The entrance to Fort Brockhurst (picture from Britain’s Past)
Patrick Miles in his summer house, 11 December 2016
Sir Richard Vincent Sutton c. 1913
Colonel Sir Walter Coote Hedley c. 1920
Captain of the 11
George Calderon c.1901
Figure from Gauguin’s 1899 painting ‘Tahitian Women with Mango Blossoms’ (left); George Calderon’s pencil sketch ‘Manu’ (right)
Unpublished watercolour by George Calderon, Tahiti 1906
Book sent to George Calderon in Russia by his mother, Christmas 1895.
Michel and Vera Fokine in “Scheherazade”, 1914 (The Music And Theatre Library of Sweden, creative commons)
K.N. Das Gupta and Margaret Mitchell in an Indian Dramatic Society production of The Maharani of Arakan, 1913?
George Calderon, 1912
Christmas 1901 Cartoon by George Calderon
George and Kittie Calderon 1905
Jean Ryckaert, May 1916.
Basic form of the Calderon coat of arms
A happy memory of Trinity College: undergraduates breakfast together in Downy V. Green, p. 77.
Monarch Butterfly Madeira
Frontis piece by Frank Calderon
Recent Comments
- John Pym on Two anniversaries We are all, followers and occasional contributors, beholden to you, Patrick, for reminding us for ten years that the past is worth remembering and for keeping alive the... (August 17, 2024 at 1:06 pm)
- Patrick Miles on A second Family Bible Very many thanks for fleshing that point out -- and so entertainingly! (I love your reference to creative writing courses, which are a phobia of mine.) Although several... (August 2, 2024 at 11:03 am)
- Laurence Brockliss on A second Family Bible When I say that the British Republic of Letters was dead by 1880, I don't mean to imply that thereafter there were no men and women outside universities, institutes and... (August 2, 2024 at 9:19 am)
- Patrick Miles on A second Family Bible Thank you for devoting valuable time to writing this fascinating Comment. If I may say so, it is awe-inspiring to see the author of a monumental work standing back from that... (July 31, 2024 at 5:32 pm)
- Laurence Brockliss on A second Family Bible Male Professionals in Nineteenth Century Britain was a new departure for me. For most of my adult life I have worked on seventeenth and eighteenth century France. It is also... (July 24, 2024 at 11:31 am)
Tag Archives: Harvey Pitcher
The magnificent Mary Ann
Long-term followers of Calderonia will recall that I had always had a theory that the person who taught George to speak Russian credibly before he set out for St Petersburg in 1895 was a ‘Mrs Shapter’, but in my biography … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Alexander I, Andrew Jones, Anton Chekhov, biographies, biography, Camille Silvy, Clara Calderon, Constance Garnett, Evan Hodgson, Exeter, Francke family, George Calderon, George Calderon: Edwardian Genius, Glasgow Repertory Theatre, Harry Leeke Gibbs, Harvey Pitcher, John Hodgson, John Shapter, Kittie Calderon, Laurence Binyon, Manya Guseva, Mary Ann Shapter, Mary Gibbs Shapter, Michael Pursglove, Mrs Shapter, Museum of the Home, National Portrait Gallery, Nicholas I, Olga Novikoff, oracy, P.H. Calderon, Russia, Sally Jones, silver, sketchbooks, St John's Wood Clique, St Petersburg, The Seagull, The Smiths of Moscow, theatre, Thomas Shapter, toddy ladle, Whishaw family, Yeames family
2 Comments
Bloggering on!
It is such a long time since I blogged, that followers would be excused for forgetting why the previous post has been up for five weeks. The reason is that we have been preparing for Sam&Sam’s Moscow-Cambridge stall at the … Continue reading
Posted in Personal commentary
Tagged BASEES Conference, biographies, comments, coronavirus, COVID-19, George Calderon, George Calderon: Edwardian Genius, Harvey Pitcher, John Polkinghorne, marketing, Moscow, pandemics, publishing, Robinson College, Russianists, sales, Sam&Sam, Slavists, What Can We Hope For?
