A NEW generation of readers with a love of the great outdoors are snapping up the pictorial guidebooks of legendary fell walking chronicler Alfred Wainwright, reports Mike Addison.

Back in February, The Westmorland Gazette exclusively revealed that London publishers Frances Lincoln had won the right to publish the books and they would be re-printed in Kendal after a gap of ten years.

Thousands of the guides to the Lake District fells have now come off the Titus Wilson production line, on Burneside Road, and are rapidly disappearing from the shelves of bookshops up and down the country.

Managing director of Titus Wilson, David Rigg said the number of copies sold was "way over our expectations and forecasts" with more than half of the 24,000 books published before Easter already being snapped up.

"With the good weather leading up to and after Easter, the sales were excellent," said Mr Rigg.

"It's been a big help to us. We have not taken on any new staff but we are looking to put up a new building out the back."

He said there were three types of people buying the books, including those making up the sets after getting one, youngsters who had been unable to get them for a while and collectors purchasing all seven Lake District guidebooks at once.

"Because people are buying a full set, we are planning on bringing out a box set in the near future," said Mr Rigg.

"It will be slightly cheaper than buying them all

individually."

Mr Rigg described the books as classics with each page being a work of art. "It's not just a case of following a map, it's following Wainwright's thoughts on the walk," said Mr Rigg.

"He tells you which way to go and why and what to look out for. It's a whole experience doing a Wainwright walk."

There was a behind-the-scenes frenzy in the literary world when the Gazette revealed in January that previous publishers Michael Joseph, part of the Penguin group, was ceasing publication and returning ownership of the copyright to Wainwright's widow Betty.

Penguin never announced the reasons for its decision, although it is believed sales slumped in the wake of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001.

There was nobody at the previous publishers Michael Joseph, part of the Penguin Group, available to comment at the time the Gazette went to press.

May 9, 2003 11:00