The Village Surveyed

First edition, first impression.  172pp, with monochrome plate frontispiece, further monochrome plates interleafed in text, maps, charts etc.  Blue cloth-covered boards with black lettering on the spine. 8vo.  Cloth is worn, rubbed around edges, especially at corners and spine tips, and markedly faded in margins and over spine.  A little spotting on endpapers, and a previous owner’s name neatly inked on the front free endpaper else internally neat, clean and tight.  

A pioneering study and landmark post-second world war social and town planning survey of the village of Sutton-at-Hone in north Kent.  The survey was unique at the time because it directly asked local residents what they wanted to see happen in their village, as Britain entered into a period of intense reconstruction following the war.  An early application of group dynamics and community co-operation in town planning, it is also now valued by local historians as it documents the social fabric, physical layout, history and of the village using tables, plates and maps. Cecil Stewart was a influential architect and town planner but swung against the tide in the mid 20th century as a champion of the preservation of historical styles of architecture at time when it was often being demolished in favour of modernist redevelopment.  Now a very hard to find title.