Author Archives: mercedes-c

Scandinavian Noir

Posted on May 1, 2012 by mercedes-c

Long before subtitled Danish drama reached these shores*, Douce was already championing Scandinavian story-telling of a different sort, as transcribed by his friend the Danish scholar and antiquary Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin (1752-1829). On 28 April 1819, Douce wrote in his … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Networks, Poetry, Prints, Uncategorized, Witchcraft | Comments Off

Douce and Flaxman

Posted on April 26, 2012 by mercedes-c

Douce counted the artist John Flaxman (1755-1826) among his friends: numerous gifts from the sculptor are recorded in his Collecta and Flaxman’s Compositions from the Tragedies of Aeschylus (1795) was one of the books bequeathed by Douce to the Bodleian. … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Prints, Satirical prints | Comments Off

The ringball alley

Posted on April 4, 2012 by mercedes-c

After cataloguing Douce’s prints of ‘Cricket, Racquets &c., Bat and Ball’, I have just started working on his images of ‘Billiards, Bowling, [Quoits], Skittles &c’. The first few mounts contained the usual Doucean mix of engravings from various Dutch books … Continue reading →

Posted in Everyday life, Games, Prints, Sports | Comments Off

Palm Sunday

Posted on April 3, 2012 by mercedes-c

Douce was very interested in religious ceremonies and devotional practices and hence he gathered a remarkable number of prints on this subject. However, the only depictions of Easter parades that I have found among his prints are images of Palm Sunday … Continue reading →

Posted in Everyday life, Festivals, Prints, Religion | Comments Off

Student life

Posted on March 26, 2012 by mercedes-c

Sports and various outdoor activities seem like an appropriate subject for a post, now that we have 123 days to go before the London Olympics start, Hilary term has just ended, and the first days of Spring have brought sun … Continue reading →

Posted in Everyday life, Games, History of printmaking, Prints, Satirical prints, Sports | Comments Off

The valorous and witty-knight-errant Don Quixote

Posted on March 12, 2012 by mercedes-c

I recently saw (and very much enjoyed) The Romance of the Middle Ages at the Bodleian: The Romance of the Middle Ages Quite a few beautiful manuscripts and fascinating rare books from Douce’s collection have been included in this exhibition … Continue reading →

Posted in Collections and Collectors, Exhibitions, Literature, Romances | Comments Off

The Science of Sleep

Posted on February 27, 2012 by mercedes-c

Last weekend, I saw this article on sleep habits on the BBC news website: The myth of the eight-hour sleep If you scroll down, you will see two prints used by Prof Ekirch as visual evidence of his findings on … Continue reading →

Posted in Everyday life, Prints | Comments Off

The Society of Gentlemen at Exeter

Posted on February 23, 2012 by mercedes-c

One of Douce’s oldest friends was the writer Isaac D’Israeli (1766-1848), whose correspondence I am reading at the moment. Douce’s networks of antiquaries, artists, and fellow collectors hugely contributed to the formation and development of his collection. D’Israeli was responsible … Continue reading →

Posted in Letters, Networks | Comments Off

Courtships and Love Affairs

Posted on February 14, 2012 by mercedes-c

After going through Douce’s folder labelled ‘Courtships & Love Affairs’, I think it is fair to say that he was not much of a romantic. His selection of images of romance includes this depiction of a gloomy ‘man in love’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Everyday life, Fools, Games, Prints | Comments Off

A game of cards

Posted on February 9, 2012 by mercedes-c

Among Douce’s many correspondents, Richard Twiss is probably my favourite -his style is maddening, since he constantly jumps from subject to subject, but his letters are very entertaining. He bombarded Douce with numerous enquiries about all sorts of matters often … Continue reading →

Posted in Games, History of printmaking, Letters | Comments Off