THERE have been plenty of books written about the history of Scarborough, admits Robin Lidster. His latest offering - Scarborough From Old Photographs - doesn't claim to be yet another one.

Instead, it is nothing more than a series of snapshots of the seaside town through old photographs.

It's all the better for it. The book is, writes Mr Lidster, 'a collection of images that will remind visitors and residents of memories and stories of the changing scene, past times, activities and events in the town.' it is 'a personal collection... gathered by the author, family and friends over the last fifty or more years.'

More than a quarter of the images come from the author's own collection of magic lantern slides. Others come from glass negatives, colour transparencies or prints. Some show scenes of Scarborough that have not been seen in print before. And they add up to a wonderful celebration of this seaside through more than a hundred years of change.

We have room for only a small selection here, but they give at least a flavour of the book...

1. Stalls on the beach at Scarborough, date unknown

2. Forget donkey rides, it was rides in the goat cart that were all the rage for children in about 1910. The cart was just about big enough to take two small boys...

3. Victorian women enjoyed strolling along the Spa promenade in all their finery, as musicians played in the bandstand

4. Scarborough wasn't just for holidaymakers... it was also a working port, where ships could be dismantled. In this photograph an unknown ship is being dismantled in what is thought to be South Bay

5. HMS Walrus, a Royal Navy destroyer from the First World War, was under tow bound for Chatham for a refit as an anti-aircraft escort when she was stranded on the Mascus rocks in Scarborough's North Bay in 1938. Unfit for repair, she was refloated on March 29 that year, and subsequently scrapped

6. Pleasure paddle steamer The Scarborough ran excursions along the Yorkshire coast from 1866 to 1914. She could carry 300 passengers. One popular excursion was to Flamborough Head, where she would run close to the towering chalk cliffs. A crew member would then fire an old blunderbuss, producing a bang that would cause thousands of seabirds to take to the air

7. The remains of the North Bay pier after a gale on the night of January 7, 1905, brought the wooden decking crashing down. The pavilion at the end of the pier was left standing like an island in the bay

8. Renting a bungalow for a week was very popular...

Stephen Lewis

Scarborough From Old Photographs by Robin Lidster is published by Amberley priced £14.99