OXFORD GUIDE TO LITERARY BRITAIN AND IRELAND

Ed Daniel Hahn & Nicholas Robins (Oxford University Press, £30)

There is something special about visiting the former home of a famous writer. You get a useful insight into how they wrote their most famous books. I've been to one or two of these places, including Beatrix Potter's Hill Top near Sawrey in Cumbria, and Jane Austen's house in Chawton, Hampshire. Now, following the publication of this sumptuous guide, I intend to visit many more. Bateman's, Rudyard Kipling's home in the Sussex village of Burwash, is top of my list.

Hahn and Nicholas have included 300 more writers than were featured in the last edition, which came out in 1991, and the book now includes a selection of sites associated with living writers.

Alas, there is no entry yet for Alexander McCall Smith - I checked in vain in the index in M and S and he was nowhere to be seen. I'm hoping for a detailed entry on his Edinburgh-based 44, Scotland Street series in the next edition.

This is a big, heavy book containing masses of information, so it's probably a good idea to work out how you are going to use it as a research tool before you dive in. But the information is very well signposted, so you will eventually find what you are looking for, either by searching for a location in the nine different regions, or by using the index of writers and index of places at the back of the guide.

There is a long section on Oxford, featuring a useful map indicating the Bodleian Library, the Eagle and Child, and other key literary landmarks.

The entries on different authors are detailed but not always complete. I noticed there was no mention of the time Tolkien spent living at Northmoor Road, but the guide will certainly serve as a useful starting point for any bibliophile who wants to find out more about a particular author and where he or she lived. There are also useful entries for Oxfordshire villages and their connections with famous, and not so well-known authors.

I also enjoyed the numerous features on famous authors that are scattered throughout the volume, including a brief essay on Thomas Hardy and Wessex by Margaret Drabble.

The book is beautifully illustrated with old photographs of authors and their homes, and OUP's production values are lavish. My only quibble is that this invaluable guide weighs far too much for me to read it in the bath.