Guides to Belle Vue Zoological Gardens 1891-1917
Guides to the Belle Vue Zoological Gardens from the Chetham's Library Virtual Belle Vue Collection. The Belle Vue gardens opened in 1836 as a place of genteel entertainment for the middle classes of industrial Manchester, but soon became one the most popular attractions in the north of England.
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Guides to the Belle Vue Zoological Gardens from the Chetham's Library Virtual Belle Vue Collection. The Belle Vue gardens opened in 1836 as a place of genteel entertainment for the middle classes of industrial Manchester, but soon became one the most popular attractions in the north of England.
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Short stories from Household Words (1850-1853) by Elizabeth Gaskell
Elizabeth Gaskell was a regular contributor to Charles Dickens's weekly magazine, Household Words, from 1850 through to 1858. In addition to three serialized novels, Cranford, North and South, and My Lady Ludlow, Dickens published 18 shorter works by Gaskell, which made her the major literary contributor to the magazine apart from Dickens himself. This collection brings together all of the short stories and non-fiction pieces that Gaskell published in the magazine between 1850 and 1853.
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Elizabeth Gaskell was a regular contributor to Charles Dickens's weekly magazine, Household Words, from 1850 through to 1858. In addition to three serialized novels, Cranford, North and South, and My Lady Ludlow, Dickens published 18 shorter works by Gaskell, which made her the major literary contributor to the magazine apart from Dickens himself. This collection brings together all of the short stories and non-fiction pieces that Gaskell published in the magazine between 1850 and 1853.
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Selections from Harris's Cabinet by William Roscoe and others
In the early 1800s, London publisher John Harris began producing small books for children that were designed not to instruct, but to entertain. The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast by Liverpool author and MP William Roscoe, reprinted from The Gentleman's Magazine, was so successful that it was reissued in a second and much revised edition with illustrations by a young William Mulready. This was followed by sequels in a similar vein and a series called 'Harris's Cabinet of Amusement and Instruction'. This collection includes the revised edition of the Butterfly's Ball and sequels by Catherine Ann Dorset, 'W. B.', and Roscoe's The Council of Dogs.
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Athenaeum Souvenir
The Manchester Athenaeum was founded in 1837 as a society for the "advancement and diffusion of knowledge". This short collection of poems was published to raise money for the society's annual bazaar and included contributions from Charles Swain and Agnes Strickland. It also found space for several of the local school of poets. In addition to poems by Ner Gardiner, John Bolton Rogerson, Isabella Varley (later Mrs. Linnaeus Banks, author of 'The Manchester Man'), Samuel Bamford, Isabella Caulton and John Critchley Prince, the collection includes Ann Hawkshaw's first published poem and a rare published piece by Jamaican-born Robert Rose, Manchester's 'bard of colour'.
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Cecil's Own Book by Ann Hawkshaw
Ann Hawkshaw's fourth and final collection was published privately and named for her young grandson, Cecil Wedgwood. Written for children, the volume alternates prose with poetry and is lighter in tone than her earlier work, although poems such as 'The Discontented Stream' and 'The Ambitious Water-Lily' are tinged with a sense of waste. The final piece in the collection, 'In Memoriam', is a moving elegy on childhood death, which alludes to Hawkshaw's loss of three children including Cecil's mother who died shortly after his birth.
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Ann Hawkshaw's fourth and final collection was published privately and named for her young grandson, Cecil Wedgwood. Written for children, the volume alternates prose with poetry and is lighter in tone than her earlier work, although poems such as 'The Discontented Stream' and 'The Ambitious Water-Lily' are tinged with a sense of waste. The final piece in the collection, 'In Memoriam', is a moving elegy on childhood death, which alludes to Hawkshaw's loss of three children including Cecil's mother who died shortly after his birth.
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Poems for my Children by Ann Hawkshaw
Published in 1847, five years after her epic poem, 'Dionysus the Areopagite', 'Poems For My Children' was Ann Hawkshaw's second collection of poetry. The poems are dedicated to her six children and many are written in an intimate conversational style. 'Ada', the final poem in the collection, is a memorial for her second child, who had died of hydrocephalus shortly before her fifth birthday. Five historical poems, set in the times of the Druids, the Romans the Saxons, the Normans and the Crusades, punctuate the collection and anticipate her later collection, 'Sonnets on Anglo-Saxon History'.
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Published in 1847, five years after her epic poem, 'Dionysus the Areopagite', 'Poems For My Children' was Ann Hawkshaw's second collection of poetry. The poems are dedicated to her six children and many are written in an intimate conversational style. 'Ada', the final poem in the collection, is a memorial for her second child, who had died of hydrocephalus shortly before her fifth birthday. Five historical poems, set in the times of the Druids, the Romans the Saxons, the Normans and the Crusades, punctuate the collection and anticipate her later collection, 'Sonnets on Anglo-Saxon History'.
