A bibliography of recommended books on The English Lake District

No authors at the moment begin with 'A'

Adrian Bailey Lakeland Rock

London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1895. 144pp, illus. (some in colour), 22cm.
The book of the television series about classic hard routes some of which were climbed by Chris Bonington with the first ascensionists.

Geoffrey Berry and Geoffrey Beard The Lake District A Century of Conservation

Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1980. xiv, 59 pages of historical text and notes followed by 114 case studies illustrated with black and white photographs, 26.5cm.
An objective view of conservation and development in the Lake District.

Bill Birkett Lakeland's Greatest Pioneers - 100 Years of Rock Climbing

London: Robert Hale, 1983. 192pp, 35 black and white photographs, 4 sketches, 1 sketch map, 22.5cm.
A brief history covering 100 years of rock climbing is followed by fascinating accounts of the contributions made to Lakeland climbing by eleven key, pioneer climbers, including Jim Birkett the father of the author.

Bill Birkett Complete Lakeland Fells

London: Collins Willow, 1994. 288pp, illus. throughout with colour photographs, maps, 26cm.
129 circular walks covering all the fell tops over 1000 feet. Written by a local author with many years climbing and hill walking experience and illustrated with his own superb photographs.

Tom Bowker Mountain Lakeland

London: Robert Hale, 1984. 224pp, 32 black and white photographs, map
A guide to the district for those who enjoy walking, scrambling and climbing to a modest level.

M.E.Burkett and J.D.G.Sloss William Green of Ambleside

Kendal: Abbot Hall, 1984. 100pp, illus. throughout in colour and black and white, 25cm.
A biography of an early Lake District artist (1760 - 1823).

W.Heaton Cooper The Hills of Lakeland

London: Frederick Warne, 1938. xviii, 126pp plus 51 tissue guarded monochrome plates, 25cm.
This is the first of Heaton Cooper's beautiful quartet of books. A larger format, limited edition was also published the same year.

W.Heaton Cooper Lakeland Portraits

London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1954. 127pp plus 6 colour reproductions of Heaton Cooper's paintings and incl. 28 monochrome text illustrations, 25cm.

W.Heaton Cooper The Tarns of Lakeland

London: Frederick Warne, 1960. xiii, 237pp, plus 16 colour reproductions of Heaton Cooper's paintings and inclu. 87 monochrome text illustrations, 25.5cm.

W.Heaton Cooper The Lakes

London: Frederick Warne, 1966. xiv, 228pp, plus 17 colour reproductions of Heaton Cooper's paintings and incl. 64 monochrome text illustrations, 25.5cm.

Hunter Davies A Walk Around the Lakes

London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979. xii, 339pp, illus., 21 black and white photographs incl. portraits, sketch maps, 22.5cm
An account of a year spent walking round the Lake District; 'a study which is part travel, part literature, part social observation, part guide-book'.

Hunter Davies Wainwright - The Biography

London: Michael Joseph, 1995. xii, 356pp, 37 black and white photographs, illus. in the text with Wainwright sketches, 24cm.
The definitive biography of the author of 'The Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells'. It includes a complete Wainwright bibliography up to 1995.

No authors at the moment begin with 'E'

Fell and Rock Climbing Club Guide Books

See FRCC Web Site

A.H. Griffin Inside the Real Lakeland

Preston: The Guardian Press, 1961. 240pp, 23.5cm, 29 black and white photographs, drawings and end paper map of Lakeland by A.Wainwright.
Harry Griffin's first book. From the Foreword by Lord Birkett: ' ... the authentic Lakeland seen through the eyes of one who lives there all through the changing year and sees it in all seasons and all moods. He writes with a kind of inward glow that comes from inside knowledge gained through years of experience.'

A.H. Griffin In Mountain Lakeland

Preston: The Guardian Press, 1963. 216pp, 23.5cm, 49 black and white photographs, drawings by A.Wainwright.
A companion volume to 'Inside the Real Lakeland' but concentrating on activities in the mountains such as climbing, record walks, mountain rescue, etc.; also pen portraits of some of the mountains and notable men of the mountains.

A.H. Griffin Pageant of Lakeland

London: Robert Hale, 1966. 191pp, 22cm, 40 photographs (39 black and white and 1 colour) by Geoffrey Berry.
An intimate view of the Lake District through the seasons.

