Wainwright Pictorial Guides Boxed Set

by Alfred Wainwright (Illustrator)

This boxed set contains all seven of the Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells by the fell walking legend, A. Wainwright. For this Anniversary edition the pages were freshly reproduced from the original artwork and printed and bound to match the original books as closely as possible. Maps and text are as Wainwright wrote them.



Since the guides were compiled half a century ago, they have been treasured by generations of walkers, and television programmes in the year of the centenary of Wainwright's birth introduced them to new enthusiasts. There were no guides like these before Wainwright devised them, and in the years since they were first published, they have never been matched. This boxed set of all seven books is the perfect gift for walkers and lovers of the Lakeland fells.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference

2128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 25, 2005

About the author

Alfred Wainwright was born in Blackburn, Lancashire to Thomas Wainwright and Elizabeth Nixon.[citation needed] His family was relatively poor, mostly due to his stonemason father's alcoholism. He did very well at school (first in nearly every subject)[1] although he left at the age of 13. While most of his classmates were obliged to find employment in the local mills, Wainwright started work as an office boy in Blackburn Borough Engineer's Department. He spent several further years studying at night school, gaining qualifications in accountancy which enabled him to further his career at Blackburn Borough Council. Even when a child Wainwright walked a great deal, up to 20 miles at a time; he also showed a great interest in drawing and cartography, producing his own maps of England and his local area.
In 1930, at the age of 23, Wainwright saved up enough money for a week's walking holiday in the Lake District with his cousin Eric Beardsall. They arrived in Windermere and climbed the nearby hill Orrest Head, where Wainwright saw his first view of the Lakeland fells. This moment marked the start of what he would later describe as his love affair with the Lake District. In 1931 he married his first wife, Ruth Holden, a local mill worker, with whom he had a son Peter. In 1941 Wainwright was able to move closer to the fells when he took a job (and with it a pay cut) at the Borough Treasurer's office in Kendal, Westmorland. He lived and worked in the town for the rest of his life, serving as Borough Treasurer from 1948 until he retired in 1967. His first marriage ended when Ruth walked out three weeks before he retired. They later divorced. In 1970 he married Betty McNally (1922–2008), also a divorcee, who became his walking companion and who eventually carried his ashes to Innominate Tarn at the top of Haystacks.

Reviews

[Annie Leadley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always a joy to both look at and to read ! Even more so because in our younger years my husband and I did quite a few of these Walks , starting from our Honeymoon when we Backpacked around The Lake District ! Then later when we had a growing family we introduced them to these amazing Books 📚and did some of the walks amid the towering Fells , Tarns and Lakeside Shores , embracing the magic in all the season's and always dressed in correct clothing and with safety in mind , but now when sadly my health will no longer allow me the physical joys of the walks set out in these Books , I have them and my treasured memories of walks past done !

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reference. Maps. Guides.

[Saleris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Love this set of books. Beautifully illustrated AND lovingly written by a man who obviously wanted to know how wonderful and breathtaking the area he regularly walked was.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great set of books ...