A Walk Through Leicester: Being a Guide to Strangers Containing a Description of the Town and its Environs, With Remarks upon its History and Antiquities.

Leicester: Unnamed, 1902. Cloth. Very Good. 7" by 5". Various. A scarce 1902 reprint of Susanna Watt's 1804 guidebook, 'A Walk Through Leicester'. Complete with a folding map: 'Plan of the Town of Leicester'. 'A Walk Through Leicester' was reportedly the first guidebook to centre on a provincial area, unlike other contemporary texts that focused on fashionable towns and city landscapes. Watts however provides an interesting and lively account of the area in her text, detailing its rich history from the Roman settlements to its nineteenth century expansion. Susanna Watts, born and raised in Leicester was in her own right a notable and inspirational figure. Beyond writing guidebooks on her town, she was heavily involved with acts of philanthropy and charitable activism. She is best remembered for her actions to bring about the immediate abolition of slavery, co-publishing 'The Hummingbird' periodical, which 'brought together different ideas on the antislavery movement'. Moreover, Watts is also known for her poem that she wrote about William Wilberforce, disputing his belief that campaigning for antislavery was "unsuited to the female character as delineated in scripture". In a green cloth binding. Externally very smart with minor shelfwear only. Very slight rubbing to the boards and joints. Very slight bumping to extremities and head and tail of spine. Internally, firmly bound. Pages bright and clean, age toned to edges. Very clean throughout, with occasional light spotting to first and last few pages. Folding map bright and clean, with the occasional faint handling mark. Tape repair to verso of map, not visible to recto. Very Good