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Articles & Reviews

Hawksmoor’s London Churches

Pierre du Prey’s highly regarded book on Hawksmoor’s London Churches published in 2000 remains in print today in both hardback and paperback. Hugh Pagan writes an appreciative review. HAWKSMOOR’s LONDON CHURCHES ARCHITECTURE AND THEOLOGY (by) Pierre de la Ruffinière du Prey. Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press 2000. The six remarkable London churches designed by the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor between June 1712 and July 1716 are exceptional in a British architectural context in that although they were commissioned … […]

Old Westminsters in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Part One

Part One of this list comprises those 854 Old Westminsters (OWW) known to have been admitted to the School before September 1883 for whom there are entries both in the Record of Old Westminsters or its 1937 Supplement and in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) and whose entries correctly identify them as being educated at the School. A (33) Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester PC FRS FSA (Speaker, House of Commons) (1757-1829) Gilbert Abbott A Beckett (1811-1856) Gilbert … […]

Old Westminsters in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Part Two

The following lists contain the names of 122 further Old Westminsters (OWW) whose names appear in the ODNB but who are either not recognized there as having been educated at Westminster School, or whose names did not appear in the 1928 edition of the Record of Old Westminsters or in its 1937 Supplement. They also record the names of 25 individuals for whom there are entries in ODNB, who were probably or possibly educated at Westminster School, and 29 individuals … […]

A brief history of Printmaking

A print, simply put, is an impression on paper of an image left by another object. Unlike painting, where an impression is left by a brush, the image is (usually) already fully formed. A major difference between a print and a painting is that the printing object (block of wood, metal plate etc.) is usually used to make a number of prints. Each act of printing from an object is called a pull, and the print resulting from this an … […]

James O’Byrne’s Architectural Books

In July 1987 Christie’s dispersed in a 235-lot sale the best books from the Library of the Liverpool based architect James O’Byrne (1835-1897). Hugh Pagan reveals the biographical mistakes in the catalogue and the purchasers of some of the books. Twenty-seven years ago this month (22 July 1987) Christies dispersed in a 235-lot sale the best books from the library of the Liverpool-based architect James O’Byrne (1835-1897). An introductory note to the catalogue rather strangely described O’Byrne as a pupil … […]

The Record of Old Westminsters 1540-1883

The Record of Old Westminsters, published in two volumes edited by G.F.Russell Barker and A.H.Stenning in 1928, endeavoured to list and as far as possible to identify every pupil educated at Westminster School from the school’s foundation by King Henry VIII in 1540 onwards. The present on-line edition of the Record aims to provide improved and expanded information on all pupils educated at the school between 1540 and 1883. The pupils concerned include around one thousand individuals for whom there … […]

Out of Print and into Profit

This well-marshalled volume of essays on the history of the antiquarian book trade in Britain since the beginning of the twentieth century deserves a generous welcome, for it represents a courageous attempt to offer an overall view of what has until now been essentially uninvestigated terrain. It may seem surprising to use the word uninvestigated in this context, but the British antiquarian book trade has not yet found an academic historian, and, as is all too apparent from Marc Vaulbert … […]

Reflections of a Bookseller

Although I only entered the antiquarian book trade in January 1973, three months after my twenty-eighth birthday, books have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, for when I was about four my parents acquired much of a library of books on history, mediaeval architecture and English literature which had been put together by an elderly bachelor relative. His books occupied our family’s successive homes in sombre black bookcases until I and my brothers … […]