Buy this book on-line

CLAYTON, HOWARD: : COACHING CITY: A Glimpse of Georgian Lichfield

UK.DIDSBURY,MANCHESTER,nd,.c.1969.

ISBN 0859720292.

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.NFINE/NFINE.No owner inscrptn,dw/dj unclipped - no publsher's price.Bright,clean,b/w illustrated upper wrap; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no major nicks or tears present. Top+fore-edges lightly aged/toned - as usual/ normal; contents bright,tight and near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips - an unread copy? Publisher's sharp cornered,bright,clean,original plain maroon cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate,plain white endpapers.UK,slim 8voHB+dw/dj,1st edn,1- 98pp [paginated] includes 8 chapters,b/w facsimile illustrations in text,b/w maps(2),16pp contemporary b/w photographs/illustrations in one block,between pp44/5,appendices (2),an index; plus [unpaginated] 4pp blanks,half-title+ title pages,a contents list/table,a Mayoral foreword,acknowledgements,and an introduction. The period from 1790 to 1840 has been called the "Golden Age of Coaching," for in Britain during that time the stage coaches and mail coaches reached a peak of efficiency unequalled anywhere else in the world.It was an era that has been immortalised and romanticised in countless coaching prints,on Christmas cards and in the pages of Dickens. The city of Lichfield stands at the crossroads of two important trunk routes,and as a consequence it was a key point in the coaching era,its inns filled by day and night with travellers,its streets echoing to the sound of stage coach wheels,horses hooves and coaching horns. It was also a place of resort for the wealthy;a place where society gathered for country balls and race meetings; where Anna Seward the "Swan of Lichfield" reigned over her circle of literary friends and queened it over the audiences of the Lichfield Theatre (her own creation) where Sarah Siddons,the Kembles, Edmund Kean,Charles Dibdin and other great ones of the stage trod the boards,and where no one dared to laugh or applaud until Miss Seward had given the cue. The Napoleonic Wars made their impact on Lichfield and French prisoners added something to the town's history,while Volunteers marched through the streets to drum and fife.Meanwhile Lichfield boomed and the centre of of the city was rebuilt in the Georgian red brick which we now see,illustrated in this book by photographs of today and drawings from the past.In this setting we see reflected all the usual happenings of Georgian England -the meetings of turnpike trusts and canal promoters; bull-baiting and bear-baiting; cock-fighting and public hangings,and,peculiar to Lichfield its centuries old carnival,the Lichfield Bower. The great days ended suddenly in 1837,when a railway link opened between London and Manchester.Almost overnight the coaching trade collapsed; the streets of Lichfield grew silent; society drifted away,and an era in the city's history was over. In this book the author has tried to recreate something of the feeling of this vanished period in the life of a town;a time when Lichfield was a "Coaching City". Please contact seller,because of the lighter weight of this item,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!  N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE.    ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence, then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. ** q52.GENERAL.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.ISBN 0859720292.Georgian_stage_mail coaches_inns. Transport_communications_roads_turnpikes_toll-gates.Lichfield Coaching inns.Turnpike Trusts. Anna Seward.Sarah Siddons.Edmund Kean.Charles Dibdin.Books new,used,signed,rare.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

Bibliophile Bookbase for antiquarian books, maps and prints.