Dating from 1988, this is a tourist's eye view of Britain. Lots of aerial pictures of abbeys, cathedrals and stately homes, all competently done and many now of historical interest. On the way, there are some notable pictures of greater artistic merit; these are not just aerial pictures, but there was a perfectly good photographer, Clive Friend, doing the business. His pictures of a snow-capped Lake District and a nice shot of the Severn estuary are exceptionally fine. There is not so much content from north of that line from the Bristol Channel to the Wash. The text and captions are expressively flowery; I could only manage to read half a page of the introduction before vowing to skip almost the whole of the rest of the text.

Nonetheless, an interesting book and worth picking up if you see one on the second-hand market. ( )