Cicerone Press is an English
publisher
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
, founded in 1969,
specialising in guidebooks for walkers, climbers, trekkers and cyclists.
The company's first publication was a climbing guide to the English
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...
, and over the past 50 years they have published a range of guidebooks covering walking, trekking and cycling around the world.
History
The company was founded in 1969 when the late Walt Unsworth (1928-2017) and Brian Evans, in frustration at the lack of suitable climbing guides to areas of the English Lake District, came together to produce a climbing guide.
The very first guide, ''The Northern Lake District'' was published in March 1969. It consisted of just 40 pages and included hand-drawn illustrations by Evans who, two years later, wrote and illustrated a companion guide to climbs in ''The Southern Lake District,'' Cicerone's second title. ''Winter Climbs in Ben Nevis and Glencoe'' followed later the same year.
Since 1999, Cicerone has been developing under the ownership of Jonathan and Lesley Williams. The company is based in
Kendal
Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...
, Cumbria.
The Cicerone podcast 'Footnotes' was first released in 2020 and new episodes are available twice a month. The company also hosts a monthly Cicerone Live event with authors and guest speakers, events are streamed live on the Cicerone website, YouTube, and Facebook.
In 2008, readers of ''Walk Magazine'', published by the
Ramblers Association, voted Cicerone guides into first place in the "Best Walking Book" category of their annual "Top Gear Awards".
In 2019, the Cicerone Press celebrated its 50th anniversary with the publication of ''Cicerone: Celebrating Fifty Years of Adventure'', edited by
Kev Reynolds.
References
Further reading
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External links
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Companies based in Cumbria
Book publishing companies of England
Publishing companies established in 1967
1967 establishments in England
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