Search

The document "European Drama & Performance Studies" presents summaries and biobibliographies of authors specializing in the history of theater and food. Sabine Chaouche and Clara Édouard explore the roles of food on the European stage, while Thomas Marti analyzes Torres Naharro's Comedia Tinellaria. João Pedro Gomes and Guida Cândido examine the use of sugar in the works of Gil Vicente and António Ribeiro Chiado. François Rémond looks at food metaphors in baroque farce, while Emilia Wilton-Godberfforde explores the omission of the final feast in Molière's play. Other authors address topics such as staging meals in theater and the history of restaurants in London. [Extracted from the article]

As museums usually target large numbers of visitors with great diversities, it is important for museum professionals to have a well-rounded understanding of the visitors as well as an approach to categorize them so that curation strategies can be applied accordingly and effectiveness achieved. This article presents a study of the exhibition “Dippy Returns” at the Natural History Museum in London. By performing on-site observation, we categorized visitors-by their movements and interactions with the exhibits-into four types: Horse Riders, Treasure Hunters, Picky Eaters, and Deep Divers. We also interviewed a curator of the exhibition to understand intended visitor experiences from the museum’s perspective. We believe that the categorization can help museum professionals better understand on-site visitor behaviors from the perspectives of both interactions and movement, which responds to the trend for museum exhibitions nowadays to deploy a diversity of activities and more flexible visiting routes. The categorization could serve as a common language that curators and designers can use to communicate their expectations and improve visitor experiences with exhibitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the wars of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries tens of thousands of English sailors had their wages deferred because the government could not come up with the cash to pay them. Instead, Navy sailors were discharged with undated government promissory notes, usually called 'sailors' tickets', which they and their families sometimes had to wait months or years to have paid. This essay traces the way the Navy tried to institutionalize this system, and it also looks at competing ordering projects coming from within the London maritime community that sought to pressure the government to pay the tickets in a timely fashion, to manage overextended credit networks and — in the face of considerable Navy opposition — to make tickets more fungible so they could be used as collateral for debts. One feature of these conflicts was the rise of frauds on sailors' pay tickets, and over time the Navy endorsed increasingly punitive methods to deal with the problem, most notably various kinds of institutional prosecution. The people indicted for ticket fraud, many of them at the Old Bailey, were predominantly women, and their 'crimes' were linked to more legitimate activities long associated with sailors' female relatives. This essay argues that predatory borrowing by the State and the competing ordering projects to which it gave rise helped to configure as well as to distort social relations and economic opportunity both for women and men within the maritime community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the three decades after 1945 the British property development sector exploded in size and began operating on a worldwide scale. The largest property companies in the world were British in this era and they built office blocks, shopping centres and hotels in cities all over the world. These overseas property developments overlapped firmly with the pre-existing political and economic geographies of empire, and their speculative transnational financing was made possible by allying with London's financial sector and the world of 'gentlemanly capitalism'. This article surveys the rise, financialization, and imperially inflected internationalization of the British property development sector in this period, showing how property companies capitalized upon post-war Britain's developer-friendly urban renewal order, internationalist financial sector, and inherited imperial advantages even as many of the formal political structures of empire were being dismantled. In the post-war decades, the remnants of empire as a commercial world system provided Britain's property developers with vital stepping stones towards the fully globalized forms of financialized real-estate development that shape cities around the world today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyzed COI barcode sequences from 138 over-a-century old specimens of Calinaga including 36 name-bearing type specimens stored at the Natural History Museum London. These new data, combined with previously available RPS5 sequences, divide the Calinaga samples into four well-supported mitochondrial lineages that together with a novel wing-pattern analysis, support the recognition of six species (lhatso, buddha, brahma, aborica, formosana and davidis), with all other names subsumed either as subspecies or synonyms. One new taxon is described, Calinaga aborica naima Vane-Wright, ssp. n. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Protective Practices: A History of the London Rubber Company and the Condom Business" by Jessica Borge is a serious institutional history of the London Rubber Company, which manufactured Durex condoms from the 1930s to the 1990s. The book explores the company's origins, its success in establishing a near monopoly in the postwar decades, and its attempts to gain cultural acceptance. Despite facing social stigma and competition from the oral contraceptive pill, the company thrived until its closure in 1994 due to overexpansion into unrelated fields. The book provides a clear and contextualized account of the company's history and is a valuable addition to the history of sexuality in modern Britain. [Extracted from the article]

