A Spring-Time Saunter is a book written by Whiteley Turner.
The classic book is an account of a 4-day ramble in May 1905 in which Turner walked from Mount Tabor to Haworth, returning via Oxenhope and Luddenden Dean. He describes the people, life and times of Luddenden Dean and the Brontë country.
In 1905, the Halifax Courier published a series of his articles which were to form the basis of the book.
The articles were well received and resulted in collaboration between Turner, W. E. Denison, and Arthur Comfort.
The first subscribers' edition of 2,045 copies was dedicated
to my dear wife
Turner himself invested his savings in this and later publications. Amongst those who subscribed to the work were
This was followed in 1913 by a second edition (359 copies).
At the beginning of 1915, the third edition of around 3,000 copies was published. There were minor amendments, including the addition of heights and details of water supply. It was dedicated
to my friend W E Denison
his collaborator and sponsor. It appears that sales were sluggish.
Many copies of the third edition were sent to wounded members of the armed forces by the Halifax Courier War & Prisoners Comfort Fund. In the front of each volume, W. E. Denison, Manager of the Fund, explained that it was the
Product of a modest, humble newsagent, a resident of Mount Tabor and native of Luddenden Vale, who had the misfortune to lose his right arm in the mill when 8 years old. His aspiration has been to encourage a keener appreciation of one's locality. I read and revised the manuscript by Mr Whiteley Turner's desire and enjoyed other privileges which need not be recounted but they explain why my name comes to be linked with it. The author sought no present profit by the effort. It was throughout a sheer labour of love. This made me the more eager to widen his acquaintance.
This seems to have revived interest in the book and Turner was keen on a further edition.
Sales of later editions of Springtime Saunter were sluggish, and Turner was in difficult financial circumstances, from which he did not recover
See Betty o' th' Fly and Elizabeth Hindle
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Malcolm Bull 2017 /
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Revised 15:03 on 5th July 2017 / mms2959 / 6