As usual we hope that members who want to draw exhibitions, conferences, books etc to other members' attention will let the Bulletin Editor, Peta Ree, and the Book Editor, Dr Albertine Gaur, know, by 1 March.
From Cairo to Niagara to Georgia
In October 2001 new Egyptian galleries opened
at the Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. On display were the
mummies from the Niagara Falls Museum purchased by the Museum in 1998. The traveller
and journal writer - who purchased the mummies from the Egyptian dealer, Mustapha
Aga Ayat in 1860 - was a Canadian physician named James Douglas. It is thought
that one of these mummies may be Ramses I. This will, in Spring 2003, be the
focus of an exhibition at the Museum titled "Science, Scholarship and the
Lost Pharaoh".
Aladdin's Cave at the British Museum
In room 34 of the British Museum a small, but
wide-ranging, exhibition shows a selection of Islamic objects from the stores
of the Petrie Museum. The exhibition is open until March 2003 and is free.
THE STORY OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM
To celebrate the Museum's 250th anniversary, this
exhibition illustrates the story of the Museum from its foundation in 1753 to
the present day. Until 31 October 2003. Open Mon-Wed, Sat, Sun 10 am.- 5:30;
Thursday-Friday 10 am.-8:30 p.m. Free.
MAD, BAD AND DANGEROUS: THE CULT OF LORD BYRON
This exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery,
St Martin's Place, London WC2, re-interprets the fascination of Lord Byron -
a traveller in Greece - and explores his literary fame and social notoriety
fuelled by the multiple visual representations of him. The Observer review
says his "Albanian" costume is also on display. Until 16 February,
2003. It then moves to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh: 14
March to 26 May, 2003 and to Dove Cottage, The Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, Cumbria:
June - October, 2003. Free.
ASTENE-OUDCE day school: Travel in Greece and Crete:
Early Accounts
Saturday 22 February 2003, 9.45 - 5.30.
Note: For members attending the day school and
other members there is a dinner at 7pm on Friday 21 February at the Lebanese
Restaurant in nearby Jericho. Let Deborah Manley know if you want to join
us there.
Classical Pilgrimages - Consecrated Landscapes:
Travellers in the Mediterranean World in the Age of Enlightenment
4 April, 2003 at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies
in British Art, London
Papers have been called for this conference with the themes: Political Paradigms:
representations of ancient cities in travel literature; Mapping the antique
and creating classical topography; Romantic visions and ruinous landscapes -
the search for cultural origins. Further information from Dr Ian Macgregor Morris
[email: I.Macgregor-morris(@ac.uk,
Dept of Classics and Ancient History, Queen's Building, University of Exeter,
Exeter EX4 4QH
ASTENE visit to The Searight Collection
of Prints and Drawings at the Victoria and Albert Museum
Charles Newton, Curator in the Department of Paintings,
at the Prints and Drawings Department of the V and A has kindly agreed to discuss
the Searight Collection and let ASTENE members view
some of the works.. This is a wonderful opportunity to see this fantastic collection
made by Sarah Searight's father.
Meet in the Department on Level 5 at 2.p.m. on Monday 28 April 2003. The lift is near the Exhibition Road entrance. - by the restaurant, where we might gather for lunch.
Please let Deborah Manley [57 Plantation Road, Oxford OX2 6JE; Tel/fax 01865 310284] know if you plan to come. [Leave a phone number.] People may like to look also at the section on Oriental influences on British design in the British Rooms exhibition.
The 24th JL Myres Lecture at New College, Oxford
Our chairman, Professor Malcolm Wagstaff has been
invited to give the Myres Lecture on 6 May, 2003, with the title: The Contribution
of Early Travel Narratives to the Historical Geography of Greece. The lecture
will be at 5 o'clock at New College. All welcome.
Oxford University's Department of Continuing Education
Day and Weekend Schools
Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, St John's Street,
Oxford; Tel: 01865 270380
Saturday, 29 March 2003 Images in Islamic Art A
study day directed by Farzaneh Pirouz-Moussavi, research associate at the Ashmolean
Museum. Papers include: Mamluke Art by Dr Jane Jakeman; Ilkhanid Painting by
Dr Theresa Fitzherbert; Later Persian Painting by Dr Sheila Canby.
Friday 11 - Sunday 13 April Weekend school on The Archaeology
of Turkey.
Western Travellers in Greece
Karen Hartnup, who joined us at the Edinburgh Conference, is giving
a 10-week course next summer term at the Centre for Lifelong Learning at Edinburgh
University. The course outline covers:
Early travel in Greece from the middle ages to the 16th century., Ecclesiastical
travellers: chaplains and missionaries; Scientific travellers and the scientific
discovery of Greece; Folklore and the simple life: the landscape; The pull of
the classical era; The Grand Tour: aristocratic travellers in Greece; Female
travellers; Travel during the Revolution; Byron and the rise
of Philhellenism. The course will take place on Tuesday mornings and costs £53.
Start date is to be confirmed.
