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poliphilo A few posts back I quoted- in full- a verse epitaph from a gravestone at Worth in West Sussex.
Did I note it down at the time?
No.
Did I take a photograph?
No.
I had faith in our wonderful Internet and told myself I'd Google it when I got home....
And the Internet didn't let me down. I found the text in an old book that has been made available to read in an online archive.
The book is Epitaphia by Ernest R Suffling, published in 1909.
It's a fabulous book. It contains 1,300 epitaphs, collected from all over the place. I suspect it remains the fullest and most authoritative book on the subject ever published.
And who was Ernest R Suffling?
Well, I'd never heard of him so I looked him up on our wonderful Internet.
He was a glass painter; his trade took him all round Britain- particularly, of course, to churches- and on his travels he collected epitaphs. Epitaphia contains the fruits of his digging around (and sometimes you literally have to dig to uncover an epitaph in an overgrown churchyard- I know because I've done it myself) with others collected from other people's books.
He wrote other things. His guide to the Norfolk Broads is still in print. There are also a couple of collections of supernatural tales; I may well have to hunt those down.
Anyway, I had to have a personal copy of Epitaphia so I asked our wonderful Internet and it found me one- not a handsome first edition for rather a lot of money (though I could have had one of those if I'd been feeling flush) but a battered ex-library copy- still a first edition but rebound (rather handsomely)- for just under £12. I love it all the more for its scars. It has character.
And here it is....
Fancy it coming from Ashton! I know Ashton well. In fact I used to live in Reddish- which is on the outskirts. They have a great open air market in Ashton. Also a covered one....
Did I note it down at the time?
No.
Did I take a photograph?
No.
I had faith in our wonderful Internet and told myself I'd Google it when I got home....
And the Internet didn't let me down. I found the text in an old book that has been made available to read in an online archive.
The book is Epitaphia by Ernest R Suffling, published in 1909.
It's a fabulous book. It contains 1,300 epitaphs, collected from all over the place. I suspect it remains the fullest and most authoritative book on the subject ever published.
And who was Ernest R Suffling?
Well, I'd never heard of him so I looked him up on our wonderful Internet.
He was a glass painter; his trade took him all round Britain- particularly, of course, to churches- and on his travels he collected epitaphs. Epitaphia contains the fruits of his digging around (and sometimes you literally have to dig to uncover an epitaph in an overgrown churchyard- I know because I've done it myself) with others collected from other people's books.
He wrote other things. His guide to the Norfolk Broads is still in print. There are also a couple of collections of supernatural tales; I may well have to hunt those down.
Anyway, I had to have a personal copy of Epitaphia so I asked our wonderful Internet and it found me one- not a handsome first edition for rather a lot of money (though I could have had one of those if I'd been feeling flush) but a battered ex-library copy- still a first edition but rebound (rather handsomely)- for just under £12. I love it all the more for its scars. It has character.
And here it is....
Fancy it coming from Ashton! I know Ashton well. In fact I used to live in Reddish- which is on the outskirts. They have a great open air market in Ashton. Also a covered one....
no subject
Date: 2024-05-25 04:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-05-26 07:11 pm (UTC)