Category Archives: Printing and Publishing

The Loss of the ‘Royal George’

Posted on 09/05/2019 by

Was Proust the first or merely the best to describe the extraordinary moment when a completely forgotten incident in your life rises fully formed in your memory? In my most recent incident, it was a phone call at work about … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Exploration, France, History, London, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Life in Footnotes

Posted on 15/04/2019 by

I mentioned some time ago that I was going to investigate (at my usual superficial level, naturally) the life and career of the physician Francesco Travagino (sometimes Travagini), who appears to have taken advantage of a space on somebody else’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, History, Italy, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Plant of the Month: April 2019

Posted on 10/04/2019 by

Which came first, fritillary as the name of a plant (Fritillaria meleagris, the snake’s-head fritillary, also known as chess-flower, Lazarus-bell, leper-lily, frog-cup, or drooping tulip), or fritillary as the name of a butterfly? It seems that the plant has priority, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Object of the Month: March 2019

Posted on 20/03/2019 by

May I strongly recommend the new exhibition in the Fan Gallery at the Fitzwilliam Museum (it’s on until January 2020, so you have plenty of time)? It is a selection of the fan collection of the Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd, given … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Cambridge, France, History, London, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Ruskin at Two Hundred

Posted on 05/03/2019 by

To London last week for a few days of Culture. I decided to go down the night before my first assignation, rather than turn up at Two Temple Place (which does not have cloakroom facilities) with two stuffed gorillas and … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, Botany, History, Italy, London, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing, Venice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Plant of the Month: February 2019

Posted on 21/02/2019 by

I had always thought that Garrya elliptica, usually at its most spectacular at this time of year, was an Australian plant. I have no idea why … In fact, it comes from a quite restricted strip of coastal western America, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, Botany, Exploration, Gardens, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Plant of the Month: January 2019

Posted on 25/01/2019 by

A lot of choice, during this (so far) mild winter. I wondered about Sycopsis chinensis, of which the yellow filaments are currently glowing @CUBotanicGarden, or one of my own winter-flowering clematis, but – not only because it is glorious in … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, Cambridge, Exploration, Gardens, History, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment