Category Archives: Printing and Publishing

Plant of the Month: February 2018

Posted on 18/02/2018 by carolinemmurray

‘In regard to plants, no one has treated this subject [natural selection] with more spirit and ability than W. Herbert, Dean of Manchester, evidently the result of his great horticultural knowledge.’ Charles Darwin, in On the Origin of Species I … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, Gardens, Natural history, Printing and Publishing, Uncategorized | Tagged Amaryllis, botany, bulbs, Chelsea Flower Show, Hippeastrum, natural selection, taxonomy, William Herbert | 6 Comments

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 Arts and Crafts, embroidery, John Ruskin, May Morris, Morris & Co., Pre-Raphaelites, Walthamstow, William Morris Gallery | 8 Comments

Object of the Month: January 2018

Posted on 28/01/2018 by carolinemmurray

On 21 January, already deeply memorable as a family birthday, I was looking for a picture of a squirrel, since some Power had Decreed that it was also Squirrel Appreciation Day. The photo I found was a rather bad (full … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, Italy, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing | Tagged book flask, ceramics, emblemata, Fitzwilliam Museum, knitting, Leonardo da Vinci, niddy-noddy, squirrel, swift, wool, yarn, yarnwinder | 3 Comments

Small But Perfectly Formed

Posted on 19/01/2018 by carolinemmurray

When I was unexpectedly cast upon the shore of the Island of Leisure, nearly three years ago now, one of the resolutions I made to myself in contemplation of the Rest of the Journey of My Life was that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, Exploration, History, London, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged British Museum, history of medicine, Jan Van Huysum, Maria Sibylla Merian, Middleton Stoney, Natural History Museum, Royal Society, Sir Hans Sloane | 15 Comments

Robert Harrild and Sons

Posted on 11/09/2017 by carolinemmurray

Just as everything is connected to everything else, so one thing leads to another. I was leafing through an ancient copy of Country Life in the doctor’s waiting room the other day, and was electrified to see a photograph of … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, Biography, History, London, Printing and Publishing | Tagged Christ's Hospital, Gothic novel, Great Exhibition, printing, printing press, printing roller, Robert Harrild | 14 Comments

St Antholin’s

Posted on 04/09/2017 by carolinemmurray

4 September 1666 is generally reckoned to have been the most destructive day of the Great Fire of London, during which large amounts of the city on the north bank of the Thames were razed to the ground. The lost … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, Biography, History, London, Printing and Publishing | Tagged City of London, Great Fire of London, London churches, Richard Newcourt, Sir Joseph Banks, St Antholin's church, St Anthony Abbot, Temple of Mithras, The Gentle Author | 3 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 Anthony Panizzi, Dante, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Gabriele Rossetti, Sir Joseph Banks, Ugo Foscolo | Leave a comment

The Unusual Grand Tour of Sir J.E. Smith

Posted on 28/08/2017 by carolinemmurray

Although, in my previous existence, I had been involved in reissuing the hagiographic two-volume ‘life and letters’ of Sir J.E. Smith (1759–1828), founding president of the Linnean Society, written by his delightfully named widow, Pleasance, I did not actually read … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, France, Gardens, History, Italy, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged Grand Tour, Jonas Dryander, Linnaeus, Linnean Society, Sir J.E. Smith, Sir Joseph Banks | 7 Comments

A Curious Herbal

Posted on 16/07/2017 by carolinemmurray

In Modena recently, we were having a nice mooch round the Biblioteca Estense in the Palazzo dei Musei, which also houses the Galleria Estense, the Lapidario Romano, the Musei Civici di Modena, and several other collections. (A tasting session for … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Bibliography, Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, History, London, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged Alexander Blackwell, Biblioteca Estense, Cambridge University Library, Chelsea Physic Garden, debtor's prison, Elizabeth Blackwell, herbals, Modena, Sweden | 3 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 antiquarian studies, Thomas Wright, vocabulary | Leave a comment