Products in the “New Books” Category

by Professor Brian Robinson

9781900446150

2012 Edition

Numbered limited edition (500) signed by the author

Scarthin Books' most legendary publication, first issued 20 years ago, with new content and never-before released photographs.

The Derwent and Howden Dams are a principal source of drinking water for much of South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and the East Midlands, including the cities of Sheffield, Derby, Leicester and Nottingham. They are magnificent engineering and architectural structures and have acquired additional fame as one of several locations used in training the Dambusters Squadron. Prof. Brian Robinson’s grandfather worked on the project and his mother was born in the temporary navvies’ village of Birchinlee in 1909, and indeed Brian himself has the stature of a powerful workman. Though a molecular biologist by profession, Prof. Robinson has had a lifelong interest in the construction of the Dams and in the lives of the workmen employed there, and in 1993, Scarthin Books of Cromford, Derbyshire were able, with support from the Severn Trent Water Authority, to publish his highly illustrated magnum opus, Walls across the Valley; The Building of the Howden and Derwent Dams in an edition of some 1500 copies.  “Walls” has been out of print now for over a decade and has become Scarthin’s most legendary publication, with the few examples that come onto the market selling for £200 or more. At the time of writing, not a single copy for sale can be traced on the net.

The building of the Dams was one of the great engineering feats of the early 20th. Century, involving the building of a railway up the valley and the village for the workmen, Birchinlee and the moving of well over a million tons of earth, stone and cement. The opening ceremony was held on the 5th of September 1912, so centenary celebrations are not far in the future.

The publication of the first edition of Walls across the Valley brought to light much new material, as well as a few factual revisions, and as the original edition sold out, Brian Robinson and publisher David Mitchell invested much time and effort in revising the text, but production of a second edition was beset by technical gremlins too costly to overcome and ten years past before Scarthin Books took up the challenge again. The advance of publishing technology has allowed this scholarly and superbly-illustrated volume to be completely re-originated with the revised text, and long-established Sheffield firm J.W.Northend have undertaken to print it to their accustomed high standards.

Family Walks Around Bakewell and Castleton by Norman Taylor

9780907758709

£5.95

16 walks around Bakewell and Castleton in the Peak District, Derbyshire.

The Uke of Wallington - One Man and his Ukulele Round Britain

by Mark Wallington

9780749572730

£8.99 (paperback)

Only one thing has stopped Mark Wallington's rhythm and blues band going on tour - a lack of musical talent.  The vicar's retirement do proves to be a gig too far and they decide to call it a day.  But then Mark discovers an instrument he might just have enough talent for hidden on top of the wardrobe - the ukulele.

Realising his dream of a nationwide tour, the Uke of Wallington sets off on a 42-night road trip, playing open mic sessions from Brighton to Cape Wrath.  Probably the first rock 'n' roll tour ever undertaken on public transport.

If you were lucky enough to catch Mark performing at Scarthin Books recently, you'll know just how talented (and funny) he is.  A highly recommended book.

FIVA- An Adventure That Went Wrong

by Gordon Stainforth

9780957054301

£9.95 (paperback)

Non-fiction

A highly-acclaimed account, by local author Gordon Stainforth, of a climb that went horribly wrong.

In the summer of 1969, as Apollo 11 was blasting off to the moon, two teenage brothers, with only three years' mountaineering experience, set off to climb one of the highest rock faces in Europe.  With just two bars of chocolate, some sandwiches, a four-sentence route description, and an old sketch map, they left their tent early one morning with the full expectation of being back in time for tea.  Within a few hours things had gone badly wrong, they were looking death in the face, and the English Home Counties seemed very far away...

Walk the Peak 2

by Rod Dunn

9781900446143

Special Price of £20 (Hardback)

Signed by the Author

Beautiful photographic guide to another fifty walks in The Peak District, extensively illustrated throughout, following on from the hugely successful Walk the Peak (now out of print) by local photographer and keen walker Rod Dunn.

This volume takes you on a journey from north to south through The Peak District, describing many paths seldom trodden.

Day Walks in the Peak District: 20 Classic Circular Routes

Norman Taylor & Barry Pope

9781906148492

Second Edition 2012

Paperback 12.95

A pocket-sized walking book featuring 20 circular walks, between 8.25 and 12 miles in length suitable for hill walkers of all abilities.

The routes are split into three areas - The High Moors, Hill Tors & Edges and Limestone Country - and feature walks around some of the most wild and beautiful places in the Peak District.

Contains Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps

Wenceslas

Carol Ann Duffy

9781447212027 (H/B)

In reimagining the much-loved carol of King Wenceslas, Carol Ann Duffy's wonderful new poem offers merriment and festive cheer, but also celebrates what is truly important at this special time of year: the simple acts of kindness that each of us can show another.

A Peak District Anthology: A Literary Companion to Britain's First National Park

Compiled by Roly Smith

9780711228870 (H/B)

This anthology brings together the finest writing about the Peak District through the ages. Compiled and introduced by Peak District expert Roly Smith, it revives many forgotten descriptions of what many people believe is the finest, most varied and best-loved landscape in the whole of Britain.

Kind Regards: The Lost Art of Letter Writing

by Liz Williams

9781843177135 (H/B)

This fond and fascinating tribute to letter-writing includes sections on:

• Wartime letters, billets-doux and postcards
• Historical letter-writers
• Stamps, envelopes and the postal system
• Mail from afar
• How to write a letter
• Correspondence in the digital age

Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure

by Artemis Cooper

9780719554490 (H/B)

A legendary war hero and acclaimed travel writer, Patrick Leigh Fermor was a self-educated polymath.  In this biography, Artemis Cooper draws on years of interviews and conversations with Paddy and his closest friends to portray a man of extraordinary gifts.

The Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language

by Mark Forsyth

Forms of Intrigue and Woven Spaces

by Laura Ellen Bacon

9780956836625

Paperback  £6

For over a decade Derbyshire artist Laura Ellen Bacon has been making art of a unique and compelling quality.
As she says in her latest book, " The ambition in my work is to generate a kind of intrigue and an appeal that touches a powerful nerve (perhaps ancient in its origin) that we cannot precisely locate".
Laura's work uses mainly willow, weaving large and complex structures outdoors. Initially I see them as nests, large and strange, yet recognisable, and I wonder what kind of creature could have made them. But then the more I look at them, the more mysterious they seem and I am indeed intrigued. They seem to take on alien forms and then seem alive, like creatures. The one at the Arts and crafts house in Cumbria certainly looks to my eyes like an animal scaling the wall.
Laura herself says "as if the work will continue to grow when the viewer's back is turned " and even in the book there is an almost hallucinatory sense of movement in much of her works.
Like Andy Goldsworthy and other environmental artists, her work seems both a natural part of the the environment and a striking addition to it. The installations on houses and walls bring nature in contact with man-made structures in ways that are unsettling - the one at the Artist's House in Wiltshire seems almost threatening in the way that the nest-like structures creep along the house, reminding one of the power of nature, whilst at the same time reminiscent of an alien invasion.
The works require hours of repetitive work and, close-up, the repetitive yet complex patterns of the works are quite mesmerising. She also works in other materials, I was struck by her use of old computer cabling for her installation in London.
Willow is her main medium and she has recently begun to weave large structures that allow the interiors to be experienced. On pages 48-49 there is a striking structure appropriately called "into the weave", at Derby Museum and Art Gallery.
The book is a very well produced and illustrated introduction to Laura Bacon's work, and a bargain at the price, but it should serve as a spur to get out and view her work in its locations, which really bring home just what a talented and exciting artist she is.