Eric Newby

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BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR


Title: Learning The Ropes: Apprentice In The Last Of The Windjammers: Description:
Eric Newby boarded the Moshulu in 1938 as a fresh faced 18-year-old eager to experience life at sea on a sailing ship. He knew the traditional four- masted basque would soon become obsolete with the growing intrusion of the steam powered ocean liner. Cargo ships sailing across the seas would often race to get home in record breaking time, though little did he know that his voyage from Ireland to the south coast of Australia and back to collect a cargo of grain was to be the last race taken in such a vessel. The onset of the Second World War destroyed many of these beautiful vessels, and those that survived were to become museum pieces. Learning the Ropes is a photographic narrative of the voyage Newby embarked on. His black-and white pictures tell the story of everyday life for those on board perhaps enhanced by the very ad-oc nature in which he set about taking the photographs. He was not a trained photographer and would take his pictures after a long shift working on deck when often the foremost thing on his mind was trying to catch up on lost sleep. In many ways the innocence of the birth of these photographs adds to their historical importance. Newby has captured a glimpse of life on board a sailing ship right at its death, akin to the work done in at the beginning of the century where many traditional folk songs where written down before the last people with the songs in their heads died. A 26-page written introduction provides a fascinating insight into the time period followed by 95 pages of truly stunning photography. If this book grabs your attention, then Newby's companion book, The Last Grain Race is his narrative account of this epic voyage. --Steven Payne

Title: Love And War In The Apennines (picador Books): Description:
Eric Newby tells of his time spent in Italy after the 1943 armistice. He describes the kindness of the peasants and the beauty of the landscape. It is here that he also met the girl who was to become his wife

Title: On The Shores Of The Mediterranean (picador Books): Description:
A humorous account of the travels of Eric Newby and his wife Wanda, round the Mediterranean littoral starting from Naples onwards. Last published in 1985.

Title: The Big Red Train Ride (picador Books): Description:
The only continuous land route between Western Europe and the Pacific coast of the USSR, the Trans-Siberian Railway covers nearly a 100 degrees of longitude, seven time zones and 5900 miles in a journey lasting 192 hours and 35 minutes. In 1977 Eric Newby set out with his wife, an official guide and a photographer to gather a wealth of irreverent and humorous detail about life in the USSR. Eric Newby has also written "When the Snow Comes, They Will Take You Away", "The World Atlas of Exploration", "Great Ascents" and many travel other travel books.

Title: A Short Walk In The Hindu Kush (picador Books): Description:
A humorous overview of Eric Newby's travels from Mayfair to the mountains of the Hindu Kush, north-east of Kabul, offering insight into the numerous eccentric characters and adventures he met along the way, and descriptions of the spectacular wilderness of Afghanistan. Last published in 1981.

Title: Round Ireland In Low Gear (picador Books): Description:
A humorous account of the cycling travel of Eric Newby and his wife Wanda, round Ireland.

Title: Slowly Down The Ganges (picador Books): Description:
The story of the 1,200 mile journey made by Eric Newby and his wife down the holy river of India, travelling in a variety of boats, and sometimes by rail, bus and bullock carts, and staying on sandbanks, in villages and towns where they encountered an assortment of characters. Last published in 1983.

Title: A Small Place In Italy: Description:
In 1967, Eric Newby and his wife Wanda acquired "I Castagni" (The Chestnuts), a small and ruined farmhouse in the foothills of the Apuan Alps on the borders of Liguria and northern Tuscany. They were the first foreigners to live in the area, and for 25 years, they remained the only ones. This book recounts the Newbys' life in their house in a forgotten era. It describes how they pulled the house back from the brink of collapse, their enduring friendship with the neighbouring contadini, who welcomed them - whether eating, drinking, harvesting grapes and olives, or hunting for fungus and wild asparagus - from the moment they arrived.