The Wouldbegoods was published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1901, with illustrations by Arthur H. Buckland and John Hassall. The novel continues the story of the Bastable family: after causing chaos in London, the six children are sent to the country house of their uncle’s friend, where they resolve to be good — forming themselves into a Society of the Wouldbegoods, with rules, officers, and solemn pledges.
The comedy arises from the inevitable collision between the children’s sincere intentions and their catastrophic execution. Their attempts at good deeds are genuine — they truly want to help people, rescue animals, perform acts of charity — but their ignorance of adult conventions and their inability to foresee consequences transforms every charitable act into a disaster. They flood a farmhouse trying to create a water feature, they release a fox from a trap and disrupt a hunt, they dig up a neighbor’s garden seeking buried treasure to donate to charity.
Oswald’s narration remains superb. His account of each disaster is colored by his certainty that the intention was noble, that the adults are unreasonable in their anger, and that he personally behaved with exemplary courage and leadership throughout. The gap between his self-assessment and reality remains the novel’s primary comic engine.
The rural setting allows Nesbit to explore a different world from the London of the first book — the social dynamics of the countryside, the relationship between gentry and tenants, the protocols of country-house visiting — all seen through children’s eyes that register the strangeness of adult social arrangements.
Collecting The Wouldbegoods
First edition (T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1901): Cloth binding, illustrated.
Market values:
- First edition, fine: $300–$800
- Very good: $100–$300
- Good: $40–$100