Canals and Inland Waterways - book review

Canals and Inland Waterways

by the Frith Collection

February 2013

Short on plot but long on drama. Well, this never did set out to be a narrative based book.

I have a passion for old waterways pictures and few collection can eclipse this one. The book, published in 1996, is a combination of about 175 black and white images all drawn from the Frith Collection.

This is a huge collection lifted from the Frith empire, at one time one of the largest non fiction publishing houses in the country. This is important because the Frith Collection was of a uniformly high standard and these selected sepia images are ones to drool over during these long winter evenings.

The books winds its way from south to north visiting a huge range of watery destinations, some on the connected waterways system and others from waterways which are or were fully navigable at some point in time.

Its hard to describe the quality of this collection. Due their origins they have a family feel about them and the book draws you into a bygone age, a time when water transport ruled supreme.

If you hanker for a glimpse of the old days this is the book for you. One to leave on the coffee table and one which will leave you coming back for another peek time and time again.