Author & Publisher: Brian Keates
- 40 pages
- Hard back, colour dust cover, profusely illustrated in full colour throughout, quality stitched binding, self-published by the author
Available direct from the author at: brkeates@yahoo.co.uk
Price: available on request from Brian
Review by Geoff Coughlin
Now here’s something different…
You may well have noticed the other 3 publications from Brian that are available as we go to press, or should I say upload!? You can find details of them at the end of this piece. This is essentially a unique collection of images that Brian has taken when he visited the impressive home of ‘Just Jane’, the only other surviving ground-running Avro Lancaster in the UK based at East Kirkby (not Kirby as the title suggests). And no ordinary day this was either when Brian visited – a cursory look at the images included here will confirm that!
Some good inspiration here maybe for a theme or ideas for all you armour and diorama boys out there about how you might present your finished model?
This volume is shorter than the others identified below, mainly because there clearly weren’t so many different aircraft and armour subjects attending – rather a themed day that certainly made the event come to life. Not least because of the sight of a Lancaster fast-taxiing down the grass strip – it doesn’t get much better than that.
All of Brian’s books follow a similar format and more details of this follow below.
Book quality…
Very high indeed – The glossy quality art paper is a welcome change from some far more expensive titles available these days. Layout and placement of the images is clever and well thought out, making for a very pleasurable browse as you progress through the pages. There are some captions to different areas, but this is a photo reference from a truly unique day in the life of East Kirkby. Sometimes we only get to hear about these events after the event or, as much as we’d like to go, we rarely get the opportunity and so the chance to buy a high quality pictorial record of the event like this one is extremely welcome.
Brian is an excellent photographer – you can see that just from the small selection of images I have included here. There are many, many more that I haven’t included here, but all are high quality, in focus and carefully set up to create interest and show off the subject to great effect, really very nice.
Although this title and the other 3 that I am also reviewing are self-published, the quality of the whole volume is superb. The spine is stitched and with the hard book cover, glossy dust cover and art paper, the whole thing looks and feels desirable… it’s hard to imagine anything else like this that you could sit down and enjoy a browse with over a cup of coffee more than one of these volumes.
Conclusion…
Superb on all counts: quality and content. If like me, you are rather partial to WWII types like the Lanc, Spitfire and C-47 Dakota, you will want this book. Full stop. I understand from Brian that he is selling these to interested people at pretty much cost or close to cost price, so they will be excellent value for money.
Highly recommended
Geoff C.
Here are the other 3 titles available as I write…
