New Books Winter 2012
Medicine and the five senses, ed. W. F. Bynum and Roy Porter; From our family albums, ed. Hargetion, J. and Vidamour, M.; Andrew Mitchell House: the beginning—creation of a hospice, text by Charlotte Barnes; Turner, Wesley B., The Astonishing General: The Life and Legacy of Sir Isaac Brock; Malcolmson, Robert, A very brilliant affair: the Battle of Queenston Heights, 1812: Begamudré, Ven, Isaac Brock—Larger than life; Borneman, W. B., 1812: the war that forged a nation; Symons, John: The Battle of Queenston Heights; Higginson, T.B., Major Richardson's 'Major-General Sir Isaac Brock and the 41st Regiment'; Marquis, T. B., Sir Isaac Brock, Toronto, 1929; Fryer, M.B., Bold, brave, and born to lead, 2004; Riley, Jonathon, A Matter of Honour: the life, campaigns and generalship of Sir Isaac Brock, 2011; Mawson, Gillian, The experiences of Guernsey evacuees in Northern England, 1940-1945; Titanic: Channel Island connections, by Alisdair Crosby, 2011
Medicine and the five senses, ed. W. F. Bynum and Roy Porter
Medicine and the five senses was published in 1998, following the 1987 Symposium on medicine and the five senses, held at the Wellcome Institute. Apart from its general interest, chapter 9, 'Educating the senses: students, teachers and medical rhetoric in eighteenth-century London,' by Susan C Lawrence, features some of the notes and drawings of Guernseyman (later Reverend) Daniel de Lisle Dobrée, when a medical student at St Thomas' Hospital in 1814. The original material is in the possession of the Wellcome Institute.
From our family albums, Vol. III, ed. Hargetion, J. and Vidamour, M.
From our family albums is the third volume of the immensely popular series compiled and published by the Family History Section of the Société Guernesiaise. The books reproduce photographs submitted by private individuals of local Guernsey people from the past, together with biographical and genealogical information. All the volumes can be consulted at the Library.
Andrew Mitchell House: the beginning—creation of a hospice, text by Charlotte Barnes
Andrew Mitchell House, creation of a hospice, is a tribute to the first twenty years of this much-loved and appreciated island institution and features interviews and photographs of many of the people who have been associated with the building since its conception.
Books about Isaac Brock new to our collection:
- The Astonishing General was published in Toronto in 2011 and is a clear and detailed account of the life and military career of Sir Isaac Brock, the anniversary of whose death occurs in 2012. Little is known of Brock's early or private life, but his life as a soldier is well explained and much interesting material is included, such as the inventory of his effects and their purchasers.
- A Matter of Honour: the life, campaigns and generalship of Sir Isaac Brock, is a highly recommended analysis of Brock's life, character and above all tactical abilities. The author has not only had an exceptional career as a soldier in the British army but is an expert historian who has published nine books on military history.
- A well-written and very detailed analysis of the Battle of Queenston Heights and of Isaac Brock's career is given in Malcolmson's A very brilliant affair, published in Toronto in 2003, the first full-length study of the battle. The book is well and interestingly illustrated, with extensive and useful appendices and notes. Both this volume and the preceding one devote particularly interesting chapters to the re-evaluation of Sir Isaac Brock's military abilities and death, and the development of his subsequent fame.
- Borneman's 1812, the war that forged a nation, is an overview of all the military undertakings of 1812-1814 from an American point of view, emphasizing 'its importance as a foundation of America's subsequent westward expansion.' It is an excellent introduction to the war of 1812 and how and why the British came to be fighting the Americans in Canada. It covers the Battle of New Orleans and the Treaty of Ghent, and the positive effect that the pulling together of disparate elements in society for a common cause had on the American psyche and growing sense of nationhood. Published in 2004.
- Ven Begamudré, in his Isaac Brock: larger than life, first published in 2000, takes a very different view of the events of 1812 and presents some 'speculative non-fiction,' a narrative of Brock seen through the eyes of his adoring nephew, Ferdinand Brock Tupper, as he attempted to reconstruct Brock's life for his 1835 biography, Family Records.
