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A Bibliography (hereafter known by it's working title 'The Bib')

As a society dealing with the history of the pub we think that a bibliography of relevant publications would be a useful project to embark upon. Over the last few months I have been trawling through catalogues, bibliographies and sources various to form a series of files, these are now available as webpages. I have now, with the assistance of a couple of members put together a listing of about 1200 books and publications. This I suspect is just scratching the surface!

We are now at the point where the Bib needs additional input from others, this is where you, our visitors can help.

I am positive that there are books out there that have escaped our notice, we need to know about them.

Also, the Bib at present is just a listing with few if any details, we need more information. If you take time to have a look at the pages and are able to fill in any of the gaps we would be very grateful. We also need to know about any new books that might be published in the future.

We also believe that local history societies have published articles and books relating to pub history, if anyone knows about them, we'd like to know about them too.

The Bib includes the following:-

1. General books about the history of the pub e.g. The English Pub - A History by Peter Haydon 1994

2. Publications relating to pubs in a specific village, town or city e.g. Hostelries of Bishop's Stortford by Joe Godfrey Smith 1976.

3. Publications relating to pubs in a specific area or region e.g. Hertfordshire Inns. A handbook of old Hertfordshire inns and beerhouses by William Johnson. 1962.

4. Articles in magazines. Sometimes articles are to be found in popular magazines e.g. East Anglian Life produced a series of articles in the 1960's about inns around the region.

5. Local history society's magazines or journals. The history of the pub is a very popular subject as we all know, and I have found quite a few societies that have published articles or leaflets with pubs as their theme. As the number of local history societies is now in triple figures I think there is a vast quantity of material that is not obvious to us.

6. Help Guides. If there are any publications out there that are designed to help with your research, they might be a useful addition to the Bib e.g. Victuallers' Licences: Records for Family and Local Historians - Gibson and Hunter. 1997.

7. Local CAMRA pub guides. Although not usually specifically relating to pub history, they will in the future provide a pub listing which may be useful. We would however like to know if they have any relevant historical details contained within them

8. Publications about other subjects that infringe on pub history. e.g. Somerset Public House Tokens, Somerset County Council. 1985.

9. Travel journals that mention lodging at inns etc e.g. The Torrington Diaries (1790's).

The Bib WOULD NOT include the following:-

1. Books specifically about breweries. We would feel quite at ease including brewery related books if they mention pubs and inns. We are willing to accept brewery related information but it may not appear in the Bib. The time may come when we can extend our operations by creating 'Son of Bib' which would include breweries as well.

The Sources used so far.

The use of online library catalogues has made the compilation of the database considerably easier than it would have been. The 2 main catalogues being COPAC and the British Library Public Catalogue.

COPAC. [www.copac.ac.uk/copac/]. This database has over 8 million records and is made up of the merged records of numerous University Research Libraries. The records date back to 1100AD.

British Library Public Catalogue [www.blpc.bl.uk]. In theory the BL has a copy of every book published. If they haven't they make a good try at it.

Beer Inn Print Booklist. Paul Travis, who many will know from his appearances at various events around the country, has one of the largest beer, pub and brewery related bookstalls in Christendom. His booklist was used as a starting point for the bibliography.

Michael Slaughter's Personal Bibliography. Michael has been seeking out unspoilt pubs all over the country for more years than he cares to remember. In the course of his research he has put together a large and varied library. I have plundered it ruthlessly for any useful information.

A J Shepherdson. Wine and Beer book catalogue.

Woodlands Books of Leeds. A much used booklist from several years ago.

John Thorne of Dagenham, Essex. John's extensive catalogues have given me the opportunity to buy some scarce books over the years. His catalogues could quite easily be used as works of reference. He has published the 'A Bibliophile's Inn-Signia' A Book about books about inn signs.....

David Gutzke. Extensive bibliography.

Bob Flood of Cambridge. His extensive library has been catalogued.

Ray Scarfe of the IOW. His listing of books has also been included.

Neil B Todd of USA - listing of books relating to Tavern Tokens.

 

Availability of the Bib.

The files have been converted to webpages. They are generally listed by county. There is also a page for the Master List which contains the whole file. In addition there are pages for Tavern Tokens that has been compiled by Neil B Todd in the USA and an Unclassified Section.

Unclassified Section

As some of the publications give few clues as to which county they should be included under they have been included in this section. If anyone can shed any light onto which part of the UK they refer to I would be very grateful for any information.

Updating the Bib

At the bottom of every county/subject page there is a link to an update form. This will open (hopefully!) into another web-window where you can amend or add to the Bib - this will then be emailed via the form to me. I will then amend the information.

 

Thank you for your interest.

 

Steve Williams  

 

 

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