Southern Inland Waterways by Derek Pratt lands on the shelves of my shop, where it will be found in my Transport Canals section.
London: Ian Allan, 1982, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Contains: Black & white photographs; Maps; Frontispiece;
From the cover: The canals and river navigations of Britain were once the arteries of the nation, carrying raw materials to the factories and finished commodities to the marketplace. The advent of a unified rail freight network and, latterly, competition from road haulage concerns saw most of these waterways fall into decline, disrepair and decay as traffic dropped off alarmingly.
It is only comparatively recently that they have once again begun to carry large amounts of boats and barges but todays traffic is people rather than merchandise. Throughout England canals and rivers are being restored to their former condition and this renovation and dredging is providing new pastures for the canal enthusiast and suitable work for youth employment schemes.
Southern Inland Waterways covers the Thames and its attendant waterways available for use today drawing an imaginary dividing line between the Midlands and the South. Each waterway is covered in detail with a history section, maps including one showing photographic locations a selection of basic data including a contact address and, of course, a number of Derek Pratts superb photographs. The doyen of waterways photographers, Derek Pratt has an eye for composition and atmosphere and a knowledge of Englands waterways that combine to magnificent effect.
Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper. Dust wrapper lightly pulled at the head of the upper panel. Text complete, clean and tight.
Red boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 128 pages. 9½” x 7¼”.
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