Picked up this lovely first edition of Castles, in a local secondhand bookshop last week and it has proven to be a real joy to read. Published in 1964 by Chatto and Windus on behalf of the National Benzole Company, it was edited by Sir Hugh Casson and written by EM Hatt with beautiful illustrations by Paul Sharp.

National Benzole was a brand of petroleum from the UK which began in 1919 and ran until the early 1990s before being phased out by its owner British Petroleum (BP)

This was one in a series of books commissioned by the National Benzole Company, other titles included Follies, Bridges, Monuments, Museums, Sailing Tours Essex and Suffolk, Sailing Tours Solent and Sailing Tours Thames and SE. These guides, like the Shell Guides were no doubt produced to promote their brand via tourism and increased road use in search of national heritage.

Paul Sharp was born in West Yorkshire in 1912 who became a graphic designer following a career in the RAF and as an art teacher. His style of drawing and painting is reminiscent of a favourite of this blog, Paul Hogarth where architecture is paired with people and animals to give them a sense of place in everyday life.

The book covers England, Wales and Scotland with a comprehensive county by county list at the end of the book. The more significant castles are given a page and an illustration with detailed historical and architectural details. I do believe books like these are quite literally a lost art, they are so much more appealing than an internet search and inspire the reader to write a travelogue of their own.

See also:

National Benzole Book of Follies