Penzance 16th August 2010

Dinner in Wetherspoons, Lasagne, always good.

Then a trawl of the charity shops and S/H bookshops.

The Oxfam shop had a rather nice tassel for 99p. I use these on the keys of my bookcases, bureau etc. as a detail and they are practical too.



There it is on the key to my Cabinet of Curiosities. More on that later.

The S/H bookshop had this rather good Hogarth print, not the actual original, but a later version dated 1809. It is The Times Plate 2.



This was originally published on one sheet with The Times Plate 1.

Plate 1 combines a pictorial defence of the then prime minister, the Earl of Bute, with a sustained attack on his predecessor William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. Whereas Pitt was associated with an aggressive stance towards Britain’s French and Spanish opponents in the Seven Years’ War, Bute came to power determined to end this victorious but expensive conflict...

Plate 2 ostensibly offers a contrasting vision of the war’s peaceful aftermath, dominated by a statue of the King and by the details of replenishment. At the same time, the print also seems to call into question George III’s dependence on a coterie of Scottish courtiers and ministers. For, under the elevated but passive eye of his royal master, Bute is shown operating a pump that supplies water to a series of potted-plants inscribed with the names of fictional Scottish placemen.

From Tate Britain

Also bought a book on Bruce Chatwin. With Chatwin Portrait of a Writer by Susan Clapp. I read The Songlines a while ago, then went on to read a number of his travel books.