"The literary landscape of Shropshire"

This is the subtitle of a recently-published anthology edited by one Margaret Wilson, whom I don't know from a bar of soap. A copy arrived here while we were away - with compliments: a nice surprise! The reason became clear when I looked down the list of contributors: my ancestor Peter Davis' name appears alongside those of others rather more celebrated - Boswell J., Darwin C., Dickens C., Lawrence D.H., Milton J., Owen W. to name but a few.

Though thanked for the contributions Ms. Wilson selected from Peter Davis' Diary of a Shropshire Farmer, I can't for the life of me remember being asked about this beforehand. Ah well, no harm done: rather the reverse, as the two extracts are well selected, and sit alongside a handsome photograph by a Geoff Taylor, taken I fancy from (rather than of) Peter Davis' family home, Dean Park.

The book looks and feels good: it would grace any coffee table - I couldn't fit the whole of the cover onto my scanner.