GWR books and booklets
Cathedrals Series
The name Cathedrals Series is one which was given by the GWR to this series of just three titles. It is derived from the name of the book which started it off, rather than the subject matter, but all three books in the series were to be produced to the same high standards
In his memoir, Sir Felix Pole records that, during the early 1920s, George E.Beer had joined the Great Western Railway as a 'publicity and propaganda' adviser. He was previously News Editor at The Times but was offered the post of News Editor at the Daily Mail only a year or two later. According to Pole's book, George Beer felt that he was a journalist at heart and was pleased to take up the offer. He did however propose that he would write a book on cathedrals as a thank you to the GWR for his time with the company. When completed, the manuscript was approved by the Deans of each cathedral covered and the Archbishop of Canterbury contributed a foreword. The book was published in March 1924 and was quite a departure from any that had been previously produced by the GWR. It was of a much larger format and printed on quality paper by the Ballantyne Press with many line drawings and plates in sepia gravure, and coloured images of heraldic shields finished in gold and silver. It was priced at 2/6 (two shillings and sixpence) in soft back (with a dust jacket) and a hard back version was priced at 5/-, both of which represented good value for such a fine book. After this, there were no more soft back versions but a second edition followed in hard back form in July 1925 with a second impression produced in February 1926. No advertising matter was included but, starting from the second edition, a folded map of the GWRClick or tap to see an image of the map showing the location of Cathedrals, Abbeys and Castles was placed in a pocket attached to the inner back cover. A limited run of 100 hard back 'Edition De Luxe' copies of the first edition had been produced in the meantime priced at 15/-. The dust jacket bore the words Only one hundred copies of this beautiful edition were made. Its possession should prove a joy to discriminating collectors of rare and delicate productions. The GWR published a set of postcards to coincide with the initial publication of the book in 1924, and images used on these postcards are shared with the book.
The second volume in the series, Abbeys, was written by Dr.M.R.James, Provost of Eton. Again printed by the Ballantyne Press it was published in August 1925 in hard back form only. The first print run of 20,000 quickly sold out and a second (and final) impression of 20,000 copies followed in early 1926. The series was completed in 1926 with the production of Castles written by Sir Charles Oman. This was an even weightier book with over 230 pages and although our copy is noted as being the First Impression it is thought that no further editions or reprints took place. As can be seen, this volume sported a rather more interesting dust jacket than the plain ones of the previous two volumes. Printed by Kelly & Kelly Ltd. it was produced to the same high specification as the others. These two later works also had the map showing Cathedrals, Abbeys and CastlesClick or tap to see an image of the map in a pocket at the back. Local interest is provided in the various books by chapters on Oxford Castle, Oxford Cathedral, Wallingford Castle, and Abingdon Abbey amongst others.
The Great Western Railway were justifiably proud of this series of books which they heralded as marking 'The high-water mark in the production of travel literature'. Despite being very well received, the Castles book was never reprinted as far as we can tell. However, in 1978 a larger sized facsimile
Author's collection was printed in the USA and published by Beekman House of New York and by Frederick Muller Limited in London. This edition had a short foreword added by Gail Allan and a coloured dust jacket with a photograph of Bodiam Castle. The book itself was printed in monochrome and did not have the GWR map in a pocket at the back.
~~ Click or tap on any thumbnail below to see a gallery of images taken from the books ~~
First impression, in soft cover
undated but published in March 1924
George E.Beer
First impression, in hard back
undated but published in March 1924
George E.Beer
2nd edition, first impression
dated July 1925
Now with map
2nd edition, second impression
dated February 1926
George E.Beer
First impression
dated 1925
Dr.M.R.James
Second impression
dated 1926
Dr.M.R.James
Single impression
undated but published in 1926
Sir Charles Oman
