High Street

Product Information

Its design is less elegant than other inter-war trade books, including Adrian Bell’s Men and the Fields, illustrated with six full-page lithographs by John Nash, which Pat Gilmour described in 1977 as ‘one of those nine shillings and sixpence bargains that still make one gasp’. Published by Published by Victoria and Albert Museum (Publishing), South Kensington, London First Edition .

Its importance in Ravilious’s oeuvre was assured, and a copy was displayed in the memorial exhibition organised by the Arts Council in 1948. Much praise should be reserved to Jim Richards for his illuminating and highly detailed descriptions.Written in large part for middle school children, High Street is a survey of the businesses to be found along a typical high street in the 1930s.

Due to the scarcity of the book and the increased interest in Ravilious' work, the High Street book is generally sold in its entire published form. A lovely, captivating, and beautifully-produced facsimile edition of a 1938 volume, with illustrations/lithographs by the incomparable Eric Ravilious. Small bump to bottom corner of front cover, otherwise fine in fine card slipcase (apparently most copies were issued without the slipcase). the smell of the oil-and-colourman's… You could range the gamut of the human nose from pungent to mawkish. This is followed by two illustrated essays, "The Making of High Street" and "High Street at Seventy" by Powers and Russell, respectively.When one could watch the butcher cutting the meat, enjoy the smell of the coffee grinder and the baking of bread. The illustrations by Eric Ravilious, which have been taken out and reproduced in separate editions by English art houses, are charming.