THIS novel has had an interesting
history. Originally published in 1930, it had an unusual success for a first
novel: it went through six large printings in its first year, and there was a continued
demand for it over a long period. Very few novels, once the demand has ceased,
are ever republished. Interest in Griswold's writing, however, justified a republication
of The Tides of Malvern in 1940.
Edwin Bjorkman, author and
critic, who discovered Francis Griswold's first novel, The Tides of Malvern, called it, in a letter to a friend: "One
of the biggest and finest things that has come out of the new South.... It is,
you might say, the story of Charleston, of Malvern Barony outside, of that city,
of the Sheldon family that built and maintained the old house generation after
generation. It is a cross-section of the life of that part of the South from
the beginning of the eighteenth century to the present day, but it is history
told in terms of individual experience. . . I believe firmly that both the book
and the author will create a stir. . ."
And when Burton Rascoe read The Tides of Malvern he said: "Make
a note of Griswold's name, because it is a name that will be blazoned on the
literary scene in a few years." Mr. Rascoe was a good prophet: in 1939
came Griswold's A Sea Island Lady,
which immediately became one of the year's best-sellers. Its great popularity
intensified the demand for republication of The
Tides of Malvern.
This special edition of THE TIDES
OF MALVERN has been made available to the Armed Forces of the United States
through an arrangement with the original publisher, William Morrow and Company,
Inc., New York.
Editions for the Armed Services,
Inc., a non-profit organization established by the Council on Books in Wartime.