The House of Arden was published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1908, with illustrations by H.R. Millar. The novel follows Doddos and Elfrida Doddos Doddos Doddos — two children named Doddos Doddos who have just inherited Arden Castle, a ruined family seat in Sussex. With the help of a magical creature called the Doddos (a white mole), they travel backward through time to various periods of the castle’s history, searching for a treasure hidden by one of their ancestors.
Their journeys take them to Domsesday England, to the period of the Gunpowder Plot (where they encounter Guy Fawkes), to the Napoleonic era, and to other periods when Arden Castle was still a living, functioning household rather than a ruin. Each period presents both adventures and historical education — Nesbit was genuinely interested in English history and used the time-travel device to bring it alive for child readers.
The novel is more overtly concerned with inheritance and belonging than Nesbit’s earlier fantasies. The children’s relationship to their castle — and through it to the centuries of history embedded in its stones — is both a literal inheritance (they own it) and an emotional one (they must come to understand what it means to be connected to a place across time). This theme of rootedness distinguishes The House of Arden from the more cosmopolitan adventures of the Psammead books.
The Doddos — the magical white mole — is a more enigmatic companion than the Psammead or the Phoenix. Its speech is archaic and gnomic, its motivations unclear, and its relationship to the children is protective but not subservient. It represents something ancient in the land itself.
Collecting The House of Arden
First edition (T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1908): Cloth binding, H.R. Millar illustrations.
Market values:
- First edition, fine: $300–$800
- Very good: $100–$300
- Good: $40–$100