THE SEAS AND SHORES OF ENGLAND
By Edmund Vale
We have always been fond of our own- islands. But until recently this affection has been so inarticulate; -so inexplicit, that we have allowed the beauty of the countryside to be destroyed because we were not consciously aware of what was happening. The increasing number of books issued. however, which deal with the psychology and anatomy of the English landscape bear witness to a growing -appreciation of the English scene. The present volume (Batsford, 7s. 6d.) is the latest addition to the admirable British Heritage Series. As Sir Arthur Quiller-Conch points out in a foreword. most of the guide books to the British Isles fail to communicate the particular pleasure experienced by the coast dweller ; they concentrate the attention of the reader exclusively upon the land, overlooking the exciting and beautiful relation- ship of the land to the sea. This curious neglect of an important aspect Of landscape is here i-epaired by Mr. Edmund Vale, who, with the assistance of 116 superb photographs, describes the five seas of the English coast. Mr. Vale begins by explaining the three-. aspects of coastscape—the Offing, the Shore, and the Entrance. He then proceeds to a de- scription of the Irish Sea, St. George's Channel, the Severn Sea (vulgarly known as the Bristol Channel), the English Channel and the North Sea, and of the coastal towns. His method is informal, even desultory. Sometimes he includes historical legends of the towns he passes ; sometimes he confines himself to physical description ; sometimes lie gives an account of the c mditions which have produced such ports as Liverpool and Hull. It becomes apparent, however, by the end of the book, that a particular coastline has a particular effect on landscape and on character ; and that each of the five English seas has a personality of its own.
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