HODSON, W. W. [ William Walter Hodson ] .: A Handbook & Guide To Sudbury, By W. W. Hodson. , Sudbury: Printed and Published by James Wright, Market Hill [ no date - c.1870? ] .

A scarce early guide to the town of Sudbury, Suffolk. I can find no reference to this book in any of the major libraries, so I have to assume this is a very rare book. Original paperback booklet now protected by later hard cover binding. 8vo. Blue cloth covered boards. Spine sunned, with bright gilt titles. No ownership inscriptions etc. Brown printed covers. Front cover with title, and contents to verso. 32pp. Clean text throughout. The last page ends with the date: "Sudbury, June, 1870." Hence the assumption of the date of publication. Bound with 24 pages of adverts for local firms. Rear cover with further adverts to both sides. A very well preserved book. William Hodson was a pioneering antiquarian who published this charming account of Sudbury in the 1887 journal of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History. Hodson was a man of extraordinary energy who did much to record Sudbury's past at a time that old houses, paintings and documents were little valued. He died in 1894. The victorian antiquarians were often a rather dull to read, their fascination with the genealogies of the ancient land-owning families, and the interiors of churches, being difficult ro appreciate now. However, William Walter Hodson was a remarkable exception. He is said to have been 'an idefatigable antiquary, who never missed an opportunity of collecting any scrap of local information that might come his way'. He also was an eloquent writer and some of his papers were published by the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology, and he published a book on the rise of Nonconformity in Sudbury. He left a huge pile of notes and manuscripts about the ancient borough of Sudbury. This might have been dispersed or destroyed had it not been for the efforts of C. F. D. Sperling. 'Hodson's History of the Borough of Sudbury' was written from his notes by Sperling and eventually published by private subscription and printed by Marten, on Market Hill, Sudbury in 1896. - See Foxearth and District Local History Society *** James Wright (15th Oct 1810 - Jan-March 1885 ). Born in Buntingford, Hertfordshire. The earliest record I can find for James Wright living on the Market Hill in Sudbury, is the census record for 1841. He is listed as a Printer and Bookseller in the 1851, 1861, and 1871 census . In the 1881 census he is listed as "retired printer" . (Book ref. 37812)  £155.00

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