1872, ISBN: 5db245d2ec87c555802cd71361ee2fc1

12mo, 68 manuscript pages, plus blanks, and 8 pages of notes, bound in contemporary embossed leather backed flexible stiff wraps, entries written in English, in pencil, in a clear and leg… Mehr…

12mo, 68 manuscript pages, plus blanks, and 8 pages of notes, bound in contemporary embossed leather backed flexible stiff wraps, entries written in English, in pencil, in a clear and legible hand. The journal is an excellent, highly literate, well written account of the author's impressions of Russian society and his keen observations on all aspects of life in Russia, which the author refers to as "the Empire of Fear." The diarist, who describes himself as a Russian prince, is anonymous, although he identifies his companions. He takes a business trip to the part of Russia which is now in present day Poland. The purpose of his trip was to draw up a statement of account for the manufactory of Messrs Palin & Dunlop in Nowogrodek. Afterwards he visits the different silk and cotton manufactories in the town and also the place where Russe serge cloth is manufactured. The book only mentions business in passing. Mostly the author is concerned with describing the people and the regime of the country. Sample Quotations: "Wednesday, April 24, 1872 Left Windermere at 8.15 a.m. for Preston, meeting at the latter place Thomas Hatch, Margaret Hatch; James Ainscough; and Robert Sale, proceeded from thence to Hull via Leeds, arriving at 4.40 p.m. Went to Foreign Consulate for colltn of Passports; thence Granville Temperance Hotel. Left the Humber Dock Wall by steamship Cyclone at 10.50 same evening for Hamburg" After a rough passage our author and his party arrived in Hamburg after passing through customs they left Hamburg by rail at 11:30 a.m. for Perleburg, making several stops along the way, they arrived in Berlin shortly before 9 p.m. and stayed overnight at the Café Imperial. They departed Berlin by rail the next morning and arrived at the border of Poland that afternoon: " on the boundary line of Poland, where we first encountered the numerous annoyances travelers of all descriptions are subjected to, and to which, even Russian Princes, like myself, were obliged to submit during our transit through the Custom House, but on arriving at Warsaw, I had the mortification of seeing them released in three minutes, whilst I had to struggle with every species of trickery for the space of three hours. At four o'clock we succeeded in penetrating that land which is blessed with all the amenities attached to Russian Government, which was announced by the Russian Eagle floating over the miserable apology for a building yclept the Groche Custom House, Groche being a town of some dozen or so of dilapidated wooden erections which serve not only as shelters but also as dwellings and of which the Customs House is chief, Winding by the banks of the river Vistula the line threaded by the river bank to Nieszawa, which seemed to be a busy place for the shipment of sundry descriptions of goods and merchandize; some loading for, others unloading from the Baltic; we next came to Bobrownik, another port of the same river, & from whence two canals diverge; after this we reached Biskepia; where we stayed upwards of 20 minutes, and then proceeded to Wyrzogrod, at which place we left the Vistula, on the right & proceeded by way of Biaski & Takrodzin and reaching Warsaw at 9.20 p.m. at which place a multitude of little superfluous precautions engender a population of deputies and sub-officials, each of whom acquits himself with an air of importance and a rigorous precision which seems to say, though everything is done with much silence "Make way, I am one of the members of the grand machine of state." Such members, acting under an influence which is not in themselves, in a manner resembling the wheel-work of a clock, are called men in Russia! I say Russia, though I am in reality speaking of Poland, which is, virtually and tyrannically a part and portion of the Great Empire. The sight of these voluntary automata inspires me with a kind of fear: there is something supernatural in an individual reduced to the state of a mere machine. If in lands where the mechanical arts flourish, wood and metal seem endowed with human powers, under despotisms, human beings seem to become as instruments of wood. We ask ourselves, what can become of their superfluity of thought? And we feel ill at ease at the idea of the influence that must have been exerted on intelligent creatures before they could have been reduced to mere things. In Russia I pity the human beings, as in England I feared the machines: in our own country (England), the creations of man lack nothing but the gift of speech; in Russian Poland, the gift of speech is a thing superfluous to the creatures of the state. These machines, clogged with the inconvenience of a soul, are however, marvelously polite, it is easy to see they have been trained to civility, as to the management of arms from their cradle. But of what value are the forms of urbanity when their origin