The Leeds Philosophical
and Literary Society
Registered Charity  224084   Company Registered in England  177204  

Registered Office c/o Leeds Heritage Service, 7^th Floor West, Merrion House, Leeds LS2 8DT

Publications 

The Society has published scholarly works for many years.  It now concentrates on subjects connected with Leeds or its region. It invites suggestions for publications both from its members and from others. The Society also supports other  institutions in publishing books and articles which fall within the Society’s purview.  Suggestions and enquiries about possible publications should be sent to the chairman of the Publications Committee, Peter Hirschmann, 28 The Crescent, Adel, Leeds LS16 6AG  peter.hirschmann@phonecoop.coop

Until recently, the Society published books on a wider range of topics. Recent publications which are still in print are listed below - most are available directly from the Society, but some are now available only from commercial distributors - see the annotations to each title. The prices given apply to single copies of books ordered directly from the Society and include a discount (orders for multiple copies may be eligible for further discounts – please apply to the Assistant Secretary).  Prices for overseas orders are given in sterling and euros & US dollars (these latter two include an amount to cover bank conversion charges); postage is included, at Surface Mail rates. Unless indicated otherwise, orders for publications should be sent to Mr Norman Madill, LPLS Assistant Secretary, 38 Dennistead Crescent, Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS6 3PU, accompanied by a cheque for the amount shown. If required, an order form can be downloaded for printing by clicking here.

The Society also awards grants to support the publication by other publishers (commercial and non-commercial) of academic works. For details see the Grants page. 

 

Publications in print  

The Building Stone Heritage of Leeds, by the late Francis G Dimes and Murray Mitchell. Second edition. (2006). 140 pp., featuring 42 colour and b+w photographs, 7 maps and 17 sketches.   £8.95 incl. p&p for UK orders

 

 

In the ten years since the publication of the first edition, there have been so many changes to the face of Leeds that a new edition is more than justified. The result is a redesigned and expanded book, still convenient for the pocket. It features four city centre walks and descriptions of sites further afield. The book will continue to be a substantial authority, of immense use to geologists, historians, architects, planners, and the interested public.

 

Copies can be obtained from Oblong Creative Ltd, 416B Thorp Arch Estate, Wetherby LS23 7BJ, West Yorkshire.   (Cheques should be made payable to Oblong.)

 

The King's Mills, Leeds: the History and Archaeology of the Manorial Water-powered Corn Mills; by John Goodchild and Stuart Wrathmell  (2002).  60 pp.  

The story of the medieval and later corn mills called the King's Mills, in Leeds.  The site of the mills was redeveloped in the 1990s, but before this a major archaeological investigation took place.  This revealed not only the massive foundations of the 18th and 19th century water and steam-powered mills, but also timbers associated with their medieval predecessors.  These structural remains are linked to the written and cartographic evidence for the developments of the King's Mills from the 12th to the 20th centuries.

Sales of this title are now being handled by:

Dr Stuart Wrathmell, West Yorkshire Archaeology Service, P.O. Box 30, Nepshaw Lane South, Morley, Leeds  LS27 0UG

 

The Yorkshire Union of Artists, 1888-1922, by Dennis Child (2001). 120 pp. + 4 col. illus. Prices (inc. post & packing): UK £6; Overseas £6.70, or €27, or US $27.  

A fascinating story of the rise and fall of a powerful art organisation, of interest to art historians, art lovers, and collectors of paintings by Yorkshire artists who were active in the late 19th and early 20th century. This is the only book written about the YUA, an organisation which attracted nationally-known Yorkshire artists such as William P. Frith, Atkinson Grimshaw, Lord Leighton, Henry Moore, Jacob Kramer, and Fred Lawson, among many others. The Staithes Group was also affiliated to the YUA.

The book gives the early history of the YUA, short biographical sketches of the better-known members, addresses, media and subjects of all contributors as well as pointers to finding more information about the artists.

For an order form, click here.

 

Towers and Colonnades: The Architecture of Cuthbert Brodrick, by Derek Linstrum (1999). 180 pp. Col. and b & w illus. 

This is the first full account of the architecture of Cuthbert Brodrick (1821-1905). Brodrick is principally known as the architect of Leeds Town Hall, winning the competition for it at the relatively early age of 30. This early success put him in the company of leading metropolitan architects, but his later experiences were less fruitful and his disappointments eventually led to the abandonment of his profession. Nevertheless, Brodrick was responsible for a number of major buildings, the finest of which are of national, or even international, importance.

Brodrick left virtually no personal papers or diaries, but a group of beautifully rendered drawings (many of them entries for architectural competitions) exists in the collection of the Royal Institute of Architects. This fully illustrated account of Brodrick, by the established architectural scholar Derek Linstrum, is based on the surviving buildings themselves and on the unexecuted designs, placing the architect and his work in their contemporary context.

