It is one hundred and fifty years since John Clare — “the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet” — died in a lunatic asylum.

He was a genius, despite his lack of formal education, and his first readers were fascinated by his loving descriptions of birds, animals, rural life and people.

The Shepherd’s Calendar is his most ambitious work — first published in 1827 — and includes a poem for every month of the year, each marked by its agricultural tasks, rural celebrations, and festivals.

This new version from Oxford University Press, £12.99, keeps Clare’s idiosyncratic spelling and is expertly illustrated with wood engravings by David Gentleman.