The Book of Harlech

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Beautiful images in and around Harlech First edition, oblong octavo, in the publishers grey printed boards, corners worn. Paper re-back, no title. Internally, half title, [6], 7-15 pp, [1], [1], 20 tipped in photogravure plates from photographs, hinges strengthened. (177*229 mm). In 1916 Coburn and his wife Elizabeth visited Harlech and were so charmed by the place that two years later they bought a plot of land above the St. David's Hotel and built a house there. They lived at Harlech for the next thirty years, spending only the winters in London. In his autobiography Coburn records how 'for many years after retiring to the fastness of "Wild Wales" I did comparatively little photography, though I never entirely gave it up, for this is utterly impossible. Once the virus has entered the system it is there until time for us is no more. I sometimes climbed mountains as an excuse to use the camera on clouds, rocks, little lakes nestling in valleys overshadowed by the heights, and prehistoric stone monuments. There was I may also mention, a small Book of Harlech published locally in the town of my adoption in 1920, which bears testimony to my activities at that time.' Alvin Langdon Coburn Photographer, pp. 116-118. The 20 plates depict the castle, windswept beach and buildings of Harlech but most evocative are the misty views of the mountains and hillside farms with drystone walls snaking across the landscape reminiscent of the best work of Frank Smythe. The book was published at the insistence of the publisher, D. H. Parry, the text printed at the Chiswick Press and the plates by the Anglo Engraving Co.