savours of compulsion? The free will of man is the consecration that can alone impart a worth or a meaning to human actions; the power of choosing a master can alone give a value to fidelity; and since, despite the reported abolition of serfdom by the Emperor Alexander in Russia, an inferior chooses nothing, all that he says and does is worthless & unmeaning The numerous questions I had to meet, and the precautionary forms that it was necessary to pass through, warned me that I was entering the empire of Fear, and depressed my spirits. I was obliged to appear before an Areopagus of deputies who had assembled to interrogate the passengers. The members of this formidable rather than the imposing tribunal were seated before a large table; some of them were turning over the leaves of the register with an attention which had a sinister appearance, for their ostensible employ was not sufficient to account for so much gravity. Some with pen in hand listened to the replies of the passengers, or rather the accused, for every stranger is treated as culpable on arriving on the frontier, and remains so, at the very least, until discharged by these officious notables; during the scrutiny six or a dozen ragged men, half covered with sheepskins, the wool turned within and the filthy skin appearing without, will appear from time to time at the entrance to satisfy their curiosity by a prolonged and vulgar stare at the luckless beings undergoing the ordeal of officious examination. These arrivals and departures, though they did not accelerate our matters, at least gave me leisure to reflect on the species of filthiness peculiar to the people of the north, who for the most part are shut up within doors, and have a greasy dirtiness, which appears to me far more offensive than the neglect of a people destined to live beneath the open heaven, & born to bask in the sun. The tedium to which these Russian formalities condemned us, gave me also an opportunity of remarking that the great lords of the country were little inclined to bear patiently the inconveniences of public regulations, when those regulations proved inconvenient to themselves. "Russia is the land of useless formalities," they murmured to each other but in French, that they might not be overheard by the subaltern employès. I have retained the remark, with the justice of which my own experience has only too deeply impressed me. As far as I have been hitherto able to observe, a work that should be entitled The Russians judged by Themselves, would be severe. The love of their country is with them only a mode of flattering its master; as soon as they think that master can no longer hear, they speak of everything with a frankness which is the more startling because those who listen to it become responsible. It was a perfect relief to the tortured mind to find the [sic] such things as gags were not in use, as it allowed me to expound a number of invectives, which might have brought me into no end of trouble had my hearers been even possessed of an inadequate knowledge of the English language. The cause of all our delay was at length revealed. The chief of chiefs, the director of the directors of the custom-house again presented himself: it was this visit we had been waiting so long without knowing it. At first it appeared as if the only business of the great functionary was to play the part of the man of fashion among the few ladies who had been subjected to the same indignities as those of the sterner sex. He reminded one of their rencontre in a house where the lady had never been; he spoke to her of balls she had never seen: but while continuing to dispense these courtly airs our drawing room officer of the customs would now and then gracefully confiscate a parasol, stop a portmanteau, or recommence with an impartable sang froid, the researches already conscientiously made by his subordinates. In Russian administration, minuteness does not exclude disorder. Much trouble is taken to obtain unimportant ends, and those employed believe they can never do enough to show their zeal. The result of this emulation among clerks and commissioners is, that the having passed through one formality does not secure the stranger from another. It is like a pillage, in which the unfortunate might, after escaping from the first troop, may yet fall into the hands of a second & a third. The chief turnkey of the empire having at length concluded his scrutiny, graciously permitted us to depart, at about half past twelve, and time being an object I thought it desireable not to chance the accommodation offered for the night in a city where I had already been subjected to a sufficiency of inconveniences, & in opposition to the desires of those under my charge, I determined to proceed at the earliest chance which occurred, and accordingly on the morning of the 28th (Sunday) we moved from the neighbourhood of the city of Warsaw at a little past four o'clock, and at half past seven reached a large and apparently prosperous town called Praga" Our writer and his party stopped in Praga for about 40 