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Forty Seasons of First Class Cricket by R. G. Barlow
R. G. "Dick" Barlow was one of the most accomplished all-round cricketers of the late 19th Century. For many years he opened the batting with A. N. Hornby for Lancashire and England, often acting as a "stonewaller" who "carried his bat through the innings" while his teammates hit out for runs. He also excelled with the ball and delights in telling his readers how he dismissed his contemporary W. G. Grace more often than most. Barlow's 40 years in club, county, and test cricket are recounted with an attention to detail befitting a first class cricketer and umpire. Francis Thompson's 'At Lords' - a nostalgic tribute to Barlow and Hornby from a Manchester poet - is added as a coda to the book.
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R. G. "Dick" Barlow was one of the most accomplished all-round cricketers of the late 19th Century. For many years he opened the batting with A. N. Hornby for Lancashire and England, often acting as a "stonewaller" who "carried his bat through the innings" while his teammates hit out for runs. He also excelled with the ball and delights in telling his readers how he dismissed his contemporary W. G. Grace more often than most. Barlow's 40 years in club, county, and test cricket are recounted with an attention to detail befitting a first class cricketer and umpire. Francis Thompson's 'At Lords' - a nostalgic tribute to Barlow and Hornby from a Manchester poet - is added as a coda to the book.
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Dionysius the Areopagite with other poems by Ann Hawkshaw
An early figure in the birth of poetry in industrial Manchester, Ann Hawkshaw published three collections and another was circulated privately. Her first collection. published in Manchester and London in 1842, begins with an epic poem, Dionysius the Areopagite. Based on the New Testament story of the conversion of Dionysius by St Paul, much of the poem centres on the consequences of Dionysius' conversion for his betrothed, Myra, and her sister, Corrina. The collection also includes two of Hawkshaw's most important works, The Past and The Future, and a number of shorter poems on themes of history, loss and faith.
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An early figure in the birth of poetry in industrial Manchester, Ann Hawkshaw published three collections and another was circulated privately. Her first collection. published in Manchester and London in 1842, begins with an epic poem, Dionysius the Areopagite. Based on the New Testament story of the conversion of Dionysius by St Paul, much of the poem centres on the consequences of Dionysius' conversion for his betrothed, Myra, and her sister, Corrina. The collection also includes two of Hawkshaw's most important works, The Past and The Future, and a number of shorter poems on themes of history, loss and faith.
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Travels in Lancashire, an anthology
An anthology of fiction, non-fiction and poetry on travels in Lancashire, England, with occasional sorties into adjacent counties.
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An anthology of fiction, non-fiction and poetry on travels in Lancashire, England, with occasional sorties into adjacent counties.
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Poems and Songs in the Lancashire Dialect by Edwin Waugh
A selection of poems in the Rochdale dialect by the foremost exponent of the form. A printer by training, Edwin Waugh left his trade for secretarial work and began his literary career in 1852. His first dialect poem, 'Come whoam to thi' childer and me', was written at the Clarence Hotel, Manchester, on 10 June 1856 and published in the Manchester Examiner the following day. The best known Lancashire dialect poem of its day, it inspired numerous followers whose dialect poetry and prose provided an often nostalgic accompaniment to the sound and fury of the industrial revolution. This selection of dialect poems was published shortly after Waugh's death alongside a selection of his standard English poetry.
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A selection of poems in the Rochdale dialect by the foremost exponent of the form. A printer by training, Edwin Waugh left his trade for secretarial work and began his literary career in 1852. His first dialect poem, 'Come whoam to thi' childer and me', was written at the Clarence Hotel, Manchester, on 10 June 1856 and published in the Manchester Examiner the following day. The best known Lancashire dialect poem of its day, it inspired numerous followers whose dialect poetry and prose provided an often nostalgic accompaniment to the sound and fury of the industrial revolution. This selection of dialect poems was published shortly after Waugh's death alongside a selection of his standard English poetry.
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Sonnets on Anglo-Saxon History by Ann Hawkshaw
The history of Britain up to the Norman Conquest in the form of 100 prose commentaries, each followed by a sonnet. The commentaries set the historical scene, quoting from Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and noted historians of the times, Hawkshaws sonnets are both imaginative and reflective, often casting new light on historical figures and events. Born in Yorkshire, Ann Hawkshaw spent much of her creative life in Manchester, where her husband John Hawkshaw was elected to Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society and, as a friend of Elizabeth Gaskell, she was drawn into the intellectual and literary circle of the city.
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The history of Britain up to the Norman Conquest in the form of 100 prose commentaries, each followed by a sonnet. The commentaries set the historical scene, quoting from Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and noted historians of the times, Hawkshaws sonnets are both imaginative and reflective, often casting new light on historical figures and events. Born in Yorkshire, Ann Hawkshaw spent much of her creative life in Manchester, where her husband John Hawkshaw was elected to Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society and, as a friend of Elizabeth Gaskell, she was drawn into the intellectual and literary circle of the city.
