A truly stylish cover with a distinctive font
Part of the Britain in Pictures series and first published in 1947, this slim volume similar to the Rolt book The Thames from Mouth to Source in that it relies heavily on images from art. Its authors were Charles Hadfield, the famous canal historian and publisher who was then Vice-Chairman of the IWA, and Frank Eyre its treasurer.
It is a charming slim volume covering rivers, not only the main navigable rivers, and canals - mostly from a historical perspective. For its era it is a very well produced book and many good condition copies are still available through ebay, and other sources, at modest cost.
The book has a useful map indicating the chief rivers and canals of England, which also happens to include Wales, but ignores Scotland. This is interesting for a book claiming to cover Britain - maybe they were not as sensitive to national identies. There are 8 colour plates and 19 black and white illustrations.
Illustration from JB Dashwood's The Thames to the Solent by Canal and Sea, 1868
The above illustration, from the frontispiece sets the tone of the volume.
Three Locks at Stoke Hammond (Soulbury), Bucks
from J Hassell's Tour of the Grand Junction Canal, 1819
Old Battersea Bridge, from oil painting by Walter Greaves 1846-1931
Etruria: The Potteries from an oil painting by Hesketh Hubbard
It would be great to see the original of this. I presume the colours of the working boat make a marked contrast with the bleak industrial background. Unfortunately, the book does not recorded where the painting was kept. Eric Hesketh Hubbard produced a lot of art that adorned railway carriages.
Perpendicular lift on the Grand Western Canal,
engraved by S Bellin from drawing by J Green, Transaction of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1836
If you see a copy on ebay I would make a bid - if you win you won't be disappointed.
