Rejection

I believe the first time I experienced a sense of rejection was on my very first day at school, in September 1954, I should think. When Instructed to wash before dinner I went to the boys' toilets and washed my face and hands. This led to howls of derision from other children present.
This sense of rejection was compounded over the coming days and weeks, when I felt so isolated, chiefly because I was terrified, and too scared to ask to go to the toilet so that I had accidents which showed vividly in the crotch of my short khaki trousers, so that I spent lunchtimes hiding alone at the far end of the school's playing field. My sense of rejection was further increased by my older sister's refusal to have anything to do with me. My punishment for hitting a boy who was persistently bullying me only made my isolation greater.
I think I sensed the rejection of my mother by my father's family, and by people in general. She had stolen my father from his family. She was a foreigner, and the enemy, a member of the derided Italians who were seen as cowards. She was insulted by shopkeepers too. 
I found an escape from rejection in books and learning, but that too led to rejection by others. My interests and passions were not their interests. I never learnt to kick, catch or throw a ball, I never learnt how to play football or cricket, because there was nobody to teach me. I grew up knowing I was an outsider.
For decades I put these feelings to the back of my mind. Similarly when my Scottish brother in law declared I was rather camp, I was hurt but just dismissed the hurt. I had already experienced similar rejection when my grandmother introduced me when about twelve years old to the village postman from Dolton who declared very loudly that I was rather effeminate. What an evil bastard, his arrogant and insensitive behaviour was hurtful and harmful. I have never forgiven him for this.
Of course this rejection also led me to find a new identity, to revel in my Italian heritage and, eventually, my Jewish heritage. I rejected their narrow, restricted world. I left for a bigger, much more exciting world. I experienced things they couldn't even imagine. I took risks, I experimented, I explored, I discovered. But I haven't forgiven these people for their hurtful lack of understanding, their narrow-minded treatment of me. In a way they were all bullies, trying to make me conform. They represented that other world, which wasn't my world. They conformed, as my siblings have done, absorbed into 'normal' society, whilst I stood apart and separate, but proud and happy.
What I write is a reflection of my own personal feelings, not a judgement on others. Nobody knows how others will react to what we say or do. I thought about what I had written as I lay in bed last night, realising that I might have hurt people by saying these things. But I also thought about how I had been hurt, by how much I am shaken by the Brexit vote, by people, including friends and family, who read and trust the Daily Mail, and who voted to leave the European Community. So 54% of adults in Britain voted to leave Europe, for whatever reason. To me they demonstrated the ignorant, petty, small-minded xenophobia of many English people. There have been demonstrations by remainers in support of refugees and in support of foreign workers in Great Britain. When I think about it, when I see the response of leavers, it is of arrogant hostility, of silence in the face of the refugee situation or the exploitation of foreign workers. They may have voted to leave Europe because they were unhappy with Tory Britain, but they were ignorant and wrong, gullible and misguided. They are of the same ilk as ordinary German people who let Nazism happen, who turned a blind eye at least to the crimes of that regime, or often actively participated. The rise of racist crimes since June 23rd, with attacks on ordinary people who weren't born here, with the acquiescence and encouragement of the right wing press, appals me. Attacks on the judiciary and on experts follow suit. Support for Trump in America is also an indication of the nastier side of human nature.
So, am I sorry for what I have written? No I'm not. Lovely, ordinary caring people can still inadvertently be hurtful. Do I have a chip on my shoulder? I don't care. That's just another classic English put down. I shall stay stubbornly and proudly European, different and not normal to the day I die.

Marbled Paper

From about 2000 to 2007 I built up a collection of marbled and hand printed endpapers with the intention of using them when I rebound books. I shall not be able to do the binding, but the papers are so beautiful I want to record them. The three block-printed sheets were purchased in Venice, at the Legatoria Piazzesi. These are expensive and still available at €38.90 each. 

Many were purchased via the internet from Florence, from Florentia Libris at Bagno a Ripoli (where my father lived as a soldier for several months towards the end of the Italian Campaign in World War Two), and individually signed by the craftsperson who created each unique piece. These are quite reasonable, at €5 a sheet, and very intricate and extremely beautiful. There is a video (silent) available here.

Three are definitely English, by Cockerell of Cambridge, and dated 1969. This is a film made in 1970 of the Cockerell manufactory. The business was closed and its contents dispersed in 1990. Cockerell papers are now rare and valuable.

A Cockerell of Grantchester paper.

A Cockerell of Grantchester paper.

A Cockerell of Grantchester paper.

My Legacy

I have placed many of my files and much of my research on the internet. Eventually no doubt it will all be lost, but meanwhile the work will be available in various ways.

1. gent.org.uk is the home page for much of my work, chiefly sites that I have created in order to share all my research.

2. schifffamilytrieste.blogspot.co.uk is all the material I have so far written up during my research into my mother's ancestors.

3. This is the link to my Dropbox folder containing all the research materials I have accumulated about my mother's ancestors, especially the Schiff family.

