Jo Flunder explains how a book donated to Southwold Museum has been lovingly restored and repaired:
“Thanks to a generous donation by one of our Trustees, Cath Fox, Southwold Museum acquired a cannibalised copy of Pictures of East Anglian Life (1888) by the photographer P. H. Emerson. Emerson came to live in Southwold in 1883 and was enchanted. He began to photograph the surrounding landscapes, farm workers and longshore fishermen. At the same time, he began to record the working practices of those he termed ‘peasants’ and ‘fisherfolk’. These appeared as text in Pictures of East Anglian Life and in terms of the longshoremen, this is the first written account of their work. Robert Jellicoe wrote about this in his book, Shorelines Voices of Southwold Fishermen (2021).”
“The book had had its covers and 32 photogravure plates removed and was in poor condition. Thanks to a grant from AfSM, it has subsequently been excellently restored, recovered and strengthened. It is an invaluable resource for Southwold Museum and one which tells a hitherto neglected story of its past.”
Find out more about life in historic Southwold by visiting the museum this summer: https://www.southwoldmuseum.org/.