Wainwright's classic guides to walking the Lakeland Fells (Wainwright Anniversary Boxed Set Pictorial Guides to the Fells (1-7) - A. Wainwright)

Member Name: dmandrew

Product:	Wainwright Anniversary Boxed Set Pictorial Guides to the Fells (1-7) - A. Wainwright
Date:	27/03/08 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Written from knowledgeable experience - each book a labour of love

Disadvantages: Just slightly bulky for the pocket

The Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells were written by A. Wainwright between 1955 and 1966. Originally published by Henry Marshall and printed by the Westmorland Gazette, they were later published by Michael Joseph and then by Frances Lincoln.

Wainwright, who came originally from Blackburn, moved to Kendal in 1941, and almost immediately fell in love with the landscape of the Lake District. When he was 45 years old, he made a decision that was to shape the rest of his life - to make a detailed walker's guide to every fell in Lakeland. Such was the meticulousness of his planning, that he mapped out to the week when the entire job would be completed, over a period of some thirteen years. He finished it one week early.

There are seven books in the series - eight if you count the postscript of a guide he wrote after the main series, detailing some of the smaller heights he had not felt necessary to include before. Wainwright himself decided how to divide up the area into seven roughly equal districts.

They are these, together with the principal heights and/or ranges to give an idea of the geography and scope of each book
The Eastern Fells - Helvellyn and Fairfield
The Far Eastern Fells - High Street
The Central Fells - High Raise and Ullscarf
The Southern Fells - Scafell Pike, the Langdale Pikes and Coniston Old Man
The Northern Fells - Skiddaw and Blencathra
The North Western Fells - Grasmoor and Dale Head
The Western Fells - Great Gable, Pillar and Haystacks (Wainwright's favourite)

The guides are meant to be carried on the fells, either in a generous pocket (each one measures 18cm by 12cm and is a bit over 2cm thick) or at the top of a rucksack. Every fell or mountain is dealt with separately, and there is a list in the order of their heights on the back of each volume, together with a plan of where they lie.

Typically, the pages for each fell start with its overall description., with a large drawing, putting it into context. There then follow maps, with drawings of the various routes to the top. A description of the summit is sometimes accompanied by another drawing that shows all of the identifiable surrounding peaks. There are descriptions of the ways down, and of ridge walks to adjoining mountains. There is sensible advice given for how to proceed in mist.

Every single page for each of these books was drawn by hand.

That is such a staggering feat that it must be dwelt upon. I have not counted up all of the pages, but 1400 might be a reasonable estimate. He was such a perfectionist that after spending who knows how many hours on the first hundred pages he began again, having decided to justify the right hand margin. Just consider the forward thinking that that requires when you are working by hand!

Wainwright's drawings have more character than would photographs, although his method was to work from photographs that he had taken. Many were so good that his publishers printed separate books just of his pictures, the Lakeland Sketchbooks.

The best way to use these books is to take them on the fells with you - you are unlikely every to need more than two in a day, and one will almost always suffice - together with Ordnance Survey 1:25000 maps. But the also make a grand read sitting in an armchair or lying in bed or in the bath, allowing you to recall wonderful days.

Wainwright was a man of forthright opinions, and it is refreshing that he did not keep these out of his writing. He tells you what he thinks about people who don't keep to the paths, or well-meaning bodies who replace ancient pathways with stone steps, or yobs who desecrate summit-top cairns. But he also shares with you things of beauty - a newt swimming in a pool, a homage to the hardy Lakeland sheep and throughout an artisan poet's way of expressing powerful thoughts about a magical landscape

They are not cheap books, at about £13 each (£9.09 on Amazon), although you can make a saving by buying a cased set of all seven (currently £54 on Amazon - a great bargain). The details are now not always up to date - indeed a second edition, prepared by Chris Jesty, with Wainwright's posthumous blessing, is in the middle of publication. I have seen these, and they are good, but I don't need both sets of books.

They can be obtained second hand for reasonable sums, although the first editions now command premium prices. If you go to the Lakes, then treat yourself to a set!

In the end, Wainwright made a great deal of money from the Pictorial Guides. However, that was not his aim, and hs used it all to found an animal rescue shelter in Kendal.

Summary: Ikons of literature for keen walkers