Local Publications for Sale
To buy any of the items listed, please contact: bibliographicalservices.library@westsussex.gov.uk
Items can be delivered to any West Sussex library for collection and payment.
Please note there is limited stock now available on all titles
Cinema West Sussex: The first hundred years
by Allen Eyles, Frank Gray and Alan Readman
Phillimore, 1996 (RRP £15.95)
The South Coast was popular with early filmmakers and the county had links with many. Their work is highlighted and that of the film studio at Shoreham, which produced a string of successful feature films. This book also provides a rare insight into the world of amateur cinematography with the remarkable story of the nationally acclaimed Bognor Regis Film Society. The authors trace the travelling showmen who brought moving pictures to public halls and fairgrounds and describe in detail the history of all 62 cinemas that have operated in West Sussex.
Price: £2.50
D-Day West Sussex
by Ian Greig, Kim Leslie & Alan Readman
West Sussex County Council, 2019 (revised)
Seeks to outline the vital part played by West Sussex in the D-Day offensive of 1944. Revised and reprinted to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Full of images and stories from the D-Day preparations in West Sussex.
Price: £7.95
Edwardian Durrington and Salvington: The story of a community between 1901-1913
by Jane Dore
Verite CM Ltd, 2016
Using original sources this book reveals the story of an area of West Sussex during the Edwardian years which was previously largely unknown. As you read through the pages, the streets, properties, nurseries, businesses and inhabitants of Durrington and Salvington begin to come alive
Price: £7
A History of High Salvington, Books One, Two, Three and Four
by Angela Levy
Verité CM Ltd, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
Quiet, unassuming High Salvington, three miles north of Worthing in West Sussex, is a small place with a big history. This is the first book devoted to this history.
Generously illustrated, these books are a fascinating read for residents and non-residents alike.
Price: £10
Jane Austen’s Worthing: The Real Sanditon
by Antony Edmonds
Amberley, 2015
During her stay in Worthing in late 1805 Jane Austen became friends with Edward Ogle, who was the driving force behind the chaotic little town’s transformation into a well-ordered seaside resort. Then, in 1817, the year of her death, Jane Austen used Worthing as the background for her final, unfinished novel, Sanditon, one of whose main characters was based on Ogle.
This book gives a detailed account of the town Jane Austen knew in 1805 and explores in full the close links between Sanditon and early Worthing.
Price: £9
Lost buildings of Worthing: a historic town and its people
by Antony Edmonds
Amberley, 2016
Demolition and redevelopment over the past seventy-five years have done great damage to Worthing, and relatively few of the town’s historic buildings survive.
This is a lavishly illustrated record of the most interesting and important of these vanished buildings. It is also a rich and detailed history – and social history – of Worthing, with numerous fascinating narratives and anecdotes about people associated with the buildings described.
Illustrated with over two hundred engravings and photographs – together with six extracts from the Ordnance Survey map of 1859 – this is an indispensable historical account of the largest town in West Sussex.
Price: £20 hardback - £12.50 paperback
Oscar Wilde’s Scandalous Summer: the 1894 Worthing holiday and the aftermath
by Antony Edmonds
Amberley, 2014
In the summer of 1894 Oscar Wilde spent eight weeks in Worthing, during which he wrote his masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest
This book tells for the first time the full story of the Worthing summer, set in the context of the three years of Wilde’s life before his downfall.
There are fifty-nine illustrations, including over thirty photographs of Worthing in Wilde’s time and three contemporary maps.
Price: £9.99
Worthing Through Time
by Sally White
Amberley, 2009
Worthing Through Time contains 180 photographs of Worthing, of which 90 are old photographs. Some printed in a sepia tone and some printed in full colour. These photographs are printed alongside a contemporary full colour photograph which illustrates the same scene. The contrasting illustrations show how the area has changed and developed during the last 100 years. The photographs illustrate shops, schools, garages, churches, houses and street scenes, each photograph is captioned and the book has an introduction which gives a brief overview of the history of the town. As you browse through the photographs, you will notice the increase in the number of vehicles on the road, shops that once sold new goods are now estate agents or charity shops. Green fields have been transformed into industrial estates, houses or ring roads.
Price: £12.50
West Sussex Literary Trail
By Peter Anderson & Keith McKenna
Per-Rambulations, 2007
This walking trail links Horsham with Chichester Cathedral along a 55-mile route. It takes you through some of the most beautiful villages and countryside in southern Britain and as you follow the trail the guidebook will bring the walk alive with stories of literary connections along the way. You’ll meet Shelley, William Penn, John Galsworthy and Hilaire Belloc and smile at the anecdote Bob Copper wrote about the ferry over the river to Bury.
