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CERES enters the world of virtual tourism!
One of the results of the Internet's world-shrinking capacity is the greater availability of information about, and pictures of, beautiful and interesting places. It happens that some of England's palaces and country houses are very well-served by web pages. So CERES decided it would be a good idea to undertake a characteristically obsessive search.
The pages below offer one or more of the following:
The priority in what follows is not so much to cover every country house or palace, but rather to find Internet materials relating to them. If you have suggestions (either for websites not included, or names which could be searched), then do get in touch. Typing a name into an Altavista seach will often take you to the right place, although you could always find yourself on a photo-tour of a Bed and Breakfast.
One thing CERES should not mention is a site which invites you to enter your name and find out if you could be related to stately home-owners. They'll sell you a picture of 'your' house if you don't keep your wits about you: http://www.infokey.com/hon/caslist.htm. Actually there may in some bizarre way be an academic use for this, but...
This feature is organised under the following headings; choose from the index or scroll through below.
AN UNSPEAKABLY EXCELLENT SITE
Professor Hugh Lester of Tulane University, CERES salutes you! His site 'Period and Style for Designers' is at http://www.tulane.edu/lester/text/lester.html. It is a gem: carefully chosen, concisely described, clearly presented pictures of a remarkable diversity of materials. The 'English Renaissance' and 'English Baroque' areas are most directly within the
remit of CERES, but all the sections are good. Check out building
exteriors and interiors, and furniture and objects as well, from the
Pyramids to Frank Lloyd Wright.
SCAFFOLD - WWW ARCHITECTURAL SITE
Currently under construction (appropriately enough), with only some
images and text in place: so far Indian architecture, Vitruvius, and
Renaissance Italians are represented, plus some general architectural
materials. Head for http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/george/scaffold.html.
RUBENS PROJECT
If you are interested in viewing and downloading architectural and
artistic images on a large scale then this Australian project run
from ANU will be of interest. Using secure servers, registration, and
(to access its full glory) payment, it is a pretty major undertaking.
Head for http://rubens.anu.edu.au/ and find out more. CERES found
that Netscape and Internet Explorer were not entirely happy with the
secure server set-up and did not load some pages. From the outside it
looked like perseverance would be worthwhile.
VOICE OF THE SHUTTLE ARCHITECTURE PAGE
Links galore at http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/shuttle/archit.html.
WELCOME TO BRITAIN!
A tourism site which will give useful information as well as cool
maps showing where all the 'heritage attractions' (what a lovely
phrase!) are: http://www.britain.co.uk/.
AND FINALLY
A gentleman from Finland by the name of Risto Hurmalainen has created
a list of, with links to, his 100 favourite old British buildings.
Many a treasure hides therein: http://www.dlc.fi/~hurmari/castles.html.
HURRAH!
Naturally some of the best buildings and artworks are owned by our
dear Royal family. Although Earl Spencer tells us they are
old-fashioned, in fact they have a far better website than he does,
with plenty of palace(s) information at http://www.royal.gov.uk/.
BURGHLEY HOUSE, LINCS
Thanks in part to Stamford's claim to be the 'finest Stone Town on
the Internet' Burghley House has a healthy web presence. Lose no time
in zapping to http://www.stamford.co.uk/burghley/index.html.
There is some historical information but not surprisingly the main
pleasure of this site are the pictures of house, grounds, furniture,
of the excellent art collection, and of the extraordinary Heaven Room
and Hell Staircase painted by Antonio Verrio. Actually the
reproduction of the latter is disappointing.
You can reach a slightly better Hell Staircase via the Burghley House page at http://www.demon.co.uk/citygate/. There's a little more detail about the building of Burghley here.
But it gets better! The Italian paintings from Burghley went on tour in 1996 and the result is a superb virtual art gallery with nice reproductions and interpretive notes under the auspices of the the Lakeview Museum in Peoria, Illinois. Don't miss http://www.giovanetto.com/burghley/burghley.html. Click on the picture-title for a bigger picture.
CASTLE HOWARD, YORKS
Vanbrugh-tastic! And it has its own website which is informative and
idiosyncratic: http://www.castlehoward.co.uk/. The photos are arty and moody rather than actually worth looking at. Ho hum. There are, though, some nice reproductions of architectural drawings.
The Castle Howard website people complain that the only portraits of Vanbrugh (and those of the Kit-Cat club) are in the National Portrait Gallery which has a policy not to allow Internet reproductions. Boo! Although Hurrah! for the NPG's own website which is useful as a guide to what's on show, with a few pictures: http://www.npg.org.uk/.
BLENHEIM PALACE, OXON
Still on the Vanbrugh trail, but sadly less to ogle electronically.