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Lancashire Dialogues by John Byrom
A scion of the Byroms of Byrom Hall in Lowton, Lancashire, John Byrom was born and lived in Manchester and Salford for much of his life. Educated at Cambridge, Byrom become a member of the Royal Society and a leading poet of his day. In addition to his poetical works, he invented a system of shorthand, composed the Christmas carol "Christians awake! Salute the happy morn", and coined the phrase "Tweedledum and Tweedledee". Byrom's work included three early poems in the Lancashire dialect, for which he was well remembered by the Lancashire dialect writers of the 19th century, in the form of satirical dialogues on topics of current political interest.
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A scion of the Byroms of Byrom Hall in Lowton, Lancashire, John Byrom was born and lived in Manchester and Salford for much of his life. Educated at Cambridge, Byrom become a member of the Royal Society and a leading poet of his day. In addition to his poetical works, he invented a system of shorthand, composed the Christmas carol "Christians awake! Salute the happy morn", and coined the phrase "Tweedledum and Tweedledee". Byrom's work included three early poems in the Lancashire dialect, for which he was well remembered by the Lancashire dialect writers of the 19th century, in the form of satirical dialogues on topics of current political interest.
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Doxie Dent by John Ackworth
Following the short story collections, Clog Shop Chronicles and Beckside Lights, John Ackworth completed the adventures of clogger Jabez Clegg and his Beckside cronies with a novel. Jabez's niece, the young and vivacious Doxie Dent, has grown up in 'Lunnon'. Arriving in the Lancashire village that is the cloggers home, she delights the villagers with her southern ways, but Jabez remains unimpressed...
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Following the short story collections, Clog Shop Chronicles and Beckside Lights, John Ackworth completed the adventures of clogger Jabez Clegg and his Beckside cronies with a novel. Jabez's niece, the young and vivacious Doxie Dent, has grown up in 'Lunnon'. Arriving in the Lancashire village that is the cloggers home, she delights the villagers with her southern ways, but Jabez remains unimpressed...
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The Astral Plane by Charles W. Leadbeater
C. W. Leadbeater was reincarnated in Stockport, Cheshire, (now part of Greater Manchester) after 2,300 years in the heaven-world. Ordained as an Anglican clergyman, he became a prolific author, whose theosophical studies took him to Ceylon and Australia. As sceptics dismissed other-worldly phenomena, nineteenth-century 'occult science' set out to explain them scientifically. Here, C. W. Leadbeater maps out the scenery and inhabitants of the astral plane, accounting along the way for the journey of the soul after death, magic and sorcery, vampires and werewolves, pixies, gnomes and fairies, ghosts and shades, and communication with the departed.
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C. W. Leadbeater was reincarnated in Stockport, Cheshire, (now part of Greater Manchester) after 2,300 years in the heaven-world. Ordained as an Anglican clergyman, he became a prolific author, whose theosophical studies took him to Ceylon and Australia. As sceptics dismissed other-worldly phenomena, nineteenth-century 'occult science' set out to explain them scientifically. Here, C. W. Leadbeater maps out the scenery and inhabitants of the astral plane, accounting along the way for the journey of the soul after death, magic and sorcery, vampires and werewolves, pixies, gnomes and fairies, ghosts and shades, and communication with the departed.
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Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Dickens's shortest novel and the only one to be set in the industrial north of England. A fast moving story with a typical cast of larger than life characters, the novel is a vehicle for a humanist critique of both utilitarian education and the mutual antagonism between capital and the trade union. Hard Times is set in the fictional Coketown and was partly inspired by a visit to Preston during the factory lockout that brought the town's industry to a standstill in 1853. Read as it appeared in Dickens's weekly Household Words from April to August 1854 and followed by two earlier articles - Locked Out and On Strike - on Dickens' visit to Preston.
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Dickens's shortest novel and the only one to be set in the industrial north of England. A fast moving story with a typical cast of larger than life characters, the novel is a vehicle for a humanist critique of both utilitarian education and the mutual antagonism between capital and the trade union. Hard Times is set in the fictional Coketown and was partly inspired by a visit to Preston during the factory lockout that brought the town's industry to a standstill in 1853. Read as it appeared in Dickens's weekly Household Words from April to August 1854 and followed by two earlier articles - Locked Out and On Strike - on Dickens' visit to Preston.
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Beckside Lights by John Ackworth
Beckside Lights is the sequel to John Ackworth's popular Clog Shop Chronicles. Set in the fictional village of Beckside (said to be somewhere between Manchester and Bolton), the book consists of 12 tales of everyday life in a close-knit Methodist community. Based on an entertaining group of Methodists who gather around Jabez Clegg's clog shop fire, the stories are sentimental at times, but Ackworth has a nice sense of irony and refrains from proselytizing. Ackworth was also a student of the Lancashire dialect and the spoken passages in his books are mostly written in a phonetic version of late 19th-century Bolton speech, which I have done my best to reproduce.