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Inestimable Russianist 3: Harvey Pitcher
(This series is timed to coincide with the 2019 Annual Conference of the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies at Robinson College, Cambridge.) Hale and hearty in his eighty-third year, Harvey Pitcher is not only one of this … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian English, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Academe, Anton Chekhov, BASEES, biographies, biography, comments, communication, Emma Dashwood, emotional networks, Ferdinand Mount, George Calderon, Glasgow University, governesses, Harvey Pitcher, John Dewey, Joint Services School of Linguists, lack of communication, Lady with the Little Dog, Leningrad, Michael Pursglove, Mikhail Bakhtin, Oxford University, Russia, Russianists, St Andrews University, The Smiths of Moscow, USSR
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Inestimable Russianist 2: John Dewey
(This series is timed to coincide with the 2019 Annual Conference of the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies at Robinson College, Cambridge.) It is no exaggeration to say that John Dewey befriended Calderonia out of the blue — … Continue reading
Posted in Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Academe, Alexander Pushkin, Alexandrine, biographies, biography, Boris Yampolsky, Brimstone Press, choriamb, comments, Fedor Tiutchev, Fyodor Tyutchev, George Calderon, Glas, Harvey Pitcher, Irina Muravyova, John Dewey, John Dryden Prize, Ksenia Zhukova, Michael Pursglove, Mirror of the Soul: A Life of the Poet Tyutchev, prosody, publishers, Ruslan and Ludmila, Russian Studies, Stanley Mitchell, T.J. Binyon, The Bronze Horseman, Yevgeny Zamyatin
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Inestimable Russianists: A Coming Series of Posts
Frankly, one of the worst experiences from publishing my biography of George Calderon has been the appalling response to the 71 complimentary and review copies that I sent out. I was encouraged, for instance, by specific journalists at The Times, TLS, … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian literature, Personal commentary
Tagged ABEbooks, Aylmer Maude, biographies, comments, complimentary copies, Constance Garnett, George Calderon, George Calderon: Edwardian Genius, Harvey Pitcher, John Dewey, journalists, Michael Pursglove, reviewers, rudeness, Russianists, Sam&Sam, translators
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The Announcement
We have now received the book in Cambridge — and we think Clays Ltd have done a superb job! Any flaws you notice will be of the author’s making; Clays have printed to the last foreign font and idiosyncrasy … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian literature, Edwardian marriage, Heroism and Adventure, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged ABE, Amazon, Andrew Tatham, biographies, biography, Cambridge, Clays Ltd, comments, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, George Calderon, George Calderon: Edwardian Genius, Georgina Aldridge, Harvey Pitcher, Jodi Foulgar, John Dewey, Kindle, Kittie Calderon, limited edition, Martin Shaw, Nielsen Corporation, Oxford, publishers, Sam&Sam, St Andrews, The Great War, Third Battle of Krithia, World War I, Ypres
2 Comments
Jacketed!
I herewith post the front and back cover of my book, designed by Dan Mogford, who has been a delight to work with and whose first-rate services are not pricey. The front and back flaps are also ready, but I don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian literature, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged biographies, biography, comments, Dan Mogford, Derwent May, Emmetts, Frederick Hollyer, George Calderon, George Calderon: Edwardian Genius, George Clooney, Harvey Pitcher, jacket, jacket design, Laurence Brockliss, Sean Connery
7 Comments
Publishing
After nearly fifty years of contact with publishers, I could bore for England on the subject…which means that I must make sure I don’t! I will try to keep this short and focussed on the task of finding the right … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian literature, Edwardian marriage, Personal commentary
Tagged Anton Chekhov, biographies, biography, comments, George Calderon, Harvey Pitcher, John Murray, Kittie Calderon, publishers, publishing, Sam&Sam, self-publishing, The Great War, World War I, writing mania
3 Comments
Some ‘announcements’
I am staggered that my Introduction has passed its latest grilling, been tweaked yet again, and finalised as version 8. Deep down, though, I know I can’t write this sort of thing. To quote another favourite tag of Chekhovians, from Three … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian literature, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Anton Chekhov, biographies, biography, Calderonia, Clare Hopkins, comments, George Calderon, Grant Richards, guest posts, Harvey Pitcher, Laurence Senelick, Three Sisters, Times Literary Supplement, Trinity College Oxford, William Lyon Phelps
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Guest post: Harvey Pitcher, ‘Calderon on Chekhov’
Some years have passed since I last took down my copy of Two Plays of Tchekhof: Translated, with an Introduction and Notes by George Calderon (1912). I remembered the book with affection, especially the introduction, but going back to old … Continue reading
Posted in Edwardian character, Edwardian English, Edwardian literature, Modern parallels, Personal commentary
Tagged Anton Chekhov, appreciation, comments, communication, George Calderon, golf, Harvey Pitcher, literary criticism, meditation, soliloquy, The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, Three Sisters, Tom Stoppard, translation, Two Plays of Tchekhof, Uncle Vanya
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The limits of biography
I do not know why the popularity of autobiographies and biographies has mushroomed in 21st century Britain. I wish someone would tell us. Meeting and communicating with people makes the world go round, of course, so perhaps the fact that … Continue reading
Posted in Personal commentary
Tagged Anton Chekhov, Artemis Cooper, autobiography, biographies, biography, Boris Johnson, Cazalets, Claire Harman, comments, Constance Sutton, Damian Collins, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Fatal Purity, Frederick the Great, George Calderon, Harvey Pitcher, John Aubrey: My Own Life, Kittie Calderon, Matthew Dennison, Maximilien de Robespierre, Peter Ackroyd, Philip Sassoon, Richard Chartres, Ruth Scurr, The Great War, Thomas Carlyle, Vita Sackville-West, William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, World War I
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Biography brainstorm
For the next ten days, I shall be blogging only about biography. On 21 October Harvey Pitcher, the doyen of Chekhov studies in this country, will present a guest post about George Calderon’s famous Introduction to his pioneering translations of The … Continue reading
Edna’s Diary: the background
Sometime in 2012 Harvey Pitcher asked me if I would give a talk the following March to Sheringham Stroke Group, of which he was Secretary. It was an attractive invitation, especially as there is a history of Stroke on my … Continue reading →