The English language has been one of the most spectacular successes of all time. Its origins lie in a small area of northern Europe close to the present day border between Denmark and Germany for it was here that there lived a tribe called the Angles. When they invaded England in the fifth century they gave their new homeland the name Angle Land or England as it later became known and they also brought with them their language. Together with their neighbours the Saxons they became the governing class of England until the Norman Conquest six centuries later. This dialect of an obscure tribe has blossomed into the most widely spoken language in the world with half a billion people having it as their first or only language and three times that many using it as their second language.
But how did it develop and how was its progress recorded? Codswallop,Crumpet and Caper explains how words have migrated into English from all over the world as they have been picked up and brought home by explorers and traders. The linguistic origins of over 1300 everyday words from over 100 different languages are explained.
Samuel Johnson, a man of great wit and erudition compiled his famous dictionary 250 years ago and Fopdoodle and Salmagundi explores hundreds of words that have either dropped out of use or have changed their meaning completely often with hilarious consequences.
For more details of these two books follow these links to the individual pages for these titles.
Two titles that provide a nostalgic trip back to the days when the world was quite different from the one we live in today and when Britain’s influence dominated global activity.
In its heyday the British Empire spanned 11 million square miles with 400 million inhabitants. This map shows details of global trade, shipping routes telegraph cables, railways and caravan routes. Additional maps show the development of the Empire in the preceding three centuries.
A ten page gazetteer describes over 200 British countries and possessions, as well as 33 (including Normandy and the USA) which had been lost to the crown.
The School Atlas 1924 revisits the classroom of yesteryear and is packed with memories of what seemed so important when we were taught it at school but may now have slipped from the mind such as maps showing population, vegetation, industry and trade etc. Some ‘teacher’s notes’ remind us of the way that geography used to be taught.
For more details follow the links below to the individual pages for these titles.
The publishing company of Baedeker set the standard
for authoritative guide books and grew rapidly
during the nineteenth century as travel and tourism
became pursuits available to the masses for the first
time. Their publications covered all of Europe and
also went further afield to North Africa and America.
Baedeker's Guides to Great Britain and London
with 672 and 512 pages respectively allow us to explore
the whole country in the greatest detail. There
are walking tours of the capital that visit art galleries,
museums, zoos, markets, hotels, restaurants and
shops. Further afield the Great Britain guide tells us
about journeys that could be made by railway and
coastal steamers to cathedral cities, tourist resorts
and islands. There is copious advice on travel costs,
accommodation, money, passports and even where
to buy oysters in London, a Turkish bath in Edinburgh
or a steamer ticket to the Isles of Scilly. There
are numerous maps of streets and the entire railway
network as well as plans of notable buildings. Together
these two books give an astonishingly detailed
glimpse of Britain at the end of the Victorian
era.
For more details follow the links below to the individual pages for these titles.
Two titles that every tourist to mid Victorian London should have had in his pocket. Murray’s Guide to Modern London is packed with facts and statistics about the grand houses and their owners; the markets, hospitals, universities and colleges. We also visit prisons, exhibitions, clubs and societies, sites associated with remarkable events and witness the diverse commodities passing through the docks.
But the tourist would also need a map and the set of four from 1863 show the railways, factories, docks, market gardens and roads that were springing up everywhere. So detailed are these maps that even individual gardens of suburban homes are shown as are separate platforms of the new railway termini and, astonishingly, even the statues in the city’s squares. Genealogists can see where their ancestors lived and worked and local historians will find fields, farms and footpaths in areas that are now completely developed.
For more details follow the links below to the individual pages for these titles.
Revisit an era when travelling by train was a quite different experience. The Railway Map of Great Britain & Ireland 1907 shows how many miles of lines there were and how there was scarcely a town or village that was not served by a local service. A booklet describes the history of the railway network up to 1907.
The Great West Railway published Through the Window to enhance the enjoyment of their passengers on the 305 mile journey from Paddington to Penzance. Maps, line drawings and information about the towns and villages describe the glorious countryside of southern England that could be seen from the windows. This new edition includes 20 pages from Bradshaw’s railway timetables when the book was first published. This is a book that celebrates those half forgotten memories of the creaking timbers of the carriages; the aroma of steam and smoke; the rattle and clank of points and the sudden sound of the whistle as you pass an unmanned crossing.
For more details follow the links below to the individual pages for these titles.
These four detailed coloured street maps illustrate the story of London over the last 500 years. During this time the capital developed unlike any other in the world.
The 1520 map shows the city just beginning to break out from the confines of the Roman Wall that had defined its limits for 1300 years. Growth continued but in 1666 most of the area within the walls and more outside was swept away in the Great Fire. The second map was commissioned by the Lord Mayor to assess the damage. By 1843, eighty years after the start of the Industrial Revolution the cities of London and Westminster are joined but there were still orchards and market gardens in Chelsea. When the Victorian age finally ended we see a London in 1902 stretching in all directions both north and south of the river with industries, docks, main line and underground railways.
Each of the four maps is accompanied by a booklet describing life in London at the time.
For more details follow the links below to the individual pages for these titles.
A chance to buy eight maps of London showing its phenomenal rate of growth between 1520 and 1902 as described above but also with the four maps of London in 1863 that are so detailed that individual houses and even the railway platforms are marked. To explore the capital at any time between King Henry VIII and King Edward VII you need look no further. Anyone seeking information about their ancestors will find the streets where they lived, the factories where they worked and cemeteries where they were laid to rest.
Noticing what is marked is often as interesting as seeing what has not yet been developed and together they provide a fascinating glimpse of London’s development.
For more details follow the links below to the individual pages for these titles.
The first coloured OS maps were published, not by them, but in The Royal English Atlas produced to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The atlas publisher coloured the OS cartography and these maps are now available in sheet form for the first time.
The nineteenth century saw the greatest ever period of industrial growth and to record the expansion of the towns and railway network the Victorians had become great map makers. But, despite all the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, the great conurbations we know today were still surprisingly small in 1897. The countryside had changed little for centuries. There were still scores of aristocratic homes surrounded by park land where now the urban sprawl, new towns and industrial estates may be found.
Just as interesting is what is not shown. Notice how small the towns and scattered villages are, There are no by-passes and all the major trunk roads pass along the high streets of country towns. Motorways had, of course, not even been dreamt about but interestingly the route of a proposed channel tunnel is marked.
For more details follow the link below to the individual page for this title.
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