Classic

During the course of my research I've amassed quite a library of old excavation reports and books about prehistoric archaeology. At some point in the future I'll have to offload them but, for now, they adorn my bookshelves. This is my most recent acquisition: a classic by all accounts. This particular copy, which cost me less than £10, was originally held by the Manchester Reference Library. I love the smell of old books and the feel of them - and the prose. Here's a lovely excerpt from Chapter X in this one:

On the west of the road between Chichester and Midhurst is a bold range of rugged and rolling downs, which is among the finest stretches of chalk downs in existence. It is speckled with hawthorns and tufts of gorse, and scarred with the footprints of our ancestors, in the form of barrows, flint-mines, entrenchments, and other vestiges.

The best centre for exploring these downs is Chichester, but Midhurst is nearly as good. A number of delightful old-world Sussex villages are scattered between Midhurst and Chichester, and any of these villages is also a good centre for exploring these hills. Among the prettiest of these villages is Singleton with its thatched cottages and with the Lavant stream running through the street by the roadside. It was while staying at Singleton that William Cobbett wrote: '...as to these villages in the South Downs, they are beautiful to behold... The houses are good and warm; and the gardens some of the very best that I have seen in England'.


As true today as it was then!