Reissue of J. A. Baker's extraordinary classic of British nature writing
Despite the association of peregrines with the wild, outer
reaches of the British Isles, The Peregrine is set on the flat marshes
of the Essex coast, where J A Baker spent a long winter looking and
writing about the visitors from the uplands - peregrines that spend the
winter hunting the huge flocks of pigeons and waders that share the
desolate landscape with them.
Including original
diaries from which The Peregrine was written and its companion volume
The Hill of Summer, this is a beautiful compendium of lyrical nature
writing at its absolute best. Such luminaries as Richard Mabey, Robert
Macfarlane, Ted Hughes and Andrew Motion have cited this as one of the
most important books in 20th Century nature writing, and the bestselling
author Mark Cocker has provided an introduction on the importance of
Baker, his writings and the diaries - creating the essential volume of
Baker's writings. Papers, maps, and letters have recently
come to light which in turn provide a little more background into J A
Baker's history.
Contemporaries - particularly from his time at
school in Chelmsford - have provided insights, remembering a school
friend who clearly made an impact on his generation. Among
fragments of letters to Baker was one from a reader who praised a piece
that Baker had written in RSPB Birds magazine in 1971. Apart from a
paper on peregrines which Baker wrote for the Essex Bird Report, this
article - entitled On the Essex Coast - appears to be his only other
published piece of writing, and, with the agreement of the RSPB, it has
been included in this updated new paperback edition of Baker's
astounding work.
The Peregrine : The Hill of Summer & Diaries: the Complete Works of J. A. Baker
- Product Code:New
- Availability:In Stock
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£9.99