An earlier edition of A Pennine Journey

Fans of the late writer Alfred Wainwright will soon be able to read his first work, which has been out of print for some time.

The Wainwright Society said A Pennine Journey is the first of a small number of titles it intends to republish.

The books will be published after the society, which promotes the celebrated guidebook author and his works, reached an agreement with the Wainwright estate.

The society’s secretary Derek Cockell said: “The first book to be re-published will be A Pennine Journey, which it is hoped will be available by late spring 2019.

“The book will include additional material produced by Wainwright at the time it was written in 1938. Many new readers will be unaware of this material and the society hopes that its inclusion may help to attract new, and old, readers to this latest edition.”

A Pennine Journey describes a two-week return walk up the Pennines the young author undertook as Britain faced the prospect of war with Germany. It depicts the landscape and people of the time, and reveals Wainwright’s attitude to them.

The book lay unpublished for 48 years, during which time Wainwright began his series of Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells and other guidebooks, which became renowned for their handwritten text and pen-and-ink illustrations.

A long-distance walk inspired by A Pennine Journey, devised by David and Heather Pitt, was established in 2010 and now appears on Ordnance Survey maps.

The circular walk, starting and finishing at Settle railway station, is 398km (247 miles) in length. It makes its way up the eastern edge of the Pennines via Ribblesdale, upper Wharfedale, Swaledale, Teesdale and north to Hexham and Hadrian’s Wall. The return leg south comes down the west side of the Pennines after following the wall westwards. It traverses the South Tyne valley, Cross Fell, the Eden valley, Mallerstang, Dentdale, Whernside and Ingleborough before returning to Settle.

The route involves a total of 11,260m (36,942ft) of ascent.

The Wainwright Society said A Pennine Journey will be followed by The Outlying Fells of Lakeland at a later date.

Mr Cockell said: “The aims in republishing these titles are to keep the books in print as well as meeting one of the principal objects of the society: to keep alive the fellwalking traditions promoted by AW through his guidebooks and other publications.”