Books on Coventry

I found 'Harry Weston A Man of Coventry' an interesting read. I bought it on ebay. It was written by Harry Weston's daughter, Paddy.

For sale on eBay: The Staunton Folio, Illustrations of Coventry, Warwick - 10 Handcolour Plates, 1883

Wow, they're excellent, thank you for bringing them to our attention. I've put those on my watching list out of curiosity - I don't think they'll be cheap though! If someone on here wins them, I hope they'll share them with everyone?

They are very fine, thanks MR. It's interesting to see the colours, we're so used to seeing stuff in black and white. I'd have been very interested if I hadn't already bought the uncoloured book of prints.

I've been informed that one of our members is already bidding on this Staunton Folio, and if he wins he will share them with us all. I thought I'd let our members know this, in the hope that we don't all dive in with bids and falsely push the price up. Let's just hope that some "outsider" doesn't have grand plans to spoil our fun!

Just to let you all know, The Staunton Folio is now in the hands of a member of this forum.

Well done 'whoever' it was Not cheap but the sellers have cottoned on to the value of decorative plates sold as individual pages. I bought a rough monochrome copy of the book so I can scan them and put online without worrying about copyright. The stains and spots don't detract from what I need. It was still pricey.

With many, many thanks to "whoever it was" (!) who lent me the now infamous Staunton Folio, I'm chuffed to say that every page of it is now available to view in the gallery. I've taken the liberty of making the images much larger than the gallery normally allows, but I think it's worthwhile breaking the rules for treats like this occasionally!

To quote another mysterious person - brill, brill and brill! Thank you, Sir Rob, for some superb work

Absolutely b.brilliant. Enlarge lovely on my computer. Thank you Sire (when did that happen !)

The pleasure was all mine, but the real hero is the forum member who splashed out some serious cash to secure this folio for us all..... and I don't think we need to scrutinise the forum too hard to see who it is!!!

A real treasure! Quite wonderful to see in such rich colours. Thanks to Rob and the donor. Excellent.

Many thanks! The coloured copies add a few nice details that aren't obvious on the black and white versions, not to mention being works of art in their own right. My set is missing the Brinklow Camp, which has useful dimensions and a cross section. It offers an interesting template for Coventry's earliest castle, the mound fitting very well within a circular parish boundary on the later maps and the outer and inner ditches fitting well with known ditches around Bayley Lane.

Brilliant Rob, really well presented.

This may interest some members In October 2018 Graffeg Publishers added a number of items to their range of "Lost Tramways of England" books, including one on "Coventry". I've just ordered a copy online, and found that it's on offer for £4.50 plus P&P (list price £8.99). The city of Coventry was to suffer devastating damage during World War II, with much of its historic centre - including its medieval cathedral - largely destroyed. Amongst the casualties was the city's small tramway network; never extensive and already under threat before the war started, hostilities had resulted in the tramway initially been given a stay of execution - indeed services were restored to one route - but the attacks by the Luftwaffe, culminating in the disastrous raid of 14 November 1940, saw the final trams operate. Now, however, little remains to remind people of this once important form of transport other than historic photographs. The Lost Tramways of England series documents the tram networks which were at the heart of many of Britain's growing towns and cities from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. Transport expert Peter Waller, author of numerous works on the regional tram systems of the UK, guides you along the route of the network and discusses its key features stop by stop.