There is nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats...

A rare edition of 'The Wind in the Willows', has been sold at auction for more than £30,000. Noted inside as 'to Foy Felicia Quiller Couch from her affectionate friend Kenneth Grahame, Oct. 1908', the book was given to a Cornish schoolgirl, whose father, Arthur Quiller Couch, is said to have been the model for the character Ratty. Indeed, it was whilst staying with Couch, that Grahame was inspired to write the novel, which originally took the form of letters to his son. Auctioned at Bonhams in London, the book vastly exceeded its £5,000 estimate.

On this day...

British writer, Kenneth Grahame was born in 1859. Although most famous for producing children's literature, Grahame himself had an unhappy childhood, and indeed led a fairly depressing life. After only a few years, his mother had died, and his father began to drink heavily, forcing the young  Grahame to move in with his grandmother. Despite promising an excellent academic future, Grahame was denied an Oxbridge education due to money difficulties, and instead set out on a career with the Bank of England.

The position was a successful one, and Grahame steadily rose through the ranks to secretary. However, in a strange, and possibly politically motivated act, Grahame was shot three times, leading to his eventual retirement. To cap it all, Grahame's son, born blind in one eye, committed suicide on a railway track at the age of 19, a demise recorded as an 'accidental death' out of respect to the author. Of course, Grahame's most famous work is 'The Wind in the Willows', which has been heavily adapted for stage and screen. His lesser known story, 'The Reluctant Dragon', was also made into a Disney film.