PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
Many descriptive Guides to Hastings (by which it must be understood to include St. Leonards) have been published at intervals since Mr. Stell issued his first known Guide from his library in Cobourg Place, written by himself under the nom de plume of "By an Inhabitant," in 1794,[1] when the Old Town was already attracting visitors from London and elsewhere to enjoy the sea breezes, and the recuperative properties of the salubrious air of its hills and valleys. This was followed by Barry's Guide, 1797, and Powell's, 1819, both of which passed through several editions, and Stockdale's, 1817. All these early Guides contained a few illustrations and maps of the locality. It was not until Mr. W. G. Moss published his excellent Guide in 1824 (the letterpress of which Mr. Dawson, in his exhaustive and learned work on Hastings Castle, recently published, informs us was written by Mr. Herbert, the Librarian of the Guildhall Library) that any extensive effort was made by way of illustrations of any number or merit. Mr. Moss was a draughtsman to his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, and the series of excellent engravings from his original drawings with which his History of Hastings is embellished is a proof of the admirable work of that period. This was followed by many others of a later date, by Ross, 1835 - then in 1855 was issued that carefully compiled and interesting handbook on "Hastings Past and Present," by Miss Mary Matilda Howard, an authoress of repute, and published by Diplock; and in 1867 the late Mr. T. H. Cole published his "Antiquities of Hastings," with maps and plans of the Castle, the Battlefield, &c, bestowing the utmost care and great research in its preparation.
While Moss's and Cole's works are frequently quoted by modern antiquarians, no attempt of a comprehensive character has been made of giving a pictorial History of the town prior to and since its rise from a small place of about 3,000 inhabitants in 1800, to the second largest fashionable health resort on the Sussex Coast, with its three miles of magnificent Sea Promenade.
It was not until the writer had compiled his popular Lecture entitled "Hastings Past and Present," which has been delivered in collaboration with Mr. C. W. Banks on twenty occasions during the past twelve years, that a work of this kind had suggested itself, but during this period it was frequently urged that a reproduction of pictures illustrating Old Hastings and its rise to its present position, with descriptive letterpress in book form, would
- ↑ Mr. Stell, in the preface to his Guide of 1794, says : "It is now six years since I opened a Circulating Library in this Town, during which time the constant enquiry of every stranger has been, 'Have you any History or other account of Hastings. ' A late much-lamented author, on receiving the usual negative, replied, 'Why don't you write one ?' Thus encouraged, I determined to attempt the task." Barry's Guide of 1797 was a reprint of this, with the same title page, but without the preface. It is to be noticed that Barry uses the final "s" in Hastings. I am inclined to think Barry took over Stell's Library. Author.
