Mudd of her latest book, Bermuda's Golden Age of Poetry.

Co-produced with her husband Joseph, the 493-page compilation of historic poems written in Bermuda between 1800 and 1900 represents the culmination of years of painstaking research and detective work by the duo in the Bermuda Archives and the National Library.

"Initially, we selected over 1000 poems for the period, and then went through them over and over again until we ended up with 299 which seemed to have a Bermuda connection,'' Mr. Mudd explains.

Thus the book contains works by both Bermudians and visitors who stayed here, and in fact the opening poem was written by a New York girl staying at the Hamilton Hotel. Explaining this choice, Mrs. Mudd says: "We wanted to set the tone for the whole book, and we felt she captured the spirit of the book.'' Selecting the poems was just the first step in what the couple decided would be not just another book of poetry, but a genuine slice of local history, and therefore a real learning tool.

"The book is accurately compiled and informative, and it needs to be studied because we want readers to get a feeling for the history of the day,'' Mrs.

Mudd explains. "That is why we want to get it into high schools and the Bermuda College.'' With these reasons in mind, the Mudds took a very thorough and methodical approach to their work. Poems have been gathered by year in each chapter, and many are prefaced by background information which sets the scene.

Beautifully wrought sketches, and old and current photographs (the latter by Mr. Mudd) enhance the text, which is clear and easy to read. Each poem begins on a fresh page, and all titles appear in Old English typeface.

The poems are prefaced by an extensive directory which lists them chronologically by year, opening lines, author and page number, and at the end of the book there are pages of footnotes, again listed by date and year.

Referring to her first book, `The Portuguese Bermudians 1849-1949,' Mrs. Mudd says it includes annual synopses of events compiled by the editor of the daily newspaper which, when used in conjunction with the new book of poetry, will give students studying a particular year an invaluable history lesson.

"If students are studying 1864, for example, I would hope the teacher would say: `I want you to check on the annual report for 1864 to find out what was going on that whole year.' We want students to go to the references at the back of the Portuguese book and check them out. It is important that they do so.

"The newspaper was very important for our history of the Island, and its value is incalculable. The editor's synopses tell you why certain poems were written. In fact, credit should be given to the Library for preserving the newspapers. Just look at what we are getting now.'' In addition to its value to students, Mrs. Mudd says her book will also be of benefit to aspiring local poets.

"The residents who lived on this Island wrote their hearts out, and they had a tremendous command of the English language, so hopefully their poems will inspire our young budding poets. They can learn from the way they are presented.'' In terms of accuracy, the Mudds took great pains to reproduce the poems exactly as they were originally printed -- no mean feat considering the quality of printing of the day.

"We were very careful not to take out a comma or insert or remove anything,'' she explains. "We didn't want to presume anything. We just present what we saw, error or no error. Sometimes we had to use a magnifying glass, or blown up photocopy to decipher letters. That is why we have included a sample of the original printing in the book.'' As passionate about the people who wrote the poems as she is about the book itself, Mrs. Mudd speaks of them as if she knew them personally. The heart-rending poem, `Fidelle' or `The Negro Child,' written by a daughter of printer Joseph Stockdale is a case in point.

A slice of Bermuda history in poems "Miss Stockdale had such a big soul because she felt the evils of the day and the injustices of the time based around slavery,'' she explains. "I feel that this beautiful lady, not from this Island, wanted to express herself through this poem to her father so that we could extract it 200 years later. She bared her soul 30 years before Britain abolished slavery, and was way ahead of her time.'' Of St. George Tucker's poems, she says: "He loved his wife - oh, he loved his wife,'' and of "The Tinker'' she admits, "This is my favourite piece''.

As so often happens when one thing leads to another, inspiration for `Bermuda's Golden Age of Poetry' evolved through Mrs. Mudd's research for her first book, `The Portuguese Bermudians,' during which she kept coming across poems in the weekly newspaper, which ran a regular Poets Corner column, and she suddenly realised that she had not only discovered a valuable historic resource but also enough material for another book.

So, while she continued work on the first book -- which took five years to complete -- her husband began gathering material for the second. From the beginning the project was a dual effort, and Mr. Mudd's computer expertise led to the couple completing every preparatory step themselves before presenting the finished package to the printer.

The result is a handsome hardback edition, with gold lettering on the cover, and a satin ribbon bookmark, of which the couple are justifiably proud.

Part of the joy of publication was the recent surprise presentation by the National Library to Mrs. Mudd of a Certificate in recognition of Literary Achievement.

Yet Mrs. Mudd remains modest about her success, preferring instead to focus on the mission of her latest book.

"I was very aware that there are many very capable people in Bermuda who could extract these poems, but we didn't want them isolated and taken out of the context of history. We wanted to give Bermuda the whole story. That is our gift to the Island.'' Bermuda's Golden Age of Poetry is on sale at The Bermuda Bookstore and The Bookmart. For the Christmas period only, it is also available at the National Gallery. Just 600 copies have been printed, and the co-producers say there will be no second printing. The price per copy is $45, and of that the Mudds will donate $5 to a Bermuda charity.

Copies have been donated to the Archives, where they co-producers feel they will be useful for genealogical research, and also the National Library.