Richard Lawrence, letterpress printer
I’d arranged to meet Richard Lawrence at his studios in Hurst Street, a short cycle ride east from Oxford’s Magdalen Bridge. There’s a yard at the front, so disconcertingly full…
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Francis Hamel and his Oxford Paintings
Painted during three intensive periods over a period of 25 years, to those who live in the city they are instantly familiar snapshots, illustrated vignettes that cleverly capture that sense of surprise that many of us feel at the sight of a soaring medieval spire over a modern rooftop, or a field of meadow flowers glimpsed through the railings of a bus busy high street.
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Cecily Peele, author, illustrator, mapmaker (1892-1984)
I have long been enchanted by Cecily Peele’s “MAP OF OXFORD’S HISTORY; WITH SOME OF HER WORTHIES”, (above) published in the 1930’s. A cursory glance at this funny, colourful pictorial…
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Chiang Yee’s Oxford
Opposite Meadow Walk on St Aldates, there is a shop where tourists like to buy souvenirs after their visit to Christ Church. It’s appropriately called ‘Alice’s Shop’ as this pretty…
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Easter Greetings
It is Thursday morning so I head to the open-air market on Gloucester Green. At the heart of today’s city this is a square of flats and shops sandwiched between…
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The Oxford Sausage, a book of poetry
I was delighted to receive a small package from a reader of this blog. It was a copy of a book first published in 1764. They thought I’d be interested…
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A is for Ox
I am, apparently, an abecedarian, a lover of alphabets. I discovered this when visiting the Alphabets Alive! exhibition at Oxford University’s Weston Library – a must if like me you…
