Review - THE HISTORY OF MENDIP CAVING by Peter Johnson 1967

[rhychydwr1]

THE HISTORY OF MENDIP CAVING by Peter Johnson 1967  196 pp 20 plates 9 surveys.  Long out of print but still in great demand as this book describes the early days of caving on Mendip.  However it does contain some amusing comments: 
Page 19 ?the sleepy little town of Wells?.  Some time ago I interviewed the inhabitants of Wells in the street.  Most of the comments were helpful, although all of them disagreed with me. As the last few interviews were quite violent, they came to a very sudden ending.
Page 28-29 ?had set out to explore the caves at Dundry (near Bristol), and had been disappointed to find that they were nothing more than old lead mines.?  They are of course stone mines.  Regretfully they were filled in some years ago and an important bat habitation site was lost.  Not sure why the local bat group allowed this.
Page 33 ?Candles are by comment consent the most dependable illuminant wrote Balch in (1937)?
Page 39 ?and the UBSS, ? made up of a number of gay university students?.  After my problems in Wells, I chickened out of interviewing UBSS students to see whether or not they were gay.
HB DW

As I am not allowed to advertise, please PM me for a price.

 

[Wayland Smith]

Will it be a genuine copy?
Or are you trying to sell illegal photocopies again? 

 

[mrodoc]

I have a copy and I found it very helpful as somebody new to caving to get an idea of how it all started and the history of the exploration of individual caves was interesting. It had rather lukewarm reviews at the teime and some people thought Peter Johnson was a bit hard on Balch plus there were, apparently, some errors. However over the last half century nobody has had the energy to publish a more accurate account until quite recently.  The MCRA will be publishing a much more detailed history in the not too distant future.

 

[rhychydwr1]

Will it be a genuine copy?
Or are you trying to sell illegal photocopies again? 

You will have to buy it and see

 

[Wayland Smith]

Well you have just been banned from one group for fraudulent selling and photocopies of copyright books so it's a fair question for people to be asking. :spank:

 

[rhychydwr1]

Well you have just been banned from one group for fraudulent selling and photocopies of copyright books so it's a fair question for people to be asking. :spank:

Ouch!

 

[Andy Sparrow]

I have a copy and I found it very helpful as somebody new to caving to get an idea of how it all started and the history of the exploration of individual caves was interesting. It had rather lukewarm reviews at the teime and some people thought Peter Johnson was a bit hard on Balch plus there were, apparently, some errors. However over the last half century nobody has had the energy to publish a more accurate account until quite recently.  The MCRA will be publishing a much more detailed history in the not too distant future.

A bit hard on Balch?  He was savage.  This book is sometimes known as 'a short history of the UBSS' being somewhat partisan towards that society.  However I do take your point that nobody else ever got round to publishing a superior version and I did find it fascinating reading when I first took an interest in caving.  The Balch bashing seems to have been a deliberate attempt to upset the status quo of the time.  Johnson accused the caving community of being hostile towards him and I wonder if he responded by indulging in some sacred cow bashing just to wind up the Mendip mandarins. 

 

[rhychydwr1]

I have a copy and I found it very helpful as somebody new to caving to get an idea of how it all started and the history of the exploration of individual caves was interesting. It had rather lukewarm reviews at the teime and some people thought Peter Johnson was a bit hard on Balch plus there were, apparently, some errors. However over the last half century nobody has had the energy to publish a more accurate account until quite recently.  The MCRA will be publishing a much more detailed history in the not too distant future.

A bit hard on Balch?  He was savage.  This book is sometimes known as 'a short history of the UBSS' being somewhat partisan towards that society.  However I do take your point that nobody else ever got round to publishing a superior version and I did find it fascinating reading when I first took an interest in caving.  The Balch bashing seems to have been a deliberate attempt to upset the status quo of the time.  Johnson accused the caving community of being hostile towards him and I wonder if he responded by indulging in some sacred cow bashing just to wind up the Mendip mandarins.

I agree.  But at least he got off his butt, did the research and published.  No one else has done that to date!

 

[David Rose]

I have purchased the copy on offer. I am certain it is a real book, almost certainly typeset in the old-fashioned way using hot metal slugs. I'm looking forward to reading it.

 

[ZombieCake]

Strange - all the stuff I've bought of Tony has been the real deal. Indeed recent info on Nancy Camel's is available via MCG or Tony as he was the only one interested in what I'd been investigating and discovering.