There's a small amount of information about the palace and Vanbrugh
himself at http://ernie.bgsu.edu/~smorgan/publick/blenheim.html.
A rare CERES mention of someone's holiday snaps - but there are
several pictures at http://www.english.upenn.edu/~rstack/album.html.
HARDWICK HALL, DERBYS
Just visiting info: http://www.openworld.co.uk/britain/pages/H/HAR45QJa.html.
And there's a tiny picture and some information (also about architect
Robert Smythson) at http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/parade/taf24/hardwick.htm.
CHATSWORTH, DERBYS
Derbyshire tourist info gives the basics about Chatsworth, and also
HADDON HALL, EYAM HALL, MELBOURNE HALL, etc. Find it at
http://www.derbycity.com/derby2/stately.html.
WOLLATON PARK, NOTTS
Some historical information and pictures of this house at
http://www.innotts.co.uk/~asperges/woll.html.
These pages have a style of design which is, let's say, not to
everyone's taste. If it is (!) you can link to many others under the
proprietor Jeremy Boot's auspices, many of which concern the
activities of radio hams.
AUDLEY END, ESSEX
Not a great deal to shout about except the bare essentials at
http://www.locata.co.uk/info/audhse.htm.
HATFIELD HOUSE, HERTS
The barest essentials are at http://www.kidsnet.co.uk/places/hatfield.html. Better is http://www.britain.co.uk/pages/H/HAT95NQbA.html which has
several pictures: don't forget to click on the left picture for
larger version, and on the right-hand ones to swap them round. It'll
make sense when you get there.
CERES did find one other picture, but it was a holiday snap linked to a 1995 holiday diary from a 16-year-old girl. Good taste intervened.
WILTON HOUSE, DORSET
Again, nothing, except details so bare they make previous use of term
'barest' seem unwise: morsels on Dorset's great houses (also
ATHELHAMPTON HOUSE, BREAMORE HOUSE, etc.) at
http://www.lds.co.uk/dt/houses.html. There's a tiny picture of ATHELHAMPTON at http://www.shogun.demon.co.uk/dorset/athelham.htm.
HAMPTON COURT PALACE
The charming people at The Discerning Eye Internet Services have
produced a virtual tour, with pictures, music, and historical
information. Check it out if you will at
http://www.the-eye.com/hcintro.htm
.
There's information and a bit of illustration at http://www.realtennis.gbrit.com/ which, as its URL suggests, is most interested in the royal tennis courts. This site also has material on the history of tennis.
Grose Educational Media has thoughtfully but rather curiously decided to reproduce a 1919 article by Ernest Law which discusses Shakespearean performances at Hampton Court, which is the only surviving building in which Shakespeare's plays were performed. Head for http://www.entrenet.com/~groedmed/hampton.html.
LONGLEAT HOUSE, WILTS
Basic info and two pictures (one of the house, one of giraffes) at
http://www.wctb.co.uk/longleat.htm.
No internet search would be truly complete without one consiracy theory. Sure enough (and not suprisingly since nearby Warminster is said to be Britain's UFO capital) Longleat is said to have been built on a UFO crash-site. Find out not much more at http://www.webentity.co.uk/sci-fi/news/19961020-ukufo.html.
BOLSOVER CASTLE, DERBYS
Tourist info at http://www.locata.co.uk/info/bolscas.htm but the
interesting thing about Bolsover is the geophysical survey undertaken
by English Heritage in order to establish the layout of an earlier
formal garden. This is pretty interesting and there are various
pictures of the castle as well as 3-D underground image things. Go to
http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/reports/bolsover/. Link from here to English Heritage and to other geophysical surveys available in HTML format (most of which look rather further back in time).
WINDSOR CASTLE, BERKS
You can get some sense of the variety of interiors and exteriors
through the pictures (and few words) at http://www.johansen.com/hotelnet/windsor/home.htm. The best thing here is the 1607 bird's eye view by John Norden.
GREENWICH HOSPITAL, LONDON
Christopher Wren's gargantuan building is now the Royal Naval College
which allows CERES to make its first ever recommendation of a
Ministry of Defence web page. There's good coverage in words and
pictures at http://www.mod.uk/histbldg/RNC_DOH.HTM. Link from here to other historical buildings under the aegis of the MoD.
KNOLE, KENT
Description at http://www.britain.co.uk/pages/K/KNO50RPc.html. There are pictures of the house and deer-park at http://www.sevenoaks-uk.com/town.htm#knole.
KENILWORTH, WARKS
There is information and an eye-twisting moving panorama graphic
(addictive but dangerous) at http://www.celcat.com/kworth/castle.html. Link to pictures and context - don't forget to click on the tiny pictures to obtain larger versions - at
http://www.celcat.com/kworth/castle.html.