4. A vast number of files that I collected and created over the past twenty years are available at Mega. They are here.

5. Additional files related to Exeter Synagogue are here.

Inspirations: Oliver Sacks, Leonard Cohen and Alain de Botton

The books of Oliver Sacks became compulsive reading after I was diagnosed with a cerebral cavernous angioma at the rear of the front left lobe of my brain early in 2009. I had my own neurological condition, which was quite dramatic at its onset, with what I discovered to have been a major seizure with anterograde amnesia, 'a partial or complete inability to recall the recent past, while long-term memories from before the event remain intact'. I see from the photograph that I have ended up with three copies of The Mind's Eye', and two copies of 'The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat', but that was because I was keen not to miss a single back by him. I felt I got to know him through his books, and was pleased to read his autobiography. The final volume, 'Gratitude', was a slight disappointment in that I think I had read all its contents already in different formats, but it was an attractive small volume. I should add to this section the book 'Do No Harm' by the neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, which gave another aspect of our understanding of the human brain. I also took a delight in that both these writers were Jewish.

Jewish too of course was Leonard Cohen. I always enjoyed Leonard Cohen from the day in 1968 that my university roommate Pete Mercer played his first album 'Songs of Leonard Cohen. Through the past forty years songs by Leonard Cohen have entertained and moved me, through to his final song 'Hineni'. The words did not always make complete sense, any more than the words of his poems - I have his poems 1956-1968. I had another volume of his poems that I cannot find at the moment, and also his first novel 'The Favourite Game' that I haven't read.
The third author on this shelf is Alain de Botton who, curiously, is also Jewish. I enjoyed his insights on various issues.

Gardening Books

I come from a gardening family. My paternal grandmother was a fine gardener. She created the garden at Manley Road, but more importantly she transformed the garden at Mons Hall, as well as working hard in the extensive kitchen gardens. She had a good eye, and used plants well. My grandfather helped to create the structure, trimming lonicera hedges, mowing lawns and creating archways. My uncle Philip helped too, but he was too much a farmer and planted in straight rows without artistry.
My grandmother grew up at Sharston Farm in Northenden, Cheshire, where her father Ted Neild was a nurseryman. He had been a gardener for the Tatton family at Wythenshawe Hall, but after his marriage he grew flowers for market. His own father, William Neill, came from Ireland, living with his father a farmer at Penwortham near Preston, but later became a lecturer in horticulture at the agricultural college at Holmes Chapel near Crewe in Cheshire. He was a fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society, and also travelled as a lecturer, internationally.
My grandmother started me off as a gardener, giving me a small triangular plot at Manley Road. It was very shaded by a massive Russian vine, lilacs and a laburnum, but she gave me packets of seed of annuals like Virginian Stock that never failed to produce some flowers. In the 1960s I took over responsibility for the gardening at Manley Road, cutting hedges, mowing the grass, pruning roses, and planting bulbs from Woolworths.
By the end of the decade I became quite obsessed with Japanese and Chinese plants and gardening styles, thanks to a root cutting that my grandmother gave me of the bamboo that grew at Mons Hall. I knew it as Arundinaria nitida, but it is now known as Fargesia nitida. It flourished in the middle of the lawn at Manley Road, but died, like all specimens of this bamboo, after it flowered in the early years of the 21st century. By the early 1970s I had acquired and planted many plants, trees and shrubs of Chinese and Japanese origin, some of which I transplanted to Devon.
It was in 1985 that we bought Culver House, and it has a huge garden that I fairly quickly began to clear and tame, and took advantage of the resources offered by Rogers Garden Centre in Exwick, owned and run by our neighbour David Wagg. He provided the contents, but the design and inspiration for the garden came from Gertrude Jekyll. I think it was copies of her books in the local library that first inspired me, and I photocopied some of these, but I quickly started to buy copies of her books that were available as reprints. Her work with the architect Edwin Lutyens inspired me, and I incorporated some of her ideas into the new garden that I designed for Culver House.

Books printed by Thomas Gent of York

My interest in Thomas Gent commenced when I was about ten years old, and discovered in my grandparents' attic a copy of his autobiography, published in 1832, sixty four years after his death. This was a cut and bowdlerised version, but I did go to York Minster about twenty years ago, and also acquired a microfilm of the original manuscript, so that I was able to make this available on the internet. I had hoped one day to write up my research on this distant relation.
Over the years I have acquired five other copies of this book, which I shall distribute amongst my family. I have multiple copies of several of his books that I have accumulated and shall similarly distribute. That original copy my parents had rebound for me at Peschiera, and this I have now given to my son.
I also purchased over the past twenty years other examples of Thomas Gent's work, mostly printed by him, but at the end of his life also printed by others. There is a list of works printed by Thomas Gent in 'A memoir of the York Press' by Robert Davies, originally published in 1868.

The 'History of Rome' by Lucius Annæus Florius is an early work produced by Gent in York, though undated.

