Through Yorkshire

Through Yorkshire (1922) by Gordon Home – J. M. Dent & Sons

ISBN: None
Condition: Fair
Published: 1922
Offered by: Crappy Old Books

There was a time when travelling through Yorkshire was considered an adventure requiring stout boots, a reliable railway timetable, considerable patience and a willingness to engage in conversation with people whose opinions about Lancashire were unlikely to be entirely complimentary.

Welcome to Through Yorkshire, Gordon Home’s charming exploration of England’s largest historic county, published by J. M. Dent in 1922, when the Yorkshire landscape was still a magnificent combination of ancient towns, windswept moors, industrial enterprise and villages whose inhabitants regarded newcomers with a mixture of hospitality and profound suspicion.

Gordon Home was an accomplished artist, writer and enthusiastic chronicler of Britain’s architectural and historical inheritance. His travels through Yorkshire reveal a landscape rich in history, character and local peculiarities, from medieval churches and ruined abbeys to picturesque settlements and the dramatic scenery of the northern countryside.

And what a county to explore.

Yorkshire has never been particularly modest about its attractions. Its inhabitants have traditionally regarded their county as something approaching a separate civilisation, possessing superior landscapes, superior tea and an unrivalled ability to explain why practically everything was better in Yorkshire.

Home’s affectionate treatment of the region belongs to a golden age of British topographical writing, when travellers explored the countryside with notebooks, sketchbooks and a genuine curiosity about the places they encountered.

There were no online reviews, no satellite navigation and certainly no electronic devices announcing that a medieval abbey was temporarily closed due to insufficient customer feedback.

Published in 1922, the book also captures Yorkshire at an intriguing historical moment. Britain was emerging from the devastation of the Great War, motor transport was beginning to transform travel, and the traditional landscapes and communities of the countryside were gradually confronting the demands of a new century.

What makes such volumes particularly appealing today is their ability to preserve a world that has partly disappeared. Buildings have changed, industries have declined, roads have multiplied and numerous quiet corners of the countryside have become considerably less quiet.

Yet much of Yorkshire’s enduring character remains instantly recognisable.

Condition: Fair. A venerable antiquarian copy displaying noticeable signs of age, handling and previous ownership. More than a century of existence has inevitably left its mark, although a certain degree of weathering seems entirely appropriate for a book devoted to a county famous for its formidable landscapes and occasionally challenging climate.

Naturally, there is no ISBN. In 1922, booksellers managed without barcodes, while travellers relied upon maps, signposts and occasionally asking directions from somebody who might actually know where they were going.

Offered by Crappy Old Books, where elderly travel literature is welcomed, regional pride is respectfully tolerated, and customers from Lancashire are permitted to purchase without additional charges.

A delightful historical companion for collectors of Yorkshire books, vintage travel writing, British topography and early twentieth-century regional history.

A reminder that Yorkshire has changed considerably over the past century, although persuading its inhabitants that anywhere else might be equally wonderful remains a formidable undertaking.

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