INFORMATION

Published by Saga. Part of Barracuda Books of Buckingham, England and Printed by M & A Thomson Litho Limited of Glasgow, Scotland. Bound by Hunter and Foulis Limited. Jacket and case print by Cheney and Sons Limited of Banbury, England. 1988.
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ARTIST’S NOTE

For about 20 years I lived in Buckinghamshire and for much of that time I produced sketches of North Bucks for a charity calendar each year. By 1985 I had a folder containing well over a hundred such drawings and someone, on first seeing them remarked “that looks like a ‘bookful’ you have there – why not get writing again, and weave your words around the drawings, as you might in a sketchbook?”.

So that was the start of the book ‘A COUNTRY TOWN’. By the time Saga Books sent it off to the printers there were over 160 drawings spread throughout 120 pages.

I very seldom use a ‘graphics pen’, preferring to use a ‘dip & scratch nib’ and a pot Indian Ink, so it is possible to vary thickness as a line progresses. My habit of always carrying a little (6″ x 4″) black bound pocket book came in handy. Both Daler, and Winsor and Newton produce them – plain paper for sketching if necessary, but I fill them mainly with scribbled notes on whatever seems worth recording – especially about people and place I draw. For sketching faces I use the cheapest of the fine BIC ball pens. At its best the BIC is a remarkably sensitive pen, fine for features. The disadvantage of a ball pen however, is that it cannot be erased; you must hope to be correct first time, or start again.

The thing about Buckingham is that it has long ceased to be the county town of Bucks, yet its name is known and spread around the globe. There is a town named Buckingham in Canada, and Buckingham Canal which hugs the coast line of the Coromandel Coast of India. The London residence of the British Monarch is named Buckingham Palace. Why? Read ‘A COUNTRY TOWN’ if you can acquire a copy. In 1763 Buckingham actually provided the Country with a Prime Minister – namely George Grenville. His 2 years were disastrous. It was Grenville Administration which first proposed taxing the American Colonies. So it might be said that if it was a Buckingham man who had a big hand in causing the American War of Independence, and it was George Washington whose origins were also in the Buckingham area who brought the war to such a lasting and significant conclusion.
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS