#a. bettesworth

[uwmspeccoll]

Shakespeare Weekend

Continuing our look at The Works of Mr. William Shakespear: in ten volumes published in 1728 by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) and Dr. George Sewell (d. 1726), this week we examine Volume Four and its imprint variation on the title page. Volumes Four, Five, and Nine all include additional booksellers aside from Jacob Tonson (1655-1736).

The imprint for these three volumes reads “Printed for J. Tonson in the Strand; and for J. Darby, A. Bettesworth, and F. Clay, in Trust for Richard, James, and Bethel Wellington”. Richard Wellington Sr. was established in the London book trade during the 1700s, shortly after his death in 1715 his wife Mary assigned his stock of books over to Darby, Bettesworth, and Clay in trust for her three children. How or why Wellington was tied to only volumes four, five, and nine of Pope’s work is unknown to us.  

Volume Four contains a group of Shakespearean history plays including King John, King Richard II, King Henry IV Part I, King Henry IV Part II, and King Henry. Similar to Rowe’s earlier collection, scene divisions, stage directions, dramatis personae, and full-page engravings by either French artist Louis Du Guernier (1677-1716) or Englishman Paul Fourdrinier (1698-1758) precede each play.  

Pope’s editions of Shakespeare were the first attempted to collate all previous publications. He consulted twenty-seven early quartos restoring passages that had been out of print for almost a century while simultaneously removing about 1,560 lines of material that didn’t appeal to him. Some of those lines were degraded to the bottom of the page with his other editorial notes.  

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts. 

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

[gogmstuff]

1770s portraits (from top to bottom) -

1771 Hester, Countess of Sussex, and Her Daughter, Lady Barbara Yelverton by Thomas Gainsborough (Toledo Museum of Art - Toledo, Ohio, USA). From Wikimedia.

1776 Charlotte Bettesworth (c.1755–1841), Mrs John Sargent by George Romney (Sudley House - Aigburth, Liverpool, Merseyside, UK). From bbc.co (now artuk.org).

1777 Margherita Sparapani Gentili Boccapadule by Laurent Pécheux (location ?). From tumblr.com/history-of-fashion/703331047465713664/1777-laurent-pécheux-margherita-sparapani; sized to fit screen 1010X1400 @72 464kj.

1777-1778 The Honourable Miss Monckton by Sir Joshua Reynolds (Tate Collection - London UK). From their Web site; removed spots throughout image with Photoshop.

Lady, said to be Marie-Madeleine Guimard by Jean-Frédéric Schall (auctioned by Christie's). From their Web site; there are too many spots to remove.

[thejohnfleming]

ChatGPT's report of my death (and my life) has been slightly exaggerated...

(Drawing of John Fleming (1995-2022) by Janet Bettesworth) As my eternally un-named friend today took an interest in the much-publicised AI chatbot ChatGPT, I asked it a question: It was the late Prince Philip, wasn’t it, who advised: “Never complain. Never explain.”? No, it wasn’t… Facts become fluid over time. So I tried ChatGPT again with the same question, to see if it was consistent. I was…

[rococo-art-history]

Charlotte Bettesworth painted by George Romney (1734 - 1802)

[historicalbookimages]

🪺 A natural history of English song-birds: . London: Printed and sold by A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch in Pater-noster-Row, and S. Birt in Ave-Mary-Lane, 1737.

[aboutanancientenquiry]

From a copy of the third edition of Herodotus' Histories as translated into English by Isaac Littleburry (London, for D. Midwinter, A. Bettesworth & C. Hitch, J. & J. Pemberton, R. Ware, C. Rivington, J. Batley & J. Wood, F. Clay, A. Ward, J. & P. Knapton, T. Longman, and R. Hett, 1737).

Source: https://www.quaritch.com/books/herodotus-i-and-i-isaac-littlebury-i-translator-i/the-history-of-herodotus-translated-from-the-greek/C3243.13/

[horrorbulletin]

Short Film: 048 (2024) 

Directed by Luke Cloarec Written by Luke Cloarec Stars Mason Sturgess, Lee McLeod, Charlie Bettesworth Run Time: 10:08 Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXDTaZKabX0 What Happens Jake wakes up in the middle of the night to find Sydney knocking on his door. She says she saw someone in her room and wants him to check it out. He does, and, of course, there’s no one there.            …

[eleanorbriarsterm3]

Communicating in Colour

Week 6

I had a play around with my photos and how I could edit them and add in colour.

