I still think that the walk should be from Aberystwith to Conwy to get the best of the scenery and only the best. Further not many walkers can manage the three weeks the full route would entail and would be deterred by this. Starting from Aberystwith it could be done comfortably in a fortnight.
However, you probably feel that your proposed manuscript should fit exactly with the official pronouncement of ‘The Cambrian Way’ when finally made, and in view of the publicity which will herald the official ‘opening’ this must be better from the point of view of sales.
You have certainly got a big job in prospect. You will become engrossed in it. No more telly for the next year or so! You have the best wishes of Betty and myself and our eleven cats (or is it twelve?).
I have now booked the same room as before for your talk on ‘The Pennine Way’ on Thursday evening, 29th October. Thanks again for offering to do this for us.
Yours sincerely
AWainwright
For Aberystwith read Aberystwyth
LETTER 239: TO RON SCHOLES, 22 MARCH 1981
38 Kendal Green
Kendal, Cumbria
22 March 1981
Dear Ron,
Thank you for your letter and kind donation.
Of your two suggested titles I like ‘From Cardiff to Conwy – A Long Walk’, which describes the contents exactly. I don’t like ‘Cambrian Ways’, which gives no indication of the nature of the book. ‘Ways’ has other meanings (habits, for instance), and another objection is that this title suggests a poaching of the name of the official route, and if the latter ever gets off the ground, may result in confusion.
It is a good idea to tackle first a much more modest book, to see what the problems are, and the proposed publication of local walks just fits the bill. Presumably Radio Stoke would publish it?
Yes, I shall be pleased to do any drawings you want, from photos to be supplied later.
Many thanks for your further donation
Yours sincerely
AWainwright
LETTER 240: TO RON SCHOLES, 6 JUNE 1982
38 Kendal Green
Kendal, Cumbria
6 June 1982
Dear Ron,
Thank you for your letter.
Yes, it will be quite all right for you to use the drawings you have listed. Two comments – first, I note that those you have selected are all large drawings, about 8” × 6”, and you should bear in mind that they can be reproduced to a much smaller size if so required to fit the dimensions of the book. I think myself that they are improved by reduction. As an example of what I mean – the drawings used for the Animal Rescue notelets are all full-size drawings severely reduced to about 5” × 3”. specimen of Buttermere enclosed – this is reduced from 8” x 6”. Secondly, I still think the book will seem unbalanced because all the drawings are of northern parts of the country and the southern parts are illustrated by photographs only. To correct this I will, if you wish, do about half-a-dozen drawings of subjects in the southern counties if you will send photographs. For instance I was much impressed by the burial chamber at Pentre Ifan near Cardigan on our recent visit to South Wales, and there are places such as Stonehenge and Avebury that would lend themselves to pen-and-ink illustration.
It is still just possible that I may be able to get down to the Peak District later in the year for some pictures for your proposed guide and my own proposed Peak Sketchbook. If so, my visit will be outside school holidays and therefore I shall not avail myself of your kind offer of hospitality and transport. If this visit materialises I shall probably base myself at Casterton and get around by bus (Betty will not be with me).
Sometime within the next two or three months will you please let me have a list of the places you want illustrated for the purpose of your book? I would then visit those I could get to from Casterton and have to rely on your photographs for the remainder. If I cannot get to Casterton this year I would then have to use your photos throughout, assuming of course that you want to make a start on the book this year and cannot wait until 1983 when I may be able to have a longer stay with my chauffeur.
I have just received my copy of CLASSIC WALKS – a super book, free to me as a contributor.
All goes well here. I enclose a copy of the latest A.R. Report, as you request, and look forward to seeing you in October if not before.
Yours sincerely
AW
Our South Wales holiday was very successful, the weather being mainly dry and sunny. I still think the best scenery is around the Wye and Usk valleys. Gower, except for Worm’s Head, was rather disappointing.
LETTER 241: TO RON SCHOLES, 25 JULY 1982
38 Kendal Green
Kendal, Cumbria
25th July 1982
Dear Ron,
Many thanks for your very informative letter. I have written to the Palace Hotel for their current tariff.
I have beaten the printer’s deadline and will be able to prepare your drawings rather earlier that I expected, say by mid-August.
I may make a quick trip to South Wales in a fortnight’s time, taking advantage of my Senior Citizen’s Railcard to have another look at Cardiff and Swansea, which we rather skipped earlier this year, but do call if you are in the area; otherwise perhaps we could have a drink together at Buxton when I am there.
Sincerely,
AW
LETTER 242: TO RON SCHOLES, 12 DECEMBER 1982
38 Kendal Green
Kendal, Cumbria
12th December 1982
Dear Ron,
Many thanks for your cheque for 15 pounds in payment for ‘High Crag’ (for which, incidentally and much to my surprise, there were twenty applications). In fact I am having to do several repeats of the drawing for disappointed people. Thank you too for the cheque for 6 pounds earned by the talk.
Yes, please book yourself for a talk at Kendal on October 27th. We are rather spoilt for choice of subject, but will let you know later.