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Beckside Lights is the sequel to John Ackworth's popular Clog Shop Chronicles. Set in the fictional village of Beckside (said to be somewhere between Manchester and Bolton), the book consists of 12 tales of everyday life in a close-knit Methodist community. Based on an entertaining group of Methodists who gather around Jabez Clegg's clog shop fire, the stories are sentimental at times, but Ackworth has a nice sense of irony and refrains from proselytizing. Ackworth was also a student of the Lancashire dialect and the spoken passages in his books are mostly written in a phonetic version of late 19th-century Bolton speech, which I have done my best to reproduce.
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Criminal Manchester: Experiences of a Special Correspondent from the Manchester Evening News
Follow the Manchester Evening News 'special correspondent' and his guide - recently back from a 'seven stretch' - as they take you on a tour through the dimly lit quarters of late 19th-century criminal Manchester.
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Follow the Manchester Evening News 'special correspondent' and his guide - recently back from a 'seven stretch' - as they take you on a tour through the dimly lit quarters of late 19th-century criminal Manchester.
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Karl Marx, an essay by Harold Laski
Born in Manchester in 1893, Laski was a leading figure in the left-wing of British socialism. An executive member of the Fabian Society and member of the Socialist League faction of the Labour Party, he was party chairman in 1945-6. As a professor at the London School of Economics he influenced a prominent politicians of the post-war years, including leaders of the independence movements of Asia and Africa, and Ralph Milliband, father of Labour Party leader, Ed Milliband. His political views embraced democratic socialism, revolutionary Marxism and Zionism. This highly readable 1922 essay is a scholarly and critical account of Marx's life and work.
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Journey into the Interior of New South Wales by John Price
Exploration beyond the Upper Nepean in 1798 by R. H. Cambage
In the early days of the penal colony at Sydney, rumour was rife among the convicts of a route to China beyond the Blue Mountains . In the hope of quelling the rumours, Governor John Hunter put together a bizarre exploration party, charged to travel as far into the interior as it could. The party consisted of four convicts, two guides and four soldiers to protect the guides from the convicts. The leader of the party was John Wilson, an ex-convict, transported from Wigan assizes. He was accompanied by John Price, Hunter’s adventurous young servant and, as the only literate member of the party, its diarist. R. H. Cambage meticulously traced the routes of the two journeys in a paper read to the Royal Australian Historical Society in 1919.
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Exploration beyond the Upper Nepean in 1798 by R. H. Cambage
In the early days of the penal colony at Sydney, rumour was rife among the convicts of a route to China beyond the Blue Mountains . In the hope of quelling the rumours, Governor John Hunter put together a bizarre exploration party, charged to travel as far into the interior as it could. The party consisted of four convicts, two guides and four soldiers to protect the guides from the convicts. The leader of the party was John Wilson, an ex-convict, transported from Wigan assizes. He was accompanied by John Price, Hunter’s adventurous young servant and, as the only literate member of the party, its diarist. R. H. Cambage meticulously traced the routes of the two journeys in a paper read to the Royal Australian Historical Society in 1919.
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That Lass o' Lowries by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Hodgson Burnett was born and grew up in Manchester, England, and emigrated to the United States with her family at the age of 16. For her first novels, written in Knoxville, Tennessee and published in New York, she drew upon her knowledge of life and speech of the Lancashire working classes. Set in a Lancashire mining town, That Lass o' Lowries is a gritty, and at times brutal, tale of romance across the classes, which stands in stark contrast to her later work.
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The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald
'Cut a large old hare in small pieces, and put it in a mug with three blades of mace, a little salt, two large onions, one red herring, six morels, half a pint of red wine, three quarts of water, bake it in a quick oven three hours...'. English cooking at its best from eighteenth-century celebrity chef, Elizabeth Raffald. Born in Doncaster, Raffald worked for 15 years as housekeeper in great houses, including that of Lady Elisabeth Warburton at Arley Hall, Cheshire, before setting up as a confectioner and innkeeper in Manchester. The Experienced English Housekeeper was published in 1769 and ran to 13 editions. This reading is from the 10th edition (1786) and includes 900 recipes (or as listeners will discover, receipts).
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'Cut a large old hare in small pieces, and put it in a mug with three blades of mace, a little salt, two large onions, one red herring, six morels, half a pint of red wine, three quarts of water, bake it in a quick oven three hours...'. English cooking at its best from eighteenth-century celebrity chef, Elizabeth Raffald. Born in Doncaster, Raffald worked for 15 years as housekeeper in great houses, including that of Lady Elisabeth Warburton at Arley Hall, Cheshire, before setting up as a confectioner and innkeeper in Manchester. The Experienced English Housekeeper was published in 1769 and ran to 13 editions. This reading is from the 10th edition (1786) and includes 900 recipes (or as listeners will discover, receipts).
