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Navy blue smooth calf (6 3/4 in. x 5 1/2 in.) double-ruled in gilt, with prominently centered insignia of Cheltenham College, and gilt lettering to spine. Five raised bands to spine with contrasting maroon morocco label (title) to second compartment, Each compartment elaborately decorated with a raised blue dot, set into tooled, gilt rings, cornerpieces to each compartment. Beautiful Antique-Spot marbled endpapers. Presentation bookplate for this prize book to front pastedown endpaper ("Cheltenham College/Military and Civil Department/8B Class Prize/Presented to the Council to H.A. Lake. E.A.A. Spencer Head Master; H. Kynaston Principal. Xmas MDCCCLXXX1."). Marbled edges. The Uffington White Horse is one of the most mysterious human artifacts on the planet. In the south of Oxfordshire, less than two hours west of Londonit sits atop White Horse Hill in the Vale of White Horse to which it gives its name. It is the oldest of the English chalk figures, which are constructed by removing turf and topsoil to reveal the chalk layer below. The Uffington White Horse, photo by flickr user superdove, used by permission The figure is sui generis in its magnificence,far surpassing any of the other hill figures extant in England. Thesurrounding landscape with its steep hills, the neighboring Roman earthworks castle, and pastoral lands still used for grazing sheep and cows is spectacular. The Uffington horse is probably best known for its appearance in Thomas Hughes s 1857 novel Tom Brown s Schooldays. The protagonist Tom Brown, like Hughes himself, hails from Uffington, Oxford archaeologists have dated the horse more accurately[and]. conclude that the trenches were originally dug some time between 1400 and 600 BCE, making the figure about th ree millennia old.How did the figure get preserved over this incredible expanse of time? The longevity ofthe horse is especially remarkable given its construction. The construction method is a bit different from its popular presentation as a kind of huge shallow intaglio, revealing the chalk substrate. Instead it is constructed as a set of trenches dug several feet deep and backfilled with chalk. Nonetheless, over time, dirt will overfill the chalk areas and grass will encroach. Over a period of decades, this process leads chalk figures to become "lost". In fact, several lost chalk figures in England are known of. Chalk figures thus require regular maintenance to prevent overgrowing.Thomas Baskerville captures the alternatives:"some that dwell hereabout have an obligation upon their lands to repair and cleanse this landmark, or else in time it may turn green like the rest of the hill and be forgotten." . This "repairing and cleansing" has been traditionally accomplished through semi-regular celebrations, called scourings, occurring at approximately decade intervals, in which the locals came together in a festival atmosphere to clean and repair the chalk lines, at the same time participating in competitions, games, and apparently much beer.Hughes s 1859 book The Scouring of the White Horse is a fictionalized recounting of the 1857 scouring that he attended." (The Occasional Pamphlet [Harvard University]).
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