Teignmouth, its History and its Surroundings, by Beatrix F. Cresswell (1901)

Published by F.B Owen of the Royal Library (Teignmouth) and The Homestead Association (London) in 1901, 126 pages. Hardback - c.16.5cm by 21.5cm (A10VWSO)

Includes a loose lead map titled 'Teignmouth and its surroundings', which is stored in a pocket on the inside rear cover.

From the preface: Nobody reads a Preface. This affords a writer the opportunity of saying what he likes, confident of being able to ease his mind by expressing opinions which will not affect anyone else. I trust that among the many who annually visit Teignmouth, some will find pleasure in reading the following pages. I am also sanguine enough to believe that much of the information will be new to the residents. Teignmouth has been stigmatized as a place that has no interests, an assertion that I hope this little book will go far to disprove. Personally I should never find arty spot uninteresting where all nature lay before me "under the open sky," but we can only see for ourselves what we have the gift of seeing. We are also fortunately capable of having our eyes opened, and if I have managed to display some hitherto unobserved attractions of Teign­mouth I shall be well satisfied.

But I am no local patriot, and it is impossible to study the history of our town without a mingling of regret and indignation that during past centuries more has been done to destroy past interests than to make present ones. Especially is it to be lamented that one charming site after another passes into the hands of those whose only idea of benefiting by the soil is to load it with as many small houses as possible. Suffering from a regrettable lack of energy in some directions, Teignmouth has too much misdirected energy in others. One is fain to cry, "In vain with lavish kindness, are Natnre's beauties strown, The builder in his blindness, Thinks but of wood and stone"...

The condition of the book is generally ok. The green cover boards have several scuffs and blemishes, and light bumping and wear along the edges and corners, but the spine is intact and all pages are intact, unblemished and tightly bound. The inside pages have yellowing throughout, and there is a name in pen in the top right hand corner of the first inside page.