Country Rambles, and Manchester Walks and Wild Flowers: being rural wanderings in Cheshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, & Yorkshire

Description:

Second edition. In part a reprint of Manchester Walks and Wild-Flowers (1858), in part, brief exerpts from the author's accounts of trips made by the Field Naturalists' Society, as given in their Annual Reports, 1860-1881. A considerable amount of new material is also included.

A charming and historically evocative work. Leopold Hartley Grindon (1818-1904) offers an engaging blend of natural history, local topography, and reflective prose. Grindon an influential educator, botanist, and pioneer of adult education, as well as co-founder of the Manchester Field-Naturalists’ Society guides readers through the landscapes of Manchester and local counties with curiosity and nostalgic sensitivity. The volume is enriched with illustrations by fellow Mancunian the artist, poet, and antiquarian, Thomas Letherbrow (1825-1899)., whose visual contributions complement Grindon’s descriptive passages. The preface, includes a poignant reflection, first printed in the first edition, on the rapid industrial transformation of Manchester’s suburbs:

“Neighbourhoods once familiar as delightful rural solitudes, are now covered with houses, and densely crowded with population; the pleasant field-paths we trod in our youth have disappeared, and in their stead are long lines of pavement, lighted with gas, and paced by the policeman.”

Condition

Small 8vo, orig. dec. cloth, blocked in gilt, silver and black, minor wear to extremities; inner hinges cracked but firm. Light foxing at beginning and end. Vg.