Shifting the Scenery and Restaging the Picturesque

Book abstract: Last printed in 1821 this book of the original text by Thomas West, aquatints by J. Smith and J. Emes and addenda features an essay by Dr Mark Haywood and images by Dr John Darwell of the Faculty of the Arts together with images by Niki Thomas, edited by Gerard M F Hill. Unspoilt. Unvisited. Until Thomas West wrote his guidebook, the Lake District was unknown and unloved. No poets came, no tourists toured and the average nymph or shepherd saw nothing worth a second look. Yet before Wordsworth was even born, one man was showing people the beauty of this wilderness – through a camera, too. Thomas West was a scholar who loved the Lakes and made the world see what he saw. In this new edition of his guidebook, photographs match the original views and the ‘viewing stations’. West sketches the scene and highlights the special features, ‘ verified by his own repeated observations’ – a scholarly introduction and notes fill in the background. Why visit the Lakes? What will you see that the camera doesn’t? Suitable for ‘the curious of all ranks’, this is the guidebook that began it all. Use it to look at the Lakes with fresh eyes.