Pevsner's Essex – updated and enlarged by James Bettley

Between 1951 and 1974, Penguin published a monumental series of books describing the buildings of England. They were written by architectural and design historian, Sir Niklaus Pevsner. The volume for Essex was published in 1954 and, despite the changes of half-a-century, it has remained the sole definitive guide to the county's most important buildings. Until this year that is, when the great work was republished by Yale University Press, updated and enlarged by Essex historian James Bettley. It is worth buying for the 50 magnificent pages on Colchester alone. See a review at the Real Essex website.