Computer trickery is now so common that we think of 'doctoring' pictures as a modern vice, but the Victorians were not averse to a bit of jiggery-pokery.

A picture of Banbury Cross, dated October 1859, is entitled 'The Cross at its opening', but in fact no official ceremony took place and the picture is a work of the imagination.

It appears, with a disclaimer, in Banbury Past Through Artists' Eyes, a collection of 200 paintings, drawings and engravings of Banbury in the 18th and 19th centuries. The core came from Banbury Museum and Oxfordshire Studies, while the Ashmolean, Bodleian and Corpus Christi College also contributed. There was also a collection of watercolours by 20th-century painter Maurice Draper, who sought out buildings under threat of demolition. They include Hunt Edmunds Brewery, which disappeared about 1970, and two delightful old buildings - The Leathern Bottle and Needles fish and chip shop - both knocked down in 1960 to make way for a new Castle Street. The medieval church, cross and castle have all gone, and more recently the famous Original Cake Shop, demolished in 1968.

While the pictures take pride of place, each has an explanatory caption explaining the history.

The book, published by Banbury Historical Society at £15, can be obtained from Banbury Museum or from www.cherwell-dc.gov.uk/ banburymuseum/ banburyhistoricalsoc.cfm.