THAMES: SACRED RIVER

Ackroyd, Peter

ISBN 10: 0701172843 / ISBN 13: 9780701172848

Published by Chatto & Windus, 2007

About this Item

1st 2007. Slightly better than very good condition in a nearly fine dustwrapper. In short, lively chapters Ackroyd writes about connections between the Thames and such historical figures as Julius Caesar and Henry the VIII, and offers memorable portraits of the ordinary men and women who depend upon the river for their livelihoods. Matt pictorial boards. B/w and colour photos. xxi and 490 pages. SIGNED by the author (no dedication) to title page. Top edge of text block a little grubby. Else contents clean. Pictorial wrap-around has a 'signed copy' circular sticker to front panel. Packaged with care and promptly dispatched!

Seller Inventory # 1831268

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THAMES: SACRED RIVER
• Publisher: Chatto & Windus
• Publication Date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0701172843
• ISBN 13: 9780701172848
• Binding: Hardback
• Edition: First edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Signed: SIGNED - please see description for details.

About this title

Synopsis

The Thames displays the same qualities as London: The Biography: scholarship, wit, discursiveness, lovely descriptive writing, anecdotes, spirit of place and character. It is hugely enjoyable and sure to be another mammoth bestseller.

The Thames is about the river from source to sea, from prehistoric times to the present, its flora and fauna, the paintings and photographs inspired by the Thames, its geology, smells and colours, its literature, laws, magic and myths, its architecture, trade and weather.

The reader learns about the fishes that swim in the river and the boats that ply on its surface, about floods and tides, hauntings and suicides, miasmas and sewers, locks, weirs and embankments.

Here is Shelley floating on the river under poetical beech trees, Hogarth getting roaring drunk on a boat trip to Gravesend, William Morris wondering whether the same Thames water flowed past his windows in Hammersmith as flowed past his house at Kelmscott, 100 miles upriver.

Peter Ackroyd has a genius for digging out the most surprising and entertaining details, and for writing about them in the most magisterial prose.

About the Author

Peter Ackroyd was born and raised in London, where he still lives. His groundbreaking book London: The Biography has spawned many imitators. First published in 2000, it sold 125,000 copies in Chatto hardback and 250,000 copies in paperback.