Awash with Wainwrights

 Every now and then on social media I read something which gets my mind working. So it was yesterday, an announcement which caught me by surprise and the contents of which had me thinking for most of the day. Consequently, and after some deliberation I thought I would share my considerations with you. I don't think for one moment that everyone will agree with me but then that's what makes a blog interesting isn't it?

 So, what was this big announcement? Well, it appears that the Wainwright Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells are up for their second revision.
 Why do I care? Well, as you know, the Pictorial Guides have been a huge part of my life for the past 6 years. Every page of my set have been well thumbed, drawn on, dog-eared and weather beaten. The dustcovers have long gone and the spines are split and tatty. I hold a great affection for these works as I regard Wainwright as a master in what he did.
 What's the problem with revising the guides? Answer, nothing wrong with it at all as long as its done sympathetically to the original. For Chis Jesty's revisions the publisher went to the trouble of designing a printing font which is hard to distinguish from AW's hand written words making the new versions hard to tell from the originals apart from the new routes which were defined in red ink. It jarred that in some places one or two sketches were removed for either the replacement with new wording or left out for no reason leaving an empty gap. (Grange Fell 4). Worse still the removal of full pages and the sketch of the summit (Burnbank Fell) I understand the reasons for doing so but it could have been achieved more sympathetically to the original. The time difference between the original publication and these revisions was about 50 years and the intervening years had brought about variations in some routes etc. which warranted a new revision. AW himself acknowledged that in time his guides would require updating and the fact that he approved Chis Jesty to do this work has some sort of official stamp in the first revisions.
 Now we hear that only 4 years after the revised version of Book 7 The Western Fells was published the second revisions are under way. I cannot believe that this is necessary so soon. Sure, there have been some slight changes in footpaths etc but hardly enough to justify another set of guides. After all, how many of us actually follow the routes in the pictorial guides religiously whilst out walking the fells. Sure, use the guide to plot a route in conjunction with a good map but don't rely on them totally. In all my days out I can hardly recall seeing anyone with guide in hand, on a very rare occasion they are sitting on some summit with the relevant Pictorial Guide observing the panorama and using the drawing to name distant peaks. Has anyone been rescued from the fells because they were not using the up to date version of the guides? Not likely. More likely is the case that they were not prepared in having a map, compass, or head torch.
 The more the guides get revised the more that Wainwrights originals get diluted. His perfect design for the pages is adjusted, some of his humour is left out and his quirky wording cannot be replicated.
For me the original versions are perfect in as much as they are what AW intended and when I open every page I know it is his un adulterated work. Sure some of the detail may be out of date but that's why I use a current OS map and part of the joy of being out on the fells is discovering stuff for myself, the new path, the repaired wall, the replacement footbridge. The work on the footpaths by groups such as Fix the Fells is on-going so how can revisions be totally accurate? (Don't get me started on those people who knock the work of Fix the Fells - another blog post perhaps)
 I recall that when we sold the guides in the gallery the original versions easily outsold the revisions and I understood from my wholesaler that it was something like a ratio of 7 to 3. Asking Wainwright fans to keep updating their bookshelves every 10 years at the cost of nearly £100 seems a bit un-realistic. I wonder if this is more of a case of the publisher trying to keep Wainwright's Pictorial guides on the shelves of bookstores whilst other more current guide books to the fells fill the adjoining space? Let's see how the fell walking public react. In the meantime, good luck to Clive who has been given the task.
 As I stated at the start, these are only my personal thoughts and I welcome comments.