Alfred Wainwright

Born in Blackburn in 1907, Alfred Wainwright left school at the age of 13. A holiday at the age of 23 kindled a life-long love affair with the Lake District. Following a move to Kendal in 1941 he began to devote every spare moment he had to researching and compiling the original seven Pictorial Guides. He described these as his 'love letters' to the Lakeland Fells and at the end of the first, The Eastern Fells, he wrote about what the mountains had come to mean to him:

"I suppose it might be said, to add impressiveness to the whole thing, that this book has been twenty years in the making, for it is so long, and more, since I first came from a smoky mill-town (forgive me, Blackburn!) and beheld, from Orrest Head, a scene of great beauty, a fascinating paradise, Lakeland's mountains and trees and water. That was the first time I had looked upon beauty, or imagined it, even.

Afterwards I went often, whenever I could, and always my eyes were lifted to the hills. I was to find then, and it has been so ever since, a spiritual and physical satisfaction in climbing mountains – and a tranquil mind upon reaching their summits, as though I had escaped from the disappointments and unkindnesses of life and emerged above them into a new world, a better world.

In due course I came to live within sight of the hills, and I was well content. If I could not be climbing, I was happy to sit idly and dream of them, serenely. Then came a restlessness and the feeling that it was not enough to take their gifts and do nothing in return. I must dedicate something of myself, the best part of me, to them. I started to write about them, and to draw pictures of them. Doing these things, I found they were still giving and I still receiving, for a great pleasure filled me when I was so engaged – I had found a new way of escape to them and from all else less worth while.

Thus it comes about that I have written this book. Not for material gain, welcome though that would be (you see I have not escaped entirely!); not for the benefit of my contemporaries, though if it brings them also to the hills I shall be well pleased; certainly not for posterity, about which I can work up no enthusiasm at all. No, this book has been written, carefully and with infinite patience, for my own pleasure and because it has seemed to bring the hills to my own fireside. If it has merit, it is because the hills have merit."

A. Wainwright died in 1991 at the age of 84.

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A. Wainwright Desk Diary 2013 Illustrated by Alfred Wainwright This handsome desk diary features the hugely popular pen and ink drawings of the Lakes and Scotland by A. Wainwright. Category: Stationery Publisher: Frances Lincoln

A. Wainwright Desk Diary 2014 By Alfred Wainwright This handsome desk diary featuring the illustrations of A. Wainwright is bound with real cloth and has gold blocking on the cover and spine. Category: Stationery Publisher: Frances Lincoln

A. Wainwright Pocket Diary 2013 Illustrated by Alfred Wainwright This handsome pocket diary features the hugely popular pen and ink drawings of the Lakes by A. Wainwright. Category: Stationery Publisher: Frances Lincoln

A. Wainwright Pocket Diary 2014 By Alfred Wainwright This handsome pocket diary featuring the illustrations of A. Wainwright is bound with real cloth and has gold blocking on the cover and spine. Category: Stationery Publisher: Frances Lincoln

The Best of Wainwright Second Edition By Alfred Wainwright Volume editor Hunter Davies Revised by Chris Jesty Eighteen Lakeland fells selected and introduced by Hunter Davies. More than 300 pages from Wainwright's bestselling Pictorial Guides, brilliantly revised by Chris Jesty. Category: Outdoor Guides, Wainwright Publisher: Frances Lincoln

The Central Fells (Anniversary Edition) By Alfred Wainwright The original Pictorial Guide to the Central Fells of Lakeland - freshly reproduced from Wainwright's original pages. Category: Outdoor Guides, Wainwright Publisher: Frances Lincoln

The Central Fells Second Edition By Alfred Wainwright Revised by Chris Jesty Revised edition of A. Wainwright's Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells: Wainwright for the 21st century. Category: Outdoor Guides, Wainwright Publisher: Frances Lincoln

Coast to Coast A Walker's Notebook - From St. Bees Head to Robin Hood's Bay Illustrated by Alfred Wainwright The walk from St Bees Head to Robin Hood's Bay is the most popular long distance walk in Britain and A Coast to Coast Walker's Notebook is the place where you can record details of your journey from one side of England to the other. Category: Stationery, Wainwright Publisher: Frances Lincoln

A Coast to Coast Walk By Alfred Wainwright A. Wainwright's guide to one of the world's great long-distance walks - 190 miles from the Irish Sea to the North Sea by way of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. First published in 1973 and updated in 1992. Category: Outdoor Guides, Wainwright Publisher: Frances Lincoln

A Coast to Coast Walk Second Edition - From St Bees Head to Robin Hood's Bay By Alfred Wainwright Revised by Chris Jesty Brand new edition of A. Wainwright's guide to one of the world's great long-distance walks - 190 miles from the Irish Sea to the North Sea by way of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. Rewalked and updated by Chris Jesty. Category: Outdoor Guides, Wainwright Publisher: Frances Lincoln