org/details/enesbitbiography00moor |url-access=registration |year=1966 |publisher=Chilton Books |location=Philadelphia and New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/enesbitbiography00moor/page/70 70]–71, 102–103}}</ref> Bland's two children by Alice Hoatson, whom Edith adopted, were [[Rosamund Edith Nesbit Bland|Rosamund Edith Nesbit Hamilton]], later Bland (1886–1950), who married Clifford Dyer Sharp on 16 October 1909,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1623/47188_263021009500_2846-00219?pid=921899572&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1623&h=921899572&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=WUg3073&_phstart=successSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=WUg3073&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true |title=Ancestry – Sign In |website=ancestry.co.uk}}</ref> and to whom ''The Book of Dragons'' was dedicated, and John Oliver Wentworth Bland (1899–1946) to whom ''[[The House of Arden]]'' and ''[[Five Children and It]]'' were dedicated.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/five-children-and-a-philandering-husband-e-nesbits-private-life/ |title=Five children and a philandering husband: E Nesbit's private life |first=Ben |last=Lawrence |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=4 July 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1002/path.1700590427 |title=John Oliver Wentworth Bland (born 6 October 1899, died 10 May 1946) |journal=The Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=716–721 |year=1947 |last1=Bedson |first1=S. P.}}</ref> Nesbit's son Fabian died aged 15 after a [[tonsil]] operation; Nesbit felt guilt over this, having fed him shortly before the [[general anaesthetic]] and in then leaving him unattended afterwards, not realising that he might choke to death on regurgitated food; she subsequently dedicated several books to him, including ''[[The Story of the Treasure Seekers]]'' and its sequels. Nesbit's adopted daughter Rosamund collaborated with her on ''Cat Tales''.

[[File:E Nesbit's Grave - St Mary In The Marsh Churchyard.jpg|thumb|E. Nesbit's grave in St Mary in the Marsh's churchyard bears a wooden marker by her second husband, Thomas Terry Tucker. There is also a memorial plaque to her inside the church.]]
Nesbit admired the artist and [[Marxist philosophy|Marxian]] socialist [[William Morris]].<ref>Phillippa Bennett and Rosemary Miles (2010). ''William Morris in the Twenty-First Century''. Peter Lang. {{ISBN|3034301065}}. p. 136.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/SP88.7.4.Spittles.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-09-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927213022/http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/SP88.7.4.Spittles.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2013}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/AU86.7.1.Morton.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-09-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927213028/http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/AU86.7.1.Morton.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2013}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/SP00.13.4.Bartels.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-09-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927213111/http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/SP00.13.4.Bartels.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2013}}</ref> The couple joined the founders of the [[Fabian Society]] in 1884,<ref>{{Cite book |title=Five Children and It|publisher=Penguin Books Ltd |year=1996 |isbn=9780140367355 |location=London |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/fivechildrenit00nesb}}</ref> after which their son Fabian was named,{{sfn|Briggs|1987|p=62}} and jointly edited its journal ''Today''. Hoatson was its assistant secretary. Nesbit and Bland dallied with the [[Social Democratic Federation]], but found it too radical. Nesbit was a prolific lecturer and writer on socialism in the 1880s. She and her husband co-wrote under the pseudonym "Fabian Bland",<ref>''The Prophet's Mantle'' (1885), a work of fiction inspired by the life of [[Peter Kropotkin]] in London.{{full citation needed|date=December 2013}}</ref> However, the joint work dwindled as her success rose as a children's author. She was a guest speaker at the [[London School of Economics]], which had been founded by other Fabian Society members.

Edith lived from 1899 to 1920 at [[Well Hall]], [[Eltham]], in south-east London,<ref name="LonGaz">"Well Hall" entry of ''London Gazetteer'' by Russ Willey, ([[Chambers Harrap|Chambers]] 2006) {{ISBN|0-550-10326-0}} (online extract [http://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/well-hall/])</ref> which makes fictional appearances in several of her books, such as ''The Red House''. From 1911 she kept a second home on the Sussex Downs at Crowlink, [[East Dean and Friston|Friston]], East Sussex.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://womenofeastbourne.co.uk/influential-women/edith-nesbit/ |title=Edith Nesbit |website=Women of Eastbourne}}</ref> She and her husband entertained many friends, colleagues and admirers at Well Hall.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Iannello, Silvia |url=http://silvia-iannello.blogspot.com/2011/09/edith-nesbit-la-precorritrice-della.html |title=Edith Nesbit, la precorritrice della Rowling |publisher=Silvia-iannello.blogspot.com (reprint 19 September 2011 from Zam (zam.it))<!--maybe--> |work=Tvcinemateatro―i protagonisti |date=18 August 2008 |access-date=9 August 2012}}</ref>

On 20 February 1917, some three years after Bland died, Nesbit married Thomas "the Skipper" Tucker in [[Woolwich]], where he was captain of the [[Woolwich Ferry]].

