The Face of Britain (book series)

The Face of Britain was a series of topographical books published by B. T. Batsford from the 1930s to the 1950s that has been described as playing a part in the construction of English identity in that period.^[1] The series is notable for the covers by Brian Batsford, who worked under the name Brian Cook.^[2]

Cover of Lancashire and the Pennines by Frank Singleton. Designed by Brian Cook.

Volumes

This list may be incomplete.

England

• Chiltern Country by H. J. Massingham (1940)
• Cotswold Country by H. J. Massingham (1941)
• East Anglia: A survey of England's eastern counties, etc. by Doreen Wallace (1939, 2nd 1943)
• English Downland by H. J. Massingham (1936)
• English Lakeland by Doreen Wallace (1940)
• The Home Counties by S. P. B. Mais (1942) (2nd edition 1947)^[3]
• The Islands of England: A survey of the islands around England and Wales, and the Channel Islands by J. H. Ingram (1952)
• Lancashire and the Pennines. A survey of Lancashire, and parts of Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire. by Frank Singleton (1952)
• Lincolnshire and the Fens by M. W. Barley (1952)
• Midland England by W. G. Hoskins (1949)
• North Country by Edmund Vale (1937)
• North Midland Country: A survey of Cheshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire by J. H. Ingram (1948)
• Shakespeare's Country by John Russell (1942)
• South-Eastern Survey. A last look round Sussex, Kent and Surrey ... Illustrated from the author's photographs. by Richard Wyndham (1940). Revised as South-East England by Ronald Jessup.
• Wessex: Dorset, Wiltshire, with West Berkshire & East Somerset by Ralph Dutton (1950)
• West Country by C. Henry Warren (1938)

Scotland

• The Highlands of Scotland by Hugh Quigley, photographs by Robert M. Adam. (1936)^[4]
• The Lowlands of Scotland by George Scott-Moncrieff (1939)
• Scottish Border Country: Roxburghshire and parts of Northumberland, Cumberland, Berwickshire, Selkirkshire and Dumfrieshire. by F. R. Banks (1951)

Wales

• The Face of Wales by Tudor Edwards (1950)
• Welsh Border Country by P. Thoresby Jones (1938)

(Northern) Ireland

• The Face of Ulster: Antrim, Londonderry, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Armagh, Monaghan, Cavan, Donegal and Down by Denis O`Donoghue Hanna (1952)

The television series "Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages" was based on the book series.

See also

• County Books series
• The Regions of Britain
• The Regional Books