Category Archives: Printing and Publishing

Maria Dundas/Graham/Callcott

Posted on 07/04/2016 by carolinemmurray

Maria Dundas, later Graham, later Callcott, is another of the cohort of women (Fry, Coutts, Nightingale, Marcet, Caroline Herschel …) who give the lie to the nineteenth-century cliché about the angel in the house. Born on 19 July 1785 near … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, History, Literature, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Etty Before Aunthood

Posted on 21/03/2016 by carolinemmurray

Lovers of Gwen Raverat’s memoir Period Piece will remember Aunt Etty as one of the more eccentric of a colourful band of Darwin aunts and uncles who populated her childhood. Henrietta Darwin (1843–1927) was the eldest surviving daughter of Charles … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, History, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

1816

Posted on 17/03/2016 by carolinemmurray

After the battle of Waterloo brought an end to the Napoleonic Wars and peace to Europe, everyone lived happily ever after (except Napoleon, obviously). The next thing to happen was the death of George III in 1820, after which the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Computus

Posted on 18/01/2016 by carolinemmurray

The recent Anglican conference at Lambeth led to some controversial decisions, of which the most surprising, perhaps, was an agreement to work with other churches worldwide to fix the date of Easter. It was almost as surprising that the initiative … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, Classics, History, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

‘Hee Gathered Many Notable Things’

Posted on 14/01/2016 by carolinemmurray

I was recently given one of the most infuriating books it has ever been my misfortune to read. Bound in Venice: The Serene Republic and the Dawn of the Book, by Alessandro Marzo Magno, translated from the Italian by Gregory … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Bibliography, Exploration, History, Literature, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Armenian Bole

Posted on 04/01/2016 by carolinemmurray

No, me either, but I came across the term when I was looking up ‘gesso’, which is (among other things) the adhesive gunge on to which gold leaf is laid in illuminated manuscripts. The recipe for this type of gesso … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Herod, That Moody King

Posted on 16/12/2015 by carolinemmurray

Last Christmas, the Cambridge Library Collection reissued Songs of the Nativity, Being Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern, edited by William Henry Husk (1814–87), a solicitor’s clerk and amateur singer who was librarian of the Sacred Harmonic Society in London. (He … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Literature, Music, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Ghostly Vegetables (Part 2)

Posted on 09/11/2015 by carolinemmurray

Returning to the remarkable plant portraits of late Victorian gardener Charles Jones, I thought I would look at the varieties he photographed, and see whether any of those that he named still exist. (There are some generic labels, such as … Continue reading →

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

The Deluge of Time

Posted on 06/11/2015 by carolinemmurray

‘Antiquities, or remnants of history, are, as was said, tanquam tabula naufragii: when industrious persons, by an exact and scrupulous diligence and observation, out of monuments, names, words, proverbs, traditions, private records and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of books … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, History, Literature, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Printing With Muscles

Posted on 12/10/2015 by carolinemmurray

Some months ago, I saw advertised – on Twitter, I think – a one-day course on printing on a wooden press (of the type Gutenberg would have used, it is thought), run by the Dürer Press Group, at the St … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, History, Literature, London, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments