Author(s): Spalding F
Abstract: Published in hardback by the Harvill Press in both England and America and in paperback in 2003 by Pimlico. Widely reviewed in the national press, including The Observer (‘this sympathetic, fastidious and beautiful produced biography’, Robert McCrum), The Times (‘Frances Spalding is attempting what might be called genetic biography, in which a certain species, ie. The Darwins, is tracked through its evolutionary progress’, Peter Ackroyd), The Independent (‘meticulous and evocative biography’, Patricia Craig), The Guardian (‘authoritative’, Alfred Hickling), The Spectator, The New Statesman, TLS, London Review of Books, Print Quarterly and others. While following the life and work of Gwen Raverat (nee Darwin) and of her husband the painter Jacques Raverat, it uncovered new material about the networks operative in late Victorian and Edwardian Cambridge and told for the first time the story of Jacques Raverat’s decline owing to multiple sclerosis, bringing to the study a careful analysis of the historical understanding of that illness. Extensively furnished from primary sources within the massive Darwin Archive, housed in Cambridge University Library, it mounted the first full biographical account of the Raverats and of their circle. Designed and printed at the Libanus Press, author, publisher and printer agreed on a layout that banished captions to a list at the back of the book. Though this format offended some, the book was widely praised for its high standard of design and presentation and led to invitations to lecture to the Friends of Cambridge University Library, at the Ways with Words Festival at Dartington and elsewhere.
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Professor Frances Spalding CBE
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