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SEE Dorset’s historic past in a new book filled with never before seen pictures.

The latest book from The Dorset Echo provides a fascinating look into the way Weymouth, Dorchester and Dorset has changed over the last century.

Dorset Then & Now includes vintage pictures of the area alongside new images of the same locations – showing dramatic changes and the retained character of iconic sites.

The ‘old’ pictures in the book range from 1900 to 1993 and include busy town centres, bygone times and unspoilt village scenes. The new pictures show how drastically some areas have changed – while other parts of the county have kept their identity.

Cornhill, Dorchester, pictured in 1908, hasn’t lost its recognisable character, along with the iconic Gold Hill in Shaftesbury – photographed in 1900.

The Echo’s team of photographers went to great lengths to replicate the vantage points used by the original photographers as closely as possible, to give the reader the best possible sense of how things had changed.

Unique to this book is the use of ‘blends’ to marry old pictures with new ones, making it dramatically clear how some scenes have changed. The scenes were painstakingly put together by Echo multimedia designer John Nesbitt.

The 160-page book draws on pictures from the Dorset Echo’s own extensive archives and those of other local collections and museums. Like previous books from the Dorset Echo and Daily Echo, it is already proving a best-seller alongside national titles at local bookshops.

Dorset Then & Now is available for £14.95 from Dorset Echo offices in Weymouth, Dorchester and Bridport and from: Farwells, Wareham; Swanage Bookshop; WH Smith, Weymouth and Blandford; Waterstones, Dorchester and Bridport; Dorset County Museum, Dorchester; and Chalbury Wines, Preston.

It can also be ordered for £20.25 including postage from dorsetecho.co.uk/thenand now Here you can browse a gallery of photos from the book.