Lost England: 1870-1930

Philip Davies’ Lost London has long ruled as probably both the most handsome and most essential volume of its kind, photographically documenting a London that shifted from the glories and poverty of the late Victorian era to a scene of post-WWII apocalypse. Its breadth of superlative archival research and incidental detail make the volume a virtual one-stop resource for anyone looking to understand the framework of London today – what remains and just what has been swept aside. Those same principles guide its successor, the stunning Lost England. Here architectural historian Philip Davies undertook a seven year project to document the development of an entire country gradually sloughing off its rural dependency.Over something like 550 pages and 1500 photographs, this is a journal of a people in transition, a tale of nascent cities and a country way of living that seems resolutely alien to us now. Split by region, Lost England is certainly amongst the most handsome of books available this season and offers an extraordinary insight into a world which has by now all but vanished.From hospitals through to armament factories, shipyards to field, this is a document of industry, housing and of play, curated from a wealth of photographic archive.