Highways and Byways of Britain

   Having just posted about the new coastal paths that will soon allow you to circumnavigate all of England, here is some information for those who might want to learn what it was like to ramble about the country during the early years of the last century.
   MacMillan & Company published this "Highways and Byways" series from around 1907 to the 1940s. The volumes typically contained illustrations and maps and many of them are found on AbeBooks and some are now in the public domain and can be accessed over the Internet. The recently published book contains selections from some of the volumes and a list of those volumes is provided below.

 "Between the end of the nineteenth century and the Second World War Macmillan published a much-loved and extremely successful series of books under the title of 'Highways and Byways'. In them, the authors took readers on a delightful guided tour of the country, county by county, pointing out places of interest, key historical events and local lore and legend. Now, Macmillan is reissuing - in one beautifully designed volume - a selection of those highways and byways, which affords contemporary readers both a charming period piece and a wonderful glimpse of the very best of Britain." Here is a list of the books in the series.
Highways and Byways in Berkshire (1906) by J. E. Vincent
"The book will certainly serve as an invaluable companion to the reader who decides to explore Berkshire for himself, telling him what spots to seek diligently and indicating the districts that may be treated lightly. The indolent man, who eschews travel as troublesome, will be able, without leaving his armchair by the fire, now that he can have the assistance of Messrs. Vincent and Griggs, thoroughly to enjoy Berkshire scenes, make the acquaintance of Berkshire men and women, and learn the importance of the county in English history." Nature, Dec. 13, 1906
Highways and Byways in Buckinghamshire (1910) by Clement King Shorter
Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely (1910) by Rev. Edward Conybeare
Highways and Byways in Devon and Cornwall (1911) by Arthur H. Norway
Highways and Byways in Donegal and Antrim (1899) by Stephen Gwynn
Highways and byways in Dorset (1906) by Sir Frederick Treves
Highways and byways in East Anglia (1901) by William A. Dutt
Highways and Byways in Essex (1939) by Clifford Bax
Highways and Byways in Galloway and Carrick (1916) by Rev. C. H. Dick (Charles Hill Dick)
Highways and Byways in Gloucestershire (1932) by Edward Hutton
Highways and Byways in Hampshire (1908) by D. H. Moutray Read
Highways and Byways in Hardy's Wessex (1913) by Hermann Lea
Highways and Byways in Hertfordshire (1902) by Herbert W. Tompkins
Highways and Byways in Kent (1907) by Walter Jerrold
Highways and Byways in Leicestershire (1926) by J. B. Firth
Highways and Byways in Lincolnshire (1914) by Willingham Franklin Rawnsley
Highways and Byways in London (1902) by Mrs. E. T. Cook
Highways and Byways in Middlesex (1909) by Walter Jerrold
Highways and Byways in Normandy (1900) by Percy Dearmer
Highways and Byways in Northamptonshire and Rutland (1918) by Herbert A. Evans
Highways and Byways in Northumbria (1920) by P. Anderson Graham
Highways and Byways in North Wales (1898) by A. G. Bradley
Highways and Byways in Nottinghamshire (1910) by J. B. Firth
Highways and Byways in Oxford and the Cotswolds (1905) by Herbert A. Evans
Highways and Byways in Shakespeare's Country (1914) by W. H. Hutton
Highways and Byways in Somerset (1912) by Edward Hutton
Highways and Byways in South Wales (1903) by A. G. Bradley
Highways and Byways in Surrey (1908) by Eric Parker
Highways and Byways in Sussex (1904) by E. V. Lucas
Highways and Byways in The Border (1913) by Andrew Lang and John Lang
Highways and Byways in the Central Highlands (1948) by Seton Gordon
Highways and Byways in the Lake District (1901) by A. G. Bradley [Arthur Granville Bradley]
Highways and Byways in the Welsh Marches (1939) by S. B. P. Mais
Highways and Byways in the West Highlands (1935) by Seton Gordon
Highways and Byways in Wiltshire (1917) by Edward Hutton
Highways and Byways in Yorkshire (1899) by Arthur H. Norway


(From a review in The Geographical Teacher, Autumn, 1923)

Archer Butler Hulbert

   It is a rainy day during which we are currently quarantined. If you have run out of interesting books to read, here are some suggestions. The books mentioned below are available for free over the Internet.
   The Wikipedia entry for Hulbert mentions that an early bibliography of his works has over 100 entries. What led me to him is the series he authored which is discussed below.