Although she was the family breadwinner and has the father in ''The Railway Children'' declare that "[g]irls are just as clever as boys, and don’t you forget it!", Nesbit did not champion women's rights. "She opposed the cause of women’s suffrage—mainly, she claimed, because women could swing Tory, thus harming the Socialist cause."<ref name="Winter-28Sep2022">{{cite magazine |last1=Winter |first1=Jessica |title=The British writer who rewrote the world for children |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-british-socialist-who-rewrote-the-world-for-children?cn |access-date=30 September 2022 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=28 September 2022}}</ref> She is said to have avoided the literary moralising that characterised the age. "And, most crucially, both books are constructed from a blueprint that is also a kind of reënactment of the author’s own childhood: an idyll torn up at its roots by the exigencies of illness, loss, and grief."<ref name="Winter-28Sep2022"/>

Towards the end of her life, Nesbit moved first to Crowlink, then with the Skipper to two conjoined properties which were [[Royal Flying Corps]] buildings, 'Jolly Boat' and 'Long Boat'. Nesbit lived in 'Jolly Boat' and the Skipper in 'Long Boat'. Nesbit died in 'The Long Boat' at Jesson, [[St Mary's Bay, Kent|St Mary's Bay]], [[New Romney]], Kent, in 1924, probably from lung cancer (she "smoked incessantly"),<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gardner |first=Lyn |title=how did E Nesbit come to write such an idealised celebration of Victorian family life? |newspaper=The Guardian |url= https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/mar/26/theatre.booksforchildrenandteenagers |date=26 March 2005}}</ref> and was buried in the churchyard of [[St Mary in the Marsh]]. Her husband Thomas died at the same address on 17 May 1935. Edith's son Paul Bland was an executor of Thomas Tucker's will.

==Writing==
===Career===
Nesbit's first published works were poems. She was under 20 in March 1878, when the monthly magazine ''[[Good Words]]'' printed her poem "Under the Trees".<ref>Donald Macleod, ed. ''Good Words'', vol. 19, London: Daldy, Isbister & Co., 1878, p. 208.</ref> In all she published about 40 books for children, including novels, storybooks and picture books.<ref>{{Cite news |title=E Nesbit: Queen of Children's Literature |url=http://www.abebooks.co.uk/docs/RareBooks/e-nesbit.shtml |first=Nicola |last=Lisle |publisher=AbeBooks (abebooks.co.uk) |date=15 August 2008<!--150th anniv.--> |access-date=10 January 2011 |archive-date=19 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619212421/http://www.abebooks.co.uk/docs/RareBooks/e-nesbit.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> Works of [[William Shakespeare]] adapted by her for children
have been translated.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/126288537/A_survey_of_Vladimir_Polyanov_s_translation_of_Edith_Nesbit_s_Shakespearean_tales_in_the_context_of_Shakespearean_adaptations_for_children_in_Bulgaria_1878_1944_ Miryana Dimitrova. A Survey of Vladimir Polyanov’s Translation of Edith Nesbit’s Shakespearean Tales in the Context of Shakespearean Adaptations for Children in Bulgaria (1878–1944).] Publisher, 2024, vol. XXVI, № 2, 33–41. ISSN: 1310-4624 (Print). ISSN: 2367-9158 (Online).</ref> She also published almost as many books jointly with others.

===Plagiarism allegation===
In 2011, Nesbit was accused of taking the plot of ''[[The Railway Children]]'' from ''The House by the Railway'' by [[Ada J. Graves]]. ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]'' reported that the Graves book had appeared in 1896, nine years prior to ''The Railway Children'', and listed similarities between them.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/8392618/The-Railway-Children-plagiarised-from-earlier-story.html |title=The Railway Children 'plagiarised' from earlier story |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=20 March 2011 |access-date=21 March 2011 |location=London |first=Jasper |last=Copping}}</ref> However, not all sources agree on this finding:<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/mar/21/nesbit-railway-children-plagiarism |website=The Guardian |title=E Nesbit's classic The Railway Children accused of 'plagiarism' |last=Page |first=Benedicte |date=21 March 2011 |access-date=2020-07-29}}</ref> Online magazine ''[[Tor.com]]'' noted that both books had been released in 1906.<ref name=tor-2011>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.tor.com/2011/09/22/adventures-in-railroads-the-railway-children/ |title=Adventures in Railroads: The Railway Children |last=Ness |first=Mari |author-link=Mari Ness |date=22 September 2011 |magazine=[[Tor.com]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |quote= [...] although news reports initially said that that ''The House by the Railway'' was published in 1896 – ten years before ''The Railway Children'' – that turns out to be the publication start of the series that the book appeared in, not the actual book. Both were published in 1906, and then as now, books took some time to get from the typewriter into actual print.}}</ref>

