York Tour: A walk through the walled city by Alfred Hickling (YorkTour, £7.99, paperback)

The Little Apple Bookshop has been selling books about the city for twenty years now. In this time there have been some very steady bestsellers including Ghosts and Gravestones of York, Mark Jones’ Snickleways of York and the Pitkin Guide to York. So it was really exciting when a friend of ours produced a new book to add to this esteemed canon.

There are many things to commend York Tour. Stunning new photographs show the city in a light you may not have seen before, whether it be York Minster, the Hiscock building in Hungate or interesting aspects of the Museum Gardens.

The book begins with a potted 2000 year history in 360 degrees, which fully encapsulates York’s phenomenal offering as a place to explore. As you walk around York with the guide, you are fed a steady stream of really intriguing facts. Did you know that Romans introduced the first postal service to Britain, or that visiting judges to the assizes were given bunches of herbs to counteract the smell of felons?

The book even contains a beautiful fold-out map designed and illustrated by Dick Raines, who also contributes many of the fantastic archive pictures. This book helps answer a lot of those questions you feel like you should be able to answer. We live in one of the most beautiful and historical cities in the world and we always want to show it off. An ideal read for York residents and visitors alike.

Review by Philippa Morris, Little Apple bookshop