Patrick Murtha
Reader
As mentioned in earlier threads, especially the one on Regional American Literatures, I have always been fascinated by the relation between geography and literature. So one of my current projects is to read books related to every English county, especially old guidebooks and such.
Here is my current list, but it is not complete, because I haven’t completed backfilling titles I read years ago. Books that involve more than one county are entered more than once.
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
H.J. Massingham, English Downland (1936) (see post below)
Bristol
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Channel Islands
Cheshire
Cornwall
Bella Bathurst, The Wreckers (not just Cornwall, but a lot on Cornwall)
Arthur L. Salmon, The Cornwall Coast (1910)
Cumbria
J.D. Marshall, Portrait of Cumbria (1981)
Derbyshire
Roy Christian, Derbyshire (1978)
Devon
R.D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone
Dorset
J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet
H.J. Massingham, English Downland
Durham
Essex
Jules Pretty, This Luminous Coast
Herbert Tompkins, Marsh-Country Rambles (1904) (you can see that there were a lot of these published around the turn of the 20th Century)
Gloucestershire
Herbert A. Evans, Highways and Byways in Oxford and the Cotswolds (1905) (a model of its kind)
John Moore, Portrait of Elmbury (first in Moore’s semi-fictional trilogy about “Elmbury” = Tewkesbury)
Greater London
H.V. Morton, Ghosts of London (1939) (the “ghosts” are traces of London past)
Arthur Ransome, Bohemia in London (1907)
Greater Manchester
Hampshire
H.J. Massingham, English Downland
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Isle of Man
Isle of Wight
J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet
Isles of Scilly
Kent
H.J. Massingham, English Downland
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Merseyside
Norfolk
Jules Pretty, This Luminous Coast
Arthur J. Rees, The Shrieking Pit (1919) (Golden Age mystery novel)
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Herbert A. Evans, Highways and Byways in Oxford and the Cotswolds
Rutland
Shropshire
Somerset
R.D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Jules Pretty, This Luminous Coast
Surrey
H.J. Massingham, English Downland
Sussex (East, West)
H.J. Massingham, English Downland
Tyne and Wear
Warwickshire
West Midlands
Wiltshire
H.J. Massingham, English Downland
Worcestershire
Yorkshire (North, South, East, West)
James Herriot, All Creatures Great and Small
Here is my current list, but it is not complete, because I haven’t completed backfilling titles I read years ago. Books that involve more than one county are entered more than once.
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
H.J. Massingham, English Downland (1936) (see post below)
Bristol
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Channel Islands
Cheshire
Cornwall
Bella Bathurst, The Wreckers (not just Cornwall, but a lot on Cornwall)
Arthur L. Salmon, The Cornwall Coast (1910)
Cumbria
J.D. Marshall, Portrait of Cumbria (1981)
Derbyshire
Roy Christian, Derbyshire (1978)
Devon
R.D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone
Dorset
J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet
H.J. Massingham, English Downland
Durham
Essex
Jules Pretty, This Luminous Coast
Herbert Tompkins, Marsh-Country Rambles (1904) (you can see that there were a lot of these published around the turn of the 20th Century)
Gloucestershire
Herbert A. Evans, Highways and Byways in Oxford and the Cotswolds (1905) (a model of its kind)
John Moore, Portrait of Elmbury (first in Moore’s semi-fictional trilogy about “Elmbury” = Tewkesbury)
Greater London
H.V. Morton, Ghosts of London (1939) (the “ghosts” are traces of London past)
Arthur Ransome, Bohemia in London (1907)
Greater Manchester
Hampshire
H.J. Massingham, English Downland
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Isle of Man
Isle of Wight
J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet
Isles of Scilly
Kent
H.J. Massingham, English Downland
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Merseyside
Norfolk
Jules Pretty, This Luminous Coast
Arthur J. Rees, The Shrieking Pit (1919) (Golden Age mystery novel)
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Herbert A. Evans, Highways and Byways in Oxford and the Cotswolds
Rutland
Shropshire
Somerset
R.D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Jules Pretty, This Luminous Coast
Surrey
H.J. Massingham, English Downland
Sussex (East, West)
H.J. Massingham, English Downland
Tyne and Wear
Warwickshire
West Midlands
Wiltshire
H.J. Massingham, English Downland
Worcestershire
Yorkshire (North, South, East, West)
James Herriot, All Creatures Great and Small
Last edited: