 | a bibliographical newsletter Issue 20 February 2021  |
Work on the Devon bibliography
I have long wanted to place more images onto the bibliography, and also links to digitised versions of full texts. I had already started this for early political election literature and to illustrate watermarks in Devon ephemera but the Devon History Society's "Devon in the 1920s" project spurred me on to tidy up that decade generally, and also conduct a more intensive search through archive.org to see what had already been digitised. There are about 2,200 records for books and pamphlets on the Devon bibliography for the 1920s. So far only about 90 digitised publications have been located for the decade, but there are doubtless more to be found. For example the Wellcome Library has digitised its extensive collection of medical officer of health reports and there are many for Devon authorities in the 1920s, often not recorded locally. They contain a great deal of information, not just on public health, but often on demography and even sometimes meteorology. Archive.org is an American organisation, so many of the works digitised are of American editions of writers such as Agatha Christie and John Galsworthy, again imprints that are not held locally, but are testimony to the international reach of some Devon writers. There is even a French critical study of Galsworthy and other British writers. I am putting together a Powerpoint presentation of Devon publications that will run at the Zoom launch event of the Devon History Society project on Saturday 24 April 2021 10:00 - 12:30. In the meantime I have loaded an updated file for 1920-1929 on the Devon bibliography.
I am also extending my search to earlier Devon items and a search on a few keywords has produced a rich haul. This involves adding clickable images to the records which link directly to the full text. I have also searched the Universal Short Title Catalogue, which has Europe-wide coverage up to 1650. This has added around 300 editions for the period 1505-1650. Among them are foreign-language publications that would have eluded the compilers of the English Short Title Catalogue, for example a first edition of the letters of Saint Boniface and even Een wonder der wonderen. Gheschiedt in Engelandt inde parochie-kercke van Withycombe (in Devonshire) op sondagh, wesende den 21. october, 1638 - an account of the storm which struck the church in Widecombe-in-the-Moor. The exploits of Drake, Raleigh and Hawkins were also reported, most splendidly in:
Harriot, Thomas, 1560-1621. Wunderbarliche, doch warhafftige Erklärung, von der Gelegenheit vnd Sitten der Wilden in Virginia, welche newlich von den Engelländern, so im Jar 1585. : vom Herrn Reichard Greinuile, einem von der Ritterschafft, in gemeldte Landschafft die zu bewohnen geführt waren, ist erfunden worden, in Verlegung H. Walter Raleigh, Ritter vnd Obersten dess Zinbergwercks, auss vergünstigung der Durchleuchtigsten vnnd Vnvberwindlichsten, Elizabeth, Königin in Engelland, &c. Gedruckt zu Franckfort am Mäyn, : Bey Johann Wechel, in Verlegung Dieterich Bry, 1590. — [136] pages, plates : illustrations. —
A lockdown digital bookshelf for Exeter
As part of this digital initiative I have pulled together an initial virtual bookshelf for members of the Exeter Civic Society which gives a further idea of the range of material that is being unearthed. In my introduction I say:
It is surprisingly difficult to gather collections of early books of Exeter interest, and so I thought that a sample of what I have discovered for the 18th and 19th centuries might be helpful. If you click on the links you will be taken straight to a digitised version of the original text. So, during lockdown you have a growing bookshelf of early texts to hand for you to browse.
Musgrave, William. Antiquitates Britanno-Belgicae, 1719. - This first item is one of several works available on-line by the famous Exeter medical practitioner and antiquarian William Musgrave. All are in Latin, extremely unusual even at that date, and some are illustrated with engravings of archaeological finds.
