I left my Nicholson Guide outside, two inches of rain

[Ronaldo47]

Clamp the stack of pages neatly together at the spine with a small portion extending beyond the clamp, and apply several thin layers of traditional smelly Evostick to the spine, allowing one layer to dry before applying the next.  Unless you have a vice big enough, you can make a clamp from two pieces of wood. Drill through holes in the ends to take long bolts or studding that can be tightened using a spanner, unless you have some wing nuts. Finish off by covering the spine with a strip of adhesive tape or duct tape.

 

One of my hobbies is bookbinding, and that is how I restore paperback books whose spine glue has failed. . Evostick, being rubber-based, stays flexible once set. I have books mended this way in the 1970's which are still good.  Slightly roughening the edge of the stack to provide a good key for the glue is not essential, but advantageous.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Ronaldo47
typos

[DarrenG]

A clear plastic A4 document wallet does a good job of holding a Nicholson's open on a double page, e.g. https://www.viking-direct.co.uk/en/office-depot-a4-clear-polypropylene-document-wallets-pack-of-5-p-1430748

 

Naturally it always starts to rain when I haven't bothered to bring the wallet up with me, so my guides are a mess!

[MtB]

2 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I like the old spiral Nicholsons, with thirty years of notes and many, many defunct pubs.

 

Yes when Mr Finch broke into my boat and took my frying pan, a load of cutlery and all my Nicholsons I was the most upset about the loss of my extensive handwritten notes in the Nicholsons. 

 

But are all Nicholsons spiral bound? I've never seen any other type.

 

 

[Ronaldo47]

The first three editions were not spiral.bound. Think of tall, narrow  paperbacks. The second editions consisted of  revised versions of the first at twice the price (up from 75p to £1.50: this was during  the high inflation, fuel shortage, 1970's, with maps at 2 inches to the mile for the four regional.volumes. There was also the Midlands volume with smaller-scale maps ,  intended for the walker as well as the boater, and a CAMRA-sponsored Real Ale guide to the waterways,  showing pubs selling real ale, with the smaller scale maps. I picked that volume up in a remainder book shop for 10p. 

 

The third edition was rubbish, same page size, less than half the thickness, with maps at two miles to the inch, too small a scale to provide an indication as to  which side  the towpath was on, and poor print registration (blue canal, black locks & text, locks often not actually printed on the canal ). I was so horrified with the copy of the third edition I had bought that I promptly scoured the local book shops for the copies of the old edition volimes I needed to complete my set. 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Ronaldo47
typos

[Stroudwater1]

6 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Yes when Mr Finch broke into my boat and took my frying pan, a load of cutlery and all my Nicholsons I was the most upset about the loss of my extensive handwritten notes in the Nicholsons. 

 

But are all Nicholsons spiral bound? I've never seen any other type.

 

 

This must be a second edition, cost £1.50 we relied on the old BWB straight maps before that so these were revolutionary even if they fell apart 🤣

Edited June 9, 2022 by Stroudwater1

[Alan de Enfield]

19 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

This must be a second edition, cost £1.50 we relied on the old BWB straight maps before that so these were revolutionary even if they fell apart 🤣

 

 

 

 

HOW MUCH >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

£1.50 ? thats twice the price it should be :

 

 

 

[Stroudwater1]

16 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

 

 

HOW MUCH >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

£1.50 ? thats twice the price it should be :

 

 

 

 

That’s London / S. East prices for you Alan, cheaper maps for the North East 🤣 

(see Ronaldo47 explanation above for a more reasoned answer- that’s inflation for you ☹️) 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Stroudwater1

[Grassman]

10 hours ago, Kate_MM said:

 

I find Nicholsons dry out remarkably well - most of mine have been well soaked at some point or another!

 

I have found this too. I've been impressed by the quality of the paper. After a thorough soaking I leave it closed but two or three times a day I carefully peel/turn each page. By about day three it's virtually dry with just the odd page needing separating. This has happened a few times over the years and it always works. It's worth the effort because the alternative of having to insert all my notes into a new copy would take much longer. 

 

In the event of a complete write off, as back up I have a spreadsheet showing all 7 editions of Nicholsons with each page number and the details of the notes I've made on each page of each book, so I still have the information if I need to buy a new one. If there's rain forecast I now house it in a small ring jewellery display case which cost be about £10 and works very well.

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, Grassman said:

If there's rain forecast I now house it in a small ring jewellery display case which cost be about £10 and works very well.

 

Do you keep it on Microfiche ?

 

 

[Stilllearning]

20 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

Wash your mouth out!

I completely agree.

Though I am biased, as my cousin did much of the research for the original guides.

[LadyG]

I'm going to bind each section, there are plastic clip style binders in places like WH Smith. The pages have recovered well.

[TheBiscuits]

12 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

unless you have some wing nuts.

 

Wing nut availability is guaranteed in this instance

 

[BilgePump]

19 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

I had something similar happen to me on my first canal holiday in 1976, when a strong burst of wind blew  my brand new Nicholson (second edition) off the roof and into the canal. I can recommend drying with an iron, one page at a time, with kitchen roll between the sheets. You won't get the ripples out. 

