Collett’s Farthing Newspaper: The Bowerchalke Village Newspaper, 1878-1924

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The story of a newspaper like no other, written and printed every week for over forty years in the remote South Wiltshire village of Bowerchalke by its remarkable vicar, the Revd Edward Collett. Rex Sawyer, acclaimed Wiltshire author, lived for many years in Collett’s former vicarage and found the remains of his printing activities, among much else, buried in the garden. The discovery led him to search out the newspapers and to reveal the fascinating social history told in its pages, of a village as it responded to the relentless changes of English rural life and the catastrophe of the First World War. Accompanied by many of Collett’s photographs, preserved in albums in the village, this is a beautifully and touchingly written book. First published (as The Bowerchalke Parish Papers) in 1989, it was long out of print, until in 2004 for this new edition Rex thoroughly revised the text, included more photographs, and added an epilogue bringing Bowerchalke’s story up to date. The 2004 edition became a local classic, and is now reissued in paperback for the first time. It is certain to enchant a new generation of readers now that almost a century has passed since Revd Collett’s death.