NEW APRIL 2024.  This is a book of black and white photographs taken and published by a firm called Ellis, who describe themselves as modern art printers in Southend.  It is a card-covered book with large pages, roughly A4 in size in landscape format. At the time of writing, there appear to be no second-hand copies of the book available anywhere.

Its introduction extols the excellent train serice on the LT&SR, bringing the Borough within fifty minutes of London. The existence ol the GER is also acknowledged, though not as a route to the capital. Instead it "runs through some of the most picturesque country; Rayleigh and Hockley being well worth a visit, and taking but a few minutes to reach by this route".

The book is undated but there are no cars visible in the street scenes, which implies the photos were probably taken around the end of the nioneteenth century.

It provides you with no fewer than fifty-three photographs. There are nineteen full-page pictures and eight half-page pictures. In addition there are two pages with seventeen small illustrations of places of worship in the Borough of Southend.

The final page has nine views of bucolic scenes over in distant leafy Billericay, leading .to an advertisement describing developments in the area by a local land agent.

Other somewhat closer locations which feature in the views include Westcliff, Southchurch, Prittlewell, Rochford, Leigh-on-Sea, Hadleigh Castle, Rayleigh (depicting the approach to the station there) and the top of Bread and Cheese Hill.

The file will be available to download as soon as payment has been made. You go to your account and click on ‘Downloads’. New customers create an account as they place their order.