The third new book I’ve produced this year is the final volume of the series along the lower Thames in the 1980s, East from Gravesend. As well as my own walks out from Gravesend to Cliffe, it also has pictures from a couple of earlier visits with a small group of photographers further into the Hoo Peninsula and on to the Medway and the Swale.
All of these pictures are taken on the south side of the Estuary in Kent, and it was a few years later that I ventured much to the east of Barking along the Essex coast, with the exception of another outing with the same group to Canvey Island. So for the moment there are three volumes of my Lower Thameside series, but perhaps as I work through my many folders of contact sheets and negatives there will be more than cover the north bank.
As with most of my recent publications, this is published as a PDF and the digital version has ISBN 978-1-909363-18-2 . Blurb will also print you out a copy if you are feeling rich. The PDF gives you an instant download for £4.99 while the print copy is a ridiculous £29.95 plus post. I have a few copies available for my UK friends, and will hand one over for £25 or post it to any UK address for £27.00* – faster and cheaper than ordering via Blurb and their courier delivery.
There are several great advantages to publishing as a PDF. Most important to me is image quality. Assuming you have a decent screen these pictures are more detailed and have better contrast and density range. Blurb do a decent job of printing, at least on the premium paper that I specify, and while it is better than some of the photographic books on my shelves (particularly some of the older ones) it certainly doesn’t compare with good duotone or quadtone printing.
Cost is an obvious advantage, and publishing digitally cuts my costs considerably. If you assign a print publication a UK ISBN, then you are obliged legally to deposit a copy with the British Library – UK National Library. I’d be happy to do that, but if they request it, you also have to send free copies to the Scottish and Welsh National Libraries, and also Oxford and Cambridge universities and Trinity College Dublin.
When I started producing books, these other libraries didn’t get round to asking for their copies, but they now appear to be more organised, and after I spent around £250 on their copies and carriage for a couple of books I decided to go digital.
Its perhaps surprising that our national library doesn’t appear interested in digital publications, although they do have these in their collection. But they have never responded when I’ve sent them copies of the PDFs and have not added them to their collection.
As usual there is a preview of the book available, including over half the pictures in the book. Click on the icon to make it full-screen and enjoy:
I’ve written two previous posts about my own walks from Gravesend to Cliffe while I was preparing the images for this book – quite a while ago,
North Kent 2 and To Cliffe which have more information about the work.
*Contact me from this page to be sent the further details needed to place an order, which can then be made either by post including a cheque or by email and bank transfer.
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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.
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