minutes where excellent coffee, but detestable food, were procured. They resumed their journey and passed Misorent and Kamienezyk, a small town on the river Narew. They then reached "a long straggling town," with the"somewhat short name of Nur" on the River Bang. Then the large village of Wysokie and afterwards the town of Surasz, an extensive manufacturing place, twelves miles further they reached Boralystok and at length arrived at Gradnau where the party stopped for the night at the Hotel de Coulon: " and found it to be under the management of a degenerate French innkeeper. The house was nearly full at that time owing to the marriage of a Duchess which was about to take place; indeed the landlord appeared almost annoyed at being obliged to receive other guests, gave himself little trouble to accommodate us Having seen their immediate wants attended to I joined the company at the Table d'hote, which consisted of a mixture of Russians, Poles, French, Spaniards, and a couple of Englishmen, and curiously enough not a single lady was present Amongst those natives of High blood were a Prince & two young Counts. The first named is of an illustrious family and may be taken as a fair specimen of the general swelldom of the country. He is, as I was informed the only son of a very rich individual, and a character worthy of observation. The tavern is his empire: it is there that he reigns eighteen hours out of the twenty-four; on that ignoble theatre he displays naturally & involuntarily, noble & elegant manners; his countenance is intellectual and extremely fascinating; his disposition is at once amiable and mischievous; many traits of rare liberality & even touching sensibility are recounted of him. He is remarkably well informed; his mind is quick and endowed with great capacity; his wit is unequalled, but his language and conduct are such as would not be tolerated elsewhere, except in the most depraved society. Profligacy has impressed upon his contours the traces of a premature decay; still these ravages of folly, not of time have been unable to change the almost infantile expression of his noble and regular features In no other land could a man be found like the young Prince Leuchtenberg, but there are more than one such here. He is surrounded by a group of young men, his disciples and competitors, who without equaling him in disposition or in mind, all share with him a kind of family resemblance it may be seen at the first glance that they are, and only can be, Russians. It is for this reason that I am about to give some details connected with their manner of life But I know not, or rather fear how to begin; for it will be necessary to reveal the connection of these libertines, not with women of the town, but with the youthful sisters of religious orders with nuns, whose cloisters, as it will be seen, are not very securely guarded. It may be asked, why lift a corner of the veil that shrouds scenes of disorder which ought to remain carefully covered? Perhaps my passion for the truth obscures my judgment, but it seems to me that evil triumphs so long as it remains secret, whilst to publish it is to aid in destroying it, and since these incidents may at some future time be submitted to the scrutiny of the public, this one particularly is noted here as a memorandum; besides I have resolved to draw a picture of this country as I see it not a composition, but an exact and complete copy from nature. As for the man whom I select for a specimen of the most unbridled among libertines, he carries his contempt of opinion to the extent of desiring me to describe him as I see him. A story of the death of a young man, killed in the convent of -, by the nuns themselves, he told at the full table d'hôte, before several grave and elderly personages, employès and placemen, who listened with an extraordinary patience to this and several other tales of a similar kind, all very contrary to good manners. The story in question relates to a young man, who after having passed an entire month concealed within the convent of - , began, at last to weary of his course of happiness to a degree that wearied the holy sisters also whereupon the nuns, wishing to be rid of him, but fearing the scandal that might ensue should the [sic] send him to die in the world, concluded that it would be better to make an end of him themselves. No sooner said than done The mangled remains of the wretched being were found a few days after at the bottom of a well. The affair was hushed up. As I have imposed upon myself the duty of communicating the ideas that I have hurriedly formed of this land, I feel called upon to add to the picture already sketched, a few minor specimens of the conversation of the parties already referred to. One boasted of himself & his bro, 0, 1794. First Edition. 