Good news about Book Two on long-distance walks, but in this case you have ‘Long Walks’, splendidly produced and illustrated, to compete with. I doubt very much whether Moorland can match it for quality of production, and I think you will need to devise some different style of presentation and compile a book that sells much more cheaply and has photographs not inferior to those in ‘Long Walks’. Nor can it be a book for the pocket. A walker doing one of the long-distance walks will not want to carry around with him a book that also describes twenty others. My own view is that instead of doing something that has already been done by others, and done well with no expense spared, you should persuade Moorland to let you go ahead with your proposed ‘Walking in the Peak District’, which, although more local, would be assured of a good sale in the district.
Good news about Rex. Is he your new walking companion? How he would enjoy the Roaches!
Best wishes for a happy Christmas and a prosperous 1983.
Yours sincerely,
AW
LETTER 243: TO RON SCHOLES, 6 MARCH 1983
38 Kendal Green
Kendal, Cumbria
6 March 1983
Dear Ron,
Many thanks for your letter and two cheques.
You are now enrolled as a fully-paid member of Animal Rescue for the present year. Which entitles you to no privileges other than a copy of the Annual Report and an invitation to the next A.G.M. You don’t even get a badge!
Yes, do please send a sample of your Cambrian Way material, please. If it remains your intention to travel with your readers from Cardiff to Conwy, I still think you should do it in two parts, and try one part on the public first before committing yourself to the other. This would cut your time initially by a half and the price by nearly half. Of course I will see Mr Firth about publication, but the trouble with the Gazette is that they have no agents or distribution in Wales. My own books on Wales have, so far, been a dead loss. No booksellers there (except for Joe Brown) will touch them. However, if you are able to slip over fo
r a drink while we are at Buxton, we can discuss matters at length – Mr Firth and his wife are accompanying us. We are now definitely booked in at the Palace Hotel for the week May 14–21. The tariff, by the way, has gone up to 139 pounds per person per week.
Yours sincerely,
AW
BBC2 say the TV programme will definitely be shown soon but cannot yet give a firm date.
‘A South Wales Sketchbook’ will be out in a week or so.
Part 20
1980s Fame
AW had been approached about appearing on TV several times, once his books had become best sellers, and always refused, but in 1983 he got talked into appearing in a half-hour documentary about himself and his books for BBC North East. He appeared in the first programme for just a minute or so at the end. It went down well and two years later he agreed to appear in a more ambitious programme, as the presenter, which then developed into several series of programmes, with him walking with Eric Robson in the Lake District, the Pennines and Scotland. These programmes went out nationwide and were hugely popular. By the age of eighty in 1987, AW found that he had become a TV star.
Around the same time as his first tentative TV appearance, there was another exciting development in his life. A mainstream London publisher, Michael Joseph, managed to tempt him away from little old folksy Westmorland Gazette with an interesting project.
In March 1983, Jenny Dereham, a Director of the firm, wrote to him with the suggestion of an illustrated book about the Pennine Way, with photographs by Derry Brabbs. She saw it as a follow up to a highly successful book Derry had been involved with called James Herriot’s Yorkshire, which had sold 650,000 copies.
LETTER 244: TO JENNY DEREHAM, 20 MARCH 1983
38 Kendal Green
KENDAL, Cumbria LA9 5PP
20th March 1983
Dear Miss Dereham,
Many thanks for your kind and most interesting letter of the 11th. It opened up a prospect I find quite thrilling.
I am a proud admirer of the work of Derry Brabbs. On countless occasions during the past couple of years I have picked up JAMES HERRIOT’S YORKSHIRE with the intention of reading through the text but always I find my attention transfixed by Derry’s beautiful photographs and spent many rewarding hours just looking at them and remembering my own experiences of the scenes he depicts so well. Indeed, although I am ashamed to admit it, I have never yet read the text! But drooling over the pictures has become an evening pastime. Others with whom I have discussed the book feel the same. It is the photographs, more than the text, that make the book.
A Pennine Way book of Derry’s photographs would be a tremendous success, no doubt about it. It would appeal most to those who have already walked the Pennine Way and be a best-selling souvenir of their journey. They number hundreds of thousands and (apart from a minority whose sufferings and privations were such that they have no wish to be reminded of an ordeal they want only to forget) it would be a most welcome refresher of the journey and a memory-stirring reminder they would treasure for the rest of their lives. But let me emphasis again – it is the photographs that would appeal more than the text. Having already done the walk and become familiar with terrain the text would have little of interest unless it could be presented in a attractive form also. In any case, a written description would be looked at only once, but the superb photographs would be referred to often. It is the pictures, not words, that evoke memories.
So my opinion is that the book would have its greatest appeal as a souvenir of a memorable experience – because of Derry’s photographs. A written description to accompany them would be of interest mainly to those readers who had not yet done the walk but were planning to.
