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Araucaria · 04-02-2013, 08:25 AM

I'd be very grateful if someone would have a go at W H Davies's Autobiography of a Super-Tramp: it's a pity that so little of his work is available, and this book is very readable.

It's easily found as a scan - for example, here at the Internet Archive:

http://archive.org/details/autobiographyofs00davi

but it is the usual OCR jumble with a major need of cleaning-up.

W H Davis himself was the unusual combination of a hobo and a major poet. After extensive travel in the USA and Canada and the publication of "Super-Tramp" in 1908, (according to Wikipedia) he read in England of the riches to be made in the Klondike and immediately set off to make his fortune in Canada. Attempting to jump a freight train at Renfrew, Ontario, with fellow tramp Three-fingered Jack, he lost his footing and his right foot was crushed under the wheels of the train. The leg later had to be amputated below the knee and he wore a wooden leg thereafter.

The war poet Edward Thomas befriended him (again according to Wikipedia) and Thomas adopted the role of protective guardian for Davies, on one occasion even arranging for the manufacture, by a local wheelwright, of a makeshift replacement wooden leg, which was invoiced to Davies as "a novelty cricket bat".

What's not to like?

04-02-2013, 08:25 AM	#589
Araucaria Bibliophile Posts: 166 Karma: 934516 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Cantal in the French Auvergne Device: Kindle Voyage, Kobo Libra H20, Kindle PW2, Moon Pro on Lenovo tablet	W H Davies - Autobiography of a Supertramp I'd be very grateful if someone would have a go at W H Davies's Autobiography of a Super-Tramp: it's a pity that so little of his work is available, and this book is very readable. It's easily found as a scan - for example, here at the Internet Archive: http://archive.org/details/autobiographyofs00davi but it is the usual OCR jumble with a major need of cleaning-up. W H Davis himself was the unusual combination of a hobo and a major poet. After extensive travel in the USA and Canada and the publication of "Super-Tramp" in 1908, (according to Wikipedia) he read in England of the riches to be made in the Klondike and immediately set off to make his fortune in Canada. Attempting to jump a freight train at Renfrew, Ontario, with fellow tramp Three-fingered Jack, he lost his footing and his right foot was crushed under the wheels of the train. The leg later had to be amputated below the knee and he wore a wooden leg thereafter. The war poet Edward Thomas befriended him (again according to Wikipedia) and Thomas adopted the role of protective guardian for Davies, on one occasion even arranging for the manufacture, by a local wheelwright, of a makeshift replacement wooden leg, which was invoiced to Davies as "a novelty cricket bat". What's not to like? Last edited by Araucaria; 04-02-2013 at 08:36 AM.