The English Village Green

London: Robert Hale. Very Good/Very Good. 1985. First Edition. Hard Cover. Sm 4to 0709023391 Dust jacket complete, unclipped. Original cloth boards with bright gilt titling on spine. No ownership marks. Frontis plate. Numerous photographs some in colour. 223 pages clean and tight. The Green, the heart of so many of England's delightful villages, has never before been celebrated in a book. Yet it is one of the most ancient and hallowed of English institutions and has associations with all of the important traditions - sporting, literary and social - which have made up the fabric of English rural life for nearly 1000 years. Increasingly the focus of conservation and revival, the Green is a cherished part of our national heritage. Brian Bailey describes in detail some 600 of the most important and attractive village greens from all over England, recreating for us that familiar world of maypole and morris dancing, cricket, and carol singing. This beautiful and timely book is both a valuable survey and a heartfelt appreciation of a uniquely appealing part of the English countryside. It is also a powerful plea for its careful preservation. .