The Southbank Place project comprised the redevelopment of the UK headquarters of the Shell Company (formerly known as the Shell Centre) in the Waterloo area of London. The project included the demolition of all structures within the site except for the iconic tower building, local extension of the existing basement and the construction of eight new mixed-use buildings. London Underground's (LU) Bakerloo Line and Northern Line running tunnels pass beneath the site. The excavation of the basement and construction of the Shell Centre in the late 1950s caused movements of the underlying Bakerloo Line tunnels that were much larger than expected. The monitoring of these tunnels between 1958 and 1995 has provided a classic case history for the behaviour of London Clay. The proposed redevelopment offered an opportunity to analyse and monitor the behaviour of LU tunnels over a period of 60 years and two phases of significant construction. This paper presents a back-analysis of the historical monitoring of the Bakerloo Line tunnels and the calibration of a sophisticated finite-element model. The model was subsequently used to predict the impact of the redevelopment on the tunnels as part of the assurance procedure with LU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lost Meteorites of Antarctica project was the first UK‐led Antarctic meteorite recovery expedition. The project has successfully confirmed two new high‐density meteorite stranding zones in the Hutichison Icefield and Outer Recovery Icefields areas and investigated the geology of three previously unvisited Antarctic nunataks (Turner Nunatak, Pillinger Nunatak, Halliday Nunatak). The project undertook meteorite searching on the ice surface via skidoo reconnaissance and systematic searching and developed a novel pulse induction metal detection system to search for englacial iron‐rich meteorites trapped within the upper one meter of ice. In total, 121 meteorites have been recovered from the ice surface searching activities, which are now curated in the United Kingdom at the Natural History Museum London and are available for scientific analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interview with Chris Stringer, who studies human origins at the Natural History Museum of London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "My Grandmother's House" by Sylvie Jane Lewis describes the author's experiences and memories of her grandmother's house. The house is depicted as a place filled with haunted mirrors, beds, and various creatures, including cats, mice, and birds. The author reflects on the historical significance of the house, as it served as a refuge for her grandmother after the war and her father's murder. The house is also described as a source of inspiration, resembling houses from books and becoming a symbol of generational metamorphosis. The article concludes with a scene of the author and her family observing a fox in the garden, symbolizing the connection between nature and the house. [Extracted from the article]

For the October 1900 issue of The Strand Magazine, Frederick Dolman asked nine leading architects of the day “Which is the Finest Building in the World?” Among the eight responses he received, three architects selected works by Sir Christopher Wren, with St. Paul’s Cathedral heading the list. Dolman framed his question as a search for a “present-day ideal” in architecture, and the architects’ answers reveal how in the late nineteenth century Wren’s works, and St. Paul’s in particular, served as architectural models in the creation of a “Wrenaissance.” At the same time as this renewal of interest in Wren’s work occurred the demolition of over a dozen of Wren’s city churches, raising the question of whether Wren’s works were understood as having value in their own right. Given The Strand was a magazine aimed at the general public, Dolman’s article points to a broader interest in Wren and his works beyond the architectural profession. This public interest in Wren is also evident in several late Victorian novels— Mrs. J. H. Riddell’s Mitre Court: A Tale of the Great City (1883), Sir Walter Bessant’s The Bell of St. Paul’s (1889), and Emma Marshall’s Under the Dome of St. Paul’s: A Story of Sir Christopher Wren’s Days (1898)—where Wren and his works are vividly portrayed. In addition to the fictional portrayals of Wren and architects’ commentaries on his works was the use of St. Paul’s Cathedral as a backdrop to some of the most prominent moments in London history, including funerals of dignitaries, and The Illustrated London News prominently displayed St. Paul’s Cathedral as a symbol of London on its masthead. This curious combination of popular and professional portrayals of Sir Christopher Wren and St. Paul’s Cathedral solidified their prominence in the Victorian imagination as symbolic of both the city of London and English nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New machaeridian material housed in the National Museum of Scotland alongside the type material held in the Natural History Museum London and the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, Cambridge, is documented here from the Ordovician of Girvan. The specimens are included in four taxa, three of these in open nomenclature. Syntypes and figured specimens of Plumulites scoticus by Nicholson and Etheridge (1879) and Withers (1926) are reviewed and the diagnosis emended. The description of these specimens follows standard terminology and we also introduce here a new terminology for Anterior Outer Shell Plate (AOSP). We also figure for the first time three unpublished letters from Mrs Elizabeth Gray to Thomas Henry Withers, where she criticises the illustrations of machaeridians published by Nicholson and Etheridge (1880) and Reed (1908), recognising issues identifying machaeridian plates and also clarifies a misunderstanding on some of the specimens described and illustrated in Reed (1908), being key for the distribution of Plumulites peachi. We assess the importance of machaeridians as part of the Lower Palaeozoic palaeobenthos and a key element of the palaeo-food chain. A review of the palaeogeographical distribution of the machaeridians is undertaken in the context of the Ordovician biodiversifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Street Food: Hawkers and the History of London" by Charlie Taverner is a comprehensive exploration of the lives and experiences of street sellers in early modern and nineteenth-century London. The book examines the individuals, their goods, and the systems that allowed them to make a living. Taverner utilizes a thematic approach, drawing from a wide range of digital resources and primary sources to paint a vivid picture of the economic precarity faced by street sellers. The book also discusses the evolving regulations and challenges faced by street sellers, as well as the history of the iconic "Cries of London." This well-researched and beautifully written book offers valuable insights into the history of street food in London and will be of interest to anyone studying the topic. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of SHILAP Revista de Lepidopterologia is the property of Sociedad Hispano-Luso-Americana de Lepidopterologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The intestinal trematode fauna of the Water Vole Arvicola amphibius, (previously A. terrestris), was investigated to determine whether it might provide evidence of an animal component in the diet of this aquatic herbivorous small mammal. Interrogation of the electronic Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum London revealed the presence of fourteen species of intestinal trematode in water voles, infection with each of which would require the ingestion of tissue from an animal intermediate host. The results obtained using these parasite indicators provide convincing evidence of animal components in the diet of A. amphibius and support anecdotal reports of water voles feeding on animal material in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charles Montagu (c. 1662–1722), Earl (later Duke) of Manchester, played an important role in furthering the establishment of Italian-style opera in London. He gained knowledge of opera and continental singers and musicians on his Grand Tour and three diplomatic missions abroad. This article prints relevant portions (some for the first time) from his correspondence and other printed and manuscript sources to expand our knowledge of his involvement with opera in London, Vienna, France and Italy. The correspondence suggests why his advice and assistance were sought by John Vanbrugh and later by the Royal Academy of Music and adds to our knowledge of the history of opera in London in its so-called 'critical decade'. Most important was his mission to Venice in 1707–8. Although no evidence has emerged that Manchester met Handel in Venice or extended to him an invitation, he was responsible for the recruitment of Nicola Grimaldi (called 'Nicolini'), painters and other singers to London. Even at this early stage, opera in London was part of an operatic system that extended across Europe, involving not only musicians and impresarios but also ministers of state and foreign diplomats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wave of organised mass squatting that started in 1969 had a profound impact on London's geographies, transforming the built environment and enacting different imaginaries and practices of home. Groups excluded from existing housing provision or seeking unconventional forms of collective dwelling turned to occupying publicly owned empty properties and setting up collectively managed homes as a form of precarious housing commons. Infrastructures of mutual support, local alliances and knowledge-sharing made possible for some of them to become formalised into 'short-life housing co-operatives' which provided affordable community-led housing for tens of thousands of individuals. Drawing on archival research and in-depth interviews, in this article I take a critical historical perspective to revisit the little-known case of squats that became short-life co-ops in London. I outline how squats and co-ops enabled and responded to the