FRANCIS Frith is the Catherine Cookson of photography. Just as posthumous Cookson bestsellers keep hitting the bookshelves, the Frith photographic archive reveals gems more than a century after he died.
Francis Frith was a Quaker businessman. With the coming of the railways, he rightly surmised that the new breed of day-tripper would love to have a photographic postcard souvenir of every trip.
He travelled the country photographing seaside resorts and beauty spots, and the prints were bought by millions of Victorians.
After his death in 1898, the archive continued in business for another 70 years. The latest book to be published showcasing the pictures is North Yorkshire - Living Memories. It contains scores of evocative pictures from across the county, dating from the Fifties and Sixties. They bring back memories of a simpler, slower age.
In the introduction to the book, author Roly Smith observes how little life had changed in rural North Yorkshire.
"Out in the country, in the villages of the moors, dales and vales where most of these photographs were taken, little seemed to have changed since before the war," he writes.
Francis Frith's North Yorkshire - Living Memories is published by the Frith Book Company, price £14.99
Updated: 10:59 Monday, November 01, 2004
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