The Library: Antique Volumes

Having already blogged about my love of books, I thought I’d put together a post about the small number of antique volumes which form part of my ruin-related library.

   

Between the aged covers of these old books I have found tantalizing references to some of the ruins I’ve explored. There is something compelling about leafing through pages over a century old and being greeted by a view of one of the houses I know so well, its bygone resplendence immortalized in an old photograph or etching from a time when its longevity seemed unquestionable. Continue reading

At the Fringe of Reality: The Work of Sir Simon Marsden

Earlier this month came the release of Russia: A World Apart, the latest collection of work by renowned photographer and master of ruins Sir Simon Marsden.

Sadly, the book is a posthumous publication as Simon died in January 2012. Here I pay tribute to the man who accelerated my own love of ruins, and the incredible photographic legacy he left behind.

Simon Marsden book collection

I first discovered Simon Marsden in my early teens, when searching for photographs of my favourite childhood holiday destination of Whitby. I had spent time here almost every year since birth, and had always been captivated by tales of Dracula stalking its misty alleys. This no doubt informed my burgeoning preoccupation for all things gothic, and I was suitably captivated by the dreamlike photographs of the town’s famed Abbey and churchyard I found on The Marsden Archive. Continue reading

cARTography

Having recently used this old Victorian map of Scotland to mark all the ruins I’ve visited since this project began, I thought now would be a good opportunity to share my enthusiasm for the art of map-making.

Ruin Map I

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