Historic Highways of America

This is essentially a bibliographic note which will be of use to those who are interested in the history of roads, trails and the paths that have been used to traverse the continent. I used to work in the libraries at Western University and took a look for some of the titles in this series, which are provided more clearly in the list below. When they were not found, I was somewhat surprised since the Western Libraries have (or at least, had) strong collections in the humanities. It turns out that the entire collection of Historic Highways of America is in storage at Western Libraries. The individual titles are not catalogued, but the volumes can be found by searching for the title of the series. Here are the titles which cannot be read clearly on the spines above. Apart from the Historic Highways of America, the Western Libraries have more of Hulbert's books and they are listed after the individual titles of the series.

v. 1. Paths of the mound-building Indians and great game animals. 1902 --

v. 2. Indian thoroughfares. 1902 --

v. 3. Washington's road (Nemacolin's path). The first chapter of the old French war. 1903 --

v. 4. Braddock's road and three relative papers. 1903 --

v. 5. The Old Glade (Forbe's) road (Pennsylvania state road) 1903 --

v. 6. Boone's wilderness road. 1903 --

v. 7. Portage paths, the keys of the continent. 1903. --

v. 8. Military roads of the Mississippi basin. 1904 --

v. 9. Waterways of westward expansion. 1903 --

v. 10. The Cumberland road. 1904 --

v. 11-12. Pioneer roads and experience of travelers. 1904 --

v. 13-14. The great American canals (v. 1. The Chesapeake and Ohio canal and the Pennsylvania canal. v. 2. The Erie canal) 1904 --

v. 15. The future of road-making in America: a symposium by A.B. Hulbert and others. 1905 --

v. 16. Index

Additional Books by Archer Butler Hulbert in the Western Libraries

   

1830-1930, the Oregon Trail centennial : the documentary background of the days of the first wagon train on the road to Oregon.

David Zeisberger's history of northern American Indians, ed. by Hulbert and Schwarze.

Forty-niners : the chronicle of the California trail.

Frontiers, the genius of American nationality, by Archer Butler Hulbert.

Historic highways of America.

History of the Niagara River / by Archer Butler Hulbert.

Ohio in the time of the Confederation : ed., with introduction and notes, by Archer Butler Hulbert.

Pioneer roads and experiences of travelers, By Archer Butler Hulbert.

Soil; its influence on the history of the United States, with special reference to migration and the scientific study of local history, by Archer Butler Hulbert.

Southwest on the turquoise trail; the first diaries on the road to Santa Fe, edited, with bibliographical resumé, 1810-1825 / by Archer Butler Hubert; with maps...

The Crown collection of photographs of American maps, selected and edited. Series II.

The making of the American republic, by Archer Butler Hulbert.

The old national road: a chapter of American expansions, by Archer Butler Hulbert.

The paths of inland commerce : a chronicle of trail, road, and waterway / by Archer B. Hulbert.

The records of the original proceedings of the Ohio Company. Edited, with introd. and notes, by Archer Butler Hulbert.

Zebulon Pike's Arkansaw journal ....

Sources:
The following two sample pages are taken from: "A Dedication to the Memory of Archer Butler Hulbert, 1873-1933," Harvey L. Carter, Arizona and the West, Vol.8, No.1, 1966

For a review of The Niagara River:
“This is a splendidly printed and illustrated popular account of the Niagara River and vicinity, including its scenery, geological history and human associations. One chapter is entitled, “A Century of Niagara Cranks.” from Bulletin of the American Geographical Society
Vol. 41, No. 8 (1909), pp. 513-514, by R.E.D. 

The entire book is available in the Internet Archive. 

Post Script:

The complete set is now available electronically in the Hathi Trust Digital Library. Given that digital versions are freely accessible there likely will be pressure to remove the print copies, since the Western Libraries have decided to devote more space to students and less to books. Although the books are digitally available, the entire set of Historic Highways of America would be of interest to booksellers.I  did not attempt to retrieve any of the volumes and do not know if they are in good condition.
   As I indicated, I no longer work in the Western Libraries and no one there would be responsible for any errors in this post.

           This is one in a series relating to books about roads and trails.