05-11-2010, 10:46 AM
Sometimes you write stuff and it disappears into a sort of hyperspace where time ceases to exist, only to emerge (like the Enterprise into the carnage around Vulcan) some time later, all fresh-faced and blinking, into a totally changed and debris-cluttered universe.
Two of my reports have recently done just this, winking back into existence; one I have, the other I only have reports of sightings (albeit by plausible witnesses) as a comfort.
First comes the Housesteads report. This was the last thing I worked on at Newcastle for EH before I became self-employed (in 1989!) and it has taken all this time for it to stagger into existence. It was actually finished several years ago (when I left, all it really needed was a good edit and some conclusions written, but Charles Daniels' death complicated things), and a lot of umming and ahhhing ensued on the part of EH. I can't even tell now what bits I wrote; all I know is portions of the structural descriptions are mine; drips in a puddle of scholarship ;-) ) A two-volume paperback report, and costing a jaw-dropping £100 (more even than the ridiculously overpriced Blackwell Companion to the Roman Army), it looks on the outside like the EH reports of old (Corbridge or Birdoswald) but inside... oh dear. Not a good advertisement for POD. Given all the time and skill the illustrators put into the plans and line drawings, having it produced on what appears to be 80gsm photocopy paper (which does the halftones no favours either) is ridiculous. Okay, rant over...
Second is (allegedly - I haven't seen it yet; didn't even see page proofs) the second volume of the Carlisle Millennium report containing my report on the armour, as well as all the other finds. Can't say much more than that, really, other than it is hardback and a quarter of the price of the Housesteads report. Go figure...
Rushworth, Alan (2009). Housesteads Roman Fort: The Grandest Station. Swindon: English Heritage. ISBN 9781848020269
Howard-Davis, C. (2010). The Carlisle Millennium Project: Excavations in Carlisle, 1998-2001, Volume 2: The Finds. Oxford: Oxford Archaeology. ISBN 9780904220575
Mike Bishop
Two of my reports have recently done just this, winking back into existence; one I have, the other I only have reports of sightings (albeit by plausible witnesses) as a comfort.
First comes the Housesteads report. This was the last thing I worked on at Newcastle for EH before I became self-employed (in 1989!) and it has taken all this time for it to stagger into existence. It was actually finished several years ago (when I left, all it really needed was a good edit and some conclusions written, but Charles Daniels' death complicated things), and a lot of umming and ahhhing ensued on the part of EH. I can't even tell now what bits I wrote; all I know is portions of the structural descriptions are mine; drips in a puddle of scholarship ;-) ) A two-volume paperback report, and costing a jaw-dropping £100 (more even than the ridiculously overpriced Blackwell Companion to the Roman Army), it looks on the outside like the EH reports of old (Corbridge or Birdoswald) but inside... oh dear. Not a good advertisement for POD. Given all the time and skill the illustrators put into the plans and line drawings, having it produced on what appears to be 80gsm photocopy paper (which does the halftones no favours either) is ridiculous. Okay, rant over...
Second is (allegedly - I haven't seen it yet; didn't even see page proofs) the second volume of the Carlisle Millennium report containing my report on the armour, as well as all the other finds. Can't say much more than that, really, other than it is hardback and a quarter of the price of the Housesteads report. Go figure...
Rushworth, Alan (2009). Housesteads Roman Fort: The Grandest Station. Swindon: English Heritage. ISBN 9781848020269
Howard-Davis, C. (2010). The Carlisle Millennium Project: Excavations in Carlisle, 1998-2001, Volume 2: The Finds. Oxford: Oxford Archaeology. ISBN 9780904220575
Mike Bishop