While I would be thrilled to bits to collaborate in the proposed book, I would, to be honest, be inclined to give Derry all the credit by writing the text himself, making it his own effort exclusively. But if you really prefer me to be in on it, then doubts arise as to the best way of making the text a suitable accompaniment to the pictures. Although I would be highly gratified if you were to make use of excerpts from PENNINE WAY COMPANION and it would be a pleasure to give you permission to reproduce any of its material, I cannot quite see how this could be done. The microscopic detail of the guidebook would be inappropriate and there are few passages that could be lifted out of context. The danger would be that the text would be too bitty and incomplete to serve as the sort of commentary you need.
My own view, after much thought, is that new text should be written, not one that Derry would follow with his camera, but the reverse: a text that would describe the scenes he chooses while maintaining a continuity of the route. We must accept that any text would be secondary to the pictures. If Derry for some reason is unwilling to tackle the writing of a commentary I could do this if you wished me to. The text would conveniently break up into chapters, each describing a section of the walk, these being in sequence from the start at Edale, and each chapter-heading could have as a small decoration a thumb-nail line drawing from the Companion. Added interest would be given by a complete set of strip-maps of the journey indication only the salient features illustrated by Derry and the nearby towns and villages and omitting irrelevant detail. By using scale maps, however, you may run foul of the Ordnance Survey, whose demand for royalties on a big printing could be considerable, but to avoid this contingency the route could be indicated.
In his next letter to Ron Scholes, congratulating him on at long last getting a publishing deal with Moorland Publishers, AW told him about his own bit of publishing news.
LETTER 245: TO RON SCHOLES, 6 MAY 1983
38 Kendal Green, KENDAL
May 6th 1983
Dear Ron,
Thank you for your letter and enclosure.
Moorland Publishing are in a bigger way of business than I thought, with many distribution outlets for their publications, and seem well able to give your book all the publicity it deserves. I am sorry to learn that you are still struggling to get it finished but the day will come when you take it to Moorland and say ‘That’s it’. And what a relief it will be to get it off your hands! Life will seem suddenly empty. But when the first copy is in your hands the effort will all seem to have been very worth while.
Out of the blue recently I was approached by Michael Joseph’s, the publishers, to collaborate with Derry Brabbs on a book on the Pennine Way. Derry is the photographer whose pictures in HERRIOT’S YORKSHIRE were such a joy. The idea is that Derry will do the pictures and I will write an accompanying narrative with many quotes from PENNINE WAY COMPANION. The firm clearly anticipate a prolific seller and have made a generous offer too good to miss. And today, having seen the TV programme, they want to talk about a similar proposal for a Lakeland book. A director of the firm and Derry are coming up to the Palace at Buxton to discuss details with me on the weekend of May 14–15.
You will be sorry to learn that Harry Firth has been attacked quite suddenly by angina. His first instinct was to cancel his visit to Buxton but a diet of pills has eased his pains considerably and he has now resumed his part-time work on Gazette publications and intends to accompany us as first arranged. We all look forward to seeing you at the Palace some evening during the week.
Until then I must leave you. The TV programme has brought a spate of correspondence that I must reply to before Buxton.
Yours sincerely,
AW
AW met Jenny Dereham and Derry Brabbs at the Palace Hotel in Buxton, where he was staying while working on his Peak District Sketchbook. The deal was then done, in fact AW offered them another book first, about Lakeland (which became Fellwalking with Wainwright, published in 1984). Ideas and plans for the books, plus layouts by Michael Joseph’s designer Susan McIntyre, then started whizzing back and forward – but very soon AW was complaining that he was not happy with the way things were going. He was also not pleased when Sheila Murphy, Michael Joseph’s publicity Director, outlined the interviews and promotional work she had lined up for him
LETTER 246: TO JENNY DEREHAM, JUNE 1983?
Dear Jenny,
I must thank you for your letter of the 3rd, but must also say that my reactions to its contents are of surprise, shock and even horror. Here am I, getting along like a house on fire, and then you suddenly explode a bombshell that stops me in my tracks.
Surprise
I am amazed to learn that you have pre-determined the number of pages in the Pennine book and presumably of the Lakeland book. Surely the number of pages should be that required to contain the full narrative and the photographs needed to illustrate the text? If you were publishing a novel or a biography you would let it run its full course even if it was over-running the number of pages you earlier had in mind; you wouldn’t cut out a chapter or two because it proved to be longer than you intended. Similarly I think that the narratives and photos of our two books should be given all the space necessary for the production of complete and unabridged books.
Shock
I have been working under the impression that you wanted books to match the Herriot book in size, format and printing area on each page, and my layouts have been prepared with this in mind. You now say that your designer plans to make the Pennine book slightly smaller than the Herriot. Slightly smaller? The proposed reduction in printing area is dramatic. Herriot has a printing area of over 50 square inches per page. Susan plans 35 square inches only. That’s why my layouts don’t fit her drafts. As a matter of fact I have been intending all along that each book should be of 224 pages, as you suggest, but they were to be pages having a similar printing area to the Herriot, and my layouts would have slotted into place very nicely had they been adopted.
The Wainwright Letters Page 37