From the 1930s to the 1960s commercial photographer Eric Guy captured the rural world from his base at Basingstoke and Reading. He worked mainly in Berkshire, south Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, north Hampshire, south and west Buckinghamshire and Gloucestershire. His intimacy with this area enabled him to draw out the character and pattern of farm work and the variety of landscapes in these counties.

Jonathan Brown has selected 176 images from the 2,000 held at the Museum of English Rural Life, Reading. Among the topics included in the book are farms and estates; cereals and sheep on the Downs; cattle, dairying, pigs and poultry; the transition in agriculture – mechanisation and the Second World War; the village scene and crafts.

The photographs are supported by a knowledgeable text and captions. Dr Brown has worked in a number of capacities at the Museum of English rural Life, of which he is now an honorary fellow. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the history of farming and the countryside.