Customer Reviews:
 THE ULIMATE GUIDES TO LAKELAND FELLS November 1, 2003
35 out of 36 found this review helpful
This special edition boxed set of seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland must rank amongst the finest and detailed set of guide books for walkers and lovers of the Lake District, situated in Cumbria, England.
The meticulous detail and minute accuracy, together with the drawings, sketches and notes make these guide books unique.
Guides to the Lakeland have appeared since 1770, so these guides are therefore not original, but they are distinctive in concentrating on individual fells, over 200 of them, and are not walking tour guides.
Book 1 initially starts with fells over 1400 feet, but in later books fells of over 1000 feet are included, but there is one fell included of 985 feet which is noted as a 'protuberance' rather than as a fell.
The guides give the ways up,the ways down, what is to be seen at the top and the connecting ridges with other fells.
The Lake District has been divided up in different ways by different authors. It has been likened to a wheel with spokes emanating out from the centre. Wainwright has worked out his own method of caputuring all the fells, has divided them into seven distinct areas, and then worked out the length of each book, how many fells to include, and how many pages to devote to each fell, all the while trying to keep each book about the same length.
These guides are one persons work, unique and now universally distinctive. It is hard to imagine the time and the effort that has gone into compilling these books, the pen and ink drawings, maps and sketches, the handwritten notes and thumbnail sketches to fill up each page. Each line is justified and no word has had to be hyphenated. These books have been printed exactly as they were written and drawn by the author. All the printers had to do was to print them exactly as they were received! All in all, a remarkable feat, one I believe will never again be undertaken by any author on such a scale.
These guides are little treasures, their accuracy can be guaranteed over the past 50 years since they were first published, and their size encourages the possesser to slip the appropriate volume into their coat pocket before each walk.
If there is one criticism, it is that one would not wish to spoil the books by getting them wet or by tearing the pages whilst out walking. I would therefore leave them at home to read and enjoy before and after each walk!
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