Post by tintin on Mar 7, 2012 13:46:02 GMT 1
I really enjoyed this book, as did my father
During the 1930’s there was a movement in journalism toward using picture led stories to illustrate what one critic called “the romance of everyday life”. Writers strove for authentic, candid pictures where the subject retained his dignity. In the UK the exemplar of this approach was the magazine “Picture Post”. This book is very much in this vein.
My father’s delighted exclamation on seeing the first picture of Ben in his stall – “Yes that’s just what it was like!” – certainly endorses the book for authenticity and the pictures are indeed candid and dignified. It is visually a very attractive book which gives a good all round picture of the working life of a heavy draught horse in both town and country and the men who work with him.
There is not much of a story, but that is not the point of the book – it is a “slice of life” and as such is quite a valuable historical document. Basically the story is that Ben has to be sold to a farmer as his future as a brewery horse is limited due to the bad cumulative effects of the hard road on his lower legs, unlike the softer soil of the country. You then go through the whole agricultural year with Ben.
A very charming book (mine did n’t have a dust jacket and at the top of the cover is a picture of Ben’s lower legs with his “furry feet” which made me smile)
Only minus point is lack of a glossary (in fairness to the author far more of a need for the modern reader than in 1939). However, if you don’t have access to an experienced person, context or the internet will see you right.
Nice gift for anyone who likes the thirties, farming or heavy horses
During the 1930’s there was a movement in journalism toward using picture led stories to illustrate what one critic called “the romance of everyday life”. Writers strove for authentic, candid pictures where the subject retained his dignity. In the UK the exemplar of this approach was the magazine “Picture Post”. This book is very much in this vein.
My father’s delighted exclamation on seeing the first picture of Ben in his stall – “Yes that’s just what it was like!” – certainly endorses the book for authenticity and the pictures are indeed candid and dignified. It is visually a very attractive book which gives a good all round picture of the working life of a heavy draught horse in both town and country and the men who work with him.
There is not much of a story, but that is not the point of the book – it is a “slice of life” and as such is quite a valuable historical document. Basically the story is that Ben has to be sold to a farmer as his future as a brewery horse is limited due to the bad cumulative effects of the hard road on his lower legs, unlike the softer soil of the country. You then go through the whole agricultural year with Ben.
A very charming book (mine did n’t have a dust jacket and at the top of the cover is a picture of Ben’s lower legs with his “furry feet” which made me smile)
Only minus point is lack of a glossary (in fairness to the author far more of a need for the modern reader than in 1939). However, if you don’t have access to an experienced person, context or the internet will see you right.
Nice gift for anyone who likes the thirties, farming or heavy horses
I also like Owls Castle Farm by PC. If I remember correctly it has a couple of Suffolk Punches in it? 