===Legacy and influence===
Nesbit's biographer Julia Briggs names her "the first modern writer for children", who "helped to reverse the great tradition of children's literature inaugurated by [[Lewis Carroll]], [[George MacDonald]] and [[Kenneth Grahame]], in turning away from their [[secondary world]]s to the tough truths to be won from encounters with things-as-they-are, previously the province of adult novels".{{sfn|Briggs|1987|pp=xi, xx}} Briggs also credits Nesbit with inventing the children's [[adventure novel|adventure story]].{{sfn|Briggs|1987|p=xi}} [[Noël Coward]] was an admirer. In a letter to an early biographer, [[Noel Streatfeild]] wrote, "She had an economy of phrase and an unparalleled talent for evoking hot summer days in the English countryside."<ref>Barry Day, 2009. ''The Letters of Noël Coward''. New York: Vintage Books. March 2009. p. 74.</ref>

Among Nesbit's best-known books are ''[[The Story of the Treasure Seekers]]'' (1899) and ''The Wouldbegoods'' (1901), which tell of the Bastables, a middle-class family fallen on relatively hard times. ''[[The Railway Children]]'' is also popularised by a [[The Railway Children (1970 film)|1970 film version]]. [[Gore Vidal]] called the time-travel book, ''[[The Story of the Amulet]]'', one where "Nesbit's powers of invention are at their best."<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1964/dec/03/the-writing-of-e-nesbit/ |title=The Writing of E. Nesbit |last=Vidal |first=Gore |date=3 December 1964 |journal=The New York Review of Books |access-date=28 October 2015 |volume= 3|issue=2}}</ref> Her children's writing also included plays and collections of [[Verse (poetry)|verse]].

Nesbit has been cited as the creator of modern [[children's fantasy]].{{sfn|Nikolajeva|2012|p=51}} Her innovations placed realistic contemporary children in real-world settings with magical objects (which would now be classed as [[contemporary fantasy]]) and adventures and sometimes travel to fantastic worlds.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=67376310&site=ehost-live |title=Edith Nesbit: An Appreciation |last=Morrow |first= Clark Elder |date=October 2011 |journal=Vocabula Review |access-date=28 October 2015 |url-access=subscription |volume=13 |issue=10 |pages=18}}</ref> This influenced directly or indirectly many later writers, including [[P. L. Travers]] (of ''[[Mary Poppins (book series)|Mary Poppins]]''), [[Edward Eager]], [[Diana Wynne Jones]] and [[J. K. Rowling]]. [[C. S. Lewis]] too paid heed to her in the ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|Narnia]]'' series<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nicholson |first1=Mervyn |title=C. S. Lewis and the Scholarship of Imagination in E. Nesbit and Rider Haggard |journal=Renascence |date=Fall 1998 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=41–62 |url=https://www.pdcnet.org/pdc/bvdb.nsf/purchase?openform&fp=renascence&id=renascence_1998_0051_0001_0041_0062 |access-date=26 October 2015 |doi=10.5840/renascence19985114|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and mentions the Bastable children in ''[[The Magician's Nephew]]'', which, in its scenes of Jadis (a.k.a. the [[White Witch]]) in 19th century London, borrows from a similar sequences in Nesbit's ''[[The Story of the Amulet]]''.

===Use of Nesbit's characters by later writers===
[[Science fiction]] and [[fantasy]] writer [[Michael Moorcock]] adopted Nesbit's character of [[Oswald Bastable]] for a trilogy of [[steampunk]] novels beginning with ''[[The Warlord of the Air]]''.

''[[Five Children and It]]'' has had a number of [[continuation novel]]s by [[Five Children and It#By other authors|later writers]].