A.H. Griffin The Roof of England

London: Robert Hale, 1968. 192pp, 22cm, 32 black and white photographs (coloured frontispiece) by Geoffrey Berry.
Personal portraits of fifty of the most interesting of the Lakeland hills. This book has something for everybody - the motorist, the walker, the climber and those who simply like to reminisce. It is written with Harry Griffin's usual enthusiasm and affection.

A.H. Griffin Still the Real Lakeland

London: Robert Hale, 1970. x, 192pp, 22cm, 40 black and white photographs by Geoffrey Berry (coloured frontispiece by John Wolverton).
Harry Griffin's fifth book and a companion volume to his first, 'Inside the Real Lakeland'. It concludes that the real Lakeland is still to be found by those with the energy and enterprise to seek it out.

A.H. Griffin Long Days in the Hills

London: Robert Hale, 1974. 188pp, 22cm, 46 black and white photographs by Geoffrey Berry and Dick Cook.
This is a book about longer and more strenuous days in the hills. Three chapters on the Highlands of Scotland are included.

A.H. Griffin A Lakeland Notebook

London: Robert Hale, 1975. 203pp, 22cm, 36 black and white photographs by Geoffrey Berry.
A book based on a selection of sixty articles from a total of about 1500 contributed to the Lancasire Evening Post over a period of almost thirty years. It is wide ranging covering all aspects of Lakeland life.

A.H. Griffin A Year in the Fells

London: Robert Hale, 1976. 206pp, 22cm, 35 black and white photographs by Geoffrey Berry
A selection of the author's 'Guardian' diaries assembled to give a month by month picture of a Lakeland outdoor year.

A.H. Griffin Freeman of the Hills

London: Robert Hale, 1978. 192pp, 22cm, 36 black and white photographs by Geoffrey Berry, 1 map drawn by A.Wainwright.
During twelve weeks in the summer of 1977 the author revisited all the Lakeland tops over 2000 feet. This book describes those walks.

A.H. Griffin Adventuring in Lakeland

London: Robert Hale, 1980. 189pp, 22cm, 40 black and white photographs.
Scrambling, rock-climbing, gill-climbing, snow-climbing, ski-mountaineering described with the author's usual intimate knowledge and enthusiasm.

A.H. Griffin A Lakeland Mountain Diary

Swindon: Crowood, 1990. 224pp, 24cm, 50 black and white photographs.
A collection of 240 of Harry Griffin's beautifully crafted diaries, first published in The Guardian, assembled in monthly form to give an enthusiast's impression of a year in the fells in all weathers.

A.Harry Griffin The Coniston Tigers

Wilmslow, Cheshire: Sigma Leisure, 1999. (xvi), 206pp, 24cm, black and white photographs, drawings and map of Lakeland by A. Wainwright.
More wonderfully evocative writing from the doyen of Lakeland writers, covering an incredible seventy year span from the early exploration of Dow Crag to the present day.

A.H. Griffin A Lakeland Notebook

London: Robert Hale, 1975. 203pp, 22cm, 36 black and white photographs by Geoffrey Berry.
A book based on a selection of sixty articles from a total of about 1500 contributed to the Lancasire Evening Post over a period of almost thirty years. It is wide ranging covering all aspects of Lakeland life.

A.H. Griffin A Year in the Fells

London: Robert Hale, 1976. 206pp, 22cm, 35 black and white photographs by Geoffrey Berry
A selection of the author's 'Guardian' diaries assembled to give a month by month picture of a Lakeland outdoor year.

A.H. Griffin Freeman of the Hills

London: Robert Hale, 1978. 192pp, 22cm, 36 black and white photographs by Geoffrey Berry, 1 map drawn by A.Wainwright.
During twelve weeks in the summer of 1977 the author revisited all the Lakeland tops over 2000 feet. This book describes those walks.

A.H. Griffin Adventuring in Lakeland

London: Robert Hale, 1980. 189pp, 22cm, 40 black and white photographs.
Scrambling, rock-climbing, gill-climbing, snow-climbing, ski-mountaineering described with the author's usual intimate knowledge and enthusiasm.

A.H. Griffin A Lakeland Mountain Diary

Swindon: Crowood, 1990. 224pp, 24cm, 50 black and white photographs.
A collection of 240 of Harry Griffin's beautifully crafted diaries, first published in The Guardian, assembled in monthly form to give an enthusiast's impression of a year in the fells in all weathers.

A.Harry Griffin The Coniston Tigers

Wilmslow, Cheshire: Sigma Leisure, 1999. (xvi), 206pp, 24cm, black and white photographs, drawings and map of Lakeland by A. Wainwright.
More wonderfully evocative writing from the doyen of Lakeland writers, covering an incredible seventy year span from the early exploration of Dow Crag to the present day.

