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In pursuit of the Essex : a tale of heroism and hubris in the War of 1812 /Ben Hughes. "On 26 October 1812, during the war between Britain and the United States, the frigate USS Essex set sail on the most remarkable voyage in the early history of the US Navy. After rounding Cape Horn, she proceeded to systematically destroy the British South Seas whaling fleet. When news reached the Royal Navy's South American station at Rio de Janeiro, HMS Phoebe was sent off in pursuit. So began one of the most extraordinary chases in naval history. In Pursuit of the Essex follows the adventures of both hunter and hunted as well as a host of colourful characters that crossed their paths. Traitorous Nantucket whalers, Chilean revolutionaries, British spies, a Peruvian viceroy and bellicose Polynesian islanders all make an appearance. The brilliant yet vainglorious Captain Porter of the Essex, his nemesis Captain James Hillyar of the Phoebe, and two young midshipmen, David Farragut and Allen Gardiner, are the principal narrators. From giant-tortoise turning expeditions on the Galapagos to the perils of rounding Cape Horn, via desperate skirmishes with spear-toting natives on the Marquesas and a defeated duellist bleeding his life out onto black, volcanic sands, the reader is immersed in the fantastical world of the British and American seamen who struggled for supremacy over the world's oceans in the sunset years of the age of sail."--Publisher web site. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"1812/1815"(42:73)
A stain in the blood : the remarkable voyage of Sir Kenelm Digby :pirate and poet, courtier and cook, king's servant and traitor's son /Joe Moshenska. "On the 16th of August 1628, five battle-scarred English ships sailed into the harbour of the Greek island of Milos. Dropping anchor, the 25-year-old captain banqueted with the local lord before sitting down to write an account of his journey - an account that would transform him entirely. Sir Kenelm Digby was one of the most remarkable Englishmen who ever lived: a trusted advisor to the King, but the sworn enemy of the all-powerful Duke of Buckingham; a pioneering philosopher and scientist, but committed to the occult arts of alchemy and astrology; a friend not only of Ben Jonson, Thomas Hobbes and van Dyck, but even Oliver Cromwell. He was also widely known as the 'son of a traytor and husband of a whore': a man who witnessed his father's gruesome execution for high treason as a Gunpowder Plotter, and the lover of the most celebrated beauty of the age, Venetia Stanley. In an attempt to clear his name, and on a quest for personal glory, Digby assembled a fleet and set sail for the Mediterranean: a world of pirate cities and ancient ruins where people, ideas and exotic goods moved freely between languages and nations. His journey - encompassing fevers, mutiny, piracy, daring rescues and heroic sea battles - is a great and terribly overlooked adventure, and a prism through which to view England, and all of Europe, during one of the most pivotal periods in its history. A Stain in the Blood is the story of an extraordinary life, and of a journey that helped to shape a nation. It is a revelatory first work of non-fiction by one of the brightest young writers and thinkers of today."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92DIGBY
Current technical challenges in the conservation of paintings / edited by Angelina Barros D'Sa, Lizzie Bone, Rhiannon Clarricoates and Helen Dowding. "As artists have increasingly utilised modern materials and techniques, it has presented the conservator with a host of new and complex problems that need to be addressed. As such, this is a subject of great interest to conservators, many of whom had expressed an interest in an event that could supplement their existing knowledge in this field. In response to this, the Institute of Conservation's Paintings Group decided that this would be an appropriate theme for a conference that could provide a platform for contributors to disseminate their research on a number of topics relating to the conservation of contemporary artworks. In addition, a call was put out for contributors who might be developing new and innovative techniques and materials to address conservation problems, or who might be utilising well-known materials that are already in the conservator's toolkit in a new capacity. The papers in this volume were presented at the Paintings Group's conference 'Modern Conservation: What's New?' held at The Wallace Collection in London in October 2014. It covered a variety of topics including: consolidants and flake laying; the possible use of sports injury tape as a temporary means of support during structural conservation treatments; rigid inserts to stretchers to reduce vibrations; auxiliary supports for modern paintings; the problem of softening and weeping paints in modern works of art and methods of treatment; wet surface cleaning treatments for contemporary paintings; and ethical considerations when dealing with conceptual artists' wishes."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 750
Painting in Britain, 1500-1630 : production, influences, and patronage /Tarnya Cooper "This book is the first major essay volume in over a decade to focus on Tudor and Jacobean painting. Its interdisciplinary approach reflects the dynamic state of research in the field, utilising a range of methodologies in order to answer key art historical questions about the production and consumption of art in Britain in the 16th and early 17th century. The introduction sets the tone for the interdisciplinary approach that is taken throughout the volume .It brings together a discussion of the context for the production of painted images in Tudor and Jacobean England with a selection of technical images of twenty paintings that span the period and demonstrate the information that can be gained from material analysis of paintings. In further chapters, leading exponents of painting conservation and conservation science discuss the material practices of the period, using and explaining a range of analytical techniques, such as infrared reflectography and dendochronology. Questions of authorship and aspects of workshop practice are also discussed. As well as looking at specific artists and their studios, the authors take a broader view in order to capture information about the range of artistic production during the period, stretching from the production of medieval rood screens to the position of heraldic painters. The final section of the book addresses artistic patronage, from the commissioning of works by kings and courtiers, to the regional networks that developed during the period and the influence of a developing antiquarianism on the market for paintings. The book is lavishly illustrated in colour throughout, with reproductions of whole paintings and many details selected to amplify the text. It will be an essential source for those working in the fields of art history, conservation and material science, and of interest to lovers of British Tudor and Stuart painting."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 75(42)
Stitching the world : embroidered maps and women's geographical education /Judith A. Tyner. From the late eighteenth century until about 1840, schoolgirls in the British Isles and the United States created embroidered map samplers and even silk globes. Hundreds of British maps were made and although American examples are more rare, they form a significant collection of artefacts. Descriptions of these samplers stated that they were designed to teach needlework and geography. The focus of this book is not on stitches and techniques used in 'drafting' the maps, but rather why they were developed, how they diffused from the British Isles to the United States, and why they were made for such a brief time. There has been little serious study of these maps by cartographers and, moreover, historians of cartography have largely neglected the role of women in mapping. Children's maps have not been studied, although they might have much to offer about geographical teaching and perceptions of a period, and map samplers have been dismissed because they are the work of schoolgirls. Needlework historians, likewise, have not done in depth studies of map samplers until recently. Stitching the World is an interdisciplinary work drawing on cartography, needlework, and material culture. This book for the first time provides a critical analysis of these artefacts, showing that they offer significant insights into both eighteenth- and nineteenth-century geographic thought and cartography in the USA and the UK and into the development of female education. [2015] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 746.44/0433