Sales of this title are now being handled by:  Spire Books Ltd., PO Box 2336, Reading RG4 5WJ                          Tel:  0118 947 1525    www.spirebooks.com

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The Use of Nidderdale Marble and other Crinoidal Limestones in Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire, by J.G. Blacker and Murray Mitchell (1998). 28 pp. + 10 b/w illus. Prices (inc. post & packing): UK £4.50; Overseas £5, or €24, or US $24.

Nidderdale Marble is a variety of crinoidal limestone, a distinctive stone used in decorative work in the churches and abbeys of northern England. Fountains Abbey and the neighbouring Fountains Hall are the only known buildings where Nidderdale Marble was used. This pamphlet describes the locations within the Abbey complex where the marble was used and relates that to the chronology of construction. A quarry at Lofthouse, in Nidderdale, is suggested as the most likely source.

For an order form, click here.

 

Three Essays: Johnson, Wordsworth, Byron, by Douglas Jefferson (1998). 48 pp. Prices (inc. post & packing): UK £4.50; Overseas £5, or €24, or US $24.

Nowadays, hard-pressed academic critics seldom take time out to test themselves against the great works of the past. Rarely do they revisit authors and try to come to terms with them by reassessing their earlier views. The judgments in these essays are less those of an institutionalised literary critic than of an alert and committed reader, himself thoroughly absorbed in the act of reading and always mindful of his fellow-readers. Douglas Jefferson brings to these three great authors the principle of scrutiny which he has developed from a lifetime of reading and rereading.

For an order form, click here.

 

The Prison Diary (16 May – 22 November 1794) of John Horne Tooke, edited with an introduction and notes by A.V. Beedell and A.D. Harvey (1995). 128 pp. Prices (inc. post & packing): UK £10; Overseas £11, or €34, or US $34.

The French Revolution stimulated a revival of reform agitation in Britain. Horne Tooke, a veteran reformer who, in the 1780s, had campaigned for the abolition of rotten boroughs, was later described as "the principal ornament and support of the English Jacobins". In May 1794 he and several other members of the respectable middle-class Society for Constitutional Information were arrested and charged with high treason.

The diary Horne Tooke kept in the tower of London while awaiting trial is a painful record of the psychological stresses of imprisonment, but also provides a valuable insight into Horne Tooke’s social and political attitudes.

This is the first time that the diary has been published in its entirety and with detailed notes giving background information on points raised by his narrative. Biographical details of significant individuals mentioned in the diary are also provided.

For an order form, click here.

 

The Early Seventeenth-Century York Book Trade and John Foster’s Inventory of 1616, by John Barnard and Maureen Bell (1994). 116 pp. Prices (inc. post & packing): UK £10; Overseas £11, or €34, or US $34.

John Foster’s book-stock inventory is remarkable for its detail, giving individual titles, format, and prices, as well as his debtors. An analysis of this inventory, coupled with an analysis of Foster’s debtors and further archival evidence, gives a more detailed account of Foster’s own business and of the York book trade in the early years of the seventeenth century than was previously possible.

For an order form, click here.

 

The Travel Diary (1611-1612) of an English Catholic, Sir Charles Somerset, edited with introduction and notes by Michael G. Brennan (1993). 366 pp.; illus. Prices (inc. post & packing): UK £18.75; Overseas £19.50, or €47, or US $47.

Remarkably few substantial accounts of travels in western Europe made by Englishmen between 1603 and 1625 survive. This edition makes available one of the most detailed and informative travel diaries of that period.

Sir Charles Somerset, the diary’s author, a son of the Earl of Worcester, travelled through France, Italy, Austria, Germany, the Spanish Netherlands, and Flanders. The importance of his account lies not only in its rarity but in four other key areas of interest. First, its wealth of personal observations on numerous major locations is coupled with a remarkably high degree of detail and accuracy. Second, the document was clearly intended to be perused by other people as a handbook of intelligence material on such topics as military and naval fortifications, national and civic administration, and urban design. Third, the author’s ardent Catholicism, evinced in the diary by a keen interest in all matters religious, reveals a personal and spiritual pilgrimage to Rome. Fourth, the diary demonstrates the author’s strong personal commitment to the cultural efficacy of foreign travel.

For an order form, click here.

 

The Freshwater Crustacea of Yorkshire: a faunistic & ecological survey, [by] Geoffrey Fryer. (1993). 312 pp.  Prices (inc. post & packing): UK £12.25; Overseas £13.25, or €37, or US $37.  

The crustacean fauna of Yorkshire reflects the great physiographic diversity of the region. Adopting an ecological approach, this book considers the county's fauna in relation to climate, topography, geology, soils and water chemistry. Notes and line drawings are provided on all species recorded. The author, who worked for 27 years with the Freshwater Biological Association, is a Fellow of the Royal Society and is currently an Honorary Professor at the University of Lancaster.

For an order form, click here.