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History of medieval Weymouth and its evolution as a trading port.
James Crump

9781909644809 Weymouth is usually thought of as a ‘Georgian’ town, but this book shows how much of the physical appearance of the town was determined many years before the arrival of George III himself. It examines the parallel histories of the twin towns of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis from the eleventh century to the end of the sixteenth, charting their rise and subsequent decline. It explains how their early growth was based on the great medieval trades of wool and wine and how growth was influenced by their connections with France which developed particularly in the years of the Angevin Empire. Their later decline was caused by the disruption of these trades and by the ravages of war in the Channel, part of the great conflict with France known as the ‘Hundred Years’ War’. In the midst of this the population was overwhelmed by the catastrophe of the Black Death.
Published:7th July 2015
Paperback:112 pages
Price:£6.99
ISBN:9-781909-644717
 Available from Amazon
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£6.99 (+ £2 postage)
James Crump read modern history at the University of Oxford and taught school students, undergraduates and extramural classes for many years. Before moving to Dorset he has written on social and industrial history subjects mainly in northern contexts. He has been researching Dorset history for many years and is especially interested in the early history of towns.

Reviews...

books

Lewis Carroll

July 4, tomorrow, is said to be the 150th anniversary of the publication by Macmillan of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. The date of publication was itself the third-year anniversary of Dodgson’s famous boat trip on the Isis at Oxford with the three daughters of Dean Liddell of Christchurch, including, of course, young Alice.

 

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George Butterworth Memorial Volume
Wayne Smith

9781909644632 George Butterworth, a close friend of Vaughan Williams, composed some of the most enchanting and acclaimed English music of his time. He was killed during the battle of the Somme as dawn broke on the 5th August, 1916. Owing to the severity of the fighting his body was buried where he lay, the site marked by a simple wooden cross never to be rediscovered. Consequently his name occurs among the 73,357 listed on the Thiepval ‘Memorial to the Missing’. For his actions during the last few weeks of his life, George was awarded two Military Crosses and put forward for a third. In 1918 his father, Alexander Kaye Butterworth, privately published a ‘Memorial Volume’ for family and friends, of which only a handful of copies are known to have survived. It consists of a collection of tributes and letters of appreciation (including a moving contribution from Vaughan Williams) that he had received, alongside reviews of George’s music and concerts.
Published:15th June 2015
Paperback:150 pages
Price:£10
ISBN:9-781909-644632
 Available from Amazon
Pay with PayPal
£10.00 (+ £2.50 postage)
The main part of the book consists of George’s own ‘War Diary and Letters’ – a document of historic importance publicly available here for the very first time. This anniversary edition has been produced to mark the centenary of George Butterworth’s death and as a tribute to all of those whose place of rest remains unknown. For them, his ‘Banks of Green Willow’ has become an unofficial anthem.

livesinprint

The Memoirs of Eva Gillies
An Interpreter at Large

cover The Memoirs of Eva Gillies
Eva Gillies (née Krapf) was a wonderful story-teller. She would entrance friends with tales of growing up in Argentina, of speaking four languages and devouring books – leading on to her vivid memories of Oxford life as a student in the late 1940s and eventually as a free-lance interpreter based in Geneva. She became truly a citizen of the world, as a professional conference interpreter in such key places as Hanoi after the French-Vietnam War, Lagos in newly-independent Nigeria and Warsaw at the height of the Cold War. She then returned to Oxford in 1962 to study social anthropology at Evans-Pritchard’s Institute. She was widowed shortly after her first marriage to Hasan Askari, but carried on with research of her own in West Africa and with a spell of teaching in the University of London. She then married Mick Gillies and settled with him in the Sussex village of Hamsey, whence they migrated seasonally to West Africa for his specialist studies of mosquitos. Eva continued her own writing and translating in Hamsey – and, especially, continued to entertain visitors from far and wide. After she lost Mick, friends encouraged her to write up her memoirs, and we are now proud to present the result – a tribute to her life and to the extraordinary range of personal encounters that shaped it.
Published: 1st Jan 2014
Paperback: 235 pages
Price: £12.99
ISBN: 9-781909-644137

Available from: Amazon,
Waterstones, Blackwells
and other retailers
Visit Amazon.co.uk Edited by Wendy James,
Emeritus Professor
of Social Anthropology,
University of Oxford.

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An Interpreter at Large →

Events

Shropshire history – book launch

Book launch, Tuesday 7th July at 7.00 pm at Pengwern Books, Fish Street, Shrewsbury, for Coalbrookdale Doctors by Dr. Richard Moore, Dr Moore’s wonderfully well-researched account of three generations of Shropshire apothecaries/general practitioners. All welcome.

 

News

Donald Duck and Donald Bradman Anniversary

A literary or dramatic (and cricketing), anniversary of sorts: seventy-six years ago today, Donald Duck made his  first appearance in The Wise Little Hen (although he did not achieve fame until two years later when he appeared in Orphan’s Benefit beside Mickey Mouse). It seems that Donald may have acquired both his forename and, indirectly, his surname from Australian cricket champion Donald Bradman who was out for a duck against the West Indies in 1932 while Walt Disney was in the process of creating his famous character. Disney was  intrigued by the strange (to American ears) cricketing expression.

Front Page, livesinprint

Compiled by Butterworth’s father with a contribution from Vaughan Williams.
Wayne Smith

9781909644632 George Butterworth, a close friend of Vaughan Williams, composed some of the most enchanting and acclaimed English music of his time. He was killed during the battle of the Somme as dawn broke on the 5th August, 1916. Owing to the severity of the fighting his body was buried where he lay, the site marked by a simple wooden cross never to be rediscovered. Consequently his name occurs among the 73,357 listed on the Thiepval ‘Memorial to the Missing’. For his actions during the last few weeks of his life, George was awarded two Military Crosses and put forward for a third. In 1918 his father, Alexander Kaye Butterworth, privately published a ‘Memorial Volume’ for family and friends, of which only a handful of copies are known to have survived. It consists of a collection of tributes and letters of appreciation (including a moving contribution from Vaughan Williams) that he had received, alongside reviews of George’s music and concerts.
Published:15th June 2015
Paperback:150 pages
Price:£10
ISBN:9-781909-644632
 Available from Amazon
Pay with PayPal
£10.00 (+ £2.50 postage)
The main part of the book consists of George’s own ‘War Diary and Letters’ – a document of historic importance publicly available here for the very first time. This anniversary edition has been produced to mark the centenary of George Butterworth’s death and as a tribute to all of those whose place of rest remains unknown. For them, his ‘Banks of Green Willow’ has become an unofficial anthem.

books

Oscar Wilde

wilde_in_america_3231970a

Today is the anniversary of Oscar Wilde’s release from Reading goal in 1897. David Freeman’s excellent Wilde in America, published 13 February this year, reminds us of happier days before Wilde’s persecution and confinement. There’s a good review by Neil Hegarty in the Daily Telegraph, which outlines Freeman’s account of Wilde’s contribution to the ‘invention of modern celebrity’ during his tour of the Untied States in 1882.

 

 

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