Joseph Smith Fletcher, A Picturesque Guide to Yorkshire, 6 vols. (1899-1901)

$37.10

Cat No.:   IE5089:

Originally published in six volumes and republished her on fully-searchable CD-Rom is the complete collection of A Picturesque Guide to Yorkshire. In the preface of the first edition the author, Joseph Smith Fletcher wrote that he believed that any guide to his beloved Yorkshire must include pictorial illustrations as its principal feature and the end of result is one of the finest single collections of illustrations on Yorkshire ever published, which is not to say that Fletcher's accompanying text has no merit of its own, which is far from the case.

Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935) may be an unfamiliar name to those outside of Yorkshire, but in the words of the Yorkshire Post 'he did everything he could to deserve a place in Yorkshire's literary history'. The son of a clergyman, born in Halifax and educated in Wakefield, after rejecting law, Fletcher took-up journalism and after dabbling in poetry he turned to historical fiction and history most of which centred on Yorkshire. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Fletcher is best-remembered as one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the golden age of the genre. His first venture in this field was written in 1914 and he went on to write more than one hundred detective books, latterly featuring the private investigator Ronald Camberwell in such works as The Middle Temple Murder & the Tallyrand Maxim. By the time of his death Fletcher and published 237 books.

As a whole, the six volumes of a Picturesque Guide to Yorkshire contains in seventy-four chapter some 1,500 pages of text and more than a 600 etchings, sketches, photographs and lithographs. In order to provide a clear indication as to the immense breadth and depth of this wonderful publication the number of printed pages, illustrations and chapter headings for each of the six volumes in the series is as follows:

Volume I.

11 Plates, plus Map.

119 Illustrations in Text.

292 Printed Pages.

Chapter I: The Humber from Spurn Head to Hull.

Chapter II: Hull as a Historic Town.

Chapter III: Aspects of Modern Hull.

Chapter IV: The Humber & the Ouse from Hull to Howden.

Chapter V: The Ouse from Drax Ferry to Bishopthorpe.

Chapter VI: The Charm of York.

Chapter VI: The Charm of York.

Chapter VIII: The Story of York Minster.

Chapter IX: The Show-Places of Modern York.

Chapter X: The Upper Ouse & the Forest of Galtres.

Chapter XI: Agricultural & Rural Life in Yorkshire.

Volume II.

8 Plates.

110 Illustrations in Text.

250 Printed Pages.

Chapter XII: The River Went & its Surroundings.

Chapter XIII: Doncaster & its Neighbourhood.

Chapter XIV: The River Dearne & the Barnsley Coalfield.

Chapter XV: Sheffield & its Surroundings.

Chapter XVI: The Don between Sheffield & Penistone.

Chapter XVII: The Aire from Airmyn to Ferrybridge.

Chapter XVIII: Pontefract & its Castle.

Chapter XIX: The Aire from Castleford to Leeds.

Chapter XX: Leeds in History.

Chapter XXI: Aspects of Modern Leeds.

Chapter XXII: The Aire from Leeds to Bingley.

Chapter XXIII: Bradford: Old & New.

Chapter XXIV: Haworth & its Surroundings.

Chapter XXV: Upper Airedale.

Chapter XXVI: Racing & Hunting in Yorkshire.

Volume III

9 Plates.

101 Illustrations in Text.

240 Printed Pages.

Chapter XXVII: Wakefield & its Neighbourhood.

Chapter XXVIII: Surroundings of the Spen Valley.

Chapter XXIX: Huddersfield & the Valley of the Colne.

Chapter XXX: Halifax and its Surroundings.

Chapter XXXI: The Wharfe from Nun Appleton to Whetherby.

Chapter XXXII: The Wharfe from Wetherby to Weston.

Chapter XXXIII: The Valley of the Washburn.

Chapter XXXIV: The Wharfe from Burley to Beamsley.

Chapter XXXV: Bolton Priory & its Surroundings.

Chapter XXXVI: The Wharfe from Barden to Cam Fell.

Chapter XXXVII: Industries & Manufactures in Yorkshire.

Volume IV

9 Plates

88 Illustrations in Text.

238 Printed Pages.

Chapter XXXVIII: The Lower Nidd & its Surroundings.

Chapter XXXIX: Knaresborough & its Associations.

Chapter XL: Harrogate: Old & New.

Chapter XLI: The Nidd Valley.

Chapter XLII: Pateley Bridge & Nidderdale.

Chapter XLIII: Aldborough & Boroughbridge.

Chapter: XLIV: Ripon & its Cathedral.

Chapter XLV: Fountains Abbey.

Chapter XLVI: The Ure from Rippon to Leyburn.

Chapter XLVII: Wensleydale.

Chapter XLVIII: The Lower Swale & its Tributaries.

Chapter XLIX: Easby & Richmond.

Chapter L: Swaledale.

Chapter LI: Music, Art & Science in Yorkshire.

Volume V

9 Plates

84 Illustrations in Text.

274 Printed Pages

Chapter LII: The Lower Derwent.

Chapter LIII: Malton: Old & New.

Chapter LIV: Surroundings of the Rye.

Chapter LV: Round About Kirby Moorside & Pickering.

Chapter LVI: The Upper Derwent.

Chapter LVII: Beverley & its Minster.

Chapter LVIII: The Yorkshire Wolds.

Chapter LIX: The Ribble from Sawley to Settle.

Chapter LX: Round About Ingleborough.

Chapter LXI: Dentdale, Sedbergh & Garsdale.

Chapter LXII: The River Greta.

Chapter LXIII: Cricket, Football & Golf in Yorkshire.

Volume VI

9 Plates.

71 Illustrations in Text.

238 Printed Pages with Consolidated Index for Volumes I-VI.

Chapter LXIV: The Yorkshire Bank of the Tees.

Chapter LXV: Round About the Leven.

Chapter LXVI: Middlesborough.

Chapter LXVII: The Yorkshire Coast.

Chapter LXVIII: The Coast from Redcar to Whitby.

Chapter LXIX: Whitby & the River Eske.

Chapter LXX: The Coast from Whitby to Scarborough.

Chapter LXXI: Scarborough & its Castle.

Chapter LXXII: The Coast from Scarborough to Flamborough.

Chapter LXXIII: The Coast from Bridlington to Spurn Head.

Chapter LXXIV: Great Yorkshire Men & Great Yorkshire Women. 

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