Thames aficionado Robert Gibbings once wrote that 'the quiet of an
age-old river is like the slow turning of the pages of a well-loved
book'. Writing the Thames tells a much-loved river's story through
the remarkable prose, poetry and illustration that it has inspired.
In eight themed chapters it features historical events such as
Julius Caesar's crossing in 55 BCE and Elizabeth I's stand against
the Spanish at Tilbury, explorations of topographers who mapped,
drew and painted the river and the many congenial riverside
retreats for authors ranging from Francis Bacon, Thomas More and
Alexander Pope to Thomas Love Peacock, William Morris and Henry
James. A chapter on messing about in boats tells the story of
William Hogarth's impulsive five-day river trip with four
inebriated friends and features satirical novels making fun of
frenetic rowers (Zuleika Dobson) and young London men-about-town on
camping holidays (Three Men in a Boat). The river has also inspired
some of the best children's literature (The Wind in the Willows)
and naturalists such as Richard Jeffries and C.J. Cornish (A
Naturalist on the Thames) have recorded the richness of its
wildlife. But there are also dark undercurrents: Charles Dickens's
use of its waters as a symbol of death, Sax Rohmer's Limehouse
villain Dr Fu Manchu, and the many fictional criminals who dispose
of corpses in its sinister depths in detective novels ranging from
Sherlock Holmes to Inspector Morse. Beautifully illustrated, this
book celebrates the writers who have helped to make England's
greatest river an enduring legend.
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