You thought you knew the Port?

If you thought that you knew the port, Adrian Jarvis’s book Liverpool: A History of ‘The Great Port’ (Liverpool History Press, 2014) is bound to have something new to say. The volume is full of detail with many illustrations, some in colour. Jarvis concentrates on the period after 1672 when the land that became the first dock was acquired. Many factors that supported the development of the port are examined. An intriguing part of the book deals with the problems of running a port-city, as well as coping with the interests of the ship-owners. Issues such as what to do with obsolete docks are included. This story of the port is brought right through the twentieth century and up-to-date in a most comprehensive way. Available in the Athenaeum library and in Liverpool Central Library.

Janet Hollinshead