Hanover Library Catalogue

Image from Coce

An English library journey : with detours to Wales and Northern Ireland / John Bevis.

By: Publication details: Much Wenlock, UK : Eye Books , 2022.Description: 268 p. : ill. ; 21 cmISBN:
  • 9781785633089
Subject(s): Summary: In a ten-year mission criss-crossing the country—from Solihull to Slough, from Cleveland to Cornwall—he enrolls at libraries of all shapes and sizes: monuments to Art Deco or Brutalism; a converted corset factory; one even shaped like a pork pie. With the architectural eye of Pevsner and the eavesdropping ear of Bill Bryson, he engages us at every step with anecdotes and aperçus about the role of the public library in our national life, while ruing its decline in the age of austerity. As interested in the people he finds as he is in the buildings and their history, he is a humane, witty, and erudite guide. The result is a book to be treasured by anyone who has ever used a library.

In a ten-year mission criss-crossing the country—from Solihull to Slough, from Cleveland to Cornwall—he enrolls at libraries of all shapes and sizes: monuments to Art Deco or Brutalism; a converted corset factory; one even shaped like a pork pie.
With the architectural eye of Pevsner and the eavesdropping ear of Bill Bryson, he engages us at every step with anecdotes and aperçus about the role of the public library in our national life, while ruing its decline in the age of austerity. As interested in the people he finds as he is in the buildings and their history, he is a humane, witty, and erudite guide. The result is a book to be treasured by anyone who has ever used a library.

There are no comments on this title.

to post a comment.

The support of the Government of Ontario, through the Ministry of Tourism and Culture is acknowledged.
The support of the former Friends of the Hanover Library is acknowledged.

Webmaster: mail hanpub@hanover.ca

Powered by Koha