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Abstract

VETERAN historian Mary Cosh, who celebrates her 97th birthday this year, is more determined than ever to have her highly-praised history of Islington republished.

Ms Cosh, from Barnsbury, took more than 10 years to complete A History of Islington, which was published by Historical Publications in 2005 and sold more than 2,000 copies.

The study traces the borough’s early Tudor roots as a small settlement for wealthy traders, “away from the smoke and stench of cramped” London, right up to modern times with pockets of Islington regarded as among the poorest and most crime-ridden in the land.

But the book went out of print four years ago. Now, Ms Cosh has issued a call for history buffs to help her update it.

“Last year was a bit of a write-off because I was in hospital for some time,” she said. “But I want to get back to work on it and I want to form a small committee to work on getting new licences for the reproduction of images [in the book] and to find a publisher.

“It’s getting a bit urgent now. It’s the book on Islington. I did write to one publisher, who said it would be too expensive to do and that the book was ‘somewhat dated’. That was just plain bloody rude. I was very angry. I just found it very unimaginative.”

John Richardson, of Historical Publications, who used to live in Barnsbury but moved to Whitstable, Kent, a few years ago, said the demise of high-street bookshops coupled with the rise of the internet was making life difficult for specialist small publishers.

“The whole business has changed considerably,” he said. “We’re obliged to sell books on Amazon, and they charge 60 per cent discount. They’ve ruined all the smaller bookshops.

“I’m sure Mary would want it republished. I don’t think it’s economically viable but if Islington Archaeology and History Society can contribute, possibly.”

However, society chairman Andrew Gardner was more optimistic. “I think there is demand and interest out there and even if it’s a slow sale, it’s a seller,” he said. “The way publishing works now we can be more optimistic.

“To start you need the copyright clearances. Once we’ve done that we don’t necessarily have to go with the same publisher. We can look at other small-run publishers. Before, they did these ridiculous print runs, these days it’s smaller runs.

“Technological changes in publishing make it much more viable than 10 years ago. It might be that you weren’t able to do the same scale, but you can print much more steadily.

“I think we can provide some capital for reprints but it would have to be agreed by our committee.”

He added: “Mary’s body of work is tremendous. She’s the foremost historian of Islington and I want her back on the bookshelf.”

Oxford-educated Ms Cosh has lived in Islington for 50 years, during which she has seen the area change considerably.

“It changes all the time,” she said. “It has lost some of its neighbourliness and sense of community. People think Islington is very fashionable but it’s also a very poor suburb.”

Asked why she had such an urge to get A History of Islington republished, she added: “I’m quite desperate to do it because I feel my work is not quite finished.”