- John Symons wrote his The Battle of Queenston Heights, being a narrative of the opening of the war of 1812, in 1859, to commemorate the re-internment of Brock's body at his monument in 1853.
- Major Richardson's 'Major-General Sir Isaac Brock and the 41st Regiment', published as a limited edition in 1976, is a reprint of and commentary on a letter published in The United Service Magazine in March 1846, defending the 41st Regiment from the implication, in F. B. Tupper's biography of Brock, that Isaac Brock believed the 41st to be 'uncommonly fine .... but wretchedly officered.' The editor identifies the author of the letter, written under a pseudonym, as Major Richardson, author of The War of 1812, which is confirmed by a letter to Tupper in the Ontario archives.
- Finally, T.C. Marquis' Sir Isaac Brock, is one of a series called 'The Ryerson Canadian History Readers,' Price 10 cents, Endorsed by the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire and the Provincial Departments of Education; it was printed in 1929 in Toronto as a text for Canadian schools.
The experiences of Guernsey evacuees in Northern England, 1940-1945.
Gillian Mawson, Channel Islands Evacuee Researcher at the University of Manchester and frequent visitor to the Library, has produced this booklet, an overview of considerable local interest. It features photographs and copies of original documents from Bury Archive Service. She includes the fact that Disley Church in Cheshire flies the Guernsey flag for a week around May 9th, Guernsey Liberation Day, to commemorate its very strong link with evacuees.
My memories of the German occupation of Sark, by Gwen Drawmer
My memories of the German occupation of Sark was published by Sark native Gwen Drawmer, née Hamon, in 2001. She wrote down what she could remember of the Occupation of the island, during which she and her husband were in business in there, soon after the end of the Second War. Her grocery and butcher's shops meant that she was 'in daily contact with the German soldiers to a much greater extent than most islanders.' There are also photographs, including her husband Bill's fisherman's licence 'Ausweis' and groups of German soldiers who were posted to Sark. This short but fascinating book is for sale at the Library.
Bryant, S., Arthur and Alice Waller: a portrait of two artists; An artist recalls happy days in Sark, by Margaret Waller
Happy days in Sark represents the memories of Margaret Waller, whose parents, Arthur and Alice Waller, were professional artists who lived and kept a studio on Sark for fifty years. She compiled the book from the family archives and using letters, diaries and paintings that were rediscovered in the studio many years after the war. The book is full of detail and there are many interesting photographs of the island from the 1920s and 1930s. Margaret's parents, Arthur and Alice, came to Sark in 1923 and established their studio, moving to Guernsey in 1956, while retaining the studio. They are the subject of the biography Arthur and Alice Waller: A portrait of two artists, by Stephen Bryant. Published in 1997, it focuses on their lives and artistic careers and includes many illustrations of their work in the islands and elsewhere. Both books are available to buy at the Library.
Gormley on Guernsey: photographs by Phil Sayer
Gormley on Guernsey is a photographic record in black-and-white of the renowned artist Anthony Gormley's installations in the island when he was international artist-in-residence in 2009, by Philip Sayer.
Cook, Mark, A World filled with dreams '21 fragments of a whole,' Guernsey, 2011
A world filled with dreams '21 fragments of a whole' is the catalogue of an exhibition of oil paintings of Hauteville House, former home of Victor Hugo, held in 2010 in the Guernsey Museum and Art Gallery. It has both French and English text. The paintings, by local artist Mark Cook, are portraits of the staff of Hauteville House, both at work and at rest, and some internal details of the house itself. 'The concept behind the body of work is to explore the structure and meanings of Hauteville House and capture the people that work within it.' The paintings are rich and bright like the house itself. Mark is a lecturer at the Guernsey College of Further Education. The paintings complement the photographs taken by Céline Micout, who coincidentally translated this catalogue into French.