Shapter, Thomas. The history of the cholera in Exeter in 1832. - London : John Churchill, 1849. - This important work with its wood engraved illustrations showing the conditions of the poorer classes in Exeter and its pioneering map of the distribution of cholera cases picks up on Mike Richards recent Zoom talk to the Society on the history of Exeter hospitals, and also has echoes of the pandemic we are going through today.Shapter, Thomas. Report on the state of Exeter. - 1845. - Google books full text. - Shapter's work was well regarded and his report to the Commissioners for Inquiring into the State of Large Towns and Populous Districts is also available on-line. -Exeter City Council. Annual report for 1897 on the sanitary work, vital statistics &c. - Exeter : Printed by Burridge and Cannicott, Musgrave Alley, High Street, 1898. - Archive.org full text. - The work of Shapter and others led to the Public Health Acts of 1872 and 1875 which made it a statutory duty for local authorities to appoint medical officers of health. Their annual reports provide detailed information on public health and, thanks to the Wellcome Medical Library, many have been digitised.Devon County Lunatic Asylum. The report of the Committee of Visitors and Medical Superintendent of the Devon County Lunatic Asylum. - Exeter : Printed by W. Norton, 1855. - Archive.org full text. - Mental hospitals were also evolving during the Victorian era and the Wellcome Library has made available for digitisation its collection of reports for the asylum in Exminster, now a development of bijou residences.Charity Commissioners. The Report of the Commissioners Concerning Charities ... Exeter. - Exeter, 1825. - Google books full text. - Hospitals and almshouses fell within the scope of the Charity Commissioners whose detailed reports were published during the 1820s and 1830s.Freeman, Edward Augustus. Exeter. - 1887. - Google books full text. - Many 19th century guidebooks and histories have been digitised. The following are just a hors d'oeuvre:Jenkins, Alexander. Civil and ecclesiastical history of the City of Exeter. - 1841. - Google books full text. -Cotton, William. Gleanings from the municipal and cathedral records. - 1877. - Google books full text. -Shorto, Edward H. Some notes on the church of St. Petrock, Exeter. - 1878. - Google books full text. -And a few oddities:Montagu, George. Supplement to the Ornithological dictionary. - 1813. - Google books full text. - An important work that was printed in Exeter by Woolmer for a group pf London booksellers and publishers.Bull, John. Observance of the rubric. A letter addressed to Henry Lord Bishop of Exeter. - 1844. - Google books full text. - Just one example of the controversies that surrounded the notorious bishop of Exeter Henry Phillpotts. Was Exeter a model for some of the characters in Trollope's Barchester chronicles?Jarman, William, 1817-. U.S.A. Uncle Sam's abscess; or, Hell upon earth for U.S. Uncle Sam. - Exeter : Printed at Leduc's Steam Printing works, 1884. - Archive.org full text. - A virulent attack on Mormonism, printed in Exeter and "copyrighted in both hemispheres", which was digitised with the co-operation of the Brigham Young University's Joseph F. Smith Library in Hawaii.Pontseny, Hoelionydd. Dienyddiad Mary Ashford yn Exeter, Mai y 3ydd, 1866, am wenwyno ei gwr : ei chyfaddediad ei hun / [gan] Hoelionydd Pontseny. - [1866?]. - Archive.org full text. - An item of popular literature from Cardiff University library. It is a chapbook relating to the execution of the murderer Mary Ashford in 1866. -The hunt continues ...
Exeter city of literature
Devon County Council is "keen to see literature and creativity as part of a Devon’s Renaissance". Whether this indicates that it will actually do something to reverse the situation of its own making, which sees the world's largest collection of Devon literature the worst provided for in terms of staffing and resource funding, remains to be seen. The UNESCO project itself is up and running, despite Covid, and a number of initiatives are in hand. They are in the process of appointing a full-time project director. It is good to see that, although the South West Heritage Trust was not consulted when the bid was made and is not a partner, the Devon Heritage Centre is prominently named in the resources section of the website. With Exeter's literary heritage and the UNESCO project in mind I have also been investigating one of the most prolific of Exonian writers, Thomas D'Urfey. Since I mentioned this in the last newsletter I have gathered details of 238 editions between about 1670 and 1791, with a great tailing off after 1720, when his reputation waned until the folk song revival in the late 19th century.
Pike Ward : a new adventure in audio
I have always had a soft spot for Pike Ward since discovering his photo-albums and little library of Arctic books in the stack of the Westcountry Studies Library many years ago, so it is good news that Arts Council England has awarded funding to research and develop ideas for telling Pike Ward's remarkable story through radio/podcast.
The project has received additional funding from the Embassy of Iceland in the UK, Devon County Council, Teignmouth Town Council and Pike Ward Ltd. Pledges of in-kind support have come from the Embassy of the UK in Iceland, Literature Works and the South West Heritage Trust. A team of Westountry and Icelandic writers and sound artists have joined Katherine Findlay. Work will begin in late April, in what will be an exciting new chapter for the Pike Ward project.
Like Exeter, the City of Reykjavík is also a UNESCO City of Literature, so that adds an exciting international dimension to the UNESCO initiative. Apart from Pike Ward another Devonian also had links with Iceland and my recent paper on SB-G has been shared with a researcher at the University of Iceland who is working on the role of foreign travellers in the reception of the Sagas in the 19th century. There is quite a lot of potential to bring these different Iceland-Devon threads together through the Cities of Literature.
Recreating Exeter Cathedral Library
This issue of the newsletter is being put out now to draw your attention to a Zoom talk on Thomas Bodley and Exeter Cathedral Library which will be given on Friday, 12 March 2021 at 16:00. You can register for it through Eventbrite. It forms part of a series of such virtual meetings that is being organised by Mark Norman through Crediton Library for local history groups in the Crediton area. The latest talk in the series was given by Mark himself, a fascinating account of the Devon folklore surrounding Thomas a Becket and his murderers.
