The Magic Walking Stick
book by John Buchan
The Magic Walking Stick is a 1932 novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, his only novel for children. The first edition was illustrated by John Morton-Sale.
Plot
The novel relates the adventures of Bill, an English schoolboy from a wealthy family. When Bill returns home from his boarding school for his autumn half-term break, his father's keeper offers to take him duck shooting on the family's estate. On the way, he meets a little wizened old man in a green coat sitting under a hornbeam – apparently invisible to the keeper – who sells him a stick for a farthing. Bill discovers that by twisting the stick and making a wish he has the power to go magically wherever he desires.
Bill rises early to try out the stick again and wishes himself in the Solomon Islands. He finds himself on a beautiful beach of blinding white sands, though the natives are unfriendly and Bill has to return home in a hurry. His next chance to try the stick is in the Christmas holiday, and this time Bill takes his younger brother Peter and a pet dog with him to the family's Scottish estate. The dog is accidentally left there, and Bill has to return to rescue him.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Magic Walking Stick” is book by John Buchan. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Magic, Walking and Stick, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “book by John Buchan” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q28450637. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1932.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Magic Walking Stick”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Magic Walking Stick primary sources, The Magic Walking Stick archive and Magic research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Magic Walking Stick”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Magic Walking Stick” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.