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Songs of a Sourdough by Robert W. Service
Reputedly the best-selling poetry collection of the 20th century, 'Songs of a Sourdough' is best known for Robert W. Service's classic Yukon ballads, 'The Shooting of Dan McGrew' and 'The Cremation of Sam McGhee'. Service was born in Preston, Lancashire, and grew up in Scotland. In his twenties, he made his way to Canada and settled in the Yukon where he worked as a bank clerk but evidently dreamed of more adventurous pursuits. Service's readings of his poems show that he could adopt either a Scottish or North American accent. Here they are read in an accent that is not too far removed from the place of his birth.
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Reputedly the best-selling poetry collection of the 20th century, 'Songs of a Sourdough' is best known for Robert W. Service's classic Yukon ballads, 'The Shooting of Dan McGrew' and 'The Cremation of Sam McGhee'. Service was born in Preston, Lancashire, and grew up in Scotland. In his twenties, he made his way to Canada and settled in the Yukon where he worked as a bank clerk but evidently dreamed of more adventurous pursuits. Service's readings of his poems show that he could adopt either a Scottish or North American accent. Here they are read in an accent that is not too far removed from the place of his birth.
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The Manchester Man by Mrs. G. Linnaeus Banks
Jabez Clegg, the Manchester man, floats into this historical novel in 1799, carried downstream by the River Irk in flood. Jabez's rise to commercial success mirrors the rise of the city at the heart of the industrial revolution. Mrs George Linnaeus Banks (nee Isabella Varley) weaves a web of historical fact and fiction in a fast-paced story built on the rivalry between the Jabez and his nemesis Laurence Aspinall, and the fate of Augusta Ashton, who is loved by both but loves only one. An entertaining fictional journey through the early 19th century history of the city of Manchester, the book also has serious points to make about women's choices and domestic violence.
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Jabez Clegg, the Manchester man, floats into this historical novel in 1799, carried downstream by the River Irk in flood. Jabez's rise to commercial success mirrors the rise of the city at the heart of the industrial revolution. Mrs George Linnaeus Banks (nee Isabella Varley) weaves a web of historical fact and fiction in a fast-paced story built on the rivalry between the Jabez and his nemesis Laurence Aspinall, and the fate of Augusta Ashton, who is loved by both but loves only one. An entertaining fictional journey through the early 19th century history of the city of Manchester, the book also has serious points to make about women's choices and domestic violence.
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Tim Bobbin: A View of the Lancashire Dialect by John Collier
A comic dialogue written in Collier's idiosyncratic version of the 18th century South Lancashire dialect with a collection of 19th century texts on the author and his work. Egged on by Meary (Mary), Tummus (Thomas) recounts a series of misadventures on a trip to Rochdale. First published in 1746, the texts read here are from an 1862 edition of Colliers works. Collier's texts are followed by several accounts of Collier's life and commentaries on his work, Elijah Riding's 1860 'plain English' translation of the Tummus and Meary text, and three poems set at Collier's graveside in Rochdale. The page on Tim Bobbin was written to accompany this set of recordings and includes a short summary of the Thomas and Mary story.
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A comic dialogue written in Collier's idiosyncratic version of the 18th century South Lancashire dialect with a collection of 19th century texts on the author and his work. Egged on by Meary (Mary), Tummus (Thomas) recounts a series of misadventures on a trip to Rochdale. First published in 1746, the texts read here are from an 1862 edition of Colliers works. Collier's texts are followed by several accounts of Collier's life and commentaries on his work, Elijah Riding's 1860 'plain English' translation of the Tummus and Meary text, and three poems set at Collier's graveside in Rochdale. The page on Tim Bobbin was written to accompany this set of recordings and includes a short summary of the Thomas and Mary story.
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Thorstein of the Mere by W. G. Collingwood
A fine adventure set in 10th-century England at a time when everyday life in north was made hazardous by wars and shifting alliances among Saxon, British and Norse rulers. Thorstein, like his father Swein before him, is a peaceful Norse settler but brave and ready for battle when the time comes. His adventures will appeal to younger listeners, while older listeners can enjoy a history lesson into the bargain. W. G. Collingwood, artist and antiquarian, set the story in his adopted home of the Lake District, placing Thorstein's settlement at Greenodd on the southern shores of Cumbria and much of the action among the densely forested valleys and open moorland heights to the north - a much wilder region then than it is today.
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A fine adventure set in 10th-century England at a time when everyday life in north was made hazardous by wars and shifting alliances among Saxon, British and Norse rulers. Thorstein, like his father Swein before him, is a peaceful Norse settler but brave and ready for battle when the time comes. His adventures will appeal to younger listeners, while older listeners can enjoy a history lesson into the bargain. W. G. Collingwood, artist and antiquarian, set the story in his adopted home of the Lake District, placing Thorstein's settlement at Greenodd on the southern shores of Cumbria and much of the action among the densely forested valleys and open moorland heights to the north - a much wilder region then than it is today.
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Her Benny by Silas Kitto Hocking
A best-selling tale of the lives of two street-children in Victorian Liverpool, written by Methodist author Silas Hocking. Tormented by their abusive father, Benny and his sister Nell run away from home and here their adventures begin...
