Railway Journeys in Art Volume 2: Yorkshire and the North East (Poster to Poster Series 2)

Beautifully complementing its previously published sister volume, this delightful portfolio is fully worthy of five stars on the basis of concept, layout and presentation and, of course, the wonderful source material (so much of the commendation is really due to work of the original poster artists).However, as with Vol 1, which covered Scotland, this book suffers from what appears to be a rather casually prepared text. In Vol 1 we were given the remarkable insight into the idea that Mary Queen of Scots 'held the crown of England for a brief period', whilst here in Vol 2 somewhat more recent history is rewritten, with the Battle of Britain being said to be 'at its height' in 1941 (page 199).It is stated that these books don't purport to be railway histories but there's no excuse for having references to "Robert Stephenson" and "George Stevenson" (sic, page 30) within a few pages of each other. The poster featured on page 44 would surely have been far better held in reserve for a future volume; I suspect that Clausen's painting of a colliery is based on a Cumberland coast location, or possibly one in South Wales, given the preponderance of "LMS" wagons in view in this LMS poster; it's certainly highly questionable that it's representative of Northumberland. The actual location of Stoupe Beck, south of Robin Hood's Bay, is misrepresented (page 89). A poster that bears the image of a locomotive (A2/3 "Owen Tudor") constructed in 1947 can't possibly be a "classic 1950s reprint of an LNER 1930s poster" (page 162). Moreover, the suggestion on page 244 that it was "unusual" for the Eastern Region of BR to issue a poster relating to Whitby and the Esk Valley in 1977 also exposes the lack of understanding of context, as the author has clearly overlooked the fact that the former North Eastern Region ceased to exist when it was absorbed into the Eastern Region ten years previously.It's still a lovely book, but with a bit more attention to detail it would be very much more satisfying.

My father worked on the Railway all his life so of course we went everywhere by train. Well not quite everywhere since neither funds nor time off allowed.However all those hundreds of Travel by Train holiday posters which were displayed at every station gave a young lad a feeling that you could just go. I was brought up on a constant diet of these wonderful insights into the whole of the country and I am sure I learnt more about our green and pleasant land as a result. Alas most of this type of advertising has disapeared from our stations but....... these wonderful books have brought all the lovely pictures and places to life again and so beautifully may I say . I look forward to having the complete series on my bookshelf. Bravo authors and publisher and thankyou.

Purchased as a Christmas present - recipient was very happy with it. Lovely book and very good quality

Sumptuous; the large format makes this the ultimate coffee-table book, and provides an insight into how the railways worked (principally between the Wars).

Thank youReceived promptly .Well packaged.Book as described.

Great book of art

Fantastic book. Great to have found it back in print

This book has been bought as a Christmas present, but I'm sure it will be just as good as Volume 1 (Scotland) and London and the Southeast