For further details and registration contact the Office
of Lifelong Learning, the University of Edinburgh, 11 Buceleuch Place, Edinburgh
EH8 9LW Telephone: +44 (0) 131650 4400;
e-mail oll@ed.ac.uk
The Turkish bath in Britain
The first Turkish bath in these islands was built in Ireland in 1856
- by the turn of the century there were 600. Today only 21 remain. The most
spectacular are in Manchester, Harrogate and Sheffield. There is a campaign
to encourage their use and restoration, and there are plans for new baths. To
find a Victorian Turkish Bath near you, go to www.victorianturkishbath.org
[Source: Article in the Guardian Weekend, 7 September 2002.]
Is anyone researching this subject in Britain or elsewhere?
Apologies
We wish to offer our apologies to MESA [Middle
East Studies Association] for reading their acronym as Middle East Society of
America.
Wanted: Quotations from 18th and early 19th century travellers to Egypt and the Near East describing their experiences of being at sea in a sailing ship. The objective is to compare them with my recent experiences on the Endeavour replica for a possible presentation to ASTENE. Please contact Malcohn Wagstaff at 16 Oakmount Avenue, Highfield, Southampton S017 IDR, e-mail: jm.Wagstaff@yahoo.co.uk
The Bulletin Editor, Peta Ree, writes:
I hoped when I wrote in Bulletin 14 (page 11), that we would like to hear of non-British artists and architects who worked and travelled in Greece, that scores of lists would pour in from our overseas members; but it was an English member who took up the challenge. Charles Plouviez wrote: "There were crowds of them, and the best source I know is Fani-Maria Tsigakou's The Discovery of Greece (London, Thames and Hudson, 1981). [They included] Baron Otto Magnus von Stackelberg, who went out with Hallerstein in 1810 and stayed until 1814, spending some time with Cockerell. But Isuppose the prize must go to Louis Dupre, who went to Greece in 1819, because his book is currently in a Sotheby's catalogue with an estimate of £60,000-£80,000!"
On the murder of Frederick Vyner and his companions (page 31),
Malcolm Wagstaff wrote: The whole event was written up by Romilly Jenkins in
The Delessi Murders (London, Longmans, 1961). A more recent publication
is Crosby Stevens, Ransom and Murder in Greece: Lord Muncaster's Journal,
1870 (Cambridge, Lutterworth Press, 1989).
Apologies
Friday 11 - Monday 14 July 2003
Update on the biennial conference at Worcester College, Oxford. Registrations are already coming in, and those hoping to book the few standard college rooms, will have to hurry.
We have a number of papers offered, including Rilke and Bachman in Egypt; The creation of early Travel Guides 13th -15th centuries; Travels in the Slavonic Provinces of Turkey-in-Europe; An Exeter slave on pilgrimage; Linant, the neglected father of Suez; Travelling to Post; an Ambassadress at the Porte; A Princess of Wales in the Levant 1816; Busbecq and Lorck in Istanbul; Cleopatra's Needle Travels.
To offer a paper, send the Organiser a 100-word abstract as soon as possible to the address above or email to astene@interculture.co.uk
The absolute closing date for abstracts is 1 May but members are urged to send them as early as possible.
THE CAMERA LUCIDA: A NOTE
We plan to have some examples of the camera
lucida available again at our conference in July. Attention was recently
drawn to this 'drawing instrument' by the artist, David Hockney, in his book
Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters
(London: Thames and Hudson, 2001). Hockney argues that the incredible realism
and near perfect perspective achieved by artists from van Eyck to Vermeer, from
Ingres (remember Holbein's 'The Ambassadors' was possible only through using
some form of optical instrument. While mirrors offered some possibilities, various
forms of camera obscura were much favoured by artists. Portable versions
were used by travellers to Egypt and the Near East in the eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries, but they were cumbersome to carry, time-consuming to assemble
and attracted attention.
A much more portable instrument became available after 1800 - the camera lucida.
This was invented by William Hyde Wollaston and patented in 1806. It makes use of a prism with two reflecting surfaces at 135° which cast an image of the scene onto a sheet of paper (or other material) set at right angles. The prism is attached to a bar fixed to a simple stand which can be clamped to a drawing board. The draughtsman to see both the scene and the image at the same time, which is not true of the camera obscura, so that greater control over the image can be achieved. The camera lucida uses a small prism, requires no tent and can be used in most light conditions. Its attractions to travelling artists such as David Roberts are obvious. However the instrument requires considerable skill to use. Adusting the focus by means of lenses inserted between the scene and the prism needs practice, while failure to keep the eye firmly on both the scene and the image will require the realignment of the eye, the image and the pencil.
Malcolm Wagstaff
For the camera obscura see:
http://brightbytes.com/comsite/portable.html and for camera lucida see Hockney, pages 203-4, and
http://www.Newcastle.edu.au/department/fad/fi/ Woodrow/an-orig2.htm
The Museum of the History of Science, Broad Street, Oxford has
camera lucidas on display and has kindly agreed to demonstrate it at
the ASTENE conference.