I looked through the filters in Photoshop to see if I liked any of them. I quite like the one below, it is similar to Becky Bettesworth style.

I then started to look at hue and saturation and how to make them more blue or pink.

I tested out loads of photos to have a range, and pick out my fabourites:

The first beach one, the huts, my dog on the beach, the sunsets

I do like the one with my family but it doesn't work as a postcard.

[gbhbl]

Horror Short Review: 048 (2024)

From Shadow Pond Productions, and writer/director/editor, Luke Cloarec, comes 048. A horror short that stars Mason Sturgess, Lee McLeod, Charlie Bettesworth, and Emma Ljunggren.

From Shadow Pond Productions, and writer/director/editor, Luke Cloarec, comes 048. A horror short that stars Mason Sturgess, Lee McLeod, Charlie Bettesworth, and Emma Ljunggren. It’s late at night, in some form of student-style accommodation block, and Jake is trying to go to sleep. Just as he begins to drift off, he is disturbed by a knock at his door. Initially, more than happy to ignore it,…

[artschoolglasses]

Charlotte Bettesworth, George Romney, 1779

[uwmspeccoll]

Shakespeare Weekend

The ninth volume of The works of Mr. William Shakespear: in ten volumes published in 1728 by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) and Dr. George Sewell (d. 1726) for Jacob Tonson (1655-1736), is considered a supplementary volume added to the collection in the second edition. As previously mentioned, Volume 9 includes the additional booksellers of C, A. Bettesworth, and F. Clay, in Trust for Richard, James, and Bethel Wellington. Scene divisions, stage directions, dramatis personae, and full-page engravings by either French artist Louis Du Guernier (1677-1716) or Englishman Paul Fourdrinier (1698-1758) precede each play. 

The volume contains seven plays; Pericles, Prince of Tyre, The London Prodigal, Thomas Lord Cromwell, Sir John Oldcastle, The Puritan, A Yorkshire Tragedy, and Locrine. Thematically the plays span genres ranging from comedy, tragedy and history, but they all share the same underlying question over authorship. The plays were originally attributed to William Shakespeare due to “Written by W.S.” appearing on the title pages of early quartos. Scholars have since argued that the “W.S.” could alternatively credit dramatists and Shakespeare contemporaries Wentworth Smith or William Sly, and historians now attribute Sir John Oldcastle and A Yorkshire Tragedy to prolific Jacobean playwright Thomas Middleton. 

Except it's not the last volume, there's one more supplemental volume left that we'll look at next week!

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts. 

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

[burneyanddefoe]

Charlotte Bettesworth (c.1755–1841) by George Romney (1778)

[thejohnfleming]

Award-winning Janet Bettesworth: her Mercenaries novel and a Ukraine song

Award-winning Janet Bettesworth: her Mercenaries novel and a Ukraine song

Walking a tight-rope on a roller-coaster Stand-up comedian and comedy club promoter Janet Bettesworth has published her first novel Mercenaries.  The blurb says it “plunges into the no-holds-barred dark world of Airbnb machinations” in which “Carla, a comedian, and Louise, an actress, are bribed by an elderly landlady, Alice to… extract revenge… A mélange of gruesome memories emerges as events…

[curiouscatalog]

From: Andrews, Thomas. An enquiry into the causes of the encrease and miseries of the poor of England. London : Printed for A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, 1738

HV245 .A64 1738

[george-romney]

Charlotte Bettesworth (c.1755–1841), Mrs John Sargent, 1778, George Romney

[noelcollection]

Happy Halloween!

Clergyman Joseph Glanvil wrote this book to prove that witchcraft existed and posed a danger to society. The work is divided into two parts: the first explores the possibility of witches while the second proves their existence. Its appendix includes a collection of witchcraft stories.

Images from: Glanvill, Joseph. Sadducismus Triumphatus or a Full and Plain Evidence Concerning Witches and Apparitions. London: A. Bettesworth, J. Batley, W. Mears, J. Hooke, 1726. Call Number: BF1581 .A2 1726 Catalog Record: https://bit.ly/3oEfJ8u