Book Review
Published in Windlesora 27 (2011)
© WLHG
The publication of a new local history book is always an event awaited by many of us with eager anticipation. It is all the more rewarding when the new book lives up to expectations. Elias Kupfermann’s latest publication Vanished Windsor is just such a book.
This book is a thought-provoking collection of images and panoramas of the town of Windsor, spanning a period of over 500 years, and is designed to show not only those buildings, features and events which have now been sadly lost from both life and landscape, but also the townsfolk going about their daily business. What makes the publication of especial interest is the inclusion of a generous number of illustrations gleaned from private collections which would otherwise be unavailable for perusal by those of us with a keen interest in this subject. Today, what with the internet at our fingertips, and with resources of new material always at a premium, it is this particular element of the book that creates its strongest appeal, and rewards the reader in return.
The book is sensibly arranged in the form of various geographical areas of the town being separated into sections, and the relevant illustrations set out within each section. Every image is accompanied by a useful description, being informative without becoming overly detailed or extensive. The reproduction quality is excellent, and the image selection (especially the paintings) manages to capture and convey those essential qualities of history, nostalgia and a gentler pace of life, something which we all seem to seek nowadays, locked as we are in the hectic and rapid lifestyle of the 21st Century.
It is also gratifying that, when looking at the pictures, Elias has given priority to the illustrative content of the wider town itself, rather than one relying heavily on the Castle and its close environs – a subject already amply covered by previous works. There is a useful index provided, and, for a book which retails for a nominal price (just £10), the whole production is a genuine and well constructed example of the work of an author with a true passion and knowledge of his subject.
‘A picture tells a thousand words‘, so the old saying goes, and within Vanished Windsor, it is most definitely the images themselves which do all the talking. The accurate, but economic use of written text is actually a bonus, as a pictorial history – which is essentially what this is – should be able to inform and delight the reader on the strength of its image content alone. As well as being of great interest and entertainment to the general reader, this is a title which would sit very well on the shelves of any library or book collection, and will certainly prove to be an invaluable pictorial resource for local historians and antiquarians in the years to come.
Elias Kupfermann has created a book which records a most important factor of Windsor’s development. Along with the artists, photographers and contributors whose works are all brought here together within this book, he is to be heartily applauded.
ISBN 978-0-9505-5677-2 published by Windsor Local History Group
Windsor Local History Group 