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STEVENS,PHILIP A: : The Leicester Line: A History of the Old Union and Grand Union Canals

UK.NEWTON ABBOT,DEVON,1972.

ISBN 0715355368.

UK,8vo HB+protected dw/dj,1st edn. FINE+/FINE+.Donor's ink presentation inscrptn and date and price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated, scenic,colour photographic illustrated front panel of dw/dj with white lettering, rear panel with publishers b/w advert; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges lightly and sporadically foxed/spotted; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean, sharp-cornered,publisher's original plain taupe cloth bds with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and clean plain white eps.UK,slim 8vo HB+protected dw/dj,1st edn,7-216pp [paginated] includes separate contents+illustrations lists/ tables,an author's preface,7 chapters,a mixture of contemporary b/w photographs, maps and diagrams interspersed throughout the text and the book,notes,a biblio, author's acknowledgements,appendices (1-5) and an index,plus [unpaginated] half- title,scenic colour photographic frntis, title page and a dedication. Two canals make up the Leicester Line.The Leicestershire & Northamptonshire Union,or 'Old Union',was authorised in 1793 to run from Leicester,soon to be accessible from the Trent by way of the navigable Soar, onwards to the Nene and the Grand Junction at Northampton.Canal-building reached Gumley Debdale by 1797,Market Harborough by 1809,but got no further.In 1810 a new Act was passed for the Grand Union Canal, strongly supported by the Grand Junction. This linking line,to run from the Old Union at Foxton by way of Crick to the Grand Junction at Norton,was opened in 1814; it united Thames and Trent. The story of the Leicester Line is a full of interest as it was of vicissitudes.For a time the canals did well,though they were in an uncomfortably hot commercial spot.Then they declined before the railways,until towards the end of the century the two little companies were barely solvent.And then salvation seemed to be offered: purchase by the Grand Junction,and widening to allow coal barges from north of Trent to pass through to London.The widening was not to be by lock reconstruction,but by building inclined planes at Foxton and Watford. Gordon Thomas,engineer of the Grand Junction,built the first at Foxton amidst great hopes.It was opened in 1900,but traffic failed to justify it,still less a second. The plane ceased regular working in 1910: thereafter commercial traffic slowly fell away almost to nothing.The Leicester Line lay idle,until in our own time the growth of pleasure cruising on the canals has given it new life. Philip Stevens has known the Leicester Line since boyhood: his love for it shows through every page of his carefully researched writing.Here is the history of the Line,its ups and downs,its growth, decline and resurrection,from the days of the canal mania to those of the canal revival. Since April 2013 and again in March 2015, and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering it's prices,weight allowances,dimensions and lowered it's qualifying compensation rates too! So,please contact seller,because of the weight/value of this item for correct, insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

UK,8vo HB+protected dw/dj,1st edn.

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