emergence of plural needs and desires at the intersection of multiple forms of oppression and struggles for women, gay and lesbian and Black liberation. I conclude by arguing the need for a research agenda that addresses radical difference in fluid processes of 'transitional commoning', to acknowledge and amplify powerful articulations of feminist, queer, and anti-racist reimagining of urban inhabitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Before the Paris Fire: Projecting the Cinematograph in London from 1889-4th May 1997" is the fourth volume in the London County Council and the Cinematograph series, although it is chronologically earlier than the other three volumes. The book provides a comprehensive guide to cinematic venues in London during this time period, with images of venues, artifacts, and important figures. The author, Tony Fletcher, presents the information without critique or analysis, allowing readers to use it for their own research. The book is organized into two parts, with appendices that include a filmography and a bibliography. It covers not only the UK but also developments in France, Germany, and the United States. The second part focuses on specific venues and their cinematograph exhibitions, while also discussing the developments in cinematography at the time. The book offers a case study of entrepreneurship in a capitalist society. While a venue index might be helpful, the raw nature of the contents allows readers to explore various topics in depth. [Extracted from the article]

"Metamorphosis: How insects are changing our world" is a book review featured in the Victorian Entomologist bulletin. The book, written by Erica McAlister, an entomologist and curator at the Natural History Museum of London, explores the remarkable discoveries made by scientists and naturalists in the field of invertebrate biology and behavior. McAlister delves into the history of these discoveries, highlighting the struggles faced by female scientists, Jewish scientists fleeing Nazi Germany, and African-American academics during times of segregation. The review praises McAlister's captivating writing style and her ability to engage readers with her extensive knowledge and experience. The book emphasizes the important role insects play in inspiring inventions and conservation efforts. [Extracted from the article]

New faunistic records of Palaearctic Perilampidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) are given, based on newly collected material in South-East Europe, South Korea and specimens from the Natural History Museum in London. Euperilampus Walker, 1871 is recorded for the first time in South Korea, with females of E. sinensis Bouček, 1978 being discovered and described for the first time. The genera Perilampus Latreille, 1809 and Steffanolampus Peck, 1974 are recorded for the first time in Greece. Perilampus noemi Nikol'skaya, 1952, collected on Crete and Salamina islands (Greece), is recorded for the first time in Europe. The following species are new to Greece: P. aeneus (Rossius, 1790), P. laevifrons Dalman, 1822, P. micans Dalman, 1820, P. minutalis Steffan, 1952, P. neglectus Bouček, 1956, P. ruficornis (Fabricius, 1793), P. tristis Mayr, 1905, and S. salicetum (Steffan, 1952). The following species are new to Romania: P. aeneus, P. auratus (Panzer, 1798), P. aureoviridis Walker, 1833, P. chrysonotus Förster, 1859, and P. laevifrons. The following species are new to Turkey: P. auratus, P. cephalotes Bouček, 1956, P. ruficornis, and P. tristis. Additionally, P. cephalotes and P. polypori Bouček, 1971 are new to Austria; P. masculinus Bouček, 1956 is new to Sweden; P. ruficornis is new to South Korea; and P. tristis is new also to Cyprus and Spain. The first host record for P. cephalotes and a new host record for P. laevifrons are also given. A key to 20 European species of Perilampus is included. Each species is diagnosed using macrophotography to facilitate its future recognition. The males of P. intermedius Bouček, 1956 and P. neglectus are described for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This collaborative multidisciplinary pilot project involving the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the Ashmolean Museum, and Newham Borough of London, examined the composition of a selection of eighteenth-century porcelain objects by two of London's first porcelain manufacturers, Bow and Chelsea. As the first science-based public engagement project to be piloted by the V&A, it succeeded in bringing together young Londoners and their communities to investigate local histories of scientific and artistic innovation through the analysis and remaking of eighteenth-century porcelain. Scientific object analysis informed activities with local sixth-form students, revealing the intimate link between art and science, and showcasing the V&A Science Lab as a national hub for heritage science. Public outreach activities, including an exhibition at Stratford Library and workshops for Newham Heritage Month also provided hands-on learning, including curatorial and object-handling experience, and the embodied practices of remaking. Ultimately, this project stimulated new ways of engaging with ceramics collections and explored how the creativity and ingenuity of eighteenth-century ceramics pioneers can provide inspiration for the next generation of makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Irish London: A Cultural History, 