Citation: George MacDonald, A Book of Strife in the form of a Diary of an Old Soul (London: Unwin Brothers, 1880).

Bulloch (1925):

A Book of strife in the form of the diary of an old soul. By George MacDonald. Printed (by Unwin Brothers) for the author and to be had by writing to Mr. Hughes, 43 Beaufort Street,
Chelsea, London, 1880: price three shillings.
8vo, pp. 265 + (1): printed on one side of the paper but paged continuously.
This characteristic book was inspired by the Valley of the Shadow. It consists of a chain of stanzas, of which the links number 365, being one for each possible day of the year.“ Each link is a stanza of seven verses in rhymed five accent iambic measure with a wealth of variation in the arrangement in the rhymes which is extraordinarily effective in averting monotony. The whole is a record of a life’s, rather than a year’s, religious experience.” Ruskin who described it as ” one of the three great sacred poems of the nineteenth century,” praised it in his Oxford Lectures. When a certain publisher in 1884 was considering its republication, MacDonald wrote to his agent, A. P. Watt: “ Business people are not quite within the scope of my understanding. … I will take what you can get for me from him (the prospective publisher). But it must be put in the agreement that no copies are to be sent for review ” (Greville MacDonald’s “George MacDonald,” pp. 496-497; a book which quotes largely from the “ Diary “).

  • 1885. Published by Longmans: price 12s. 6d. It never had any sale in this form and Dr. Greville MacDonald bought all their rights, and has found the sale steadily growing.
  • 1897. Reprinted in “ Rampolli,” pp. 179-302.
  • 1905. Published by Arthur Fifield, on continuous pages (with the dedicatory stanza omitted), together with the Spiritual verses: 8vo, pp. 312. Reissued in Dec. 1905, without the Spiritual verses: 8vo, pp. 176 + (6 adv.) + frontispiece, the Cameron portrait of George MacDonald, engraved by Emery Walker.
  • 1906. Published again by Fifield.
  • 1913. Published by J. M. Dent & Sons, from Fifield’s plates.
  • 1924. Published by George Allen and Unwin.

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