==Legacy==
===Places===
*Edith Nesbit Walk and cycleway runs along the south side of Well Hall Pleasaunce in Eltham.<ref name="TQ4274">{{Cite web |title=TQ4274: Edith Nesbit Walk, Eltham |url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1297367 |website=Geograph |access-date=8 June 2017}}</ref>
*[[Lee, London|Lee Green]], also in south-east London, has Edith Nesbit Gardens.<ref name="Gardens">{{Cite web |title=Edith Nesbit Gardens |url=http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/inmyarea/openspaces/parks/Pages/edith-nesbit-gardens.aspx |website=Lewisham Parks and Open Spaces |access-date=8 June 2017 |archive-date=25 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170625135927/http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/inmyarea/openspaces/parks/Pages/edith-nesbit-gardens.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*A 200-metre footpath in [[Grove Park, Lewisham|Grove Park]] south-east London, between Baring Road and Reigate Road, is named Railway Children Walk after the novel,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Railway Children Walk |url=http://gb.geoview.info/railway_children_walk,24301015w |website=geoview.info |access-date=29 November 2014}}</ref> as is one in [[Oxenhope]], a film location on the [[Keighley and Worth Valley Railway]] used in the 1970 film.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Roger |title=Visit to Hebden Bridge |url=http://rogerjonesblog.wordpress.com/tag/bronte-museum/ |website=wordpress.com |publisher=Wordpress |access-date=29 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222103641/http://rogerjonesblog.wordpress.com/tag/bronte-museum/ |archive-date=22 December 2014}}</ref>
*There is a Nesbit Road in St Mary's Bay, Romney Marsh, where Nesbit's home Long Boat & Jolly Boat stands.<ref>This was marketed in 2020.{{Cite web |url=https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-92190755.html |website=rightmove.co.uk |title=RightMove: Long Boat & Jolly Boat |access-date=2020-07-29 |archive-date=7 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607144449/https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-92190755.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Nesbit House, a care home at [[Badgers Mount]], [[Kent]], is located near Halstead Hall where Edith Nesbit lived when she was young.<ref name="Hamberley">{{cite web |title=Nesbit House |url=https://www.hamberleycarehomes.co.uk/care-homes/nesbit-house-care-home/ |website=Hamberley Care Homes |access-date=15 April 2024}}</ref>

===Other legacy===
*Actress [[Judy Parfitt]] portrayed Nesbit in the 1972–1973 miniseries ''[[The Edwardians (miniseries)|The Edwardians]]''<ref>{{Cite book |title=Trevor Griffiths: Politics, Drama, History |page=105 |author=Stanton B. Garner |year=1999 |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]]}}</ref>
*The Edith Nesbit Society was founded in 1996 with Dame [[Jacqueline Wilson]] as president.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://edithnesbit.co.uk/index.php |website=edithnesbit.co.uk |title=Edith Nesbit Society |access-date=2020-07-28}}</ref>
*In ''[[The Guardian]]'' in 2001, [[Francis Spufford]] placed ''[[The Story of the Amulet]]'' first on his list of greatest children's books.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Spufford |first=Francis |date=29 November 2001 |title=The greatest stories ever told |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/nov/30/bestbooksoftheyear.artsfeatures10}}</ref>
*[[A. S. Byatt]]'s 2009 novel ''[[The Children's Book]]'' is inspired partly by Nesbit, who appears as a character along with [[Kenneth Grahame]] and [[J. M. Barrie]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Clark |first=Alex |date=8 May 2009 |title=Her Dark Materials |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/may/09/as-byatt-childrens-book}}</ref>
*Nesbit's life inspired a one-act, one-woman play, ''Larks and Magic'', by Alison Neil, in 2018.<ref>[http://alisonneil.co.uk/the%20shows/larks%20and%20magic.html Larks and Magic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218210348/http://alisonneil.co.uk/the%20shows/larks%20and%20magic.html |date=18 February 2018 }} at alisonneil.co.uk, Accessed 18 February 2018.</ref><ref>[https://www.uktw.co.uk/archive/Backwell/Backwell-Playhouse/One/Larks-and-Magic/L1377008432/ 'Larks and Magic', a new play by Alison Neil] at uktw.co.uk, Accessed 18 February 2018.</ref><ref>[http://www.brockweirvillagehall.co.uk/news.html BROCKWEIR EVENTS at the Mac Hall LARKS AND MAGIC Saturday 17th February, 7.30 for 8.00 Written and performed by Alison Neil] at brockweirvillagehall.co.uk. Accessed 18 February 2018.</ref>
* Several of Nesbit's horror short stories were adapted into the anthology play ''The Shadow in the Dark'' by Oliver Giggins and Ash Pryce, which also drew on elements of Nesbit's own life and fears taken from her autobiographical writings. The show premiered at the Edinburgh Horror Festival in 2023.<ref>[https://www.noisyghost.co.uk/ at noisyghost.co.uk]. Accessed 19 September 2023.</ref>
* American children's book author [[Edward Eager]] considered Nesbit the best children's author of all time; his books have been compared to Nesbit's and his characters are often fans of her work.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Eager |first1=Edward |title=Daily Magic |url=https://www.hbook.com/story/daily-magic |website=The Horn Book |access-date=16 April 2024}}</ref> 
* ''Woman of Stone'', the Christmas Eve 2024 episode of the [[BBC|BBC's]] '[[A Ghost Story for Christmas]]' strand, is an adaptation of Nesbit's horror story ''Man-Size in Marble''. The film, written and directed by [[Mark Gatiss]], features [[Celia Imrie]] as Nesbit.

