Bracebridge Hall [Hardcover]

Washington Irving (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1990

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: errand of the good lady's, to let me know that this was lady Lillycraft, a sister of the Squire's of large fortune, which the captain would inherit, and that her estate lay in one of the best sporting counties in all England. FAMILY SERVANTS. Verily old servants are the vouchers of worthy housekeeping. They are like rats in a mansion, or mites in a cheese, bespeaking the antiquity and fatness of their abode. In my casual anecdotes of the Hall, I may often be tempted to dwell on circumstances of a trite and ordinary nature, from their appearing to me illustrative of genuine national character. It seems to be the study of the Squire to adhere, as much as possible, to what he considers the old landmarks of English manners. His servants all understand his ways, and for the most part have been accustomed to them from infancy; so that, upon the whole, his -household presents one of the few tolerable specimens that can now be met with, of the establishment of an English country gentleman of the old school. By the by, the servants are not the least characteristic part of the household: the housekeeper, for instance, has heen horn and brought up at the Hall, and has never been twenty miles from it; yet shehas a stately air, that would not disgrace a lady that had figured at the court of Queen Elizabeth. I am half inclined to think that she has caught it from living so much among the old family pictures. It may, however, be owing to a consciousness of her importance in the sphere in which she has always moved; for she is greatly respected in the neighbouring village, and among the farmers' wives, and has high authority in the household, ruling over the servants with quiet, but undisputed sway. She is a thin old lady, with blue eyes and pointed nose and chin. Her dress is a...

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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About the Author

Washington Irving, one of the first Americans to achieve international recognition as an author, was born in New York City in 1783. His A History of New York, published in 1809 under the name of Diedrich Knickerbocker, was a satirical history of New York that spanned the years from 1609 to 1664. Under another pseudonym, Geoffrey Crayon, he wrote The Sketch-book, which included essays about English folk customs, essays about the American Indian, and the two American stories for which he is most renowned--"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle." Irving served as a member of the U.S. legation in Spain from 1826 to 1829 and as minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846. Following his return to the U.S. in 1846, he began work on a five-volume biography of Washington that was published from 1855-1859. Washington Irving died in 1859 in New York.

Heralded as the greatest artist of the triumvirate of modern illustrators that included Greenaway and Crane, Randolph Caldecott is highly praised for introducing techniques of animation into picture book art and for his humorous, satiric extensions of the text in his illustrations. Caldecott's fame centers on 16 books, often referred to as the "Toy Books," reprinted by Edmund Evans in his innovative printing techniques, featuring mainly traditional nursery rhymes and songs, and published in pairs. They include: The House That Jack Built (1865), The Diverting History of John Gilpin (written by William Cowper) (1878), Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog (written by Oliver Goldsmith) (1979), Babes in the Wood (1879), Sing a Song of Sixpence (1880), The Three Jovial Huntsmen (1880), The Farmer's Boy (1881), The Queen of Hearts (1881), The Milkmaid (1882), Hey Diddle Diddle with Baby Bunting (1882), A Frog He Would a-Wooing Go (1883), and The Fox Jumps over the Parson's Gate (1884). Caldecott generally drew his illustrations in sepia applied with a brush rather than a pen; he included an average of three uncolored illustrations for each colored one. He has received praise for his fluid style, which created a sense of movement across a page and from one page to another; he is also lauded for his insight into human nature and instinctive grasp of what appeals to children. Each year the American Library Association awards a highly coveted medal in his name to the best illustrated book by an American author. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Ams Pr Inc (June 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0404035086
• ISBN-13: 978-0404035082
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,299,346 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Kindle Edition, June 20, 2011

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This review is from: Bracebridge Hall (Kindle Edition)

This is an abridged version of the book; it includes the character profiles of the residents and guests of Bracebridge Hall and the village, but does not include the tales.