J. A. Baker - The Peregrine - 50th Anniversary Edition

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Introduction by Mark Cocker Notes on J. A. Baker by John Fanshawe THE PEREGRINE Beginnings Peregrines The Hunting Life Afterword by Robert Macfarlane ON THE ESSEX COAST Acknowledgements Contributors About the Publisher

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

WilliamCollinsBooks.com

This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2017

This edition first published in Great Britain by Collins in 2010

The Peregrine © J. A. Baker, 1967

‘On the Essex Coast’ © J. A. Baker, 1971. Published in RSPB Birds magazine 3(II) (Sept/Oct, 1971): 281–283

Introduction © Mark Cocker, 2010

Notes on J. A. Baker © John Fanshawe, 2011

Afterword © Robert Macfarlane, 2017

The 50th anniversary edition © HarperCollins Publishers , 2017

Cover art: Peregrine Falcon, English School (20th century)/Private Collection © Look and Learn/Bridgeman Images

The authors assert their moral right to be identified as the authors of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008216214

Ebook Edition © April 2017 ISBN: 9780008253189

Version: 2020-11-18

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Introduction by Mark Cocker Notes on J. A. Baker by John Fanshawe THE PEREGRINE Beginnings Peregrines The Hunting Life Afterword by Robert Macfarlane ON THE ESSEX COAST Acknowledgements Contributors About the Publisher

Copyright Copyright Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Introduction by Mark Cocker Notes on J. A. Baker by John Fanshawe THE PEREGRINE Beginnings Peregrines The Hunting Life Afterword by Robert Macfarlane ON THE ESSEX COAST Acknowledgements Contributors About the Publisher William Collins An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF WilliamCollinsBooks.com This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2017 This edition first published in Great Britain by Collins in 2010 The Peregrine © J. A. Baker, 1967 ‘On the Essex Coast’ © J. A. Baker, 1971. Published in RSPB Birds magazine 3(II) (Sept/Oct, 1971): 281–283 Introduction © Mark Cocker, 2010 Notes on J. A. Baker © John Fanshawe, 2011 Afterword © Robert Macfarlane, 2017 The 50th anniversary edition © HarperCollins Publishers , 2017 Cover art: Peregrine Falcon, English School (20th century)/Private Collection © Look and Learn/Bridgeman Images The authors assert their moral right to be identified as the authors of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008216214 Ebook Edition © April 2017 ISBN: 9780008253189 Version: 2020-11-18

Introduction by Mark Cocker

Notes on J. A. Baker by John Fanshawe

THE PEREGRINE

Beginnings

Peregrines

The Hunting Life

Afterword by Robert Macfarlane

ON THE ESSEX COAST

Acknowledgements

Contributors

About the Publisher

by Mark Cocker

J.A. Baker (1926-1987) is now widely acknowledged as one of the most important British writers on nature in the twentieth century. When his first book, The Peregrine , appeared in 1967 with all the unexpected power and vertiginous daring of its eponymous bird, it was instantly recognised as a masterpiece. Today it is viewed by many as the gold standard for all nature writing and, in many ways, it transcends even this species of praise. A case could easily be made for its greatness by the standards of any literary genre.

It has been thirty years since his untimely death in 1987, aged just 61, and more than four decades since the publication of his last and only other work, The Hill of Summer (1969). For much of the intervening period, neither of the books has been in print. Yet, if anything, Baker’s stock stands higher today than at any time. His writing has been intimately associated with the resurgence of literature on nature and landscape, the so-called New Nature Writing of authors like Tim Dee and Robert Macfarlane (the latter, in fact, has played a key role in Baker’s rediscovery). His books are studied as set texts at university. Major modern poets, from Kathleen Jamie to the former laureate Andrew Motion, acknowledge Baker’s poetic genius. Commentators of various stamp, from the film maker David Cobham to the TV presenter and wildlife cameraman Simon King, hail his influence upon them.

All of this is a remarkable achievement, particularly in view of Baker’s personal circumstances. He was an Essex man born and bred, living all of his days in what was then the small rural town of Chelmsford, largely at two addresses – 20 Finchley Avenue and 28 Marlborough Road. His parents, Wilfred and Pansy, were what might be called lower middle class; his father a draughtsman with the engineering company Crompton Parkinson. The formal education of their only son at Chelmsford’s King Edward VI School ended in 1943, when he was just sixteen years old. His abiding love for poetry and opera were perhaps exceptional in one of his social background, but Baker junior seems to have had little or no contact with other writers and artists. His only literary connections flowed from Collins’ eventual decision to publish The Peregrine and The Hill of Summer .

It is, in many ways, confirmation of his extraordinary talent that the author’s reputation rests entirely on two works – 350 published pages of prose – and in spite of their extremely narrow geographical focus. They describe a roughly rectangular Essex patch of just 550km2, which includes the Chelmer Valley from the eastern edge of Chelmsford as far west as Maldon and the confluence of the Chelmer and Blackwater rivers. At its heart lies Danbury Hill, the highest ground in Essex, with its glorious ancient woodlands of coppiced hornbeam and sweet chestnut. Baker country then runs down Danbury’s far slope and on to the southern and northern shores of the Blackwater Estuary, there to be extinguished in the dark silts at the North Sea’s edge. Most of this countryside now lies within a commuter belt less than an hour from central London, yet in Baker’s day it was a deeply rural district. Residents of the beautiful village of Little Baddow recall how their doors were left unlocked at night until at least the 1970s. Between the dawn and dusk of a single winter’s day, Baker could traverse the whole area via a network of quiet country lanes. Throughout his life a bicycle was his only means of transport. He never learnt to drive a car.