Birdmen (2018, signed first edition)

Signed by Zak Waters, his photographic record of pigeon racers and racing

Author

Zak Waters, text by Rod Adams

Publisher

Bluecoat Press, Liverpool, 2018

Printing Details

First edition, first printing. Hardback, 27.5 × 29.5cm, 156pp.

Signed directly to the title page by Zak Waters.

Pigeon racing is a unique sport with its roots deep within traditional working-class communities. it thrived among Britain’s miners, shipbuilders and iron and steel workers. Reaching its peak by the early 1970s with over 2,000 societies and 130,000 members, as the decade progressed and heavy industries collapsed, communities were torn apart and the number of Birdmen fell to under 60,000.

Zak Waters realised that the sport was changing and began documenting the fast-dwindling community with all its humour, anxieties and passion. Birdmen is his record of the slow death of a culture that has changed almost beyond recognition. Rod Adams, legendary writer on all things pigeon, has contributed witty and insightful stories about the sport and the characters that made it so special.