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Literary England: Photographs of Places Made Memorable in English Literature
Oversize hard cover book; black and white photography, preface by Christopher Morley.
214 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1944
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 11, 2014
Have you ever wondered where King Arthur was born according to legend? Or where Elizabeth Barrett resided in a darkened room because her tyrannical father thought that an accident had made her an incurable invalid? Would you like to see the old farmhouse that was a model for Heathcliff and Cathy's home in Wuthering Heights? This book has fifty large black and white photographs of English literary landmarks by photographer David Scherman, along with some descriptive text by Richard Wilcox and a literary quotation for each.
Life Magazine had a picture essay on literary England in their June 14, 1943 issue. (No, I'm not old enough to remember that issue!) This book is the expansion of that article. Seventy years later, I'm hoping that these wonderful literary landmarks are still being preserved.
Life Magazine had a picture essay on literary England in their June 14, 1943 issue. (No, I'm not old enough to remember that issue!) This book is the expansion of that article. Seventy years later, I'm hoping that these wonderful literary landmarks are still being preserved.
February 10, 2018
A gem. Beautiful cover, beautiful - though fuzzy - photographs, beautiful stories.
This book provides a series of brief summaries and photographs describing and illustrating various locations in England that have inspired some of the greatest literary works of all time.
This book provides a series of brief summaries and photographs describing and illustrating various locations in England that have inspired some of the greatest literary works of all time.
October 24, 2017
This book: Saw a copy at a North Carolina Bed & Breakfast in New Bern, fell in love at first page. Ordered it next day. SO happy with this book.
What it is: 1944 book of 50 places in the United Kingdom that are featured in Literature, from John Keats to Shakespeare to Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Sherlock Holmes. There are 50 photographs of these places and accompanying descriptive text and excerpts from poems, plays, letters. Beautifully chosen.
Here's the thing: These photos are NOT good. They are Black and White and somewhat in focus but I could have done much better--even when I was in Junior High in the 1970's. Hard to imagine that they couldn't get a decent photographer and/or camera since this book was a Life Magazine Article Spin-Off. But it WAS in the 1940's which I was not. They did it in a hurry, probably tooled about in Merry England for a week or two, got out, pointed and shot the castle or rock or river or tombstone, then hurry hury pop back in the auto and roared off to the next landmark.
There is a vast charm to this Wartime undertaking which far surpasses the mediocrity of the camerawork.
What I did: as I read each of the 50 entries, I pulled up on my Smart Phone, on Google Image, photos of these places which were perfect, beautiful, in colour, and I often found the exact angle of Stonehenge or The Mill on The Floss or whatever that the 1940's guy captured. And that was totally fun, kind of like Back to the Future.
Inspires one to visit all these locations.
Cannot recommend this book highly enough for any Anglophile or professor of English History or Literature. Truly a Gem.
What it is: 1944 book of 50 places in the United Kingdom that are featured in Literature, from John Keats to Shakespeare to Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Sherlock Holmes. There are 50 photographs of these places and accompanying descriptive text and excerpts from poems, plays, letters. Beautifully chosen.
Here's the thing: These photos are NOT good. They are Black and White and somewhat in focus but I could have done much better--even when I was in Junior High in the 1970's. Hard to imagine that they couldn't get a decent photographer and/or camera since this book was a Life Magazine Article Spin-Off. But it WAS in the 1940's which I was not. They did it in a hurry, probably tooled about in Merry England for a week or two, got out, pointed and shot the castle or rock or river or tombstone, then hurry hury pop back in the auto and roared off to the next landmark.
There is a vast charm to this Wartime undertaking which far surpasses the mediocrity of the camerawork.
What I did: as I read each of the 50 entries, I pulled up on my Smart Phone, on Google Image, photos of these places which were perfect, beautiful, in colour, and I often found the exact angle of Stonehenge or The Mill on The Floss or whatever that the 1940's guy captured. And that was totally fun, kind of like Back to the Future.
Inspires one to visit all these locations.
Cannot recommend this book highly enough for any Anglophile or professor of English History or Literature. Truly a Gem.
April 9, 2021
This is a quick enjoyable read with excerpts of poems, novels and songs with accompanying black and white photos of literary locales, som familiar and some not. The photos were taken in 1943 wartime Britain and looking at them transported me to another time, however smoggy and or cloudy it was—and from these pictures it was gloomy a lot. I bought this at a garage sale and thought it would be too sentimental. It was, but with a surprising amount of new information and a few pictures that struck me with awe (see the English Elm).
June 19, 2022
Interesting from a historical perspective, given they didn't know if England was going to remain free after WW2; some text, a small excerpt of poetry, and photos of 50 historic places from British Literature.
Unfortunately, the photos (at least in my original version) were very grainy, and nothing like the hi-res photos we see all the time today.
Unfortunately, the photos (at least in my original version) were very grainy, and nothing like the hi-res photos we see all the time today.
November 7, 2012
This book includes photos from the throughout England of literary locations that inspired scenes in classic literature. Each one includes a quote from the text, the photo and a brief explanation of where the location is and why it was used. The information is a bit dated, but it's still interesting.
August 20, 2015
Beautiful, visually and intellectually. Lovely photographs of areas in Great Britain, accompanied by poems or prose that fit perfectly together.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews