Sisson, Rev.J.L.
Historic sketch of the parish church, Wakefield.
Wakefield, Richard Nichols (and London, Longman, (etc)) 1824.
Full Description
Small 4to. (6) + 120pp, 3 engraved plates (india paper proofs), 3 woodcut text ills (by Orlando Jewitt). Original printed boards, rebacked with recent cloth spine. Old light stains affecting plates at upper margins.
Scarce large paper printing of this very competent monograph on Wakefield parish church, written by a local clergyman who was Second Master at Wakefield Grammar School. Part of the author’s purpose in publishing it was “to furnish those strangers who visit the place, with a guide to one of the handsomest and most interesting churches, of which the extensive Diocese of York can boast”, and it is interesting that this large fourteenth century town church should have been a tourist attraction as early as the mid 1820s. The author’s introductory “advertisement” is dated 1 November 1824, showing that the book in this format postdates an earlier small paper version, in which the author’s “advertisement” is dated 1 October 1824, and what is notable is that in order to produce a large paper edition the volume’s printer and publisher had to have the whole text reset, with the result that it occupies 120 pages rather than the original 114 pages. The resulting volume is certainly a more attractive product (and is printed on paper of a superior quality). Not in BAL Cat.