{"product_id":"copsford-book-walter-j-c-murray-9781908213709","title":"Copsford","description":"Walter Murray was a young man tired of living in the city. Early in the 1920s, he persuaded a Sussex farmer to rent him a derelict cottage, which stood alone on a hill, with no running water or electricity. Most of the windows were broken, it was dirty, dark and ran with rats.    He bought a brush and pail in the village, forced the rats to retreat, brought in rudimentary furniture. The local postman found him a dog, and with his new companion he began to explore his surroundings. In that year at Copsford he made a living from collecting, drying and selling the herbs he found locally: agrimony, meadow-sweet and  yarrow. He became alert to the wildlife and plants around him. His life was hard - he supplemented his income with occasional journalism, but it was here he met his future wife, who he calls The Music Mistress, and with whom he would later found a school.   Copsford is an extraordinary book. Bearing comparison to Thoreau's Walden, Murray's intense feeling for his place is evident on every page. It is, though, no simple story of a rural idyll - life at Copsford was hard, and Murray does not shy away from the occasional terrors of a house that had its hauntings.    A publishing success when first published in the late 1940s, this new edition has an introduction by Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49512428175633,"sku":"GOR010044671","price":10.69,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":50119824638225,"sku":"NGR9781908213709","price":19.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50913909899537,"sku":"GOR010455594","price":15.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51055988113681,"sku":"NIN9781908213709","price":22.09,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51207688782097,"sku":"GOR012906256","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51327589712145,"sku":"CIN1908213701G","price":16.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1908213701.jpg?v=1751092637","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/copsford-book-walter-j-c-murray-9781908213709","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}