Pictorial histories of a municipal with character

摘要

If you are familiar with the work of David Harvey and Amberley Publishing, you will have a good idea what to expect in these two books covering Coventry's municipal buses from the start of operation in March 1914 to their transfer to West Midlands PTE in April 1974. Lots of black and white photographs printed singly or in pairs on matt paper, accompanied by informative captions telling you not just about the buses but of aspects of local history. The author's other interests often spill over to add to the content, so where there is a cinema in view you can expect to learn about the films being shown at the time. In the first of these volumes, for example, the billboard above a Maudslay double-decker in 1931 publicises what he says was the only celluloid production starring both Clark Gable and Greta Garbo.