A Yorkshire Town: The Making of Doncaster
I am pleased to announce that I have recently completed the digitisation of a book written by my parents about the history, buildings and people of Doncaster. ‘A Yorkshire Town’ was the product of many years archival research and fieldwork. The chapters tell the story of Doncaster both chronologically and thematically. Unfortunately they both died before the book could be published and therefore did not see their dream become reality. This project has been about making that dream happen in the memory of two Doncastrians, in what I believe to be a fitting tribute. The memorial edition was launched on the iBooks store last week and is available to download for free. In addition, it is available as a PDF (also free of charge) from the accompanying link at the top of this post.
It has already proven to be of interest to people living in the town and to those further afield. I hope you will download the iBook or PDF. I would love to hear what you think about the book, and about the digitisation of work in general. Undoubtedly there are many people, myself included, who appreciate the aesthetics and tactile nature of ‘real’ books, but there is increasingly an important role to be played by digital mediums. I am sure that my father particularly would have embraced the possibilities that technological advances in the field have afforded us. Both my parents endeavoured to share their knowledge and enthusiasm in their role as teachers, and this digital book has enabled the local to be truly global.
Dr Sarah Holland 
Congratulations! I have downloaded the iBook edition of ‘A Yorkshire Town’, which I have already found to be both interesting and accessible. Its great to think that this type of technology made it possible for you to bring your mum and dad’s book alive. I would be interested to know if there are any others in the pipeline.
Thank you, I am pleased you have accessed it and are enjoying it. It was always intended to be a detailed but accessible book. There is other work by my late father that I intended to digitise. The next volume, hopefully available in time for Christmas, will be called ‘Eastern Delights’…
Follow its progress here!
Well done. Where can I download it from? Have you a PDF copy available?
Thanks Jol, Yes you can download a free PDF from the site. Just press on the link below the date on this post (A Yorkshire Town PDF) and it should be there. Hope you enjoy reading it.
Hi Sarah, I’ve just downloaded the PDF and look forward to reading it later. Thank you!
Great! I hope you enjoy reading it. Let me know your thoughts.
This was excellent reading. I’d expected it would be, having read some of your Father’s other work. It’s full of fascinating information and well grouped under the chapter headings, and I’m glad you’ve been able to make it accessible. As with other reference works there is also much more to be gained from it over time when making specific inquiries. With this in mind I would still be happy to pay for a hard copy if this becomes available. It’s nice to be able to bookmark passages etc and have on the shelf to refer to. Well done Sarah.
I’m pleased you enjoyed the book Stuart. It has been great to receive such positive feedback from yourself and others. It was important to showcase this work, because as so many people have said – it is good quality research and well written, and it deserved an audience.
As I said before, I am a great believer in printed books, and am aware there are people keen to get hold of a printed copy. I am looking in to possibilities and will of course let you all know what happens.
In the meantime I hope you continue to get lots out of the publication.