Marshall Hall The Artists of Cumbria

Newcastle upon Tyne: Marshall Hall Associates, 1979. x, 102pp, 28.5cm.
An illustrated dictionary giving detailed information about more than 350 painters, sculptors, draughtsmen and engravers who were either born in what is now modern Cumbria or lived within its boundaries between 1615 and 1900..

Alan Hankinson A Century on the Crags

London: Dent, 1988. xiv, 225pp, 24cm, 57 historic black and white photographs, map.
A history of rock climbing in the Lake District.

Thomas Huson Round About Helvellyn

London: Seeley and Co. Limited, 1895. [vii], 51pp, 32.5cm, 24 Plates.
With notes by the artist and descriptive passages from Wordsworth's poems.

No authors at the moment begin with 'I'

Owen Glynne Jones Rock-climbing in the English Lake District London: Longmans, 1897. xxvi, 284pp, 39 plates, 24cm A classic work on early Lakeland rock-climbing. There were two more editions with additional material: 2nd, 1900 and 3rd,1911; both published in Keswick by G.P.Abraham and Sons.

Owen Glynne Jones

No authors at the moment begin with 'K'

Molly Lefebure Scratch and Co

London: Gollancz, 1968. 158pp, illus., 20.5cm.
A children's novel about a mountaineering expedition undertaken by cats. Illustrated by A. Wainwright. For a modern reprint see www.scratchandco.com

No authors at the moment begin with 'M'

Norman Nicholson The Lakers - The Adventures of the First Tourists

London: Robert Hale, 1955. (x), 235pp, 22cm, 17 black and white plates.
Tells of the discovery of the Lake District by the poets , philosophers, lovers of the picturesque, etc.

Norman Nicholson Greater Lakeland

London: Robert Hale, 1969. 236pp, 36 black and white photographs, map, 22cm.
A historical guidebook, by the Cumrian poet, drawing attention to some of the lesser known parts of Lakeland.

Lehmann J. Oppenheimer The Heart of Lakeland

London: Sherratt and Hughes, 1908. (xiv), 196pp, 38 plates, 24cm.
A classic work by a pioneer rock climber killed in the first World War.

James Barker Pyne (1800-1870) The Lake Scenery of England

London: Day and Son, 1859. (vii), 25 chromolithographs, 28.5cm x 21cm.
Pyne was born in Bristol but moved to London in 1835 and subsequently visited the Lake District regularly.

See some of the prints featured in this book.

No authors at the moment begin with 'Q'

Jane Renouf Alfred Heaton Cooper - Painter of Landscape

Grasmere: Red Bank Press, 1997. xiv, 157pp, 102 colour plates, 55 pencil and pen sketches, 29 black and white photographs, 31cm.
A biography of one of Lakeland's most popular artists; the father of William Heaton Cooper.

H.A.L. Rice Lake Country Towns

London: Robert Hale, 1974. 189pp, 33 black and white photographs, map, 22cm.
Descriptions of the rich heritage of the small but ancient towns of Lakeland.

George S. Sansom Climbing at Wasdale before the First World War

Somerset: Castle Cary Press, 1982. 100pp, (xx), 12 black and white plates, illus.,28cm.
Published on the seventieth anniversary of the pioneer girdle traverse of Scafell. Nine drawings and a map by A.Wainwright. Edition limited to 1000 copies.

Frank Singleton The English Lakes

London: Batsford, 1954. 208pp, 24 colour plates, 22cm.
A journalist's personal re-appraisal of the Lake District with particular emphasis on the literary associations.

Roger Smith 42 Peaks - the Story of the Bob Graham Round

Bob Graham 24 hour Club, 1982. 32pp, 15 black and white photographs, 1 map, 21cm.
A history of the club with a list of members as at 1st April 1982. Foreword by Harry Griffin.

( See split times for an actual Bob Graham Round )

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John Waterhouse The Stone Circles of Cumbria

Chichester: Phillimore, 1985. xx, 167pp, 21 black and white plates, 64 text illustrations (maps, drawings, diagrams), 25cm.
The first comprehensive account of the Cumbrian circles written for both the interested visitor and the archeologist.

Jim Watson Lakeland Villages

Milnthorpe: Cicerone, 1988. 171pp, pen and ink sketches. maps, 27.5cm.
A book of anecdote, history, sketches and maps. Four walks are described.

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