ASTENE conference and tour of Cyprus, September 2004
Following the successful tour of medieval Cairo and the ASTENE conference
in Cairo last March, Dr Rita Severis (whose book on artist-travellers in Cyprus
was reviewed in the Bulletin last year) has offered to make arrangements for
a similar tour and conference in Cyprus, which many travellers included in their
itineraries.
Details of the tour will be announced in the summer, but members who would like to join it may wish to consider papers they might offer at the conference - which need not only focus on Cyprus.
Dr
Patricia Usick [ASTENE Secretary] received her PhD in 1998 for her thesis on
William Bankes' portfolio of drawings and manuscripts. She was naturally fascinated
by him and went on to write about Bankes the man and his adventures in Egypt,
Palestine, Syria and elsewhere. Her beautifully illustrated book tells his story
and describes his travels in detail and assesses his contribution to Egyptology.
There will be a full review in the next Bulletin.
Archaeology and History in Lebanon
Journal of the Lebanese British Friends
of the National Museum (issue 16), edited by ASTENE member Claude Dournet.
(£11 or 18€ payable to 'The Lebanese British Friends of the National
Museum' to Mrs Marlene Malek, ref. LBFNM, 11 Canning Place, London W8.)
This issue focuses on the Durighello Family and their collection of antiques, and looks at travellers and other 'Franks' in the Lebanon and the Levant: The First Crusaders in Lebanon (Christopher Foster); Richard Pococke in Lebanon, 1738 (John K. Bartlett); Mr, Mrs Barker and Family: Franks in the Levant (Deborah Manley); Camille Rogier, Peintre Orientaliste et viveur: Pieces pour un puzzle (Francois Pouillon); Two Sisters in Lebanon and Syria (Margaret Clarke); Les Orientalistes reconnus au Lebanon (Richard Chahine); De Tripoli aux Cedres avec quelques voyageurs d'autrefois (Jean-Paul Rey-Coquais), The Durighello Family by various writers and from archives. (Members may recognise a few fellow members ... )
Eland and Sickle Moon
Rose Baring and ASTENE committee member Barnaby Rogerson
have brought together the Eland and their own Sickle Moon lists at 61 Exmouth
St, London ECIR 4QL, (www.travelbooks.co.uk)
Their list includes - among much else - Sultan in Oman by Jan Morris, The Devil Drives (Richard Burton) by Fawn Brodie, Turkish Letters by Ogier de Busbecq, The Caravan Moves On by Irfan Orga. Their list - delightfully produced - is described by William Dalrymple as 'one of the very best travel lists'.
Nile Notes of a Howadji: a bibliography of travelers' tales from Egypt, from the earliest time to 1918 by Martin R. Kalfatovic, The Scarecrow Press, Inc. , Metuchen, New Jersey and London, 1992. ISBN 08108-2541-4
We drew attention to Martin Kalfatovic's book some years ago. Time has passed, there are new members and the book continues to be one of the best modem research tools I have come across, taking on and refining where Prince Hilmi left off. Kalfatovic has done a wonderful job of tracking down the deluge of literature on Egypt from Antiquity to the near present. He explains clearly how he gathered the material and how he presents it. He has divided the publications by period, and in date order within periods. Each author-traveller has name, title, date of travel, nationality and a brief biographical account - with memorable quotes. There are two indexes: one by title, the other by author.
It is an outstanding work - as one might expect from a Smithsonian
librarian. It would be good if someone reissued it. In the meantime, try your
own library...
THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY ACQUIRES AN EXCITING ARABIC MANUSCRIPT
With the help of the Friends of the Bodleian and generous grants
from organisations and individuals, the Library has purchased a remarkable newly-discovered
medieval Arabic manuscript.
It contains an important and hitherto unknown series of early and colourful
maps, including two world maps and astronomical diagrams, mostly unparalleled
in any Greek, Latin or Arabic material known to be preserved today. There are
two books: one on celestial matters and the second, with 96 pages (two missing)
on terrestrial matters.
So far the unnamed author has not been identified. The sources - largely 9th
and 10th centuries, and acknowledgement of the Fatimid imams who ruled Cairo
from 969-1171, suggest it was composed in the late 11th to early 12th century.
This copy was probably made in Egypt or Syria in the late 12th or 13th century.
The manuscript is in a fragile state and, although it was exhibited briefly
last July for the Bodleian's 400th anniversary exhibition, it is now under restoration.
The Library hopes that a working surrogate and a preliminary web-site will be
available early in 2003.
The Newsletter of the Friends of the Bodleian this autumn (on which this article
is based) commented: `This is not only an Islamic scientific manuscript of the
first importance for scholarship, but its acquisition by the Bodleian ... also
provides a magnificent opportunity to increase public awareness of the Islamic
contribution to our common heritage.' The Bodleian has one of the few significant
collections of medieval Islamic cartographic manuscripts in Europe, including
two of the six other (later) known copies of the famous al-Idrisi map, which
is included in this medieval atlas.
Deborah Manley
NOTE As at previous conferences, members wishing
the use the University Library should bring with them a letter of recommendation
from their institution and, for a small fee, can be granted access to the Library.
