A small selection of fantastic photos by P H Emerson, taken from Robert Jellicoe’s Shorelines: Voices of Southwold Fishermen, recently published by Black Dog Books.

Inspired to start collecting in 1976 after attending a series of lectures given by George Ewart Evans, a pioneer of oral history, Jellicoe (who comes from a longstanding Southwold family) recognised that a culture of fishing and beach life had disappeared. He began to tape record those who remembered it, gathering an unprecedented insight into a long forgotten way of life and language. Fascinated by what he learnt, Jellicoe went on to research other aspects of beach life.

This is a book of voices, including those imagined by the author himself, speaking from the beach, the sea, the pubs and the depths. Illustrated by P H Emerson’s extraordinary photographs, the paintings of Joseph Southall and local artists and the novels of Neil Bell, the result is a magnificent salvage operation and a fitting tribute to the Southwold fishermen, their own men and a ‘right royal lot’.

The book is available to buy here (£20.00).