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1840 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1840. Events *June – An amnesty to mark the accession of King Frederick William IV of Prussia frees the novelist Fritz Reuter from the Dömitz Fortress after two years' imprisonment on a charge of high treason. *July 6 – Novelists Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray independently attend the hanging outside Newgate Prison in London of the murderer François Benjamin Courvoisier, who blames the influence of W. Harrison Ainsworth's Newgate novel ''Jack Sheppard'' (which concluded serialization in ''Bentley's Miscellany'' in February) for his crime. *August 10 – Fortsas hoax: Bibliophiles gather in Binche, Belgium for an auction of 52 unique, meticulously catalogued books from the collection of the late Comte de Fortsas. The Count, the books and the auction all prove fictitious. *''unknown dates'' **The Percy Society is established in Britain to publish scholarly editions of early work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick William IV Of Prussia
Frederick William IV (german: Friedrich Wilhelm IV.; 15 October 17952 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the "romanticist on the throne", he is best remembered for the many buildings he had constructed in Berlin and Potsdam as well as for the completion of the Gothic Cologne Cathedral. In politics, he was a conservative, who initially pursued a moderate policy of easing press censorship and reconciling with the Catholic population of the kingdom. During the German revolutions of 1848–1849, he at first accommodated the revolutionaries but rejected the title of Emperor of the Germans offered by the Frankfurt Parliament in 1849, believing that Parliament did not have the right to make such an offer. He used military force to crush the revolutionaries throughout the German Confederation. From 1849 onward he converted Prussia into a constit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of and has a population of more than 11.5 million, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the world and the 6th most densely populated country in Europe, with a density of . Belgium is part of an area known as the Low Countries, historically a somewhat larger region than the Benelux group of states, as it also included parts of northern France. The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, and Leuven. Belgium is a sovereign state and a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. Its institutional organization is complex and is structured on both regional ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ingoldsby Legends
''The Ingoldsby Legends'' (full title: ''The Ingoldsby Legends, or Mirth and Marvels'') is a collection of myths, legends, ghost stories and poetry written supposedly by Thomas Ingoldsby of Tappington Manor, actually a pen-name of an English clergyman named Richard Harris Barham. Background The legends were first printed during 1837 as a regular series in the magazine ''Bentley's Miscellany'' and later in ''New Monthly Magazine''. They proved immensely popular and were compiled into books published in 1840, 1842 and 1847 by Richard Bentley. They remained popular during the 19th century, when they ran through many editions. They were illustrated by artists including John Leech, George Cruikshank, John Tenniel, and Arthur Rackham (1898 edition). As a priest of the Chapel Royal, with a private income, Barham was not troubled with strenuous duties and he had ample time to read and compose stories. Although based on real legends and mythology, chiefly Kentish, such as the " hand o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Harris Barham
Richard Harris Barham (6 December 1788 – 17 June 1845) was an English cleric of the Church of England, a novelist and a humorous poet. He was known generally by his pseudonym Thomas Ingoldsby and as the author of ''The Ingoldsby Legends''. Life Richard Harris Barham was born in Canterbury. When he was seven years old his father died, leaving him a small estate, part of which was the manor of Tappington, in Denton, Kent, mentioned frequently in his later work ''The Ingoldsby Legends''. At nine he was sent to St Paul's School, but his studies were interrupted by an accident that partly crippled his arm for life. Deprived of vigorous bodily activity, he became a great reader and diligent student. During 1807 he entered Brasenose College, Oxford, intending at first to study for the law, but deciding on a clerical career instead. In 1813 he was ordained and found a country curacy. He married the next year and in 1821 he gained a minor canonry at London's St. Paul's Cathedral, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandre Dumas, Père
Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where ''Suffix (name)#Generational titles, '' is French language, French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the most widely read French authors. Many of his historical novels of adventure were originally published as serial (literature), serials, including ''The Count of Monte Cristo'', ''The Three Musketeers'', ''Twenty Years After'' and ''The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later''. His novels have been adapted since the early twentieth century into nearly 200 films. Prolific in several genres, Dumas began his career by writing plays, which were successfully produced from the first. He also wrote numerous magazine essay, articles and travel books; his published works totalled 100,000 pages. In the 1840s, Dumas founded the Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Master Humphrey's Clock
''Master Humphrey's Clock'' was a weekly periodical edited and written entirely by Charles Dickens and published from 4 April 1840 to 4 December 1841. It began with a frame story in which Master Humphrey tells about himself and his small circle of friends (which includes Mr. Pickwick), and their penchant for telling stories. Several short stories were included, followed by the novels ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' and ''Barnaby Rudge''. It is generally thought that Dickens originally intended ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' as a short story like the others that had appeared in ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', but after a few chapters decided to extend it into a novel. Master Humphrey appears as the first-person narrator in the first three chapters of ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' but then disappears, stating, "And now that I have carried this history so far in my own character and introduced these personages to the reader, I shall for the convenience of the narrative detach myself from its fur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Old Curiosity Shop