1850–1916" by Richard Kirkland is a comprehensive study that explores the Irish community in London during this time period. The book examines various aspects of Irish London, including the elite class, journalists, artists, the Catholic Church, the bourgeois, and the Irish poor. Kirkland pays particular attention to the experiences of the Irish poor, who played a significant role in shaping perceptions of the Irish in London. The book also highlights the cultural contributions of Irish performers in popular entertainment venues, emphasizing the importance of music in expressing Irish emigrant memory. While the book focuses on the London-Irish community, it does not compare their experiences to those of Irish migrants in other English towns or in other countries. Overall, "Irish London" provides valuable insights into the broader context of London-Irish existence and offers innovative perspectives on well-known figures and events. [Extracted from the article]

4 Bill Luckin and Peter Thorsheim, "Introduction: Environment and Daily Life in London, 1800-2000", in A Mighty Capital under Threat: The Environmental History of London, 1800-2000, ed. ORCID iD John R. McNeill https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4033-4967 Notes 1 Bill Luckin and Peter Thorsheim, "Introduction: Environment and Daily Life in London, 1800-2000", in A Mighty Capital under Threat: The Environmental History of London, 1800-2000, ed. 3 Bill Luckin and Peter Thorsheim, "Introduction: Environment and Daily Life in London, 1800-2000", in A Mighty Capital under Threat: The Environmental History of London, 1800-2000, ed. [Extracted from the article]

The aim of this article is to examine football-related events in London from 1800 to the early years of the Football Association (FA), following its foundation in 1863. The focus will fall to the latter part of that period, simply because there are more resources available, with a greater number of reports and references to football in the press. In saying 'football', this covers a broad spectrum of activities that would have the key elements of what we now call, and recognize as, association football, although, of course, some of these activities would include practices that would later find themselves in the realm of the game of rugby. This article will also give an idea of how football was part of London life, and will necessarily include components of local history as a way of illustrating this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the second essay of a two-part series on the life and collecting activities of Albert Koch. After Koch traveled to England where he sold his Missourium to the British Museum, the American mastodon that now stands in the Natural History Museum of London, he then went to his homeland in Germany. Koch left his family in Dresden, when he again departed for the United States to pursue some additional paleontological adventures. Following several weeks of travel, he arrived in Alabama where he excavated the remains of a large, archaeocete whale, that he named the Hydrarchos. Koch displayed the skeleton in New York, and several other eastern cities before taking it to Europe. When in Berlin, Koch was able to sell the skeleton to King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia who placed it in the Royal Museum. Soon thereafter, Koch returned to the United States and Alabama to discover a second whale skeleton. He took this skeleton to Europe where it was exhibited in several cities but, having received no offers, Koch returned with his second Hydrarchos to the United States where it was initially displayed in New Orleans, then St. Louis, and eventually Chicago. In his later years, Koch turned his attention to the Academy of Science of St. Louis where he became an active member and curator, as well as a prospector for minerals. This essay examines the final chapters of Koch's life and his entrepreneurial showmanship tendencies versus contributions he may have made to science. This narrative is a sequel to an article published in Volume 41 Number 2 of Earth Sciences History that focused on Albert Koch's Missourium. Together, the two essays capture the life and career of Albert C. Koch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Lord Have Mercy broadsides, a genre of cheap weekly publications that appeared during the seventeenth-century plague outbreaks. These texts included historical data about previous epidemics, remedies, prayers, and mortality figures for parishes in London. Readers of the Lord Have Mercies served as amateur demographers by recording mortality statistics for their local communities in spaces provided by the publisher. This recording practice, I argue, serves to map the disease’s progress more precisely, thereby ameliorating fears associated with the chaotic nature of the disease in urban environments. Because these documents emerged as alternative to official government bills of mortality, the Lord Have Mercies additionally provide a valuable glimpse into the ways in which individual citizens responded to the epidemic. Finally, these broadsides provide early modern scholars a unique opportunity to gain a clearer understanding of the ways in which popular print culture intersected with daily life during plague outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early modern London was a diverse metropolis, but we know little about the social lives of its migrant