Book Review The Observers Books

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Not a review of a single book, but a look at the entire Observers Book series produced in the UK between 1937 and 2003. Observers books were a series created by the publishers, Frederick Warne & Co, as light, durable handy pocket sized hardback guides to identifying leaves, trees, wild-flowers, commercial and military aircraft, coins, churches, cathedrals, flags, ships, and the tourist attractions of area like London, The Lake District, etc. Most of the books deal with Britain, though #94 is about Paris and #29 look at flags of all nations. The books were designed for quick easy reference and casual browsing. Where they matched your hobby or things seen on a journey you were making, the books were and still are invaluable reference works. If unsure if a tree you saw was a larch or a beech, a quick look at the appropriate book would soon set you right. There were exactly one hundred titles, the penultimate one being a guide to the Observers Books series itself. I still make much mileage from the Heraldry guide (#41). An invaluable reference series that screams for reprints, updates and continuation. Arthur Chappell