Nottingham & Notts Books


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Nottingham From the Air by Ian Bracegirdle & Dave Bracegirdle. Published by Breedon Books in 2008.

 

180 pages in colour of aerial photos of Nottingham.

 

This may still be readily available. I got my copy of it fairly recently from Ebay.

 

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Having bored everybody with first some of my old football programmes followed by some old theatre programmes I thought I'd now start a new series about books which I have accumulated over the years an

I've just been for lunch in the old town in Nice and thought I'd have a wander around (which is not quite as easy for me as it is for some, being stuck in a wheelchair) but, anyway, that's beside the

Great to see others like collecting books. I have a fairly good collection of Nottingham and Notts books including many by Douglas Whitworth, also stories by Alan Dance, Joy James and Joan Wallace - a

Volume Two of the Victorian Nottingham series. First published in 1971 and reprinted 1977. Some of the content was duplicated in the Old Nottingham Transport series. 

 

A book that I was given as the previous owner no longer wanted it.

 

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Volume Seven, published in 1972, and the only one I bought new. I never bothered with the others in the series - I think I used to look at some of them in the library (Sherwood) - but I might now start looking for one or two on Ebay.

 

This one not only covers the Theatre Royal but also the Theatre on St Mary's Gate which finally closed in 1883.

 

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The Theatre Royal Nottingham 1865-1978 - a theatrical and architectural history, edited by Robin Beynon.

 

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The book comprises a look at the first two hundred years of theatre in Nottingham, a history of the Theatre Royal, with details of its first rebuilding in 1897 which saw an almost complete remodelling of the interior, and the story of the rebuilding in 1977. Includes lots of photos, some in colour, from after the latter rebuilding, plus a few of what it looked like before, including the interior (sadly not in colour). E.g.the 'Gods':

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Also includes brief biographies of the two architects - C. J. Phipps, responsible for the original building, and Frank Matcham, responsible for the 1897 interior (and also for the Empire). There is an interesting table giving the capacity of the theatre at various times - maximum ever was 3,000 in 1897 (which included 1,003 standing!), plus floor plans of the theatre, also at various times, e.g.:

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This is an A5-ish size softback book of 66 pages and I think was published by the Council. I can't remember for sure, but I think it must have been on sale at the Theatre Royal in 1978 which is where I would likely have bought it.  I should guess Ebay is the likeliest source now.

 

 

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16 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

That plan of the Theatre Royal and the Empire has been posted somewhere on here before (maybe by you ?!)      It's interesting to see that the Empire had more space for seating than the Royal.

 

Yes, I think I put it on somewhere else in connection with another discussion (it won't be there now thanks to Photobucket!).

 

According to the book, the capacity of the Empire when opened was 2,500 - I assume this included standing, as it states the capacity had been reduced to 1,763 by 1946 (I'm guessing this was due to a reduction in standing).

 

When the interior of the Theatre Royal was remodelled in 1897 the capacity was increase from 2,200 to the aforementioned 3,000 (probably the former as well as the latter included standing). The actual seating in 1897 was 1,997.  

 

The figure for 1977 (pre-refurbishment) was 1,456 (nil standing!), so I suppose that would compare with the Empire's 1,763 in 1946.

 

There was a reduction to the capacity post-refurbishment to 1,138 mainly due to the installation of proper seats in the Gallery.

 

Re the larger stalls area shown on that plan for the Empire, it did of course have much less room taken up by having a smaller stage area than the Theatre Royal as that was all that was needed for a variety theatre.

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One I'm reading on and off at the moment,mainly school teachers from the Meadows area who joined up in WW1

 

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I met David Nunn a couple of years ago at one of his talks in Coningsby of all places,very interesting and knowledgable person

 

Rog

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Geoffrey Oldfield again, and 'Nottingham Yesterday & Today' in the Britain in Old Photographs series. Published by Alan Sutton Publishing in 1995.  Again, probably still obtainable.

 

Mainly it's a comparison of past and present photographs of the same location, the sort of book I like.

 

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My favourite books in my collection are the directories I have 20 the earliest being 1832(White).

I have Nine Kelly's earliest 1891 latest 1953.

These books a a great source of "information" & a good solver of arguements on line :)

 

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Just sent off for a couple thats of interest to me, Trams and Trolley buses by Ottwell and Bill of Bulwell, Nottingham working man

 

£3.75 and £2.92 respectively, should keep me out of trouble for an hour

 

Rog

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This afternoon we visited an excellent second hand book shop. They had a copy of Nottingham from the air and also Picture the Past Nottingham. I looked at both and bought Picture the Past. An excellent book.  Nottingham from the air  was  interesting but a bit off putting as so much has changed. I prefer the old photos and the historical information.

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The Leen Valley at Work 1785-1985 by Martin R. Weiss.

 

Published by Wharncliffe Publishing in 1996. An A5-size paperback

 

Chapters are:

The Leen Valley Mills

Rails in the Leen Valley

Coal

Rolls Royce Ltd

 

I don't know if this is still obtainable. I came across it on Ebay about ten years ago and hadn't known of its existence until then.

 

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Bulwell and Basford on old picture postcards by Grenville Jennings.  No. 22 in the series 'Yesterday's Nottinghamshire'.

 

Published in 1993, but I imagine it should be readily obtainable - I think most in this series of A5-size booklets (this one is 36 pages) still are.

 

About two thirds of the photos are of Bulwell scenes.

 

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Nottinghamshire's Railway Ghosts by John R. Smalley.

 

An A5-size booklet published by J. H. Hall & Sons in their Heritage Series in 1994.

 

A collection of accounts of alleged 'strange happenings' in the county. Mostly fairly brief, they include such as 'The Phantom of Mapperley Tunnel', 'Mysterious Plumtree', 'The Most Haunted Station in Nottinghamshire' (Rolleston) and 'The Phantom of Arkwright Street Bridge' amongst many others.

 

Considering the title of the book it seems odd to include an account (factual) of the Grantham rail crash of 1906, and two alleged incidents in Derbyshire.

 

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