NORWICH – Former Oxford Academy and Central School social studies teacher and first-time author Fred Lanfear will be on hand from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at the First Edition Book Store, 13 South Broad St., to sign copies of “Oxford,” a new addition to Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” historical series.

Current president of the Oxford Historical Society, Lanfear first came to Oxford in 1965. As a teacher at the middle and high schools, he had a chance to meet and interact with multiple generations of students and parents. The decades he’s spent here – along with his love for the area and its history – ultimately led the former educator to accept Arcadia Publishing’s offer to write the book.

“I turned them down a couple of times before saying I’d give it a try,” said Lanfear. “It was a very interesting experience and (the book) gives a pretty good history of Oxford.”

The 200-plus photographs featured in the book are a big part of its appeal, said the author, who added readers should “let the pictures tell the story” and “read the pictures, not just the print,” as some of the oldest images included go back to 1890. Several maps found in the book date back even further, he added, including a village map drawn in 1824, 13 years before the Chenango Canal was built.

Lanfear said he likes to brag about the beauty of the area and added that, for such a “pretty little town,” it’s rich in history. Pictures of the town’s bluestone quarries show the toughness and rugged nature of the area’s workers, something the book also reflects, according to the author. In the 1800s, when the quarries were booming, bluestone exported out of the area made its way to such famous locations as the Trinity Church, Wall Street and Grant’s Tomb in New York City.

“After all these years, Oxford is still a small town. Historians, playwrights and poets tend to paint small towns with a broad brush, and their strokes often carry much truth,” states Lanfear in the book’s introduction. “Many of the small-town clichés from our literary heritage describe Oxford. And yet, Oxford is memorably different and is a special little town.”