A Companion to Local History Research

Exactly why this Companion is now presented for review, 11 years after publication, remains shrouded in mystery. The reviewer hastens to deny that he has been sitting on it all through the 1990s. Even our most genial of editors would not have stood for that and he would have long since deleted my name from his Christmas card list. In an uncharitable mood we might infer that a new edition is imminent and that a canny reviews editor has decided to save a bawbee or two. If an air of unreality pervades what follows it arises from the book’s appearance...