Recent Book Purchases for Essex Society for Archaeology and History Library

Our Library Committee has just purchased these books for accession soon to the Essex Society for Archaeology and History Library at the University of Essex.

The Peregrine, The Hill of Summer and Diaries: The complete works of J. A. Baker ed J. Fanshawe 2010 Collins ISBN 978-0-00-734862-6

The Wild Places Robert Macfarlane 2007 Granta Books ISBN 978-1-84708-018-9

The Old Ways: A journey on foot Robert Macfarlane 2012 Granta Books ISBN 978-0-241-14381-0

The Luminous Coast Jules Pretty 2011 Full Circle Editions ISBN 978-0-9561869-6-6

350 miles: An Essex Journey 2005 Jason Orton and Ken Worpole

The New English Landscape is part of an extremely prominent literary approach to topography and landscape which has flourished since the turn of the century and in which Essex plays a prominent role. In many ways J.A. Bakers work from the 1960s, focussed on the Chelmer valley and Blackwater Estuary, is the ur-text for this kind of writing (the Hill of Summer is basically the Danbury/Little Baddow ridge). Robert Macfarlane is probably the most celebrated contemporary exponent of the genre.  Wild Places includes his account of the Chelmer valley and Dengie, a homage to Baker, Old Ways includes the Broomway across the Maplin Sands toward Foulness. The Pretty volume covers the coast of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, and 350 miles is the book which James mentioned in his email..       

Regeneration and Innovation: Invention and Reinventrion in the Lea Valley by J. Lewis

An account of the important industrial archaeology and history of the area, a useful overview and complements the book on the archaeology of the Olympic Park which we purchased last year.

The Quaternary of the Lower Thames & Eastern Essex – Field Guide. D.R. Bridgland, P.Allen & T.S White eds 2014 (Quaternary Research Assoc) ISBN:0 907780 14 8

The Field Guide of the QRA resulting from their field meeting in Essex earlier this year, gives the latest thoughts on a number of key sites in Essex, which are vital for our understanding of Palaeolithic archaeology.

Anglo-Saxon Graves and Grave Goods of the 6th and 7th centuries AD: a chronological by Alex Bayliss, John Hines, Karen Hollund Neilsen, Gerry McCormac and Christopher Scull 2014 Society for Medieval Archaeology monograph 33 ISBN 9781909662063

An important reference work, which obviously includes Essex material, and will certainly be vital for anyone working on material from the Essex Anglo-Saxon cemeteries.  

The Bronze Age in the Severn Estuary ed Martin Bell Counc. Brit. Archaeol. Res. Rep. 172 ISBN 9781902771946

Presents the results of twenty years or so of research into the inter-tidal zone of the Severn estuary.  Obviously it’s not about Essex (though comparisons/contrasts with the Essex estuaries occur from time to time), and will be a useful source of ideas and comparative material for anyone working on the archaeology of the inter-tidal zone of the Essex estuaries.

England’s Coastal Heritage: A review of Progress since 1997 Peter Murphy 2014 English Heritage

The most up to date overview of the historic environment of the English coast, indispensable for anyone studying coastal heritage, particularly in the context of coastal zone management. As you’d expect from a book by Peter the Essex coast figures quite prominently.       

Lucien Pissarro in England: The Eragny Press 1895-1914 Ashmolean Museum Oxford ISBN 978 1 85444 253 6

This book and exhibition catalogue, explores the work and art of the Eragny Press, and the lives of Lucien (son of the painter Camille) and Esther Pissarro.  They lived and worked in Epping for a couple of years, but the main Essex connection is that Esther was a member of Bensusan family.  The Bensusans played a prominent role in the social and literary life of the County, mostly through the work of S. L. Bensusan, who began publishing stories of the Essex countryside in 1907 and continued to do so for the next 50 years. John Bensusan-Butt was Esther’s nephew,  he published articles on Lucien Pissarro and the Eragny Press in the 1970s, and was a prominent member of ESAH.    

A 16^th-Century Merchantman Wrecked in the Princes Channel, Thames Estuary Volume I: Excavation and Hull Studies edited by Jens Auer and Thijs J. Maarleveld. ISBN 9781407312101. £28.00. Brit. Archaeol. Rep 602, 2014

This account of the excavation of a ship wreck may be worth having, the ship is a significant discovery, but the Essex connections are not very obvious, it’s from the Thames estuary but on the Kent side.