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Children’s Canal Books in England.(Part 7)
Adventure Stories from the 1950's.The decade commenced with another Thames adventure –Eric Leyland’s ‘Discovery on the Thames’ published in 1950.Sunny Stories. No’s 611, 618, 637. From March, May...
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Engraving of the week
'Rush Cutting' - From Life on the Upper Thames (1875).Rushes on the Thames were usually cut in the month of August and were used in the cooping (barrel making) trade, for the seats of chairs ,in basket...
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The Flower of Gloster.
The 1968 edition with the authors original photographs and an introduction by Tom Rolt. Those of you that were young in the 1970’s may remember a children's TV serial and book with the same title as...
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Engraving of the week
'Weir with movable bridge' from 'Life on the Upper Thames' 1875. Author –H R Robinson.Strangely Robinson does not use the term ‘Flash Lock’ in his description of this primitive contrivance for...
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The Water Gipsies. (1930)
The Water Gipsies by A P Herbert. 1930. Firstedition with its colourful art deco dust wrapper.There are in fact three works of fiction entitled The Water Gipsies whose contents are based...
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Croggans Roofing Asphalt. (Engraving of the week)
‘Camping out’ from –Life on the Upper Thames by H R Robinson. 1875Robinson and his companions had some dire views on the virtues of camping out alongside the river and much preferred wherever possible...
View ArticleA Merry Christmas to all.
Compliments of the season to everyone and a quick blog. I have not been able to ramble on about my books since the summer as I sold my beloved boat in July and my collections had to go into storage....
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‘Isabel and the Sea’ by George Millar. (1948)
Paperback edition of ‘Isabel & the Sea’Publisher- Century 1983.A few years ago whilst selling books at a book fair in Penzance', I was approached by an obviously nautical ‘character’ and asked if I...
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The first Englishman to sail across Europe?
Those of you who read my blog of Nov 2110 – Isabel and the Sea may remember that its author George Millar was a recognized WW2 war hero who after the war sailed his boat across France and into the...
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‘Canals are Coming Back’
Forgotten pictures from 70 years ago. This well known and popular...
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Children on Englands Canals (1947)
With the recent announcement of the demise of the EncyclopaediaBritannica in printed form (It will be available on line); I was reminded of a seemingly inauspicious item in my collection which at...
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Pickfords & Braunston (Canal Bill of Exchange).
With current news headlines in mind I thought readers of this blog might like to see an early example of a form of tax avoidance which only goes to prove that there is really nothing new under the...
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The Waterway to London. (1869)
With recent jollifications on the Thames in mind I was prompted to look again at a small and unassuming book which happens to be one of the first books to describe a journey to be made purely for...
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An American on English Canals.
.Cruises for pleasure were initiated in the mid 19th century by an emerging middle class . On English canals these early voyagers were usually University educated with the time, money and an...
View ArticleRare World War 2. Grand Union Women Recruits .
I've just been trolling Ebay canal and waterway books and noticed a couple of rare items from World War2 for auction.I mention this because some of my most popular posts are those that refer to the...
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‘Give Him a treat’ Barge Women of the Midland Canals.1944.
Give him a treat and maybe some of this...Nothing like a nice SPAM fritter to take your mind off…………So on to more serious things but remember !!!With reference to yesterdays blog about the items on...
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A Tender Parting at the Grand Junction Canal.
‘A Tender Parting at The Grand Junction Canal’. c1801-1810. I really love this early hand coloured print primarily I think for its early use of the comic strip concept of the ‘circled blurb’ of the...
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A Tour of the Grand Junction. (1819)
John Hassell (1767 – 1825) was a Georgian artist, illustrator, author and publisher earning his living principally by producing what would now be termed a travel guide book. The guides of which he...
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More Hassell.
Braunston. Admiral Nelson Lock ?Reservoir on Braunston Summit Level. Weedon Embankment.Three Locks. Stoke Hammond.Maffers.Tring reservoirs.
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RECENT CANAL EPHEMERA AT AUCTION.
I thought blog readers might be interested in some recent prices paid at auction for canal collectables.Measham bargeware can be had at all kinds of prices.A typical Barge teapot usually costs around...
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