==Biographies==
Aside from an episode of the BBC's 'A Ghost Story for Christmas' from her autobiographical ''Long Ago When I was Young'' (published 1966), Nesbit has been the subject of five biographies.
*[[Doris Langley Moore]] ''E. Nesbit'', 1933
*[[Noel Streatfeild]], ''Magic and the Magician: E. Nesbit'' ''and her Children’s Books'', 1958
*Julia Briggs, ''A Woman of Passion'', 1987 
*Elisabeth Galvin, ''The Extraordinary Life of E. Nesbit'', 2018
*Eleanor Fitzsimons, ''The Life and Loves of E Nesbit'', 2019<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/26/the-life-and-loves-of-e-nesbit-by-eleanor-fitzsimons-review |website= The Guardian |title=Guardian review of The Life and Loves of E Nesbit |date=26 October 2019 |access-date=2020-07-29}}</ref>

==Works==
===Novels for children===
====Bastable series====
*1899 ''[[The Story of the Treasure Seekers]]''
*1901 ''[[The Wouldbegoods]]''
*1904 ''[[New Treasure Seekers]]''

=====Notes=====
''The Complete History of the Bastable Family'' (1928) is a posthumous omnibus of the three Bastable novels, but does not include the four stories appearing in the 1905 collection ''Oswald Bastable and Others''.<ref name=isfdb/> The Bastables also feature in the 1902 adult novel ''The Red House''.

====Psammead series====
*1902 ''[[Five Children and It]]''
*1904 ''[[The Phoenix and the Carpet]]''
*1906 ''[[The Story of the Amulet]]''

====House of Arden series====
*1908 ''[[The House of Arden]]''
*1909 ''[[Harding's Luck]]''

====Other children's novels====
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*1906 ''[[The Railway Children]]''
*1907 ''[[The Enchanted Castle]]''
*1910 ''[[The Magic City (novel)|The Magic City]]''
*1911 ''[[The Wonderful Garden]]''
*1913 ''[[Wet Magic]]''
{{div col end}}

===Novels for adults===
====As Fabian Bland====
*''The Prophet's Mantle''. Serialised, ''Weekly Dispatch'', 3 August–14 December 1884, published 1889
*''The Hour before Day''. Serialised, ''Weekly Dispatch'', 1885
*''Something Wrong''. Serialised, ''Weekly Dispatch'', 7 March to 4 July 1886
*''The Marden Mystery'' (1896)<ref name="Marden Author">{{Cite web |title=Edith Nesbit Books |url=http://www.foliosociety.com/author/edith-nesbit |publisher=The Folio Society |access-date=22 May 2018}}</ref> (rare: few if any copies survive)<ref name="Marden Missing">{{Cite web |title=E.Nesbit|url=https://www.delphiclassics.com/shop/e-nesbit/ |website=Delphi Classics |date=20 October 2013 |access-date=22 May 2018}}</ref>

====As E. Nesbit====
*1893 ''Her Marriage Lines''. Serialised, ''Weekly Dispatch'', 1893
*1898 ''The Secret of Kyriels'' 
*1902 ''The Red House'' (featuring the Bastables from the children's books featuring them)
*1906 ''The Incomplete Amorist''
*1909 ''Salome and the Head'' (a.k.a. ''The House with No Address'')<ref name=isfdb/>
*1909 ''Daphne in Fitzroy Street''
*1911 ''Dormant'' (a.k.a. ''Rose Royal'' in the US)
*1916 ''The Incredible Honeymoon''
*1922 ''The Lark''

====Notes====
Few copies of ''The Secret of Kyriels'' survive.<ref name="Marden Missing"/>