communities, especially how they fed themselves. Influenced by recent anthropology and sociology of food, migration, and ethnicity, this article examines specific communal food practices of two minority communities in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Sephardic Jews and French Protestant refugees. Rather than studying how unusual foods marked these migrants as different, it explores how mundane food matters shaped social relations within these communities. The first section analyzes the system of shechita, the ritual slaughter of meat by Jews, by drawing on records of community leadership, account books, and printed texts on the subject. The second section examines two institutions established to feed the Huguenot poor, a soup kitchen in Spitalfields and the hospital known as "La Providence," both of which left extensive records of administration. Though different, the case studies show how migrant groups, through specific food practices, constructed and experienced community within the capital. The article adds to our knowledge of migrant lives in the city and highlights the richness of institutional records from within these communities. It also suggests how food history can connect minority stories to British history more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interview with Christine Strullu-Derrien, who studies the origin and early evolution of microorganisms, as well as their interactions with plants, at the Natural History Museum in London and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the acoustic ecology of extinct or rare species is challenging due to the inability to record their acoustic signals or hearing thresholds. Katydids and their relatives (Orthoptera: Ensifera) offer a model for inferring acoustic ecology of extinct and rare species, due to allometric parameters of their sound production organs. Here, the bioacoustics of the orthopteran Prophalangopsis obscura are investigated. This species is one of only eight remaining members of an ancient family with over 90 extinct species that dominated the acoustic landscape of the Jurassic. The species is known from only a single confirmed specimen–the 150-year-old holotype material housed at the London Natural History Museum. Using Laser-Doppler Vibrometry, 3D surface scanning microscopy, and known scaling relationships, it is shown that P. obscura produces a pure-tone song at a frequency of ~4.7 kHz. This frequency range is distinct but comparable to the calls of Jurassic relatives, suggesting a limitation of early acoustic signals in insects to sonic frequencies (<20 kHz). The acoustic ecology and importance of this species in understanding ensiferan evolution, is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initially these enterprises were supplementing an almost adequate supply from the public "conduits", public and private wells, and cisterns, and supplied wealthier citizens, thereby leaving the "free" supply for the poorer. For London, the first capitalist enterprise that needed to construct a water supply across many jurisdictions was the New River. Hence London's split governance favoured the use of capitalist enterprise rather than public bodies to supply its water as a company could be allowed authority within several jurisdictions. [Extracted from the article]

Site S3 of the King's Cross Development Zone is located in Central London to the North of King's Cross Station. The site directly overlies the 11 m deep Thameslink twin-rail tunnels. The excavation of a rotary core borehole on site led to tunnel inward movement recorded by in-tunnel prism arrays. Live monitoring data has been used to investigate and determine the causal link between borehole RC1 and this movement. The borehole excavation lost excessive amounts of fluid flush into the London Clay. The interaction between flush fluid and soil is numerically investigated in this paper with an investigation into the numerical simulation of the physical excavation of the borehole itself. The aim of this research work is to investigate the mechanisms of movement that may have resulted in the tunnel deformation while numerical analysing the construction of the borehole in stages. Using a 2D plane strain model, the HSS (Hardening Soil with small strain) constitutive model has been utilised in order to recreate the stress history within the London Clay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on everyday occurrences of loss and losing in urban spaces to examine the role that absence played in shaping material cultures in the past. It returns to a site that has remained central to material histories, eighteenth-century London, and shows how possessions regularly went missing due to theft and forgetfulness. Examining daily newspapers, alongside court cases, diary entries, and handbills, demonstrates how experiences of loss prompted urban denizens to devise systems of reclamation. "Lost" notices placed in London's new daily newspapers became crucial to ensuring the return of lost possessions. While these systems were largely managed by thief-takers such as Jonathan Wild in the early decades of the eighteenth century, after Wild's death in 1725, it fell to Londoners themselves to remember the salient features of their possessions and write the notices. These writings and the material practices that underpinned them shaped how people understood the material world around them and how they operated in urban spaces. As