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A best-selling tale of the lives of two street-children in Victorian Liverpool, written by Methodist author Silas Hocking. Tormented by their abusive father, Benny and his sister Nell run away from home and here their adventures begin...
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Hard times by Charles Dickens
Dickens's classic tale of the clash of political economy and human kindness set in the industrial inferno of Coketown (a fictional town based on Preston). In addition to this recording by multiple readers, Librivox has a dramatic reading of Hard Times. Dickens's Lancashire short story, 'George Silverman's explanation' (inspired by a walk to Hoghton Tower) has also been recorded in a Librivox Dickens 200th anniversary collection.
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Dickens's classic tale of the clash of political economy and human kindness set in the industrial inferno of Coketown (a fictional town based on Preston). In addition to this recording by multiple readers, Librivox has a dramatic reading of Hard Times. Dickens's Lancashire short story, 'George Silverman's explanation' (inspired by a walk to Hoghton Tower) has also been recorded in a Librivox Dickens 200th anniversary collection.
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The Itinerary of John Leland in or About the Years 1535-1543, Part IX by John Leland
John Leland's 'Itinerary' was the product of journeys around England and Wales undertaken between 1538 and 1543. The manuscript is made up of Leland's notebooks, which were first published in the 18th century, and later by Lucy Toulmin (1906-10). Part IX begins in the south of England and meanders its way, county by county, through central and northern England up to the borders of Scotland. It will be of interest to anyone with an interest in English history as an early form of the 'gazetteer', compiled at a time when the shape of the country was still a mystery to its inhabitants.
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John Leland's 'Itinerary' was the product of journeys around England and Wales undertaken between 1538 and 1543. The manuscript is made up of Leland's notebooks, which were first published in the 18th century, and later by Lucy Toulmin (1906-10). Part IX begins in the south of England and meanders its way, county by county, through central and northern England up to the borders of Scotland. It will be of interest to anyone with an interest in English history as an early form of the 'gazetteer', compiled at a time when the shape of the country was still a mystery to its inhabitants.
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Hindle Wakes by Stanley Houghton
Alan Jeffcote, son of Hindle's richest factory owner, meets Fanny Hawthorn, daughter of Nat's 'slasher' and oldest friend, in Blackpool and the two go off for a secret fling in Llandudno. But after the death of Fanny's friend in a pleasure boat accident at Blackpool the secret is revealed and the the two families are thrown into disarray. The leading light of the Manchester School of realist dramatists, Stanley Houghton wrote Hindle Wakes in 1911 and it was a hit both in Mrs. Horniman's Gaiety Theatre in Manchester and in London. Includes an essay on the play by Emma Goldman.
Read by Phil Benson, Michele Eaton, Kristingj & Catherine Edman -
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Alan Jeffcote, son of Hindle's richest factory owner, meets Fanny Hawthorn, daughter of Nat's 'slasher' and oldest friend, in Blackpool and the two go off for a secret fling in Llandudno. But after the death of Fanny's friend in a pleasure boat accident at Blackpool the secret is revealed and the the two families are thrown into disarray. The leading light of the Manchester School of realist dramatists, Stanley Houghton wrote Hindle Wakes in 1911 and it was a hit both in Mrs. Horniman's Gaiety Theatre in Manchester and in London. Includes an essay on the play by Emma Goldman.
Read by Phil Benson, Michele Eaton, Kristingj & Catherine Edman -
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Lancashire characters and places by Thomas Newbigging
An eclectic collection of essays on late 19th-century Lancashire culture and life, including essays on the poets John Critchley Prince and Edwin Waugh. Thomas Newbigging was born in Glasgow and died in Knutsford, Cheshire, living in between in Rossendale, Pernambuco, and Manchester. A gas manager by profession and writer-historian by inclination, his two major works were the Handbook for Gas Engineers and Managers (1889) and the History of the Forest of Rossendale (1893).
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An eclectic collection of essays on late 19th-century Lancashire culture and life, including essays on the poets John Critchley Prince and Edwin Waugh. Thomas Newbigging was born in Glasgow and died in Knutsford, Cheshire, living in between in Rossendale, Pernambuco, and Manchester. A gas manager by profession and writer-historian by inclination, his two major works were the Handbook for Gas Engineers and Managers (1889) and the History of the Forest of Rossendale (1893).
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The Masque of Anarchy by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The Masque of Anarchy was Shelley's response to the Peterloo massacre at St Peter's Fields, Manchester, where 18 died and hundreds were injured, after Hussars charged into a rally for parliamentary reform. Written in Italy in 1819, the poem was not published until 1832, ten years after Shelley's death. This reading is from the first published edition with the addition of three words that were inserted in full only in later additions ('Eldon' in Stanza IV and 'Bible' and 'Sidmouth' in Stanza VI). The poem is preceded by Leigh Hunt's preface to the 1932 edition and followed by Harry Buxton Forman's 1887 lecture on the poem to the Shelley Society.
