 |
Norman
Page conducted a signing of his newly published
book at Otakers book shop in Dorchester this evening
March 30th. The Oxford Reader's Companion to Hardy is
priced at £40 they were on sale today for £30.
The author is pictured here with his new book. |
 |
|
PRIVY
THOUGHTS. Here's a spot of amusing reading for your guest loo! lan Fox's Dorset
Privies [published by Countryside Books price £7.95 is a light- hearted but
informative and well-researched study of the surviving privies or "mixens," as
they are known locally. Although the watercloset (as in WC) was invented in the 16th
century (by Sir John Harington, god- son of Queen Elizabeth 1) the idea did not catch on
until the 18th century. In the late 19th century Dorset's own Henry Moule, vicar of
Fordington, invented a simple and inexpensive earth closet, which was used throughout
Britain for decades. The book includes memories of the outside loo down a long garden path
(one writer recalls that her brothers had to take her there in the dark, with a candle),
of cut-up newspaper for toilet paper and uncomfortably funny stories of night-soil
collectors in the Wimborne area.
This review is taken from the "Blackmore Vale
Magazine" 01/10/99 |
|
|
|
 |
Weatherbury
Farm. This book is a follow on from Thomas Hardy's, Far From the Madding
Crowd.
Bathsheba and Gabriel have been married now for twenty years and have three nearly
grown-up children. Immersing herself in Gabriel's mission to improve the conditions of the
agricultural labourers, Bathsheba strives against prejudice by forming a women's movement
to support the union members' wives. As Industrialisation slowly filters into rural
Wessex, the Oaks find country life is changing forever. This is a family saga which will
form part of 'The Wessex Chronicles'.
The author is Patricia Dolling-Mann. |
 |
This
is the latest Hardy book being published this month July 99. This is the blurb from the
cover. Paperback price £12.50p. You can purchase it from me if you wish, details above.
The many interviews and recollections which James Gibson has gathered togrther in
this book will add greatly to our understanding of Hardy the person and Hardy the writer.
The result of several years of research it makes available not only the well-known
interviews described by famous writers like Virginia Woolf and Siegfried Sassoon but also
those of over one hundred other people who wrote down their accounts of meetings with him.
It is a useful work of reference and fascinating both in what it tells us about Hardy and
what we learn in some cases about the interviewer. |
|
 |
This is a
recently published book in Japanese.
It is an illustrated essay on Jude the Obscure.
I don't know what it is called but the author is Karen Naganuma who lives in Tokyo. Her
next book will be about Tess'.Click here for more information in Japanese only.
Note - Visitors can buy this book at the Dorchester
Museum |
|
|
Dorchester an
Illustrated History by Jo Draper (first published 1992)
Dorchester has long been in need of a readable illustrated history worthy of its
importance as Dorset's county town. Few other towns have had so rich and colourful a
history, and yet still manage to preserve their traditional character. The area has been
settled for six thousand years and preserves monuments from each successive period,
including the great Iron Age hillfort of Maiden Castle and the shops and town houses
described by Thomas Hardy in The Mayor of Casterbridge. Even today it is still hedged by
its famous treed walks and the river, and remains proudly, the capital of Dorset. |
|
|
The Hardy Guides by Hermann Lea (First
published 1986)
During his lifetime, Thomas Hardy collaborated with Hermann Lea, the photographer, to
document the places immortalized in his work. Together, often by bicycle or on foot, and
later in Lea's Hupmobile car, the two men travelled the many thousands of miles of Wessex
that had been Hardy's original inspiration. |
|
|
Hardy's Wessex Locations by Fred
Pitfield (first published 1992)
This book has grown out of the inadequacies of other reference works-the Edwardian batch
are of more interest for their historic content than the detailed light they throw on
Hardy's work. Late twentieth century studies are more scholarly but none has devised a
layout that is usable as a reference aid both for the reader at home and by enthusiasts
driving around the settings Hardy utilised. This one does just that. |
|
|
Ordnance Survey Landranger No 194
This very detailed map covers a large part of Dorset for a distance of about 12 miles
around Dorchester. |
|
|
The Hardy Way by Margeret Marande
(first published 1995)
The Hardy Way is the first long distance path in Great Britain to be linked with the works
of a great writer. This total walk is 200 miles in length but the author has divided it
into smaller sections. This book describes in great detail each section and takes the
walker through some of the most beautiful unspoiled parts of this county. This is the
ideal guide for the tourist who is particularly interested in the places Thomas Hardy
describes in his books(The cover picture is Hardy's cottage photographed by Rodney Legg). |
|
