Place in Children's Literature
Elsie J. Oxenham is considered by collectors of British Girls' Fiction to be one of the 'Big Three'; the other two being Elinor Brent-Dyer and Dorita Fairlie Bruce. Although Angela Brazil is the first name to come to mind for non-specialists, in terms of collecting and interest Brazil is less popular than these three.
Oxenham was not the most prolific of these three, as she had 87 titles published during her lifetime (and a further two were published by her niece, who discovered the manuscripts among Oxenham's papers in the 1990s) whereas Brent-Dyer published 100 books of various kinds. Nearly forty of Oxenham's books comprise the main Abbey Series, with another thirty or so in several connecting series and the remaining twenty - some in small series of their own, and some isolated titles - having no connection with the Abbey books at all. During the 1920s to the 1950s she had several short stories, and some longer serialised ones, published in Annuals such as the Girl's Own Annual, British Girl's Annual, Little Folks and Hulton's Girls' Stories. Some of these stories were connected to the books - i.e. dealt with characters from one of her books or series - others became books, or sections of books, that were published a year or two later.
Reprinted titles
Collins reprinted most of the Oxenham titles that they had published in various of their publishing series, in particular the main titles in the Abbey Series which were produced in several different formats. Her other publishers did so less often, if at all, though a few titles had one or two reissues. This is why the non-Collins books are normally rarer - and consequently more expensive for the collector.
Several books have more recently been reprinted by
Girls Gone By Publishers, who are planning eventually to republish all the main Abbey titles. Elsie Oxenham's first book was
Goblin Island, published in 1907. This was reprinted in October 2007 by
GGBP as a centenary edition, with all the known illustrations from every edition, a new introduction, and a full publishing history.
Goblin Island became the first in the so-called Scottish Sequence of six titles, four of which are set largely in Scotland:
Goblin Island itself, set on 'Loch Avie', a fictionalised Loch Lomond;
Princess in Tatters, set on 'Loch Ruel', which may be Loch Fyne;
A Holiday Queen, set at 'Morven' on what appears to be Loch Long; and
Schoolgirls and Scouts set at 'Glenleny', which also seems to be on Loch Long, but a bit further up the loch. Of the other two in the series,
Twins of Castle Charming - perhaps Oxenham's rarest title - is set largely in Switzerland, whereas
Finding Her Family has some early scenes set in Ealing and mainly takes place in Saltburn.
Appreciation societies
Elsie Jeanette Oxenham Appreciation Society (UK)
The UK EJO Society was founded in 1989 as a "postal meeting place" for all who collect the books of Elsie J. Oxenham and are interested in her work. Its magazine
The Abbey Chronicle is published three times a year and contains articles about the author, her books, the real places used as settings for the books, the originals of characters within the books, and reports of meetings held by members.One of the interests of collectors and EJO Society members is finding and visiting the original sites used by Oxenham in her books. As well as the Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire area which is the background for
Girls of the Hamlet Club and the village of Washford, Somerset where Cleeve Abbey is situated, Oxenham used parts of Sussex, Wales, Lancashire, the English Lake District and Scotland for the settings of several books. The UK Society holds a biennial meeting at Cleeve Abbey in the summer, which includes folk-dancing and tours of the Abbey as if it were the fictional one. These places are not always depicted in the books exactly as the real sites; Oxenham was writing fiction, and given that she could move an abbey several hundred miles for her purposes, changing a few names and telescoping or stretching distances was also well within her remit.
Abbey Girls of Australia
The Australian society,
The Abbey Girls of Australia, has been in existence since 1985; its motto is 'Bound in Friendship'. It produces a magazine,
The Abbey Guardian. There are official branches in several states of Australia. Regular meetings take place, and weekend 'Camps' are held every two or three years to gather people from further afield. May Queen coronations are often held as part of the meetings and camps, but book discussions and general chats are more usual in the less formal meetings.
New Zealand
New Zealand's Society was founded at about the same time as the British one; its magazine is called
The Abbey Gatehouse and the motto is 'Gate Open Be' - a quote from the Abbey books. At the moment there is no web page available for the New Zealand Society.
Rest of the World
In both South Africa and North America there are groups who meet regularly, but they do not produce their own magazines. Members of the groups receive the magazines which do exist, normally each subscribing to one of the three, as well as magazines for other author interest societies, as a means of sharing them among the rest of the group.
Seat at Cleeve Abbey
In 1995 the EJO Societies worldwide held a collection to provide a seat at Cleeve Abbey as a recognition of the inspiration that the author received by her visits to the Abbey, and her collection of photographs of the site. In summer it is usually placed against the outer wall of the west range to overlook the gatehouse meadow.
The plaque on the seat reads:
IN MEMORY OFELSIE JEANETTE OXENHAM (1880-1960)WHOSE VISITS TO CLEEVE ABBEYINSPIRED HER ABBEY BOOKSGIVEN BY MEMBERS OF THE WORLD-WIDEELSIE OXENHAM SOCIETIES