4 Volumes [complete set]. London, Printed for G. G. and J.Robinson, 1794. Octavo. Collation complete with all four half-titles: Volume I: 428 pages / Volume II: 478 pages / Volume III: 463 pages / Volume IV: 428 pages. Original, unaltered, 18th-century half leather with gilt lettering on original spinelabels. All four bindings with vintage paper-covered boards and their original, reinforced corners. The set is now housed in a custom-made solander-box / clamshell-box. Excellent, firm condition of all four volumes with minor lesions to hinges and some rubbing to extremeties only and some general, neglectable external wear to corners and upper spines. In Volume I, two sentences partly censored with manuscript editing in ink. Interior very good with the occasional lesion (I, p.109), minor tear (II, p.93), and stains to a page here or there and a faded, very mild dampstain in the background of some pages of Volume IV. Two excellent provenance signs: Bookplate / Exlibris of "William Tennant, Ashton Hall" to the pastedown of each Volume / Previous owner-stamp of "O.W.O'Grady Young - Castlerea". A fantastic, in this state, unbelievably rare version, of one of the most desirable books in the english language. The seminal gothic novel, a most desirable collectable and the best copy of this first edition we have ever handled. "The seminal terror Gothic romance and the premier maiden-centered Gothic of the eighteenth century, Udolpho's vast influence in both its own time and ours can hardly be overestimated." [Source: Marshall B.Tymn - Horror Literature - A Core Collection and Literary Guide] Ann Radcliffe (née Ward; 9 July 1764 - 7 February 1823) was an English author and a pioneer of Gothic fiction. Her technique of explaining apparently supernatural elements in her novels has been credited with gaining Gothic fiction respectability in the 1790s. Radcliffe was the most popular writer of her day and almost universally admired; contemporary critics called her the mighty enchantress and the Shakespeare of romance-writers, and her popularity continued through the 19th century. Interest has revived in the early 21st century, with the publication of three biographies. Radcliffe published five novels during her lifetime, which she always referred to as "romances"; a final novel, Gaston de Blondeville was published posthumously in 1826. At a time when the average amount earned by an author for a manuscript was £10, her publishers, G. G. and J. Robinson, bought the copyright for "The Mysteries of Udolpho" (1794) for £500, while Cadell and Davies paid £800 for The Italian (1797), making Radcliffe the highest-paid professional writer of the 1790s Her first successful novel was Romance of the Forest (1791). Ann Radcliffe led a retired life and never visited the countries where the fearful happenings in her novels took place. Her only journey abroad, to Holland and Germany, was made in 1794 after most of her books were written. The journey was described in her A Journey Made in the Summer of 1794 (1795). Jane Austen parodied The Mysteries of Udolpho in Northanger Abbey. Radcliffe did not like the direction in which Gothic literature was heading - one of her later novels, The Italian, was written in response to Matthew Gregory Lewis's The Monk. Radcliffe portrayed her female characters as equal to male characters, allowing them to dominate and overtake the typically powerful male villains and heroes, creating new roles for women in literature previously not available. After Radcliffe's death, her husband released her unfinished essay "On the Supernatural in Poetry", which details the difference between the sensation of terror her works aimed to achieve and the horror Lewis sought to evoke. Radcliffe stated that terror aims to stimulate readers through imagination and perceived evils while horror closes them off through fear and physical dangers. "Terror and Horror are so far opposite, that the first expands the soul and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life; the other contracts, freezes and nearly annihilates them." Radcliffe was unique in that she was known for including supernatural elements but eventually giving readers a rational explanation for the supernatural. Usually, Radcliffe would reveal the logical excuse for what first appeared to be supernatural towards the end of her novels, which led to heightened suspense. Some critics/readers found this disappointing and felt duped. "Perhaps the most eloquent complaint against the trope was penned by Walter Scott in his Lives of the Novelists (1821-1824). Regarding Radcliffe's penchant, he writes: "A stealthy step behind the arras may, doubtless, in some situations, and when the nerves are tuned to a certain pitch, have no small influence upon the imagination; but if the conscious listener discovers it to be only the noise made by the cat, the solemnity of the feeling is gone, and the visionary is at once angry with his sense for having been cheated, and with his reason for having acquiesced in the deception." Some modern critics have been frustrated by her work, as she fails to include "real ghosts". This could be motivated by the idea that works in the Romantic period, from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century, had to undermine Enlightenment values such as rationalism and realism. (Wikipedia), 1794, 0<