===Stories and storybooks for children===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*1887 ''The Pixies Garden''
*1891 "The Pilot", poem, picture book(?), {{OCLC|905335060}}
*1892 ''Father Christmas: The Children's Casket of Pictures''
*1894 ''Miss Mischief''
*1895 ''Tick Tock, Tales of the Clock''
*1895 ''Pussy cat''
*1895 ''Doggy Tales''
*1896 ''The Prince, Two Mice and Some Kitchen-Maids''. Father Christmas: The Children's Treasury of Pictures and Stories (1892)
*1897 ''The Children's Shakespeare''
*1897 ''Royal Children of English History''
*1897 ''Tales Told in the Twilight'' (story included in an anthology)
*1898 ''The Book of Dogs''
*1899 ''Pussy and Doggy Tales''
*1901 ''The Book of Dragons'' (stories that appeared in ''[[The Strand Magazine|The Strand]]'', 1899){{efn|''The Book of Dragons'' (1901). This comprised ''The Seven Dragons'', a 7-part serial, and an eighth story, all published 1899 in ''[[The Strand Magazine]]'', with a ninth story, "The Last of the Dragons" (posthumous, 1925). It appeared in 1972 as ''The Complete Book of Dragons'' and in 1975 as ''The Last of the Dragons and Some Others''. The original title was then used, with contents augmented by "The Last of the Dragons" and material contemporary to the reissue. The title ''Seven Dragons and Other Stories'' recurred for a latter-day Nesbit collection.<ref>[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?156670 "The Book of Dragons"]. ISFDB. <br />[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?937541 "The Seven Dragons and Other Stories"]. ISFDB. Retrieved 24 February 2015.</ref>}}
*1901 ''Nine Unlikely Tales''
*1902 ''The Revolt of the Toys''
*1903 ''The Rainbow Queen and Other Stories''
*1903 ''Playtime Stories''
*1904 ''The Story of Five Rebellious Dolls''
*1904 ''Cat Tales'' (by Nesbit and her daughter Rosamund E. Nesbit Bland)<ref>{{OCLC|62770293}}</ref>
*1905 ''Oswald Bastable and Others'' (includes four Bastable stories)<ref name=isfdb/>
*1905 ''Pug Peter, King of Mouseland''
*1907 ''[[Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare]]'' (reprint of ''The Children's Shakespeare'', 1895)
*1908 ''The Old Nursery Stories''
*1912 ''[[The Magic World]]''
*1925 <!-- the collection -->''Five of Us—and Madeline'' (posthumously assembled and edited by Rosamund E. Nesbit Bland, containing the title novel and two short stories perhaps completed by Nesbit)<ref name=isfdb-mad>[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?197020 "Five of Us—and Madeline"]. ISFDB. Retrieved 12 April 2017.</ref>
{{div col end}}

===Short fiction for adults===
====As Fabian Bland====
*"Psychical Research". ''Longman's Magazine'', December 1884
*"The Fabric of a Vision". ''Argosy'', March 1885
*"An Angel Unawares". ''Weekly Dispatch'', 9 August 1885
*"Desperate Conspirator". ''Weekly Dispatch'', 15 May 1887
*"A Pot of Money". ''Weekly Dispatch'', 21 August 1887
*"Christmas Roses". ''Weekly Dispatch'', 25 December 1887
*"High Social Position". ''Weekly Dispatch'', 8 July 1888
*"Mind and Money". ''Weekly Dispatch'', 16 September 1888
*"Getting into Society". ''Weekly Dispatch'', 30 September 1888
*"A Drama of Exile". ''Weekly Dispatch'', 21 October 1888
*"A Pious Fraud". ''Weekly Dispatch'', 11 November 1888
*"Her First Appearance". ''Weekly Dispatch'', 16 December 1888
*"Which Wins?" ''Murray's Magazine'', December 1888
*"Only a Joke". ''Longman's Magazine'', August 1889
*"The Golden Girl". ''Weekly Dispatch'', 21 December 1890

====As E. Bland====
*"The Third Drug", ''Strand Magazine'', February 1908 (a.k.a. "The Three Drugs")<ref>[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1013404 "The Third Drug"]. ISFDB. Retrieved 6 February 2013.</ref>

====As E. Nesbit====
*"Uncle Abraham's Romance". ''[[Illustrated London News]]'', 26 September 1891
*"The Ebony Frame". ''Longman's Magazine'', October 1891
*"Hurst of Hurstcote", 1893
*"The Butler in Bohemia" (by Nesbit and [[Oswald Barron]]), {{OCLC|72479308}}, 1894
*"A Strayed Sheep". ''Thetford & Watton Times and People's Weekly Journal'', 2 June 1894 (with Oswald Barron)
*"The Secret of Monsieur Roche Aymon". ''Atalanta Magazine'', October 1894 (with Oswald Barron)
*"The Letter in Brown Ink". ''Windsor Magazine'', August 1899
*"'Thirteen Ways Home", 1901
*"These Little Ones", 1909
*"The Aunt and the Editor". ''North Star and Farmers' Chronicle'', 15 June 1909
*"To the Adventurous", 1923

