Editing Watership Down (section)

==Origin and publication history==
{{quote box|width=23em|"To Juliet and Rosamund, remembering the road to [[Stratford-upon-Avon|Stratford-on-Avon]]"| —Dedication, ''Watership Down''}}
{{quote box|width=23em|"Master Rabbit I saw" —[[Walter de la Mare]]| —Line quoted in ''Watership Down'';<ref name="Watership Down">{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Richard |title=Watership Down |date=1974 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=England, UK |isbn=0-14-003958-9 |page=Before the dedication}}</ref> the poem can be seen as a possible source of inspiration.}}

The story began as tales that Richard Adams told his young daughters Juliet and Rosamund during long car journeys. He recounted in 2007 that he "began telling the story of the rabbits{{nbsp}}... improvised off the top of [his] head, as [they] were driving along".<ref name="BBC">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2007/03/16/richard_adams_interview_feature.shtml |title=Interview: Richard Adams |access-date=15 March 2008 |work=BBC Berkshire|date=16 March 2007 |publisher=BBC}}</ref><ref name="interview-swaim">{{cite web | last = Swaim | first = Don | title = Audio Interview with Richard Adams | work = Book Beat | publisher = CBS Radio Stations News Service | date = 10 April 1985 | url = http://www.wiredforbooks.org/richardadams/ | format = audio | access-date = 21 March 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080218154100/http://www.wiredforbooks.org/richardadams/ | archive-date = 18 February 2008 | url-status = usurped | df = dmy-all }}</ref> The daughters insisted he write it down—"they were very, very persistent". After some delay, Adams began writing the novel in the evenings; he completed it 18 months later.<ref name="interview-swaim" /> The book is dedicated to the two girls.<ref name="WD-first-ed">{{cite book | author=Richard Adams | author-link = Richard Adams | title = Watership Down | publisher = Rex Collings | year = 1972 | location = United Kingdom}}</ref>

Adams's descriptions of wild rabbit behaviour were based on ''The Private Life of the Rabbit'' (1964), by British naturalist [[Ronald Lockley]].<ref name="economist-lockley">{{cite news | title = Ronald Lockley: Find More Like This | volume = 355 | issue = 8168 | page = 84 |newspaper=The Economist | date = 29 April 2000 | quote = In 1964 he had published ''The Private Life of the Rabbit''. This study of the habits of the wild rabbit gathered by Mr. Lockley persuaded Richard Adams to write ''Watership Down'', a kind of Disney story for adults, which became an immediate bestseller.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/24/world/ronald-lockley-of-rabbit-fame-dies-at-96.html |title= Ronald Lockley, of Rabbit Fame, Dies at 96 |access-date=26 April 2008 |author=Douglas Martin |date=4 April 2000 |work=The New York Times |quote=In his acknowledgments, Mr. Adams credited Mr. Lockley's book for his own description of bunny behavior in his tale of wandering rabbits.}}</ref> The two later became friends, embarking on an [[Antarctic]] tour that became the subject of a co-authored book, ''Voyage Through the Antarctic'' (A. Lane, 1982).<ref name="economist-lockley" /><!--source for publisher and "tour" (Lindblad Travel) is google books-->

In his autobiography, ''The Day Gone By'', Adams wrote that he based ''Watership Down'' and the stories in it on his experiences during [[Operation Market Garden]], the [[Battle of Arnhem]], in 1944. The character of Hazel, the leader of the group of rabbits, was modelled on Adams's commanding officer, Major John Gifford. He gave the warrior Bigwig the personality of Captain Desmond Kavanagh, who is buried at the [[Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery|Airborne Cemetery]] in [[Oosterbeek]], The Netherlands.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adams |first=Richard |title=The Day Gone By |publisher=Hutchinson |year=1990 |isbn=9780091739676}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Van der Ploeg |first=Harry |date=15 February 2020 |title=Knuffelkonijn van 'Waterschapsheuvel' markeert exposities in totaal vernieuwd Airborne Museum (Dutch) |url=https://www.destentor.nl/arnhem/knuffelkonijn-van-waterschapsheuvel-markeert-exposities-in-totaal-vernieuwd-airborne-museum~ad239187/ |website=De Stentor}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stead |first=Sam |date=19 September 2023 |title=Extracts from 'The Day Gone By' by Richard Adams. detailing the events of december 1943 to january 1945 |url=https://www.paradata.org.uk/article/extracts-days-gone-richard-adams-detailing-events-december-1943-january-1945 |access-date=19 September 2023 |website=Paradata - A living history of the parachute regiment and airborne forces}}</ref>

''Watership Down'' was rejected seven times before it was accepted by Rex Collings.<ref name="vine">{{citation|last=Vine |first=Phillip |title=Words Interview, Richard Adams |journal=Words |volume=1 |date=July 1985 |page=21 (20–29) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=as4WAQAAMAAJ}}</ref> The one-man London publisher Collings wrote to an associate, "I've just taken on a novel about rabbits, one of them with extra-sensory perception. Do you think I'm mad?" The associate did call it "a mad risk," in her obituary of Collings, to accept "a book as bizarre by an unknown writer which had been turned down by the major London publishers; but," she continued, "it was also dazzlingly brave and intuitive."<ref name="quigly">Quigly, Isabel (8 June 1996). [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-rex-collings-1335987.html "Obituary: Rex Collings"]. ''The Independent''. Retrieved 26 July 2012.</ref> Collings had little capital and could not pay an advance but "he got a review copy onto every desk in London that mattered."<ref name="interview-swaim" /> Adams wrote that it was Collings who gave ''Watership Down'' its title.<ref name= "Intro" /> There was a second edition released in 1973.<!-- source is WorldCat oclc=493458191 -->

[[Macmillan Publishers (United States)|Macmillan USA]], then a media giant, published the first U.S. edition in 1974; a [[Dutch language|Dutch]] edition was also published that year by [[Het Spectrum]].<ref name=LCC2/><ref name="isfdb">
{{isfdb title |882}}. Retrieved 31 July 2012.</ref>