Ditto. Still got a Nicholson's that ended up in the Staffs & Worcester on a family holiday about 1985. It's half as thick again more than it should be.

[cuthound]

15 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Yes when Mr Finch broke into my boat and took my frying pan, a load of cutlery and all my Nicholsons I was the most upset about the loss of my extensive handwritten notes in the Nicholsons. 

 

But are all Nicholsons spiral bound? I've never seen any other type.

 

 

 

Up until the mid to late 80's Nicholson's were not spiral bound and had the map on the left hand side of the page with the text on the right with north to the top of the page.

 

Where the navigation meandered such that it would encroach on the text, they simply "bent" the navigation to fit by moving the north reference point.

 

I actually prefer this presentation to the modern one. What is needed is this presentation with spiral binding.

 

[Stilllearning]

9 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Up until the mid to late 80's Nicholson's were not spiral bound and had the map on the left hand side of the page with the text on the right with north to the top of the page.

 

Where the navigation meandered such that it would encroach on the text, they simply "bent" the navigation to fit by moving the north reference point.

 

I actually prefer this presentation to the modern one. What is needed is this presentation with spiral binding.

 

Yes that was the best, and the first ones I encountered, but they did need spiral binding.

[cuthound]

1 minute ago, Stilllearning said:

Yes that was the best, and the first ones I encountered, but they did need spiral binding.

 

They managed to cover the network in just three volumes and the Central edition had a map summarising the BCN with abridged lock flights (lock symbol plus number to indicate how many in the flight), which is sadly lacking in later editions.

 

I still use it to plan my BCN excursions.

[Tim Lewis]

I use plastic clip boxes for my Nicholsons, very waterproof and easy to read through. Available, or at least they were, from Rymans

 

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Tim Lewis

[Opener]

43 minutes ago, Tim Lewis said:

I use plastic clip boxes for my Nicholsons, very waterproof and easy to read through. Available, or at least they were, from Rymans

 

 

That's the one ! See my Amazon reference at 14:17 yesterday. Primary use is to stop the pages turning  in the breeze but if you like boating in the rain .........

[Stroudwater1]

13 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

They managed to cover the network in just three volumes and the Central edition had a map summarising the BCN with abridged lock flights (lock symbol plus number to indicate how many in the flight), which is sadly lacking in later editions.

 

I still use it to plan my BCN excursions.

Point of order, unless different editions exist I believe it was 5. I found the Midlands one rather a swizz as it didn’t contain descriptions of anything much at all, other than the maps themselves  . So you really had to buy all others to get much of the central network. 
 

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Point of order, unless different editions exist I believe it was 5. I found the Midlands one rather a swizz as it didn’t contain descriptions of anything much at all, other than the maps themselves  . So you really had to buy all others to get much of the central network. 
 

 

Mine only has 3 books, North, South and Central.

 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

10 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Mine only has 3 books, North, South and Central.

 

 

Yes, but you are not comparing the 'same' series of books. Yours is the "Nicholsons Ordnance Survey" series, everyone else is discussing the "Nicholsons guides to the Waterways"

 

 

My NGTTW is the 1st edition (75p) and there are 5 books covering the waterways.

 

Your book has an ISBN number rather than the SBN number so is later than the 'Guides' under discussion. The UK used the SBN (9 digit) system) until 1974 when we introduced the ISBN (International 10 digit) system, the later ISBN 13 digit system was introduced in 2007.

 

Being priced at £4.95 rather than 75p also suggests it is a much later series.

[doratheexplorer]

18 hours ago, Stilllearning said:

Yes that was the best, and the first ones I encountered, but they did need spiral binding.

The whole reason why the Nicolson's guides are the best is that north is always orientated correctly.  Pearson's does my head in because the orientation is all over the place.

[Tim Lewis]

2 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

Mine only has 3 books, North, South and Central.

 

 

 

 

You've forgotten the Eastern Waterways edition!

 

 

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

The whole reason why the Nicolson's guides are the best is that north is always orientated correctly.  Pearson's does my head in because the orientation is all over the place.

 

 

Nicholsons have substituted a different effect for doing users' heads in instead. That thing where you're travelling say northwards or eastwards up or across the page, as you pass over the edge of the page instead of turning forward one page, you have to go backwards a page in the book to carry on.

 

Or worse sometimes, go back two pages!

[doratheexplorer]

Just now, MtB said:

 

 

Nicholsons have substituted a different effect for doing users' heads in instead. That thing where you're travelling say northwards or eastwards up or across the page, as you pass over the edge of the page instead of turning forward one page, you have to go backwards a page in the book to carry on.

 

Or worse sometimes, go back two pages!

Oh it's not perfect.  The other thing I'd like updated is how boatyards/pubs etc are listed.  It's often nigh on impossible to work out which one in the list corresponds to which symbol on the map.  It would be a lot better if the map symbols were numbered and this corresponded to numbers in the written info.