Portraits of the Past - The British Landscape Through the Ages

London: Michael Joseph, 1989. A Fine unmarked copy with Fine dustjacket which is not price clipped. A large format volume of 184 pages. Illustrated throughout. With characteristic erudition, clarity and enthusiasm Richard Muir examines life in the countryside of different eras. He shows, for instance, how life in the Iron Age was dominated by fighting and farming; he takes a trip through Domesday England; he illustrates the change and hardship of medieval times. By explaining details such as old field patterns, the crops that were grown, what people ate, where they lived, which lost animals and birds shared their countryside and how villages developed. Using photographs that evoke details of particular periods and attractive reconstruction drawings, and drawing on archaeology, estate maps, historical documents, art and literature, he deciphers the intriguing puzzle of lost lives and landscapes. 15. First. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.