such, the article demonstrates the significance of absence in shaping urban material cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Museum Africa is Johannesburg's social and cultural history museum and holds within its collection the Bernberg Costumes & Textiles Collection; an extensive collection of predominantly white-owned European fashion objects with some 16,562 items dating from the 1800 s to the late 1900s, imported into South Africa or made locally. This article documents the continued enquiry between South African fashion designer and artist Wanda Lephoto, London-based fashion curator Alison Moloney, and South African-based fashion curator and academic Dr Erica de Greef who together have been grappling with the violence of absence of black South African fashion histories and narratives that is revealed in the museum's store. This enquiry is founded on a phenomenological approach to dress curatorship with the intention to unravel the collection's epistemology through an interrogation of decolonial curatorial methodologies. The artistic interventions aim to disrupt the Eurocentric and exclusionary acquisition practices and fashion discourses that are represented by these seemingly "innocent" but deeply problematic objects. Can an engagement with these fashion objects through experiments with museological interventions decolonize and unpack the complex histories held within the collection and contribute to a process of healing? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

News of the insolvency of Overend, Gurney, & Company on 10 May 1866 generated a scramble for funds in the City of London and urgent appeals to the Bank of England. The banking panic triggered by the collapse of the prominent British discount house became one of the Bank's most tumultuous modern crises. This article investigates the politics of the Bank's liquidity provision during the 1866 crisis, and in the ensuing months of financial stringency. By assessing the correspondence, speeches, and publications of Governors, City figures, and financial journalists, the article finds that the Bank's evolving approach to crisis lending was decisively shaped by its commercial objectives and a prolonged struggle to preserve its autonomy. When confronted with the 1866 crisis, the Bank adopted a pragmatic stance towards the market, which accommodated the credit needs of the City without sacrificing either its privileged legal status or its shareholders' interests. Its Governors' rhetorical pursuit of 'constructive ambiguity' during the post‐crisis months succeeded in both limiting moral hazard and consolidating the Bank's discretionary powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Migrant City: A New History of London" by Panikos Panayi is a comprehensive and engaging book that explores the history of migration in London. The author argues that London is a unique city in terms of migration patterns and impact, extending beyond the British experience. The book covers various themes such as labor, religion, restaurants, and politics, providing a rich and authoritative account of the city's diverse history. While the author's claim of London's uniqueness is supported by evidence, it is important to recognize the significance of migration in other cities as well. Overall, "Migrant City" is a valuable contribution to the study of migration in Britain. [Extracted from the article]

A Mighty Capital under Threat: The Environmental History of London, 1800-2000, edited by Bill Luckin and Peter Thorsheim; pp. vi + 282. Tracing the slow, long-term decline in mortality rates, Hardy concludes that London's record on environment-related deaths was much better than those of rival European capitals. Christopher Hamlin explores how London was imagined environmentally, from the aesthetic judgements made by William Wordsworth and William Blake to scientific perspectives on London's metabolism. [Extracted from the article]

The hitherto unknown female of the theraphosine Spinosatibiapalpus trinitatis (Pocock, 1903) is herein described based on the paralectotype series of the schismatotheline Neoholothele incei (F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1899) housed in the collections of the Natural History Museum, London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paul Preston (Liverpool, 1946) has been professor in international history at the London School of Economics since 1991 and is the honorary president of the Association for Contemporary Iberian Studies. Renowned for his work on the Spanish Civil War and Francoist dictatorship, Preston's internationally acclaimed books include A People Betrayed (2020), The Last Days of the Spanish Republic (2016), The Spanish Holocaust (2012), The Spanish Civil War (2006), Doves of War: Four Women of Spain (2002), Comrades! Portraits from the Spanish Civil War (1999) and Franco: A Biography (1993). An English-language edition of his latest work Arquitectos del terror: Franco y los artífices del odio, published in Spanish in 2021, is due for publication in Autumn 2022. Preston was interviewed in January 2021 by Deborah Madden, a Leverhulme Trust research fellow at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Preston offers intriguing insight into his research, discussing the politics of sexual violence, memory politics, research as a form of activism and his main regret as a historian. The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]