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The Masque of Anarchy was Shelley's response to the Peterloo massacre at St Peter's Fields, Manchester, where 18 died and hundreds were injured, after Hussars charged into a rally for parliamentary reform. Written in Italy in 1819, the poem was not published until 1832, ten years after Shelley's death. This reading is from the first published edition with the addition of three words that were inserted in full only in later additions ('Eldon' in Stanza IV and 'Bible' and 'Sidmouth' in Stanza VI). The poem is preceded by Leigh Hunt's preface to the 1932 edition and followed by Harry Buxton Forman's 1887 lecture on the poem to the Shelley Society.
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Three accounts of Peterloo by Francis Archibald Bruton
A companion volume to F.A. Bruton's 'The Story of Peterloo', the full title of this short collection is 'Three Accounts of Peterloo by Eyewitnesses, Bishop Stanley, Lord Hylton, John Benjamin Smith with Bishop Stanley's Evidence at the Trial'. The three contemporary accounts, each with a short introduction by the editor, give different perspectives on the events of 16 August 1819, when a troop of Hussars accompanied by the local Yeomanry rode into a peaceful reform rally at St. Peter's Fields, Manchester, leaving 18 dead and more than 700 injured.
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A companion volume to F.A. Bruton's 'The Story of Peterloo', the full title of this short collection is 'Three Accounts of Peterloo by Eyewitnesses, Bishop Stanley, Lord Hylton, John Benjamin Smith with Bishop Stanley's Evidence at the Trial'. The three contemporary accounts, each with a short introduction by the editor, give different perspectives on the events of 16 August 1819, when a troop of Hussars accompanied by the local Yeomanry rode into a peaceful reform rally at St. Peter's Fields, Manchester, leaving 18 dead and more than 700 injured.
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Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, published in 1848. Set in Lancashire, the book begins in Manchester, where we are introduced to the travails of working class life through the eyes of the Barton and Wilson families. Torn between her cousin and the factory owner's son, she finds herself embroil in the aftermath of an assassination, with the former falsely accused of murdering the latter. A dramatic trial in Liverpool follows.
I haven't had chance to listen to this reading by multiple LibriVox readers. I have listened to Juliet Stevenson's BBC Audiobook, which I enjoyed a great deal.
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Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, published in 1848. Set in Lancashire, the book begins in Manchester, where we are introduced to the travails of working class life through the eyes of the Barton and Wilson families. Torn between her cousin and the factory owner's son, she finds herself embroil in the aftermath of an assassination, with the former falsely accused of murdering the latter. A dramatic trial in Liverpool follows.
I haven't had chance to listen to this reading by multiple LibriVox readers. I have listened to Juliet Stevenson's BBC Audiobook, which I enjoyed a great deal.
Read by multiple readers - Download from LibriVox
The Lancashire witches by William Harrison Ainsworth
Loosely based on the Pendle witch trials of 1612, The Lancashire Witches is a fictionalized and largely comic account, with occasional moments of gothic horror. The main difference between Ainsworth's book and what really happened is that the Pendle witches were in all probability not witches at all, whereas Ainsworth's witches most certainly are. 'A rattling good read that I hope to read aloud one day', I wrote... and then I discovered that Andy Minter, a prolific Librivox reader, had got there before me with this highly professional recording.
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Loosely based on the Pendle witch trials of 1612, The Lancashire Witches is a fictionalized and largely comic account, with occasional moments of gothic horror. The main difference between Ainsworth's book and what really happened is that the Pendle witches were in all probability not witches at all, whereas Ainsworth's witches most certainly are. 'A rattling good read that I hope to read aloud one day', I wrote... and then I discovered that Andy Minter, a prolific Librivox reader, had got there before me with this highly professional recording.
Read by Andy Minter - Download from LibriVox
Confessions of an English opium-eater by Thomas de Quincey
Thomas de Quincey's first published book tells of the author's flight from Manchester as a young, his impoverished wanderings in Wales and London, and his later addiction to opium. An excellent reading by LibriVox reader Martin Geeson, who perfectly captures the mood of the book and de Quincey's voice.
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Thomas de Quincey's first published book tells of the author's flight from Manchester as a young, his impoverished wanderings in Wales and London, and his later addiction to opium. An excellent reading by LibriVox reader Martin Geeson, who perfectly captures the mood of the book and de Quincey's voice.
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Clog Shop Chronicles by John Ackworth
John Ackworth was the pen name of the Rev. Frederick R. Smith, a Methodist minister who was born in Snaith, Yorkshire, but spent much of his career as a circuit preacher in Lancashire. Clog Shop Chronicles was the first and most successful of his works. Set in the fictional 19th-century village of Beckside, the book consists of 12 tales of everyday life in a close-knit Methodist community. Based on an entertaining group of characters who gather round the clog shop fire, the stories are sentimental at times, but Ackworth has a nice sense of irony and refrains from Methodist proselytizing. Ackworth was also a student of the Lancashire dialect and the spoken passages in his books are mostly written in a phonetic version of late 19th-century Bolton speech, which I have done my best to reproduce.
