A Breath of England
WYMER, Norman
[Complete set, comprising 'A Breath of England. The Southern Shires', 'Wheatsheaf and Willow. The Eastern Shires', 'Green Hills and Grey Spires. The West Midlands' and 'Mere and Moorland. The Northern Counties'].
Published: Lutterworth Press, [1948-51]
Stock code: 5656
Price: £60.00
4 vols., 8vo., First Editions, with 4 frontispieces, very numerous plates and illustrations in the text, and endpaper maps; cloth, gilt backs, a very good, clean set in the dustwrapper (one price-clipped).
Wymer's delightful sequence, covering virtually the whole of England, is neither a gazetteer nor the usual rural eulogy. Rather, he sets out to compare and contrast traditional variations between one county and another, emphasising industries, customs, superstitions, legends, folklore and, above all, people. It is an unusual approach, based on a charming prose style and enhanced by evocative illustrations both photographic and line. A lovely set, and uncommon in this condition