David Grayling Books Blog

Local Book Seller keeps promise to Lakeland folk hero “Dalesman” twenty years on…

David Grayling, a book seller based in Shap, has just published “Vergin’ on the Ridiculous” a collection of stories by “Dalesman”. Regular contributor to “Horse and Hound” magazine for many years, and legendary Cumberland huntsman Charles Norman de Courcy-Parry, to give Dalesman his full name, was a hero to David when they first met in the1950’s when out hunting.

David Grayling said “It was many years later that I had the pleasure of knowing Bay Parry – as his friends called him.” A book dealer specialising in outdoor pursuits, David was involved with various projects with Dalesman over the years including the re-publishing of his autobiography, and the celebrations at Caldbeck marking the bi-centenary of John Peel’s birth.

This collection of stories was originally published in 1947 with the misleading title “Foxhunting for Children and other Simple Tales”. This new edition was first discussed twenty years ago by David Grayling, with cartoonist/illustrator John Tickner and Dalesman. It has – at last – now been published with the blessing of Dalesman’s widow Susan and his daughter Jane. Tickner’s cartoons always raise a smile and as David Grayling says “The humour is of its time, and is certainly not politically correct. Dalesman’s inimitable prose, whether about the exploits of Captain O’Ruffian, the vain flirting of a country squire, the adventures of Mr Fox, or pig hunting in the Pacific, always raises a smile and frequently barrels of mirth.”

“Vergin’ on the Ridiculous” is an entertaining collection of mainly humorous and satirical tales. The introductory writings and the appendices at the rear put the stories in context; a brief biography by Michael Clayton describes a remarkable man, and David Grayling’s introduction reflects on a true character of the last century and of Britain’s traditional fieldsports.

Dalesman spent his early years in Barton, near Penrith when his father was Chief Constable of Cumberland. Here he developed his hunting skills and love for the countryside with the Eamont Harriers and Ullswater Fox Hounds. After serving in the Great War he returned to live in Patterdale, indulging his outdoor sporting pursuits and spending the evenings in Lakeland pubs talking about hunting and singing traditional songs. He travelled widely before working as a Master and huntsman in England, Ireland and Wales; then, after surviving evacuation from Dunkirk he returned to Cumberland again where he formed and hunted the Cumberland Fox Hounds (West) and the Caldbeck Fell Beagles (so-named so he would not have to change the lettered buttons on his coat having previously had the same pack in Wales as the Clun Forest Beagles!)

David Grayling Books has been based in Westmorland for 32 years and in Shap for ten. David is a traditional antiquarian bookseller who sends out a number of catalogues each year covering natural history books as well as books on all fieldsports.

Copies of “Vergin’ on the Ridiculous” are available from him at a cost of £25.00.