Douglas: past & present, Volume I
£16.95
Written by Ray Stanfield with George Hobbs and Sara Goodwins
“Falcon Cliff does not denote the nesting place of raptors but was a marketing ploy by the owners Philip Garrett and Carre Tupper in 1838. They wanted an impressive name for the plot of land they were selling by the rather unusual means of a lottery.”
Another in our series of past and present books Douglas past & present Volume I joins Port Erin, Peel, Castletown and Ramsey.
Douglas is easily the largest conurbation on the Isle of Man and we’d put off doing a past and present book of it simply because we were worried about how much material we’d have to leave out. Our solution was to divide the material into two volumes. The two books have been planned together, firstly to avoid overlap as much as possible, and secondly to squash the idea that volume II is merely a gathering of left-over photographs which didn’t fit into volume I. The two are stand-alone books and readers don’t have to buy either of them to enjoy the other one.
Ideally we’d have published them at the same time, but handling so much material at once was rather a challenge, so volume I is out now and volume II will follow in the early summer of 2026.
From the Publisher
Putting together a book containing photographs drawn from old postcards always brings home how personal, and often treasured, such items were.
A century ago most ordinary people couldn't afford photography except occasionally a formal portrait to celebrate a wedding. And with its heavy, specialised equipment, and chemical processes to produce the picture, most people couldn't understand it either, so it’s always pleasing when postcards reveal something of the personal lives of those sending or receiving them. A particular favourite in Douglas past & present, Volume I is the wife of the manager of the Granville Hotel whose card, showing the hotel, announces proudly that her husband has just been made manager of it (page 46).
Even rarer than senders featuring on the postcards, however, is a photographer appearing on one. There were a number of photographers working in Douglas including a widow who was continuing her husband’s work, but pictures of them are relatively rare. Douglas past & present, Volume I offers us a tantalising glimpse on page 86, as a photographer is obviously photographing an event happening on the cable car at 12.00. Unfortunately we can’t see what it is!
