17th October 2017
From Guernsey Life, June 1967, in the Library. 'Looking at Life,' by Michael Geraghty, concerning amongst other things an application for the transfer of a licence to run this well-known wine-bar and public house. The advertisment is from a 1934 tourist brochure in the Library collection.
9th October 2017
Snippets of the poet's life in Guernsey. This is part of the Victor Hugo and Guernsey project. [By Dinah Bott]
25th September 2017
Part of the Victor Hugo and Guernsey project. The portrait of Edgar MacCulloch is courtesy of Candie Museum, Guernsey.
25th July 2017
Advocate and friend of Hugo, Alderney's Peter Le Ber was an exceptional young man, who became editor of the Gazette de Guernesey aged only 24. This is part of the Victor Hugo and Guernsey project.
13th June 2017
By architect and wit Amias C Andros, published in the Star in 1879. See the two bound volumes of his press cuttings in the Library for further information. The illustration is A view from Marshall's Hotel, 1832, by Celia Markham (in the Priaulx Library collection.)
10th May 2017
The Eclectic Review, Vol 17 (1), 1845, pp. 540-555. 1848 is the year of revolution in Europe; in Guernsey the stirrings of the people, such as they were, occurred just a few years earlier. (The headings have been added for ease of reading.) The illustration is a print from the Library Collection dated c 1835, published by M Moss, and showing the interior of the Royal Court in St Peter Port. 'May this people ever beware of apeing the follies of their neighbours, and retain their own dignified simplicity! For it they are pre-eminent. Should they ever stoop to become imitators, they can never get beyond an humble mimicry of that which is useless and effeminate in the customs of England.'
21st April 2017
On 5 March 1862 Hugo made arrangements with his cook, Marie Sixty, for a repas des enfants pauvres to be served every week, ‘the meal will be the same as ours, we shall serve them, they will say as they sit down Dieu soyez beni and on rising Dieu soyez remercié.’ [Carnet, Quatrième agenda, Massin p. 1387.] His son Charles disapproved of the wording (see letter from Hugo to Charles, Massin p. 1388, 22 March 1862). Hugo followed the teaching of a French doctor that meat and a glass of wine were good for growing children—not a medical opinion that would be advocated today. The first such lunch took place on 10 March 1862 and thereafter they were held on a regular basis. There was a special meal at Christmas, when presents were distributed. These were often of a useful nature—items of clothing for example, but there were also toys. This is part of The Victor Hugo and Guernsey project.
19th April 2017
From the Gazette de Guernsey, January-September 1808, the spelling exactly as it was published. The 18th January was the occasion of a ball at the Assembly Rooms. The plate is dated October 1807 and is from the Library Collection.
12th April 2017
A lucky ticket, From the Gazette de Guernesey, 6 April 1822. A parody of a piece of puff for the Guernsey Lottery, the poem may be the work of Dr James Tupper - 'Monsieur Toupar' - who is known to have written light-hearted poems in Guernsey French.
23rd January 2017
October 1820. From a commonplace book in the Library, Flowers, from the Garden of Imagination. The compiler of the book is unknown, but there is a cipher on the flyleaf that appears to read 'FDC.' Another poem, To a Lady, is dated 'Guildford, August 2, 1817,' and has the legend, 'On her Friend's leaving Guildford for Ireland, where she is soon to join her.'
