Men and the Fields

Adrian Bell's travels through East Anglia and lowland Britain reflect a world on the brink of change.

Published in 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, his down-to-earth descriptions of the countryside were shaped by his own life working the land.

Whether it be hedgerow flowers, a livestock auction, traditional farmyard, village forge, wheelwright's shop, the arrival of the tractor in the harvest field, the work of the ploughman, shepherd or woodman, Men and the Fields captures the character of rural life before modern agriculture altered the landscape and changed forever the way we eat and live.

This new edition restores the original colour lithographs and black and white line drawings by John Nash that appeared in the first edition.