MERSEYSIDE The Indian Summer Volume 2: Return to Pier Head

I think it takes the eye of a stranger to appreciate the special character of a place and see things that local people take for granted…’

Using his ‘stranger’s eye’, the author took many photographs of Merseyside in the 1950s, including highly atmospheric views of streets, docks and ferries on both sides of the river before widespread demolition, redevelopment and industrial transformation obliterated such scenes for ever. The result is two volumes containing more than 180 views, each supported by detailed and informative captions that evoke not also the sights, but also the sounds and smells of this highly industrialised area, together with selected items of contemporary ephemera from guide-books, newspapers, etc. An introduction summarises the main changes in the areas covered, and sets the social, domestic and entertainment scene of the 1950s. Six main sections cover Birkenhead, Wallasey and Liverpool and their associated town centres, docks and shipping, as well as views in the surrounding countryside, and include pictures of the industrial buildings, railway stations, dockside engines, buses, trams, cars and lorries that were all part of the townscape of the time.