This month, we were delighted to welcome our new French specialist, Dr Irène Fabry-Tehranchi. Irène will focus on current Francophone collection development but will also work with French special collections, chief among them the Chadwyck-Healey Liberation Collection. This post looks at the latest Liberation addition: a book signed by Tristan Tzara and Henri Matisse. Le signe de vie, which featured in Sir Charles Chadwyck Healey’s talk ‘The power of the image in liberated France, 1944-46’ earlier this year, was printed in Paris in 1946 and contains poems by Tzara with illustrations by Matisse.
Matisse’s signature; Tzara’s signature below the tirage description; dedication to Rita Kernn-Larsen by Tzara
Turning the key into the archive reveals the four or five rows of “London Illustrated News” as the familiar damp smell assaults the nasal passages. The volumes are bandaged with a loop that reminds me of the tie on school lab aprons years ago. Slipping the loop off the 1950 volume, I try to give the cover support with a terry roll that the bookbinders have in piles on the large desk. The early pages are filled with diagrams and details of the unfortunate sinking of the submarine H.M.S. Truculent. As described in Wikipedia, “The British submarine Truculent collided with the Swedish oil tanker Divina in the Thames Estuary and sank, killing 64 people. Only 15 crewmen were able to escape. All of them had been in the conning tower of the sub, which had been cruising on the surface of the Thames.”
On January 11th the Prime Minister announced forthcoming elections. the next month and there is a fine page depicting the various poses of Herbert Morrison. One suspects that the low tech electioneering was compensated by the quality of oratory if this series of photographs is anything by which to judge.. Morrison was an impressive figure- on the right of the party but not perhaps in the manner we have seen in recent years. He is possibly now most remembered for the so called Morrison Shelter. http://spartacus-educational.com/2WWmorrisonshelter.htm
After the photos of Mussolini and Hitler in absurd poses and repeated images such were popular in the Post and other magazines, I wonder if there was not a hinted subtext here- especially as an election was approaching. Certainly, Morrison was an important figure being both deputy leader and soon to become Foreign Secretary- not a happy time in his career. His grandson, of course, is Peter Mandelson.
Some articles portray the sexism current at the time. BOAC air stewards being taught by what looks like patronising men, how to walk down a rocking board with a tray. An article on Japan praises the docile and considerate womenfolk who are prepared to give neck massages to male members of the family.
1950 opens with the trial of Klaus Fuchs, the atom spy. Christopher Fry’s plays are popular in London. India having been given independence so rapidly is left with conflicts between Pakistan and India particularly over Kashmir. Grand murals of Stalin appear above the grand Moscow underground- the great transport leader comrade! Then Nationalists Chinese are inflamed by the recognition of Communist mainland China by the British.
Klaus Fuchs who had been at Los Alamos voluntarily confesses to having been a spy.
The graphic artist most in evidence at this stage was Bryan de Grineau who had been a war artist and made sketches at this time of the war wounded being rehabilitated at University ollege Hospital, St Pancras. More information may be found at http://www.grandprixhistory.org/grineau.htm
Here some impressions from my stroll through the fantastic C/O Berlin Foundation and The Polaroid Project exhibition and then some snaps from the C/O Talent Award: Stefanie Moshammer.
When should you read this book? On a peaceful Sunday morning, while you contemplate your life’s meaning.
The interpretation of illness
I should start this review by saying that I am fascinated by psychoanalysis and the idea that you can talk yourself out of some ailments of the mind.
It’s a bonkers idea that the mind can both make itself unwell and heal itself through the power of thought.
Some people believe that psychoanalysis has meaningful applications in real life and others don’t, but you can’t question the effect the idea of being able to interpret your thoughts and dreams into messages from your subconscious is powerful. And that it’s influenced loads of brilliant literature.
In ‘The Examined Life’, psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz takes us into his therapy room as he speaks to several of his real-life patients, explaining how he uses psychoanalysis to help them bring themselves out of the…
Avignon. Irma, qui ne trouve plus sa place dans le monde, croise sur sa route Dolorès, une femme libre et décomplexée missionnée pour rédiger un guide touristique gay-friendly sur un coin de Provence oublié. L’improbable duo se lance sur les routes. Au lieu de la Provence pittoresque et sexy recherchée, elles découvrent un monde plus complexe et une humanité chaleureuse qui lutte pour exister. Pour chacune d’elle, c’est un voyage initiatique.
Bruno is a male given name which derives from a Germanic source, either from Old High German brun meaning “brown” which derives from a PIE root word; or it comes from Proto-Germanic *brunjǭ meaning “breastplate; armor, protection”. Bruno is an Italian and Portuguese word meaning “brown” as well as also being an Italian and Portuguese surname derived from the given name, or originating as a nickname for someone with brown hair or a dark-brown complexion.
Contrary to popular belief, the border between East and West Berlin did not run directly along the western face of the Berlin Wall. In fact, the westernmost edge of the Wall was built entirely inside DDR territory 1.98 m away from the official border.
Photo taken by a Berlin photographer, Willy Pragher, on the corner of Luckauer Straße and Sebastianstraße on June 9, 1965. Notice the sign informing that the pavement is part of the Soviet territory. (image via Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Freiburg)
The reasoning was simple: by constructing the wall inside the Soviet sector, the DDR authorities made it impossible for the Western Allies to remove it. Any attempts to take down the wall would have involved moving Western forces into Soviet territory and thus been considered a declaration of war. In practical terms, however, the two metre strip between the wall and the west led to a curious…
(Still making space on the B-shelf and reading this one at night while I tackle Nicola Barker’s 800+ page Darkmans by day…)
I came across Virginia Baily’s Early One Morning via the Readings catalogue back in 2015, and was intrigued by the blurb. It’s about an Italian woman who rescues a child from the Nazi round-up of Jews, and what happens afterwards.
It’s not really a book about war or about the Holocaust, but more about how it is much harder to work with traumatised children than it seems and about how the urge to find out about parents and forebears isn’t always a quest with a happy ending. But it’s not a grim book: it is surprisingly humorous in places, with some splendid self-deprecating female central characters undercutting any pretensions to heroism or self-pity. It is also a book centred on female preoccupations: the perspectives of the male characters have to…
The painting is called the Panorama of Raclawice and depicts the battle of 4th Apr 1794 between Poland and Russia. The painting is 15 metres high and 115 metres long and is shown in the round. This was the most famous episode of the Kościuszko Insurrection and the man himself is shown on horseback in the above image.
Photo taken by a Berlin photographer, Willy Pragher, on the corner of Luckauer Straße and Sebastianstraße on June 9, 1965. Notice the sign informing that the pavement is part of the Soviet territory. (image via Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Freiburg) 
(Still making space on the B-shelf and reading this one at night while I tackle Nicola Barker’s 800+ page Darkmans by day…)
penwithlit 