===Short story collections for adults===
*''Grim Tales'' (horror stories), 1893
**"The Ebony Frame", "John Charrington's Wedding", "Uncle Abraham's Romance", "The Mystery of the Semi-Detached", "From the Dead", "Man-Size in Marble", "The Mass for the Dead"
*''Something Wrong'' (horror stories), 1893
*''In Homespun'' (10 stories "written in an English dialect" of South Kent and Sussex), 1896
*''The Literary Sense'' (18 stories), 1903
*''Man and Maid'' (10 stories), 1906 (some supernatural stories){{efn|According to [[John Clute]], "Most of Nesbit's supernatural fiction" contains short stories "assembled in four collections"; namely, ''Man and Maid'' and the three noted here as containing horror stories.<ref>[http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/nesbit_e "Nesbit, E"]. ''SFE: [[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]'' (sf-encyclopedia.com). Entry by "JC", [[John Clute]]. Last updated 8 August 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2018.</ref>}}
*''Fear'' (horror stories), 1910
*''Collected Supernatural Stories'', 2000
**"Dormant" ("Rose Royal"), "Man-size in Marble", "The Detective", "No. 17", "John Charrington's Wedding", "The Blue Rose", "The Haunted House", "The House With No Address" ("Salome and the Head"), "The Haunted Inheritance", "The House of Silence", "The Letter in Brown Ink", "The Shadow", "The New Samson", "The Pavilion"
*''From the Dead: The Complete Weird Stories of E Nesbit'', 2005
**"Introduction" (by S. T. Joshi), "John Charrington's Wedding", "The Ebony Frame", "The Mass for the Dead", "From the Dead", "Uncle Abraham's Romance", "The Mystery of the Semi-Detached", "Man-Size in Marble", "Hurst of Hurstcote", "The Power of Darkness", "The Shadow", "The Head", "The Three Drugs", "In the Dark", "The New Samson", "Number 17", "The Five Senses", "The Violet Car", "The Haunted House", "The Pavilion", "From My School-Days", "In the Dark", "The Mummies at Bordeaux"
*''The Power of Darkness: Tales of Terror'', 2006
**"Man-Size in Marble", "Uncle Abraham's Romance", "From the Dead", "The Three Drugs", "The Violet Car", "John Charrington's Wedding", "The Pavilion", "Hurst of Hurstcote", "In the Dark", "The Head", "The Mystery of the Semi-detached", "The Ebony Frame", "The Five Senses", "The Shadow", "The Power of Darkness", "The Haunted Inheritance", "The Letter in Brown Ink", "The House of Silence", "The Haunted House", "The Detective"
* ''Dark Tales in Winter'', 2021
** "The Shadow" adapted for stage by Matt Beames and Hannah Torrance.

===Non-fiction===
====As Fabian Bland====
No pieces yet traced<ref>While none have yet been traced, Edith Nesbit and her husband reportedly co-wrote articles using this name. Southern Echo,18 October 1889</ref>

====As E. Nesbit====
*"Women and Socialism: from the Middle-Class Point of View". ''Justice'', 4 and 11 April 1885
*"Women and Socialism: A Working Woman's Point of View". ''Justice'', 25 April 1885
*''Wings and the Child, or The Building of Magic Cities'', 1913
*''Long Ago When I Was Young''<ref>{{Cite web |title=book lookup – Long ago when I was young |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/20901910 |via=National Library of Australia |access-date=11 January 2015}}</ref> (originally a serial, 'My School-Days: Memories of Childhood', in ''[[Girl's Own Paper]]'' 1896–1897)<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Lovegrove |first1=Chris |title=The sweet white flowers of memory |url=https://calmgrove.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/ago/#more-2740 |website=wordpress.com |date=4 February 2014 |access-date=11 January 2015}}</ref> Originally appearing as "My School-Days: Memories of Childhood" in ''The Girl's Own Paper'' between October 1896 and September 1897, ''Long Ago When I Was Young'' finally took book form in 1966, some 40 years after Nesbit's death, with an insightful introduction by Noel Streatfeild and some two dozen pen-and-ink drawings by Edward Ardizzone. The twelve chapters reproduce the instalments.

