NEW APRIL 2023.  It is often not appreciated how much effort the GER put into boosting its passenger trade from Parkeston Quay, but here is just one example. It is an oblong 64-page book with board covers, priced at sixpence. The full title is ‘Walks in Holland - Cycling, Boating, by Rail and on Foot’. It is in the same series as 'Walks in the Ardennes', which is available as file RG042.

The author is Percy Lindley, who wrote several other guides for the GER as well. He comes across as a good writer, familiar with the places he describes and with plenty of practical tips for the traveller (such as if you can't find anyone who speaks English, make for the post office).

When Mr Lindley signs off the work at the end, after a personal account of a rather adventurous boating tour he made on Dutch inland waterways, complete with his fair share of mishaps (such as the limitations of using a railway tarpaulin lent by the GER's Rotterdam agent when your tent has got lost!), he adds the date 'June 1889'. There are no photographs, but instead there are plenty of pen and ink sketches. Folded in is an excellent map of the Netherlands as a whole, with an insert depicting the Amsterdam area at an enlarged scale.

It is understood that it was published by W H Smith, but this is not mentioned explicitly. Where the publisher’s name might be expected on the title page, it just reads “London: 125 Fleet Street; 61 Regent Street; and all Bookstalls and Booksellers”. Certainly it is easy to imagine it being stocked on station bookstalls.

Nor is the Great Eastern Railway named in its production, but it is clear they backed the book and played an important part. The inside front cover is devoted to an advertisement for the Continent via Harwich. The corresponding page at the back is used to provide a list of timings and fares.

You will receive two downloads: the book itself, and the fold-out map.  The book is word-searchable and has bookmarks to all its main sections. The files will be available to download as soon as payment has been made. You go to your account and click on ‘Downloads’. New customers create an account as they place their order.