Beschreibung
Together 2 vols., folio. Vol. I: 127 pp. manuscript written on rectos only, with insertions of the author's Port of Entry, various MS slips, maps, a folding letterpress plan of the British Museum, and a large folding depiction of the Museum of Practical Geology. Vol. II: printed documents bound into an album of blank leaves, some of which have extensive MS annotations and articles in the hand of the author. Bound in contemporary French quarter green basane, marbled endpapers, edges of the textblock untrimmed (headcap of vol. I chipped, some wear to other binding extremities). Overall in excellent condition. ENGAGING 19,000-WORD MANUSCRIPT ACCOUNT OF A FRENCH POLYMATH'S 17-DAY TOUR TO ENGLAND WHERE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM HE STUDIED EGYPTIAN AND BABYLONIAN ANTIQUITIES AND RARE BOOKS, AND TOURED THE 1851 "GREAT EXHIBITION" AT CRYSTAL PALACE. THERE ARE MANY INTERESTING NOTES CONCERNING ENGLISH CATHOLICISM IN GENERAL, AND AMBROSE PHILLIPPS DE LISLE IN PARTICULAR. The author, Eugène Van Drival (1815-1887), was an erudite philologist, a Catholic priest, and an antiquarian in the best sense of the word. He served as director of the great seminary of Arras, secretary general of the Arras Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts, and was full member of the Society of Antiquaries of Morinie. Writing herein not only as a scholar but as a Catholic priest, Van Drival reflects (privately) on matters concerning English theology and society, sometimes with a certain amount of Gallic humor. His London tour lasted from 24 September to 10 October 1851. Although his handwriting is small, it is clear and readable. The present manuscript is unpublished; notably, the incomplete bibliography of Van Drival's writings ("Liste des ouvrages publiés par M. le chanoine Van Drival," Arras, 1882), published well before his death, already lists 80 articles on an usually broad range of antiquarian interests. In addition to his record of the British Museum and its Library, Van Drival gives a long chapter devoted to the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace and its architecture (Day 5; evidently he returned again on Day 17, but if he took notes he did not transcribe them herein). These visits occurred during the final days of the Exhibition, which closed on Oct. 15, 1851. To this day the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations remains one of the pinnacles of the Victorian era, a celebration of "modern" technology, manufacturing, scientific and musical instruments, art, and colonial raw materials, all in the service of the entire world. According to the text of the manuscript, Van Drival had made a first trip to England in 1847 in the company of the British Roman Catholic convert Ambrose Phillipps de Lisle (1809-1878). During the present second voyage, Van Drival spent several at de Lisle's Grace-Dieu manor (in Leicestershire), a former priory of Augustinian nuns. De Lisle had devoted himself to the interests of the Catholic church and the spread of Catholicism in Britain, and towards this goal he founded the Trappist monastery of Mount St Bernard which our author visited as well. Nonetheless, at the end of the day (and at the end of the manuscript), our author states: "Plus je vois l'étranger, plus j'aime ma Patrie" (!) PARTIAL CONTENTS of Vol. 1 (Manuscript text volume, written on rectos only): Day 1: Observations about the "Absurd fanaticism" of Anglicans against the Pope and Catholics. -- Further observations about London: "When I arrived in London, the sun was shining! And yet it was the middle of the day! If one day it is still claimed that the sun in London has long been considered a myth, I am here to testify that I encountered it there and saw it clearly, despite the fog which was there nonetheless as an obligatory accompaniment. But I have just been given the answer to the enigma. It seems that since May, things have completely changed in England. […] there are at this moment gathered in London, all the wonderful things from all parts of the wo. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 4054
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