1794, ISBN: 5db245d2ec87c555802cd71361ee2fc1

Gebundene Ausgabe

[PU: London, Printed for G. G. and J.Robinson.], 18.JAHRHUNDERT; 18TH CENTURY - RARE; LITERATURE; CATALOGUE NO.10 INTERNATIONAL TEN THREE LITERATURE BY WOMEN; WINTER 2020 / 2021; ENGLISH … Mehr…

[PU: London, Printed for G. G. and J.Robinson.], 18.JAHRHUNDERT; 18TH CENTURY - RARE; LITERATURE; CATALOGUE NO.10 INTERNATIONAL TEN THREE LITERATURE BY WOMEN; WINTER 2020 / 2021; ENGLISH GOTHIC; GOTHIC NOVEL; HORROR; SUPERNATURAL; WCBF HIGHLIGHT; WOMEN IN HISTORY WRITERS, First Edition. 4 Volumes [complete set]. Octavo. Collation complete with all four half-titles: Volume I: 428 pages / Volume II: 478 pages / Volume III: 463 pages / Volume IV: 428 pages. Original, unaltered, 18th-century half leather with gilt lettering on original spinelabels. All four bindings with vintage paper-covered boards and their original, reinforced corners. The set is now housed in a custom-made solander-box / clamshell-box. Excellent, firm condition of all four volumes with minor lesions to hinges and some rubbing to extremeties only and some general, neglectable external wear to corners and upper spines. In Volume I, two sentences partly censored with manuscript editing in ink. Interior very good with the occasional lesion (I, p.109), minor tear (II, p.93), and stains to a page here or there and a faded, very mild dampstain in the background of some pages of Volume IV. Two excellent provenance signs: Bookplate / Exlibris of "William Tennant, Ashton Hall" to the pastedown of each Volume / Previous owner-stamp of "O.W.O'Grady Young - Castlerea". A fantastic, in this state, unbelievably rare version, of one of the most desirable books in the english language. The seminal gothic novel, a most desirable collectable and the best copy of this first edition we have ever handled. "The seminal terror Gothic romance and the premier maiden-centered Gothic of the eighteenth century, Udolpho's vast influence in both its own time and ours can hardly be overestimated." [Source: Marshall B.Tymn - Horror Literature - A Core Collection and Literary Guide] Ann Radcliffe (née Ward; 9 July 1764 - 7 February 1823) was an English author and a pioneer of Gothic fiction. Her technique of explaining apparently supernatural elements in her novels has been credited with gaining Gothic fiction respectability in the 1790s. Radcliffe was the most popular writer of her day and almost universally admired; contemporary critics called her the mighty enchantress and the Shakespeare of romance-writers, and her popularity continued through the 19th century. Interest has revived in the early 21st century, with the publication of three biographies. Radcliffe published five novels during her lifetime, which she always referred to as "romances"; a final novel, Gaston de Blondeville was published posthumously in 1826. At a time when the average amount earned by an author for a manuscript was £10, her publishers, G. G. and J. Robinson, bought the copyright for "The Mysteries of Udolpho" (1794) for £500, while Cadell and Davies paid £800 for The Italian (1797), making Radcliffe the highest-paid professional writer of the 1790s Her first successful novel was Romance of the Forest (1791). Ann Radcliffe led a retired life and never visited the countries where the fearful happenings in her novels took place. Her only journey abroad, to Holland and Germany, was made in 1794 after most of her books were written. The journey was described in her A Journey Made in the Summer of 1794 (1795). Jane Austen parodied The Mysteries of Udolpho in Northanger Abbey. Radcliffe did not like the direction in which Gothic literature was heading - one of her later novels, The Italian, was written in response to Matthew Gregory Lewis's The Monk. Radcliffe portrayed her female characters as equal to male characters, allowing them to dominate and overtake the typically powerful male villains and heroes, creating new roles for women in literature previously not available. After Radcliffe's death, her husband released her unfinished essay "On the Supernatural in Poetry", which details the difference between the sensation of terror her works aimed to achieve and the horror Lewis sought to evoke. Radcliffe stated that terror aims to stimulate readers through imagination and perceived evils while horror closes them off through fear and physical dangers. "Terror and Horror are so far opposite, that the first expands the soul and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life; the other contracts, freezes and nearly annihilates them." Radcliffe was unique in that she was known for including supernatural elements but eventually giving readers a rational explanation for the supernatural. Usually, Radcliffe would reveal the logical excuse for what first appeared to be supernatural towards the end of her novels, which led to heightened suspense. Some critics/readers found this disappointing and felt duped. "Perhaps the most eloquent complaint against the trope was penned by Walter Scott in his Lives of the Novelists (1821-1824). Regarding Radcliffe's penchant, he writes: "A stealthy step behind the arras may, doubtless, in some situations, and when the nerves are tuned to a certain pitch, have no small influence upon the imagination; but if the conscious listener discovers it to be only the noise made by the cat, the solemnity of the feeling is gone, and the visionary is at once angry with his sense for having been cheated, and with his reason for having acquiesced in the deception." Some modern critics have been frustrated by her work, as she fails to include "real ghosts". This could be motivated by the idea that works in the Romantic period, from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century, had to undermine Enlightenment values such as rationalism and realism. (Wikipedia) Sprache: english., Books<

1823, ISBN: 5db245d2ec87c555802cd71361ee2fc1

sd. Ann RADCLIFFE - The mysteries of Udolpho. Edited by Bonamy Dobrée. With an Introduction and Notes by Terry Castle - sd. Oxford University Press; Brossura editoriale figurata con tito… Mehr…

sd. Ann RADCLIFFE - The mysteries of Udolpho. Edited by Bonamy Dobrée. With an Introduction and Notes by Terry Castle - sd. Oxford University Press; Brossura editoriale figurata con titoli al piatto e dorso; 16°, cm 19.6; 1.vol; Pagg. 693; ottimo esemplare; . Ann Radcliffe (Holborn, 9 luglio 1764 - Holborn, 7 febbraio 1823) è stata una popolare scrittrice inglese, vera e propria pioniera della letteratura horror e in particolare del romanzo gotico., 0<