Margaret Maclean
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Death’s Doings
While working on some book moves we are presently carrying out, I rediscovered the rather wonderful Death’s Doings illustrated by Richard Dagley, first published in 1822. This volume belongs to a long tradition on the Dance of Death theme, which dates back to medieval times, when death from war and violence, disease, poverty, childhood mortality […]
Smallpox in Leicester
From my reading of The Wyvern: a Topical, Critical & Humorous Journal published in Leicester around the turn of the century, I was shocked to learn that serious outbreaks of smallpox continued to be a problem in the city right up until 1902-4. During the second half of the 19th century, the corporation struggled with […]
Local Politics in Leicester During the 1890s
The forthcoming local council and mayoral elections in Leicester have made me wonder what issues were preoccupying our local administration during the period when The Wyvern, a rare local Victorian periodical, was in circulation. This short-lived but fascinating Topical, Critical & Humorous Journal appeared between 1899 and 1906. It was published from ‘18 ½’ Belvoir […]
17th Century Adventures in Travel Writing
In 1627, at the age of only 21, Sir Thomas Herbert travelled to Persia and India as a low-ranking member of Charles I’s embassy to Shah Abbas I. His account of his experiences, Some Years Travels into Divers Parts of Africa and Asia the Great …, first published in 1634, was a great success and […]
‘A photographic revolutionary’
‘Next to printing, photography is the greatest weapon given to mankind for his intellectual advancement,’1 Peter Henry Emerson wrote in Naturalistic Photography for Students of the Art, first published in 1889. This book, described at the time as ‘a bombshell dropped in the midst of a tea party’2, passionately argued that photography should be ‘naturalistic’, […]
Playwright Kevin Laffan
‘God alone knows why I keep trying to get a play on. I must be out of my mind, for I’m even toying with the idea of a new one! I know I’ll be wasting time and effort but I can’t get it out of my mind,’ Kevin Laffan wrote in about 2001, when he […]
Joe Orton exhibition runs until 31 August 2014
Our current exhibition in the Library, ‘Joe Orton in 1964’, which runs until 31 August 2014, commemorates the 50th anniversary of Orton’s first major success, Entertaining Mr Sloane. The Joe Orton Archive was purchased by the University in 1997 and can be viewed by appointment in the Special Collections reading room. When I was working […]
Our current exhibition ‘Joe Orton in 1964’
When Joe Orton’s play Entertaining Mr Sloane was performed in the West End in 1964, it provoked both virulent criticism and glowing praise – he enjoyed both in equal measure. The critic W.A. Darlington was particularly disgusted. ‘Not for a long time have I disliked a play so much …’ he wrote. ‘I feel as […]
Penny Bloods on display in the Library
Penny Bloods, popular from the 1840s to the 1860s, were so named because of their preoccupation with the gory and sensational. As the name suggests, these serialised novels, published either in periodicals or in weekly autonomous numbers, sold for only one penny – affordable by the growing ranks of the literate working-class. By contrast, novels […]
Joe Orton’s ‘Entertaining Mr Sloane’
Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane was first performed at the New Arts Theatre Club 50 years ago today. When he was asked to provide a 200-word biographical note for the programme, he responded: ‘Here is the biography of Joe Orton. He’s too dull for 200 words. I hope 58 is enough,’ and offered the following […]
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