D. E. Stevenson

D. E. Stevenson (1892-1973) was a Scottish novelist, a relative of Robert Louis Stevenson, whose light domestic fiction including Miss Buncle's Book (1934) and the Mrs Tim novels sold more than seven million copies in Britain and the United States.

Dorothy Emily Stevenson was born in Edinburgh on 18 November 1892 and died on 30 December 1973. Her father, David Alan Stevenson, was a first cousin of Robert Louis Stevenson. Her first publication was a book of verse, Meadow-flowers (1915, E. Macdonald), and her first novel, Peter West, followed in 1923. She went on to write 45 novels, and her publisher Persephone Books reports sales of about four million copies in Britain and three million in the United States between 1923 and 1970.

Mrs Tim of the Regiment (1932) began a sequence continued in Golden Days (1934), Mrs Tim Carries On (1941), Mrs Tim Gets a Job (1947) and Mrs Tim Flies Home (1952). Miss Buncle's Book (1934) has two sequels, Miss Buncle Married (1936) and The Two Mrs Abbotts (1943). Other titles include Celia's House (1943). Persephone Books revived her reputation by reissuing Miss Buncle's Book in 2008 as its no. 81, followed by Miss Buncle Married (2011) and The Two Mrs Abbotts (2013).

For collectors. Miss Buncle's Book, the title Persephone chose to revive her, is the obvious first title to seek. Open Library associates early editions with Herbert Jenkins in London and Farrar & Rinehart in New York, and later British editions with Collins. The sources we checked do not state which house issued the 1934 first printing, so confirm it from a copy before cataloguing.