Restless Brilliance: The Story of J.A. Baker and The Peregrine

The Peregrine by J.A. Baker was first published in 1967. The book was an immediate success. Reviews called it a masterpiece of nature writing and it won several awards. Since then, Baker’s unique poetic writing has continued to inspire a new generation of nature writers and naturalists, and The Peregrine was recently voted one of the UK’s top 10 favourite nature books. But despite all this success, very little was known about Baker himself.

In this exhibition we explore Baker’s life, his love of nature and writing through the archive of his work held by the Albert Sloman Library, University of Essex. It is the first time that this archive has been on public display.