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CUSHING, GEORGE with STARSMORE, IAN: : STEAM AT THURSFORD. [Co-author's personal,SIGNED copy.]

UK.NEWTON ABBOT,DEVON,1982.

ISBN 0715381547.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED,1st edn.FINE+/FINE. No owner inscrptn per se,but co-author/ subject's own,personal,name inscribed example - his blue ink initials+surname to top,left-hand corner of title page - no other inscrptn - and no price-clip to dw/dj - absence of publisher's price, though there is a price sticker to front, inner flap of dw/dj.To front free endpaper is either a couple of free-hand blue ink squiggles,or,which possibly could be interpreted as an initial 'J'? Bright, crisp,clean,glossy laminated,colour photographic illustrated dw/dj,with white lettering; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges bright and clean,contents bright,tight,solid and sound - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - an unread copy? Bright, crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original,textured,plain black cloth bds with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and clean (apart from aforementioned initial(?) to ffe) eps.UK, 8vo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED,1st edn,5-174pp [paginated] includes other co-author's (Ian Starsmore) intro,7 chapters,profuse b/w+colour contemporary photographs interspersed throughout the text and the book,an appendix,plus [unpaginated] inscribed half-title page,title page with acknowledgements to recto,2pp blanks at rear. This is the story of George Cushing,who was born in 1904 to a poor family in the Norfolk village of Thursford,and who came to make one of the most famous fairground museums in the world.A memory of the Walsingham Fair of 1910 has haunted him throughout his life,so that whilst he earned his living making roads or hauling goods from railway stations,he could never forget the lights or the sounds of the fair he had seen as a six-year-old boy.In the late 1940's the steam engines he had seen came on to the market to be sold for their scrap value.George bought them,and kept on buying as many as he could until his yard at Thursford was bursting with them,and it was impossible to walk from one end to the other without falling over a wheel or a chimney.People thought he was mad,but,not content with a yard full of rusting engines,George set off on journeys after fairground organs and roundabouts,so that after years of searching and restoration his collection has emerged as the best of its kind anywhere. George is a remarkable man,a conservationist who has planted acres of trees,made gardens,and saved some beautiful engineering from the scrapyards. George had no education to help him,except that gained on the crowded fairgrounds or in a working landscape.In this book he tells his own story,from his earliest memories of the fair,through his working life to the days of collecting the organs and engines that are so well known.He gives a detailed and faithfully recalled picture of Norfolk life from before World War 1.This is an unusual story of the sensitivity of an ordinary working country man trying to keep a world he knew from vanishing.Among the things he has saved are some of the most famous showman's engines ever made,the last full-scale steam switchback in existence,and as good a collection of fairground organs as can be seen anywhere. Since April 2013,again in this year too, the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering its prices,weight allowances,dimensions and lowered its compensation rates too! So,please contact seller,because of the value/weight of this item,for correct, insured,shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED,1st edn.
Signature - without dedication.

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