On the town

Out penultimate outing of the old year took the form of a session in Epsom. Preceded, in my case, by a visit to a clinic at the back of Epsom Hospital, a follow-up to my recent stay there. Wise words about future conduct.

Leaving by the back entrance, I happened to pass the small block of flats which used to be the 'Ladas', a house we used to use occasionally and rather liked for its pleasantly mixed company. Looks well enough in this snap; rather better than what used to be the 'Queen's Head' in South Street and the 'Eclipse' on West Hill, two other houses which have suffered the same fate. While the 'Plough and Harrow' in East Street, another decent house in its day, has become a restaurant, to be found at reference 1. Perhaps we ought to give it a go. A bit young for us?

Onto Epsom, where I hesitated about whether to go home or to wait in town for my rendez-vous, several hours later. As already advertised at reference 2, I wound up at the library where I was able to peruse my copy of the book at reference 3, as already advertised at reference 4. As it turned out the quality of reproduction of print and prints was as bad there as it was at home, but I managed.

I picked up various snippets of interest, of which I share a few.

There was talk of the woodcut of the 'Hay Wain' by one Timothy Cole, appropriate given the starting point was Constable. Timothy Cole was born a Brit, but emigrated to the US where he established himself as one of the leading wood engravers there in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, perhaps best known for his engravings of European master works, of which the snap above was one.

And another, 'A lesson in horsemanship', after Millet. Very different from the sort of wood engraving that I was brought up on - and a sort which was largely swept away by changes in printing technology.

I learn that the Dalziels of reference 10 were one of a select band of family dynasties in the wood engraving business, mainly for illustrations for serialised novels in magazines.

Then there were the box trees of Box Hill near Dorking, a little to the south of Epsom, harvested in 1815 and fetching £10,000 then. It seems quite likely that most of them ended up as wood blocks for wood engravers. Which I made £0.75m in 1990 money and Bing makes £1.0m in 2024 money, so great minds are clearly thinking alike. But according to Wikipedia, while there still are box trees up there (not ever seen by me), the last such sale was in 1795, the market having been swamped by the Portuguese. Reference 7 might have thrown some more light on the matter, but I failed to turn up online copy, although Google does recognise its existence. And I didn't bother to note the source of Hamilton's information, even supposing he bothered to record it.

And while most wood engravers in the twentieth century went in for limited editions - Mackley - the wood engraving uncle - once telling me that the VAT man made you score the block through once you had pulled your VAT-free quota - while some engravers had the revolutionary idea that the whole point of blocks was to print lots, to make prints available to whoever wanted them. Art for the masses. Not clear how they made their living.

Hamilton also quotes from some Mackley letters - and I also recall Mackley once telling me that you had to be careful with letters. You never knew when they might end up in some book or other! If in doubt eat after reading.

All of which whiled away the time until it was time to cut across to Wetherspoon's and wait for BH. Which turned out to be very busy this Friday afternoon, it now being around 17:30. Full even, with a good mixture of pensioners and younger people. Plenty of staff - some whom sported nose furniture and rather more of whom sported tattoos - so there was no problem getting served. And some young people may even have been doing something with their telephones to get table service. This I did not try for.

Right on the dot, BH turned up and we made our way across the road to Cappadocia, last visited, as it happens, not that long previously, as noticed at reference 8. Also very busy, despite only being a few days after the festal break, and on this occasion we elected to eat inside. We also elected to take just the one starter, hummus, which I prefer to its white cousin, nicely presented and with plenty of good, fresh bread.

Something slipped in the wine department, and we wound up with the one snapped above. It did very well. A 2016 Puligny-Montrachet from Henri de Villamont, to be found at reference 9. Where it says 100% Chardonnay and 'Robe or clair aux reflets verts, nez de noisettes fraîches et de fougères, bouche ample aux notes épicées en finale, longueur exceptionnelle'. We liked it well enough anyway - even if we were not taking it with 'Fruits de mer et poissons en sauce, foie gras, fromages à pâte persillée...'.

Something else slipped in the ordering department and instead of skewered lamb lumps, I got slow roast shank, plus the red gravy they like to include with so much pub grub. All my own fault: a blogging error at reference 8 compounded by a failure to read the menu properly. But in this context OK, even if it was not quite what I had in mind: all's well that ended well. And I really go for the brown wheat mound. Maybe Bulgur wheat. BH took seabass, with which she was well pleased.

And having kept to the one starter, we could manage dessert: mint tea (for her), Hennessy (for him) and baklava. All very satisfactory.

For once, we walked home, to find a fine moon hanging over the Meadway roundabout. 

On at least one occasion, I have had to replace the sign left in its hole. No telling what young people get up to late at night. Rather heavier than it looks. But no replacement needed on this occasion.

PS 1: mysteriously, I had forgotten all about my projected haircut, for which there would have been plenty of time, had I thought.

PS 2: it sticks in my mind that 'rendez-vous' is also an invitation to surrender: one soldier telling another that it is time to chuck in the towel. But I can't find anything about that in Littré.

PS 3: we are lucky to have such a good library in Epsom. Long may it last.

References

Reference 1: https://www.rocksaltepsom.co.uk/.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/12/trolley-609.html.

Reference 3: Wood engraving and the woodcut in Britain c1890-1990 – James Hamilton – 1994.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/constable.html.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Cole.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_Hill,_Surrey. The source of reference 7 below.

Reference 7: Box Hill: Dorking, Surrey - Littledale, H; Locock, L M; Sankey, J H P - 1984. For the Box Hill Management Committee.

Reference 8: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/12/cappadocia.html.

Reference 9: https://www.henridevillamont.fr/.

Reference 10: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/09/fake-127.html.