Cymraeg

Library

Both Clough and Amabel Williams Ellis were prolific writers. Both published autobiographies:

  • Williams-Ellis, Clough; Architect Errant: The Autobiography of Clough Williams Ellis, London, Constable 1971, Blackie & Son 1980, Golden Dragon Books, 1980
  • Williams-Ellis, Clough; Around the World in Ninety Years, Golden Dragon Books, (1978)
  • Williams-Ellis, Amabel All Stracheys are Cousins Weidenfeld & Nichols UK (1983)

Clough’s Books

Clough’s first published work was Reconography, a method of memory training for recalling and later sketching landscapes, prepared during the war while Clough was a member of the new Tank Corps, though not published till 1919. After this came many works on architecture, planning and conservation, including these:

  • Reconography, by student in BEF, (pseudodonym Graphite) 1919
  • England and the Octopus, London, Geoffrey Bles 1928
  • Cottage Building in Cob, Pise, Chalk and Clay: a Renaissance 1919
  • The Architect, London, Geoffrey Bles 1929
  • Cautionary Guide to Oxford, Design and Industrial Association (1930), 32 pages
  • Cautionary Guide to St Albans, Design and Industrial Association (1930) 32 pages
  • Laurence Weaver – a Biography, London, Geoffrey Bles (1933)
  • Architecture Here and Now, London, T Nelson and Sons (1934)
  • The Adventure of Building: being something about architecture and planning for intelligent young citizens and their backward elders, London, Architectural Press (1946),
  • An Artist in North Wales, London, Elek (1946), pictures by Fred Uhlman,
  • On Trust for the Nation (2 vols), London, Elek (1947), pictures by Barbara Jones,
  • Living in New Towns, London (1947)
  • Town and Country Planning, Longmans, Green, London and British Council, 1951), 48 pages
  • Portmeirion, The Place and its Meaning, London 1963, revised edition 1973
  • Roads in the Landscape, Ministry of Transport (1967), 22 pages
  • Around the World in Ninety Years, Portmeirion (1978)

Books written by Clough with others

  • Williams-Ellis, Clough & Amabel, The Tank Corps (A War History), London 1919
  • Williams-Ellis, Clough & Amabel, The Pleasures of Architecture London, Jonathan Cape 1924, 1929, 1930, 1954
  • Williams-Ellis, Clough & Amabel Headlong Down the Years, Liverpool University Press, 1951
  • Williams-Ellis, Susan, Charlotte, Christopher, Amabel and Clough, In and Out of Doors, London, Geo Routledge and Sons 1937
  • Britain and the Beast, London, Dent (1937
  • Williams-Ellis, Clough; Strachey John; Architecture, 1920, reprinted 2009

Books about Clough:

A book about Clough’s drawings, with wonderful illustrations from the Royal Institue of British Architecture:

  • Haslam, Richard; Clough Williams-Ellis; London, Academy Editions, RIBA Drawings Monographs No 2, 1996
  • A memoir by a local friend, the sculptor:
    Jones, Jonah; Clough Williams-Ellis The architect of Portmeirion, Seren imprint of Poetry Wales Press Ltd, 1996, 1998

Amabel’s Books:

Amabel Williams-Ellis was even more prolific than Clough, being a writer by profession when she married, and eventually having more than 70 books to her name. Her range was very wide, from her early work An Anatomy of Poetry, 1922 which is still available today, she went on to write novels, biographies, science books for non-scientists, history books, children’s books including How you Began, which was re-issued recently in Reading and Rebellion, an anthology of Radical Writing for Children in 2018. There were social works and pamphlets during WW2, volumes of Fairy Stories, collections of Science Fiction stories.

Amabel had an interest in women’s lives as evidenced for example in her book Women in War Factories, and in her novels too. Some of her work has been recently re-appraised by Jayne Sharrat who has a very interesting post on the novel The Big Firm on the Neglected Books website, you can read it via this link: neglectedbooks.com/?tag=amabel-williams-ellis.Jayne has the following recommendations, and this without even touching on her collections of Fairy Stories:

Noah's Ark - because this novel is about the tension between having your own identity, and wanting to get married. It also has a childbirth scene in it which is radical for the time;The Big Firm - for everything mentioned in the blogpost. Women in War Factories – a fascinating glimpse into life for working women at the time.Is a Woman's Place in the Home? - Labour discussion series pamphlet, and shows that she thought that the LP would bring in equal pay for women and was arguing for it (they actually didn't do it until the 1970s of course). The Art of Being a Woman - an early articulation of how women practically navigate life, still too relevant!The Art of Being a Parent - was arguing counter to the expert opinion at the time, which was that mother's should sacrifice themselves for their children's needs completely.

Books by Amabel with Clough, and with their children are noted above:

  • The Tank Corps (A War History), London 1919
  • The Pleasures of Architecture London, Jonathan Cape 1924, 1929, 1930, 1954
  • Headlong Down the Years, Liverpool University Press, 1951
  • In and Out of Doors, London, Geo Routledge and Sons 1937, written by the whole family

A sample of non-fiction books by Amabel

  • An Anatomy of Poetry, Oxford, Basil Blackford, 1922
  • A History of English Life, London, Methuen and Co, 1936, 1939, 1953
  • The Art of Being a Woman, London, The Bodley Head, 1951
  • The Art of Being a Parent, London, The Bodley Head, 1952
  • The Arabian Nights, Blackie 1957, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976
  • Out of This World: an Anthology of Science Fiction vols 1 – 9, selected with Mablly Owen, 1960’s
  • Darwin's Moon. A Biography of Alfred Russel Wallace, Blackie Publishers, 1966
  • The Enchanted World, Hodder and Stoughton, 1987

A sample of fiction books by Amabel

  • Noah’s Ark or The Love Story of a Respectable Young couple Jonathan Cape 1925
  • The Wall of Glass Jonathan Cape 1927
  • To Tell the Truth 1933
  • The Big Firm, 1938
  • Learn to Love First, Victor Gollancz 1939
  • Volcano (short stories) Jonathan Cape, 1931

For children

  • But We know Better, illustrated by Clough Williams-Ellis, Jonathan Cape, 1926
  • How You Began, Gerald Howe Ltd, 1928 re-issued in Reading and Rebellion; an Anthology of Radical Writing for Children 1900 – 1960, Oxford University Press, 2018
  • A First History of English Life, with Fisher, FJ, 4 vols, London, Methuen & Co 1940 reprinted to 1964
  • Seekers and Finders, an introduction to science series for children, 6 volumes They Dared to Ask Questions; Magic Science and Invention, You Yourself; The Unknown Ocean; Man and the Good Earth, Engines, Atoms and Power Blackie 1957, 1958, 1959
  • Good Citizens, London Bodley Head, 1938, 4 printings to 1960