Portsmouth, A Literary and Pictorial Tour – by Matt Wingett

£12.50

111 illustrations – 50 in colour – 3 maps

Join local writer Matt Wingett and see Portsmouth through the eyes of writers such as Charles Dickens, Beatrix Potter, P G Wodehouse, H G Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Olivia Manning, Neil Gaiman and even Mahatma Gandhi.

Description

111 illustrations – 50 in colour – 3 maps

Join local writer Matt Wingett and see Portsmouth through the eyes of writers such as Charles Dickens, Beatrix Potter, P G Wodehouse, H G Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Olivia Manning, Neil Gaiman and even Mahatma Gandhi.

From the heights of Portsdown Hill to the crowded streets of Portsea, from the chaos that was Old Portsmouth to the beaches of Southsea and even the skies above, discover just what writers famous and obscure wrote about the town.

On the way, you will meet carousing sailors, enterprising bumboat women, obsessive fortune-tellers, fallen women, moral and immoral landladies, treacherous pilots, disapproving generals and many more characters both fictional and historical in this personal and slightly eccentric tour.

In this book you will discover –

  • Which Portsmouth woman wrote America’s first ever bestseller
  • Why St Jago the monkey became famous at The Common Hard
  • What H G Wells hated about Portsmouth
  • Where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first set foot in Southsea
  • What Lawrence of Arabia was doing on the Solent
  • Where midshipman Peter Simple was sent for his cocked hat

Crammed with 111 illustrations, many in colour. Each location is illustrated with a picture taken from the author’s personal collection, and accompanied by stories, facts, quasi-facts and complete fictions in an exploration of the literary heritage of the town.

Has maps at the rear so you can follow the tour yourself.

For anyone interested in Portsmouth, great writing and history, this is the perfect read.

Testimonial:

Just wanted to say, halfway through your literary and pictorial tour book… and having a whale of a time. A very entertaining and informative read so thank you (although my other half is now becoming increasingly irritated with me dropping in “facts of the day”) – Colin Scoggins

Additional information

Weight .30 kg
Dimensions 29.7 × 21 × 1 cm

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