Price: £9.50
The Secret Shore: tales of folklore and smuggling from Sussex and Hampshire
by Chris Hare
The South Downs Society, 2016
Two hundred years ago the coast of Sussex and Hampshire was alive with the illegal activities of local smuggling gangs. In this book Chris Hare recounts the real events of those days including the bloody confrontations that frequently took place between the smugglers and the authorities.
The book is lavishly illustrated and makes the perfect gift for anyone with a love for old English traditions and customs.
Price: £10
Military Voices Past and Present: West Sussex Veterans in the 20th Century
Ed. Emma Worrall, Amy Perry and Martin Hayes
West Sussex County Council 2017
Military Voices Past and Present is an oral history project run by the Library Service from 2015 to 2017. It describes the experiences and sacrifices of local veterans of the Great War, World War Two and Post 1945 conflicts.
Price: £10
West Sussex Remembering 1914-18
edited by Martin Hayes and Emma White in association with West Sussex County Council
The History Press, 2014
The First World War claimed over 995,000 British lives, and its legacy continues to be remembered today. Great War Britain: West Sussex offers an intimate portrayal of the county and its people living in the shadow of the 'war to end all wars'. A beautifully illustrated and highly accessible volume, the Great War story of West Sussex is told through the testimony of those who were there and is vividly illustrated with evocative images from the archives of West Sussex County Council and local museums.
Price: £10
Worthing in the Bad Old Days: Riot, Beer and the Word of God
by Chris Hare
Olly’s Future, 2021
The story of Worthing and the Salvation Army riots, and Rev. Francis Cruse, the then Vicar of Christ Church, told through his recently discovered writings in the church magazine.
Price: £5
Worthing: The Postcard Collection
by Antony Edmonds
Amberley Publishing, 2013
Postcards provide us with a unique and fascinating record of the buildings, the traffic and the people of a long-vanished England. This photographic record is of especial value in the case of Worthing, since so many of the town's historic buildings have been demolished over the past seventy-five years.
Reproduced in this book are over 160 postcards of Worthing that show the town in its Edwardian glory. Nearly 60 are in colour. The collection takes us first to Broadwater and Tarring, and then along Worthing parade and through the streets of the town.
Price: £10
Worthing Under Attack: Eye witness history of Worthing during the 1930s and 40s
by Chris Hare
History People UK, 2022 reprint
Worthing Under Attack is a fascinating and often enthralling account of how ordinary people coped with the impact of the Great Depression in the 1930s and then the dangers of war in the 1940s. This lively book draws heavily on oral history interviews, conducted with people who were living in Worthing at the time.
Price: £10
The Houses that George and William Built - Their Life and Times
by Judyth Gwynne
Author 2022
An insight into building in Worthing between the First and Second World Wars. The story of two very different young men, both of whom had the course of their lives changed irrevocably by unforeseen, extraordinary events.
Price: £8.50
Doctors, Dentists & Death:
West Sussex Health Issues Since the 19th century
by Barrie Keech
Price:£5
Arundel’s Great War
By Cliff Mewett
Price: £10
Providing the Jam:
The story of the visually impaired community in Worthing
By Lela Tredwell & Chris Hare
Price: £5
| Booklets | |
| Crawley’s History: A Guide for Residents and Researchers Durrington: Sources for Local History, edited by Chris Hare | £2 £2 |
| Genealogists Guide to the West Sussex Record Office | 50p |
| Horsham Town Trail | 50p |
| Past Matters: The Heritage of Chichester District | 20p |
| The Path to Rome: The Life and Works of Hillaire Belloc Picturesque West Sussex | 20p 50p |
| Public Art West Sussex Record Reign: celebrations for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee | 50p 50p |
| Ride the Big Weald | 20p |
| Scientists and Inventors in West Sussex | 50p |
| Spy Horsham: Children’s Trail | £1.50 |
| West Sussex Silver Screen | 20p |
| Wilde About West Sussex: celebrating Oscar Wilde | 50p |
| With Treasures in Stone: 50 Years of WSRO | 20p |
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| DVDs | |
| Bluebell Railway: Lost and Found | £2.50 |
| Lost & Found: Routes Around Sussex, Bluebell, Lost Wey, Lost Railway | £2.50 |
| Southern Steam: Volume 3, 1897-67 | £2.50 |
| The Steyning Line and the Lost Archives (with Life on the Line book inside) | £2.50 |