Thursday, June 09, 2011
Bower of the Muses
I love this painting by William Fettes Douglas (1822-1891), The Bibliophilist's Haunt or Creech's Bookshop:
On Creech's bookshop in Edinburgh, see Henry Cockburn (1779-1854), Memorials of His Time (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1866), p. 165:
William Fettes Douglas, David Laing
William Fettes Douglas, Bibliomania
Hat tip: Victorian/Edwardian Paintings.
Newer› ‹Older
On Creech's bookshop in Edinburgh, see Henry Cockburn (1779-1854), Memorials of His Time (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1866), p. 165:The position of his shop in the very tideway of all our business made it the natural resort of lawyers, authors, and all sorts of literary idlers, who were always buzzing about the convenient hive. All who wished to see a poet or a stranger, or to hear the public news, the last joke by Erskine, or yesterday's occurrence in the Parliament House, or to get the publication of the day or newspapers—all congregated there; lawyers, doctors, clergymen, and authors. I attended the writing-school of William Swanson, the great hand-spoiler of the time, whose crowded class-room was on the south side of the High-street, close by the cross; and I always tried to get a seat next a window, that I might see the men I heard so much talked of moving into and out of this bower of the muses, or loitering about its entrance.Other works by William Fettes Douglas featuring books and bookshops:
Hat tip: Victorian/Edwardian Paintings.