''The Old Curiosity Shop'' is one of two novels (the other being ''Barnaby Rudge'') which Charles Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York readers stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final instalment arrived in 1841. ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' was printed in book form in 1841. The plot follows the life of Nell Trent and her grandfather, both residents of The Old Curiosity Shop in London. Queen Victoria read the novel in 1841 and found it "very interesting and cleverly written". Plot Background The events of the book seem to take place around 1825. In Chapter 29, Miss Monflathers refers to the death of George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, Lord Byron, who died on 19 April 1824. When the inquest rules (incorrectly) that Quilp committed suicide, his corpse is ordered to be burial at cross-roads, buried at a crossroads with a stake through the heart, a practice banned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Pathfinder, Or The Inland Sea
''The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea'' is a historical novel by American author James Fenimore Cooper, first published in 1840 in literature, 1840. It is the fourth novel Cooper wrote featuring Natty Bumppo, his fictitious frontier hero, and the third chronological episode of the ''Leatherstocking Tales''. The inland sea of the title is Lake Ontario. Composition ''The Pathfinder'' was written 13 years after Natty Bumppo had ended his career in ''The Prairie''. Cooper had questioned the wisdom of reviving this hero, and he was at the time engaged in fierce litigations with newspapers. The adventures of the plot on the water take authority from the fact that Cooper had as midshipman actually seen service on Lake Ontario. Plot ''The Pathfinder'' shows Natty at his old trick of guiding tender damsels through the dangerous woods, and the siege at the blockhouse and the storm on Lake Ontario are considerably like other of Cooper's sieges and storms. Natty, in this novel commonly cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought him fame and fortune. He lived much of his boyhood and the last fifteen years of life in Cooperstown, New York, which was founded by his father William Cooper (judge), William Cooper on property that he owned. Cooper became a member of the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church shortly before his death and contributed generously to it. He attended Yale University for three years, where he was a member of the Linonian Society.#Lounsbury, Lounsbury, 1883, pp. 7–8 After a stint on a commercial voyage, Cooper served in the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, where he learned the technology of managing sailing vessels which greatly influenced many of his novels and other writings. The novel that launched his career was ''The Spy (Cooper nov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valentine Vox
Valentine Vox (born Jack Riley; February 20, 1939) is a British born American ventriloquist and author known for his scholarly book on the history of ventriloquism, ''I Can See Your Lips Moving: the history and art of ventriloquism'', which traces the practice back some three thousand years. As a ventriloquist Vox's career spanned over 50 years appearing in venues around the world in theatre, cabaret and on television. Besides English, he has performed his act in Japanese and German languages. In 1967 Edgar Bergen described Valentine as: ''A dishonest ventriloquist — because he doesn’t move his lips''. In 1997 Vox became the director of the International Ventriloquist Association and organized annual conventions in Las Vegas from 1997 to 2003 where he brought together some of the world top ventriloquists which included Jeff Dunham, Nina Conti, Jay Johnson, Ronn Lucas, Mallory Lewis, and Paul Winchell. Vox took his name from the 1840 Victorian novel by Henry Cockton, ''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Cockton
Henry Cockton (7 December 1807 – 26 June 1853) was an English novelist, remembered primarily for ''The Life and Adventures of Valentine Vox, the Ventriloquist'' (1839–40). Henry Cockton was born in George Yard, Shoreditch, London, the third of eight children of William and Mary Cockton. His father may have been a weaver. Nothing is known about his childhood or education; all that can be ascertained about his early life is that he spent some years employed in a house of business in Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk. Here, on 9 May 1837, he married Ann Howes in St. James's Church (now the Cathedral). Ann was the daughter of Eleanor Howes, a widow who owned ''The Seven Stars'' Inn in Long Brackland, a street in that town. Henry and Ann had a daughter, Eleanor Anne, and a son, Edward Stanley, born in Bury St. Edmunds on 20 December 1839 and 11 December 1841. In 1839 Henry Cockton commenced writing ''The Life and Adventures of Valentine Vox the Ventriloquist''. Published by Robert T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tower Of London (novel)
''The Tower of London'' is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth serially published in 1840. It is a historical romance that describes the history of Lady Jane Grey from her short-lived time as Queen of England to her execution. Background During 1840, Ainsworth was busy writing the serial ''The Tower of London'' while writing a serial for ''Guy Fawkes'' and while planning to start his own magazine. Both novels began their publication in January 1840, with ''The Tower of London'' being published on its own until December 1840. Ainsworth celebrated the conclusions of ''The Tower of London'' with a large dinner party near the printers of his works, Bradbury and Evans, at the Sussex Hotel. The work was illustrated by George Cruikshank. Story The plot begins with Lady Jane Grey, wife of Guilford Dudley and daughter-in-law to the Duke of Northumberland, as she enters the Tower of London on 10 July 1553. Prior to her entrance into the Tower, she ruled as Queen of England for nine day ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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