Cahiers Elisabethains recently featured an article by Mary Hazard entitled 'A Magnificent Lord': Leicester, Kenilworth, and Transformations in the Idea of Magnificence'. Link to abstract in French or English from the CE website http://serinf2.univ-montp3.fr/CERRA/AbsCE31.html.
PENSHURST PLACE, KENT
There's a pretty good virtual tour with only mildly annoying music at
http://www.i-way.co.uk/~sid/pens.html. At this site you'll find scanty biogs of some Sidneys (Philip, but not Robert), details of the building of the house, and other
historical context. It doesn't replace books, far from it, but it
can, er, bring certain things to life. Link from here to visitors'
info at http://www.seetb.org.uk/penshurst/.
THE QUEEN'S HOUSE, GREENWICH
There's some historical information on the National Maritime Museum's
website (the Queen's House is on their patch) at
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/tm/queen.html. Link from here to '25 Facts about the Queen's House' and details of how you can get married there, Inigo-Jones-style.
BEAULIEU, DORSET
It has its own web pages but very scanty material:
http://www.itl.net/features/nmm/Beaulieu.html.
INIGO JONES
The Globe theatre website based at Reading promises more links to
Jonesy materials, and currently offers interesting photos and
drawings of the Globe's indoor theatre, which is based on designs by
Inigo Jones, probably for the Cockpit: http://www.reading.ac.uk/globe/Data-Base/Images/Jones.html.
There are more Globe-related architectural drawings and photos at http://www.reading.ac.uk/globe/Data-Base/Pictures.html. See also an article on architectural style and the Globe at http://www.reading.ac.uk/globe/Data-Base/Articles/RDN1Ronayne.html with links to drawings of interiors by Jones and Robert Smythson.
CHRISTOPHER WREN
There's a good collection, with pictures, of Wren's buildings in
London and information about those elsewhere at
http://www.uk-guide.com/london/wren-lon.htm.
His biography is part of the Galileo Project; see under 'Internet Resources'.
SIR JOHN VANBRUGH
There is a small biography at
http://ernie.bgsu.edu/~smorgan/publick/vanbrugh.html- a page brought
to you by the owner of the Restoration Drama Homepage,
http://ernie.bgsu.edu/~smorgan/publick/resthome.html.
VITRUVIUS
There's a German Vitruvius homepage which has biography and
bibliography, plus links to other Vitruvian and general architectural
sources: http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~kdw0101/WWW/SC/Vitruvia/vitruvius.html.
BROTHERTON COLLECTION MANUSCRIPT VERSE
CERES is showing its age! We remember the days when this was a creaky
telnet link! (At least we think we do.) Can it be that haven't
mentioned this seriously scholarly internet search facility, enabling
you to rummage (virtually) through the individual items of English
poetry contained in the 17th and 18th century manuscripts in the
Brotherton Collection of Leeds University Library? No full texts, but
first and last lines and lots of bibliographical information. The
website expresses the hope that in time it may extend to include
material in other collections. Let's hope so. The items in question
range from contemporary copies of poems by writers like Dryden and
Pope at one literary extreme to popular tags and epitaphs at the
other. Many of the manuscripts are miscellanies and commonplace books
which have never previously been indexed, and their contents have
consequently remained largely unknown to scholars.
Pay respects to http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/bcmsv/intro.html.
CHRIST CHURCH PICTURE GALLERY
Like most Oxbridge colleges Christ Church has a website, but its
coverage of the excellent picture gallery there make it stand out:
details of exhibitions and reproductions from the Renaissance Italian
collection via http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/.
THE GALILEO PROJECT
This site is dedicated to the life and work of Galileo and to the
science and scientists of his era. It offers a great deal of serious
information on a well-organised site. Amongst other things it has
fairly detailed biographies of some 600 major figures in European
Renaissance science: http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/.
ELECTRONIC MARLOWE
CERES has already mentioned this site for its texts of Dr Faustus; it
is now on the verge of being complete, with an electronic edition of
the rest of Marlowe's works. This edition collates many earlier
editions of the plays: for instance, users may select the 1590 Octavo
version of Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1 or view instead Robinson's
1826 collation. By selecting from the pop-up menu above each text,
viewers may choose between approximately twenty versions of each of
Marlowe's works. It is anticipated that every text will be available
for viewing with textual variants any day now. Find it at
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Texts/Marlowe.html.
VERSIFICATION
http://sizcol1.u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp/versif/Versification.html
Already mentioned in Harvest II.i, this comprehensive site gets a
second mention because it now hosts T.V.F. Brogan's 'English
Versification: A Reference Guide', a revised and corrected electronic
edition of Brogan's monumental annotated bibliography, Versification:
1570-1980, originally published by Johns Hopkins U.P. It will be
issued in individual files that correspond to the citation prefixes
in the Table of Contents. When the entire bibliography has been
published [and most of it seems to be there already], it will be
consolidated into a single file and a search engine added to
facilitate searches. This should be completed by early next year.
