Category Archives: Literature

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

Object of the Month: June 2018

Posted on 29/06/2018 by carolinemmurray

This fire screen, standing 104 cm (3 ft 5 ins) tall, must in the summer have graced fireplace of a well-to-do eighteenth-century individual, probably in France. When I first noticed it, I thought it was embroidered, perhaps by a daughter … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, France, History, Literature, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mr and Miss Morris

Posted on 10/02/2018 by carolinemmurray

I did something the other week which I’d never achieved before: I went to the end of a London Underground line! I have to say that I was a bit disappointed that the Victoria Line remained resolutely Underground until Walthamstow … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, History, Literature, London, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Father of the More Famous

Posted on 01/09/2017 by carolinemmurray

I’m currently reading a book about Sir Joseph Banks as an Enlightenment figure (yes, I probably should get out more), and was struck by this quotation: ‘Mann [the Abbé Mann (1735–1809), a Yorkshire Catholic convert and savant who became a … Continue reading →

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

Cats in Art

Posted on 28/07/2017 by carolinemmurray

If you were to be foolish enough to Google ‘Cats in art’ (and I really don’t recommend it) you would get ‘about 37,600,000 results’ – probably more by the time you read this: and a great many would look something … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Literature, Museums and Galleries, Venice | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Idiots

Posted on 08/06/2017 by carolinemmurray

To add to the gaiety of the nation in these trying times, I have for some time now been tweeting (@Prof_hedgehog) a #WordOfTheDay drawn from Thomas Wright’s Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English: Containing Words from the English Writers Previous … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Bibliography, Biography, History, Literature, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Plant of the Month: April 2017

Posted on 24/04/2017 by carolinemmurray

The forget-me-not is one of those plants which are ‘only a …’. But like so many apparently over-familiar pieces of nature, it repays closer examination. It must be one of the most widespread (and toughest) plants in the northern hemisphere, … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Gardens, History, Literature, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Plant of the Month: December

Posted on 17/12/2016 by carolinemmurray

For the avoidance of doubt (as we lawyers like to say), I’m talking here about European mistletoe: Viscum album (Linnaeus). There are about 70–100 species worldwide, as well as New World and southern hemisphere ‘mistletoes’ of quite different species, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, History, Literature, Natural history | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Bemerton

Posted on 21/07/2016 by carolinemmurray

Our school hymnbook was Songs of Praise (without music). I still have my copy, and I honestly can’t remember whether it was mine to keep or whether I stole it (the latter by inadvertence, because I was far too Goody-Two-Shoes … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, History, Literature, Natural history | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Hazelnuts

Posted on 04/07/2016 by carolinemmurray

To the Curtain Theatre at Shoreditch, where we watched the play, Every Man in His Humour, by Mr Ben Jonson, with Mr William Shakespeare among the actors. Well, we almost did, the only minor problem being that we visited the … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, History, Literature, London | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments