Monthly Archives: September 2018

Small-Coals and Concerts

Posted on 30/09/2018 by carolinemmurray

Looking something up in the ODNB, it’s terrifyingly easy to get distracted. Who could resist the siren call of this entry heading: ‘Britton, Thomas (1644–1714), concert promoter, book collector, and coal merchant’? And, as you read on, the story of … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, History, Literature, London, Music, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Printing R-Evolution

Posted on 17/09/2018 by carolinemmurray

I have been reading Julian Barnes’s Keeping An Eye Open, in which he remarks (p. 166) that ‘normal ocular fatigue sets in after about ninety minutes’. This is a huge relief, as I had always thought it was just me, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, Classics, History, Italy, Literature, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing, Venice | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Am I, Personally, Responsible for the Death of Venice?

Posted on 14/09/2018 by carolinemmurray

There we were, on a surprisingly (well, we were surprised) misty morning, sitting on our balcony, from which you can usually see the campanile of San Marco (now in the mist), eating our breakfast pastries, when the Guardian intruded with … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Italy, Museums and Galleries, Venice | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sister of the More Famous Tycho

Posted on 10/09/2018 by carolinemmurray

When I wrote a valedictory piece in another place, before starting my Vita Nuova, I mentioned that one of the many books I might never now read was a biography of Tycho (properly Tyge Ottensen) Brahe (1546–1601), by John Louis … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, History, Natural history | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

William Turner, Naturalist

Posted on 08/09/2018 by carolinemmurray

I have mentioned before Dr Richard Pulteney (1730–1801), the sole survivor of eleven children from an Old Anabaptist family near Loughborough, Leicestershire, who was apprenticed to an apothecary and then set up as an apothecary and surgeon in Leicester. After … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Gardens, History, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments