John Betjeman said no town hides its history better than Reading, but history there is in abundance, and it has been richly documented since the dawn of the photographic era. Reading was one of the first towns in the world to be photographed: William Henry Fox-Talbot, the inventor of modern photography, set up his workshop here and the streets of the 1840s town became the test-bed for the new technology.

This book takes a wide range of historic views of Reading and recreates their modern counterparts in colour. Rapid economic growth has seen dramatic change in the town, even within living memory. This fascinating book documents not only that change but also the continuity that has survived it all.