Norrie Woodhall has a new claim to fame when it comes to Victorian novelist Thomas Hardy. She's just provided the inspiration for a successful campaign to keep some valuable Hardy manuscripts in his native Dorset. At 104 years-of-age, Norrie might seem an unlikely muse for Dorset's die hard Hardy fans. But she's been connected with the writer since before she was born: Norrie Woodhall says her mother was the inspiration for Hardy's tragic heroine, Tess of the D'Urbervilles.Augusta Noreen "Norrie" Bugler Woodhall is one of the last people alive who actually knew Thomas Hardy. When she was but a lass...
Bloom Returns to Rare Books at 2010 New York Antiquarian Book Fair
Reporting 36,000 miles above somewhere in the Western United States: The long winter that has kept the rare book trade chilly has passed; Spring is in the air, the sun is out, the temperature is warming, green has returned to leaves and dealer bank accounts. The parting clouds observed at the California International Antiquarian Book Fair last February appear to have completely opened and moved on. The weather inside and outside the Fair was classic New York Spring. The season of renewal and growth is upon us.While a few dealers complained of slow starts, low attendance, and lack of excitement,...
Will True Anarchy Reign at 2010 Anarchist Book Fair?
New York City Anarchist Book Fair, 2009.The 4th annual NYC Anarchist Book Fair, a one-day exposition of books, zines, pamphlets, art, film/video, and other cultural and very political productions of the anarchist scene worldwide, will take place on April 17, 2010, at Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan, New York City, a center of anarchist life, culture, struggle, and ideas for 150 years, In addition, there will be two days of panels, presentations, workshops, and skillshares on April 17 and 18 to provide further opportunities to learn more and share your own experience and creativity. The goal of the book...
Charles Dickens’ Model for the Modern Rehab Facility: Victorian Health Care Reform
On November 29, 1842, London’s Morning Chronicle published a short, unusual piece by Charles Dickens, already a celebrated writer and novelist, titled The Sanatorium.Written shortly after Dickens’s return from his first American tour, it reflected both his deep and lasting interest in public affairs and his fascination with medicine and the medical profession, particularly mental illness, detailed descriptions of which form central passages in several of Dickens’s novels. Thomas Chapman was chairman of the Sanatorium Committee and a personal friend of Dickens (the character of Mr Dombey was supposedly based on Chapman). Chapman asked Dickens to write a brief piece...
2010 New York Antiquarian Book Fair or Sunny?
The 2010 New York Antiquarian Book Fair previews this Thursday evening at the Park Avenue Armory, officially opens on Friday and continues through Sunday, April 11, 2010.On Friday, Nicholas Basbanes, the rare book world's Boswell, will sign copies of his new book, About the Author: Inside the Creative Process. On Saturday, Stuart Lutz will sign copies of his book, The Last Leaf: Voices of History's Last-Known Survivors.Sponsored by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), this year the fair debuts a new feature, New York Book Fair Search Engine, which allows fair-goers to see what books dealers will be bringing...