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John Ackworth was the pen name of the Rev. Frederick R. Smith, a Methodist minister who was born in Snaith, Yorkshire, but spent much of his career as a circuit preacher in Lancashire. Clog Shop Chronicles was the first and most successful of his works. Set in the fictional 19th-century village of Beckside, the book consists of 12 tales of everyday life in a close-knit Methodist community. Based on an entertaining group of characters who gather round the clog shop fire, the stories are sentimental at times, but Ackworth has a nice sense of irony and refrains from Methodist proselytizing. Ackworth was also a student of the Lancashire dialect and the spoken passages in his books are mostly written in a phonetic version of late 19th-century Bolton speech, which I have done my best to reproduce.
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The River Duddon: A Series of Sonnets, etc. by William Wordsworth
Located in a part of Cumbria that was once part of Lancashire, the River Duddon rises in the high fells of the Lake District and flows for 25 miles through varied scenery before disappearing into the sands between Millom and Barrow-in-Furness. Wordsworth’s series of sonnets, inspired by his walks along the river, were written over a period of years, but are arranged so as to follow its downward course from the fells to the sea. Part One of this reading consists of the sonnets and Wordsworth's postscript. Part Two contains Wordsworth’s notes on the sonnets, including his account of the career of the Reverend ‘Wonderful’ Walker.
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In a north country village by M. E. Francis
M. E. Francis was born Mary E. Sweetman in Dublin and moved to Lancashire on her marriage to Francis Nicholas Blundell, of the Blundell family, who remain squires of Little Crosby, the last Catholic recusant village in England, which lies a few miles north of Liverpool. Blundell died young and Mary went on to write more than 50 books, using her husband's Christian name as pen name, including this collection of 12 stories set in Little Crosby (‘Thornleigh’). A romantic portrait of mid-19th century village life written from an aristocratic point of view, In a North Country Village (1896) is built around striking portraits of strong Lancashire women surviving in the face of Hardyesque tragedy and the weaknesses of their men folk.
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M. E. Francis was born Mary E. Sweetman in Dublin and moved to Lancashire on her marriage to Francis Nicholas Blundell, of the Blundell family, who remain squires of Little Crosby, the last Catholic recusant village in England, which lies a few miles north of Liverpool. Blundell died young and Mary went on to write more than 50 books, using her husband's Christian name as pen name, including this collection of 12 stories set in Little Crosby (‘Thornleigh’). A romantic portrait of mid-19th century village life written from an aristocratic point of view, In a North Country Village (1896) is built around striking portraits of strong Lancashire women surviving in the face of Hardyesque tragedy and the weaknesses of their men folk.
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Lancashire by Francis Archibald Bruton
The county of Lancashire in the north-west of England is best known as the engine room of the nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution. Steering clear of the industrial districts, F. A. Bruton takes the reader on an engaging tour of the county's beauty spots and lesser known landscapes. Taking the view that the charm of a district is nothing without its historical associations, Bruton packs his account with historical detail and literary references to, among others, Leland, Wordsworth, Ruskin, Arnold, and Mrs. Carlyle.
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The county of Lancashire in the north-west of England is best known as the engine room of the nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution. Steering clear of the industrial districts, F. A. Bruton takes the reader on an engaging tour of the county's beauty spots and lesser known landscapes. Taking the view that the charm of a district is nothing without its historical associations, Bruton packs his account with historical detail and literary references to, among others, Leland, Wordsworth, Ruskin, Arnold, and Mrs. Carlyle.
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The Story of Peterloo
by Francis Archibald Bruton
On 16th August 1819 around 60,000 people gathered at St. Peter’s Fields, Manchester, to rally for parliamentary reform. Shortly after the meeting began, a troop of Hussars and local yeomanry rode into the crowd, wielding clubs, swords and sabres, leaving 18 dead and more than 700 severely injured. In the following years, the Peterloo Massacre was the subject of several trials and inquiries. It now counts as one of the most significant events in the history of the British labour movement. Francis Archibald Bruton’s account of the day’s events, published for its centenary and based on a detailed examination of contemporary accounts, is both dispassionate and moving.
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On 16th August 1819 around 60,000 people gathered at St. Peter’s Fields, Manchester, to rally for parliamentary reform. Shortly after the meeting began, a troop of Hussars and local yeomanry rode into the crowd, wielding clubs, swords and sabres, leaving 18 dead and more than 700 severely injured. In the following years, the Peterloo Massacre was the subject of several trials and inquiries. It now counts as one of the most significant events in the history of the British labour movement. Francis Archibald Bruton’s account of the day’s events, published for its centenary and based on a detailed examination of contemporary accounts, is both dispassionate and moving.
Read by Phil Benson - Download from LibriVox