HERE'S a view of York Minster rarely tackled by artists. But that's the idea of the York Sketch Book. It contains "20 prints featuring hidden corners of York".

The beautifully-produced book is the work of York writer, performance poet and illustrator Graham Rhodes.

A brief history of each location overlays the relevant black-and-white sketch on transparent paper.

Readers can either enjoy it as a book, or pull the sketches out from the ring binding, put them in frames and display them as prints.

But why did Graham choose to draw "hidden corners" of York?

"I just like alleyways," he said. "It's where real people work and where real things go on.

"The last thing I wanted to do was to draw the usual views of York every artist has done."

His earlier book, Footprints In The Mud Of Time, was an alternative history of York with a comic twist.

The sketch book is similarly "aimed at anybody who likes York and for the people of York.

"I've never lived in a city where residents know, love and appreciate their city as much as in York."

The York Sketch Book is published by Quacks Books in association with Templar Publishing, price £20. It is available at Waterstone's, WH Smith, Barley Hall and the Castle Museum in York. Limited edition prints are also on sale at the Alan Stuttle Gallery, Micklegate.