American Geographical Society

Brighton: Old Ocean's Bauble by Edmund W. GilbertReview by: Chauncy D. HarrisGeographical Review, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Jul., 1955), p. 452Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/211827 .

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452 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

"Sugar Country" is obviously the product of a labor of love, the culmination of research begun nearly 20 years ago. The general quality is high. The organization is superior and the writing excellent; it is unusual to find a volume replete with documenta- tion and facts that is also lively in style and challenging but dignified in attitude.-MERLE

PRUNTY, JR.

BRIGHTON: OLD OCEAN'S BAUBLE. By EDMUND W. GILBERT. xvi and 275 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliogr., index. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, I954. 25S. 8 4 x 5 2 inches.

Brighton is the largest of the British seaside resorts. This book by Professor Gilbert stresses the human, often whimsical, element in the rise of the town. The real expansion of Brighton dates from I754, when Dr. Richard Russell, F.R.S., settled there with his pre- scriptions for his patients to bathe in sea water and also to drink the stuff. Other doctors later emphasized the fresh sea air. The second factor in the growth of Brighton was its adoption by royalty, particularly by George IV when Prince of Wales from I783 on. The world of fashion, with no thought of sea bathing or salt-water drinking, followed him, and Brighton became a social center, especially during the Regency period. Coach travel between London and Brighton entered on a golden era. In I84I the railway opened the town to an entirely new group, the trippers, who traveled to Brighton for a single day's outing.

Fundamental to the resort's prosperity through all these periods has been its position as the point on the south coast nearest London. Modern Brighton is also a residential town for retired people and a dormitory satellite of London, 50 miles and one hour away by electrified line; some 4000 season tickets valid for daily travel by rail between the Brighton area and London were sold in I95I.

The book contains much sound urban and recreational geography, and a good bit of social history. Poetry and anecdotes enliven the pages. Among the more interesting descriptions are the contrasts of rich and poor and the utterly different seasonal surges of visitors, from the vacationers crowding the beaches in summer to the high society that comes in autumn. Delightful illustrations supplement the text.-CHAUNcY D. HARRIS

A GEOMORPHIC STUDY OF THE CAPE REGION OF BAJA CALIFORNIA. By EDWIN H. HAMMOND. Pp. 45-III; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliogr. Univ. of CalyJornia Ptibls. in Geogr., Vol. io, No. 2, I954. $I.00.

"On the right hand of the Indes there is an island called California, very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise . . ." With this happy piece of misinformation, published in

15io, the bibliography on "California" begins. Lucid descriptions of the barren and waterless coast of most parts of Baja California

can be found in the nautical archives of Spain, England, and Russia; some of the best are by "the heretic, Captain Drake," and by Thomas Cavendish, another privateer and early circumnavigator. The first truly scientific expedition into the peninsula was probably made in I684, when a party captained by Isidro de Atondo crossed at about latitude 26? N. Assigned as cosmographer to this expedition, "in addition to his other duties," was one Father Eusebio Kino, SJ., whose carefully executed maps and complete journals survive to this day.

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