I had two copies of Gent's 'History of York'. his own work, printed in 1730, both very nicely bound. I gave one copy to my nephew Joseph Gent, as he is studying law at the University of York.

My copy is quarter bound in brown Morocco. I purchased it in 2000 for £150.  It has the frontispiece 'View of the City of York'.

I have three copies of Gent's 'History of Rippon' which he wrote and printed in 1733. The first copy was rebound in Victorian times, and gilded on all three edges, but the front cover is now detached and the back cover is missing.

The second copy is very imperfect. It lacks the front cover, but does have the original back cover, which has been crudely sewn back on. The title page and dedication are also missing. Also missing, and apparently always thus, are pages 19-20, 25-28, 43-44. pages 61-62 appear to have been torn out for the sake of the crude woodcut view of Cawood church.

My third and best copy is, however, also imperfect. Quarter bound in brown calf, the spine has been at some time recently expertly repaired. Internally, this copy lacks pages 31-38, and a woodcut view of St Mary's Abbey in York. The internal front cover carries the bookplate of Edward Fenwick Boyd (1810-1889). I have reproduced the missing pages from my other copies and tipped them in. Thomas Gent appears to have often been lackadaisical or cavalier in the collating of his books so that there are many variants.

I have four copies of Gent's 'History of Hull', which he wrote, and published in 1735. The first has its original calf binding, though the front cover is detached. The frontispiece East View of Hull has been mounted on linen. The second copy is also in brown calf, with blind tooling on the front and back covers. The marbled endpapers I'd guess to be early Victorian though. The third copy is nicely rebound with half binding in golden brown calf and matching marbled paper. The fourth copy is the finest, half bound in tan calf with linen cloth, fine dark blue marbled endpapers, and the armorial bookplate of William Henry Willatt, a Hull shipbuilder, 1868-1942. This copy has the additional portrait of Thomas Gent in his study. Typically of Thomas Gent, all four volumes vary in some particular.

I have two copies of the'History of Rome' in John Clarke's translation, dated 1728, the second edition printed by Thomas Gent, and the fourth edition of 1739 by an unnamed printer, but in a better quality of workmanship than that of Thomas Gent.

The 1728 copy is simply and attractively rebound in dark ochre cloth and a black Morocco spine by Delrue, presumably Paul Delrue of Ruthin in Denbighshire.

Thomas Gent's 'Prologue' was probably the first work by him that I purchased, and I had it rebound by David Squirrell. It is half bound in tan calf with a matching marbled paper. I believe that this is the last work produced by Thomas Gent from his press in 1761.

These two sermons, disbound from a larger volume, are the only copies I have managed to trace. Printed in 1725, they belong to the earliest period of Thomas Gent's sojourn at York. I am only aware of one earlier work published there by him, in 1724.

This work was written by Thomas Gent but printed in 1772 by another, is in a Victorian rebinding in green Morocco with gold tooling and three gold edges. It has only 24 pages but the volume has a large number of additional blank pages to fill it out.

Thomas Gent's own work on St Winifred was printed in 1742 in five parts. My copy is in excellent condition, though the binding is a simple one of paper with a cloth spine.

This work, printed in 1736, has been disbound from a larger volume, and does have some additional pieces at the end.

Thomas Gent printed many works for John Clarke, but here again we have a second edition produced by another, and better, printer.

Thomas Gent's own work, a 'History of England', was printed by him in 1741. This copy is very complete, and has its original calf covers, though with the spine neatly replaced at a later date.

This was easily the most expensive book I ever bought, at $672, in 2004. This was considerably lower than the asking price however. This curious very late work by Thomas Gent is a hotch potch but fascinating and very rare. My copy has been carefully rebound preserving the original covers and spine. It lacks the large illustration of the great east window.

A useful explanation of traditional bindings is available at the abe.books website.

23rd January, 2017

Despite being very ill, I could not resist two purchases I made this month of books by Thomas Gent. The first was 'Historia Compendiosa Anglicana: or, a Compendious History of England...' [and] 'Historia Compendiosa Romana: or, a Comprehensive History of Rome'. I already had the first volume, but this was both volumes, at a very reasonable price, from Ken Spelman of York, and in matching bindings.

Earlier in the same week I purchased for a very low price the rare work 'Itinerarium Totius Sacrae Scripturae....or... An Abstract of the Lives and Travels of The Holy Patriarchs, Prophets, Judges, Kings, our Saviour Christ and his Apostles as they are related in the Old and New Testament with the meaning of every distinct book and chapter of the Bible from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelation... by C.Brown, late of Norton, Gent. York, Thomas Gent...1746.'
This was an exciting addition to my collection, with its original binding.

This morning as I tidied my shelves I discovered another of Thomas Gent's books in my possession, his rare book of anthems, published in 1736.

I have a great deal of information about Thomas Gent in the site I have created, but which will unfortunately vanish in five years time. All this information can be found here.