The Little Books 5

 Recently, a brief collection of small format books containing collections of photographs, mainly of St Albans views and street scenes, featured on this blog.  

Many of the four titles are now out of print, although copies can be found in the secondhand book market, including Abe Books.  One bi-product of each blog was to assess the usefulness of each little volume for lauding the East End of St Albans.

The title page of the first, 1949 edition.

The second edition was the first ring bound and with a coloured card
combined cover and title page.

The final edition introduced more design into the now-yellow cover.

One book omitted earlier is a title many residents of the post Second World War period will have recalled; it was titled St Albans: the story of the city and its people.  First published in 1949 by St Albans City Council there have been subsequent reprints in 1956, 1963 and 1974, each with a different cover design.  What set this title apart from almost every other book was its spiral binding.  It is thought that only the 1949 printing was hardbound.  Several copies of at least three of the editions is currently available on Abe Books, but certainly not at the 2/6d price of the original!

Edited by Lord Forrester in 1949, of the family Earl of Verulam – probably the same individual in subsequent reprintings. The printing was undertaken by Gibbs & Bamforth, printers and publishers of the Herts Advertiser at the time. Other printing processes were undertaken in this town of printing, including scraper board panels to introduce most of the sections.

This photograph, included only in the first edition , shows an employee at work
in the St Albans Brush Company building then on the corner of Ashley Road
and Hedley Road.

It should be confirmed that St Albans: the story of the city and its people differs from the earlier series of books in not being entirely a book of photographs.  It is essentially a guide to places, a history by none other than Elsie Toms, and chapters explaining the importance of Verulamium, St Albans at Work, St Albans Teaches St Albans at Leisure, the Abbey, Local Government and guided walks to and around the parishes of St Peter, St Michael and St Stephen. The book also includes three maps.

A rare image from the workbench inside Service Headwear, as it was then
named, in Hatfield Road.

But the stories are embellished with 29 full page photographs, most of which are unique to this publication.  The East End benefits from the inclusion of study images from some of the factories extant at the time: ELEC (Engineering & Lighting Equipment) of Campfield Road, Sander's in Camp Road, The Herts Advertiser Printing Company which moved to Camp Road from Spencer Street, Heath & Heather, on the edge of the East End at the City Station, Nicholson & Co, headquartered in Sutton Road, Marconi Instruments Ltd, and Ballito Hosiery Mill.

Two of the advertisements originate from the East End: this one
from Nicholson's Coats in Sutton Road; the other in the
first edition was a double page advertised Rodex Coats from
W O Peake in Hatfield Road.

Today we would describe the publication as "Sponsored" or "Supported by Advertising", On the cusp of the post-war world a classic collection of full page advertisements completes the book; regrettably the majority of businesses are no longer trading.

For its time the concept of the mini guide by the Council was commendable, and while most towns and cities have introduced their own versions since, it is disappointing that the St Albans title has not been updated further (as far as I know) or a more modern presentation introduced.

However, the book deserves its place on the shelves of St Albans people, and not just its historians.