English Country Traditions

by Ian Niall, Christopher Wormell (Illustrator)

A celebration in text and art of the many facets of English country life, from bee-keeping to cider-making, cattle shows to corn harvests, thatching a roof to planting a cottage garden, elegantly discussed by Ian Niall and exquisitely (and abundantly) illustrated with Christopher Wormell’s beautiful and precisely realized wood engravings. We’ll be honest; this is an offset edition of the original letterpress version, but it still has the look and feel of real type (Monotype Van Dijck) and it recalls the exquisite engravings of Thomas Bewick.

80 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Ian Niall, born John Kincaid McNeillie, was a writer from Galloway in Scotland. He wrote his works under both names. He was born in Old Kilpatrick, to parents from the Machars in South West Scotland. He moved back to Galloway at eighteen months old, and the area formed a basis for his early fiction.

McNeillie wrote over forty books. These include No Resting Place (1948), a tale of Machars traveller folk, filmed in Co. Wicklow by Paul Rotha. His classic The Poacher’s Handbook (1950) also derives much from the Machars where McNeillie spent part of his early childhood, with his grandparents at North Clutag farm, as told in his memoir A Galloway Childhood (1967).

Reviews

[John Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice woodcut images. Doesnt romanitcise historical living too much keeps it balanced.

[Godine Publisher & Black Sparrow Press · Rating 5 out of 5]

A celebration in text and art of the many facets of English country life, from bee-keeping to cider-making, cattle shows to corn harvests, thatching a roof to planting a cottage garden, elegantly discussed by Ian Niall and exquisitely (and abundantly) illustrated with Christopher Wormell’s beautiful and precisely realized wood engravings. We’ll be honest; this is an offset edition of the original letterpress version, but it still has the look and feel of real type (Monotype Van Dijck) and it recalls the exquisite engravings of Thomas Bewick.