J L Allday J L Allday was a publisher in Birmingham who produced a large amount of material on his home town. The earliest publication date found for Allday is 1887 and the latest so far is 1960. He seems to have been interested in the newest technologies and two early south Devon guides exploiting the comparatively new hobby of photography have been seen: Dawlish through a Camera, a book of 16 pages of photographs including 13 full-page photos by F P Davies of Dawlish (c.1897); and Teignmouth through a Camera, a guide by Maxwell. The British Library has three Gossiping Guides to Birmingham by Allday (dated 1893-1906), but none of other areas. Charles Arthur Pearson (c.f.) also produced a number of Gossipy Guides at the end of the century. Perhaps with Pearson also using the title he decided not to use it when he published Allday’s Illustrated Guide books in 1890 [1] . This guide book was cleverly sold under different titles depending on which town it was sold in. The Preface se...