Later supplements, scheduled for 1998, will carry the bibliography's
terminus ad quem to 1987.
THE ELIOT-PHELIPS COLLECTION CATALOGUING PROJECT
The University of London Library has just completed the first phase
(funded by HEFCE) of a project to catalogue and conserve the
Eliot-Phelips Collection of publications printed in or relating to
Spain. The collection consists primarily of approximately 3500 books,
pamphlets, and official documents, supplemented by smaller numbers of
maps, manuscripts, and prints. Over 50% of the printed material is
from the hand-press period. Of the 971 items catalogued up to July
1997, 139 were printed before 1600, 195 between 1600 and 1699, and
213 between 1700 and 1830.
A fuller account of the project, together with a more detailed description of the material in the collection, is now available on the Web. It can be seen via the University of London Library home page (URL: http://www.ull.ac.uk/ull/) or directly at URL: http://www.ull.ac.uk/ull/EP/EPIntro.html. For further information, contact Julia Walworth, Head of Special Collections (jwalworth@ull.ac.uk) or Patricia Noble, Project Officer (pnoble@ull.ac.uk).
MR WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND THE INTERNET
This site has been around for a while but after its recent revision
it is a capacious and useful starting point not only for Shakespeare
resources but for Renaissance literature more generally. And, it has
moved to a new address http://daphne.palomar.edu/shakespeare/.
COMPUTERS AND TEXTS ON-LINE
Volume 15 is now on-line! Of particular interest is Jean Chothia's
review of the Arden Shakespeare CD-ROM, with a response co-written by
Jonathan Bate. The central contention in the Computers and Texts review
is its use of the Arden 2 editions rather than the new Arden 3. URL
for C and T 15 is http://info.ox.ac.uk/ctitext/publish/comtxt/ct15/index.html.
BIBLIOFIND
Just in passing, you can search through a vast catalogue of rare,
antiquarian, and second-hand books at http://www.bibliofind.com.
WARBURG SEMINARS AND LECTURES 1997-8
Details of activities of all kinds at the Warburg Institute are
available at the website http://www.sas.ac.uk/warburg/.
GIOSEFFO ZARLINO'S MUSIC TREATISES
The Department of Computer and Humanities (Utrecht University)
announces the publication of Gioseffo Zarlino's Music Treatises,
facsimile and transcription edited by Frans Wiering, Thesaurus
Musicarum Italicarum, Volume 1, CD-ROM for Windows 95.
Gioseffo Zarlino (1517-1590) was one of the most influential music theorists of the Renaissance. His principal work, Le istitutioni harmoniche, is a unique synthesis of the music theory of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and the compositional practice of his own time. The Dimostrationi harmoniche presents music theory according to the axiomatic model of Euclid's Elements. In the Sopplimenti, Zarlino displays his wide reading of classical sources in a sharp response to Vincenzo Galilei's critique of his earlier writings.
This CD-ROM contains the first edition of the Istitutioni (1558), and all three treatises as they appear in the Tutte le Opere of 1588-89. Each document is available in two forms: a facsimile and a transcription. The texts are transcribed using Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), following the guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). All illustrations are included, and the music examples from both editions of the Istitutioni have been transcribed into modern notation. Longer examples from the 1558 edition can also be played from MIDI.
The CD-ROM also contains an SGML viewer for Windows 95, a viewer for the facsimiles, and two fonts. Together these provide a powerful and user-friendly software environment for the TMI.
The price of the CD-ROM is 10 Dollars, 6 British Pounds [BARGAIN], LIT. 20,000, DM 20 or DFL 20 (cost of software, CD production and mailing). To order, please send this amount IN CASH to the address below. If you prefer to pay by cheque, please DOUBLE the specified sums in order to cover the banking charges we shall unavoidably incur.
TMI, Utrecht University, Department of Computer and Humanities, Achter de Dom 22-24, NL 3512 JP Utrecht, Netherlands. E-mail: tmi@let.ruu.nl. WWW: http://candl.let.ruu.nl/.
WORLD SHAKESPEARE BIBLIOGRAPHY CD
Cambridge University Press has just released the World Shakespeare
Bibliography on CD-ROM 1987-94. The 24,768 entries (along with
several thousand additional reviews) cover scholarship and
productions in more than 80 languages. Full details are available at
the World Shakespeare Bibliography Web-Site:
http://www-english.tamu.edu/wsb/ (which includes a list of books and articles that have not been tracked down).
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