===Poetry===
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*"A Lovers' Petition". ''Good Words'', 17 August 1881
*"Absolution". ''Longman's Magazine'', August 1882
*"Possibilities". ''Argosy'', July 1884
*"Until the Dawn". ''Justice'', 21 February 1885
*"Socialist Spring Song". ''Today'', June 1885
*"The Dead to the Living". ''Gentleman's Magazine''
*"Waiting". ''Justice'', July 1885
*"Two Voices". ''Justice'', August 1885
*"1857-1885". ''Justice'', 22 August 1885
*"The Wife of All Ages". ''Justice'', 18 September 1885
*"The Time of Roses", undated (c. 1890)
*1886 "Lays and Legends"
*1887 "The Lily and the Cross"
*1887 "Justice for Ireland!". Warminster Gazette, 12 March 1887
*1887 "The Ballad of Ferencz Renyi: Hungary, 1848". Longman's Magazine, April 1887
*1887 "The Message of June". Longman's Magazine, June 1887
*1887 "The Last Envoy"
*1887 "The Star of Bethlehem"
*1887 "Devotional Verses"
*1888 "The Better Part, and Other Poems"
*1888 "Landscape and Song"
*1888 "The Message of the Dove"
*1888 "All Round the Year"
*1888 "Leaves of Life"
*1889 "Corals and Sea Songs"
*1890 "Songs of Two Seasons"
*1892 "Sweet Lavender"
*1892 "Lays and Legends", 2nd ed.
*1895 "Rose Leaves"
*1895 "A Pomander of Verse"
*1898 "Songs of Love and Empire"
*1901 "To Wish You Every Joy"
*1905 "The Rainbow and the Rose"
*1908 "Jesus in London"
*1883–1908 "Ballads and Lyrics of Socialism"
*1911 "Ballads and Verses of the Spiritual Life"
*1912 "Garden Poems"
*1915 "prayer in Time or War"<ref>WAR VERSE, Frank Foxcroft, Thomas Crowell Publisher, 1918</ref>
*1922 "Many Voices"

{{div col end}}

===Songs===
*1899 ''Slave Song'' (Chappell), {{OCLC|60194453}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Slave song |publisher=OCLC |oclc=60194453}}</ref>

===Explanatory notes===
{{Notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist |refs=
<ref name=isfdb>
{{ISFDB name|5098}} (ISFDB). Retrieved 29 December 2013.</ref>
}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Briggs |first=Julia |title=A Woman of Passion: The Life of E. Nesbit, 1858-1924 |url=https://archive.org/details/womanofpassionli0000brig |url-access=registration |year=1987 |publisher=New Amsterdam Books |isbn=978-0-941533-03-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nikolajeva |first=Maria |author-link=Maria Nikolajeva |chapter=The development of children's fantasy |editor1-last=James |editor1-first=Edward |editor1-link=Edward James (historian) |editor2-last=Mendlesohn |editor2-first=Farah |editor2-link=Farah Mendlesohn |title=The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature |year=2012 |pages=50–61 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |doi=10.1017/CCOL9780521429597.006 |isbn=978-0-521-42959-7}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Edith Nesbit}}
{{wikiquote|Edith Nesbit}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*{{ISFDB name|5098}}
*[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/13132 "The Writing of E. Nesbit"] by [[Gore Vidal]], ''The New York Review of Books'', 3 December 1964
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120204102617/http://www.billgreenwell.com/lost_lives/index.php?key_id=572 "Lost Lives: Edith Bland"] by Bill Greenwell
*[http://biography.yourdictionary.com/e-dith-nesbit Nesbit] at YourDictionary.com (reprint from ''Encyclopedia of World Biography'')
*{{LCAuth |n85097242 |E. Nesbit|140|ue}} <!-- do not separate this and the following listing -->
*[https://lccn.loc.gov/no2003004327 Rosamund E. Nesbit Bland] at LC Authorities, with 2 records, and [https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no2003-004327 at WorldCat]
*{{Cite journal |url=https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=daily-magic |first=Edward |last=Eager |author-link=Edward Eager |title=Daily Magic |date=1 October 1958 |journal=[[The Horn Book Magazine]] |access-date=14 May 2020}}

;Online texts
*{{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/e-nesbit}}
*{{Gutenberg author |id=Nesbit,+E.+(Edith) |name=Edith Nesbit}}
*{{FadedPage|id=Nesbit, Edith (née Bland)|name=Edith (née Bland) Nesbit|author=yes}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Edith Nesbit}}
*{{Librivox author |id=24}}
*[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rapunzel/shortstories/melisande.html Melisande by E. Nesbit] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031212094950/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rapunzel/shortstories/melisande.html |date=12 December 2003 }}, a tale similar to Rapunzel
*[http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/ff8/nesbit.htm My School Days (article series by Nesbit)]
*[http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/ff8/mworld.htm ''The Magic World'']

{{E. Nesbit}}
{{Five Children and It}}
{{Victorian children's literature}}
{{Portal bar |Children's literature |Fantasy |Socialism }}
{{Authority control}} <!-- VIAF=185270179 and others -->

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nesbit, E.}}
[[Category:1858 births]]
[[Category:1924 deaths]]
[[Category:English children's writers]]
[[Category:English fantasy writers]]
[[Category:English socialists]]
[[Category:English women novelists]]
[[Category:English women poets]]
[[Category:Members of the Fabian Society]]
[[Category:People from Eltham]]
[[Category:People from Kennington]]
[[Category:People from Lewisham]]
[[Category:People from New Romney]]
[[Category:Victorian women writers]]
[[Category:Deaths from lung cancer in England]]
[[Category:Burials in Kent]]