Notes on Old Peterborough

Andrew PercivalProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.6

Word count: 79K words
Chapters: 8

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Notes on Old Peterborough by Andrew PercivalAuthor: Percival, Andrew,Language: English, Class: DA: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Great Britain, Ireland, Central Europe, Release Date: Mar 5, 2014

Editor's review

This is a collection of historical notes written in English, focusing on old lore and local memory in Peterborough, England, made available as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg. It is short and reads more like notes and local-history sketches than a systematic local gazetteer: the author, Andrew Percival, records the people, places, and anecdotes of old Peterborough in note form, giving readers a sense of the minute, concrete appeal of local history. For Chinese readers its value lies in offering a sample of British local-history writing, suitable as supplementary material for the study of urban history and local memory. As a public-domain ebook, it is plainly formatted and lacks a modern introduction and annotations, so readers need to bring their own background knowledge or consult it alongside maps. It is not intended as a general history of England or a travel guide, but is better suited to readers willing to read slowly, with patience for local detail, and to dip into at leisure.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in British local history and urban memory
Scholars undertaking comparative research on local gazetteers or public history
Advanced readers who need English public-domain source material as supplementary reading
Readers who enjoy essayistic historical notes and can accept fragmentary narrative

Not a good fit for

General readers expecting a systematic history of England or a travel guide
Beginners who need modern annotations and an introduction to get started
Readers who prefer strong narrative and a continuous, coherent reading experience

Reading tips

First look up Peterborough's geographical location and basic historical development, then begin the text.
Read in batches by note entry, a few at a time, without seeking continuity.
Cross-reference with maps or local-history materials to make up for the book's lack of annotations.
After reading, compile a list of people and places to form your own local-history index.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a systematic general history of Peterborough?

Judging from the title and the material, it is closer to "notes on old Peterborough," recording local people and anecdotes in note and essay form rather than as a tightly structured general history. Readers should treat it as supplementary local-history material, not as an introductory general history or a travel guide.

What preparation do Chinese readers need to read this book?

The book is an English public-domain ebook lacking a modern introduction and annotations. Chinese readers would do best to first learn the basic geography and historical development of Peterborough and to prepare maps or local-history materials for cross-reference, which makes it easier to understand the people and places in the notes.

Why does this book have no modern annotations or introduction?

It was compiled and released by Project Gutenberg, which focuses on providing free public-domain ebooks and usually preserves the original textual form without adding modern scholarly annotations or introductions. Readers therefore need to bring their own background knowledge or use it alongside other materials.

Comments

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About the author

Andrew Percival Author

Andrew Percival is the author of Notes on Old Peterborough. Public information about this author is limited: his nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background cannot presently be confirmed, and only one of his works is held in the collection. Judging from the title and subject matter, the book concerns the local history and older face of Peterborough, England, and belongs to the genre of local-history notes. Such works usually record a town's streets, buildings, figures and anecdotes in note form, with a strong regional and documentary character. Writing of this kind generally relies on the author's study of local records and surviving sites, values detail and a sense of place, and often preserves local memory beyond official history. Although Percival and his book are not widely known today, the work may still serve as a reference for understanding the historical appearance of old Peterborough.