You can't get much more Old London than the Trafalgar Tavern on the riverside at Greenwich, just past the Old Royal Naval College, with historic buildings to either side and behind, and modernity of Canary Wharf across the Thames at the front. It even has its own Wikipedia page. The Trafalgar Tavern today (image from… Continue reading Trafalgar Tavern, Greenwich [Old London]
Category: history and information history
London and the 17th century
I have never really liked the seventeenth century; maybe after having to study it at school, seemingly interminably. Rather too much plague, fire, civil war, religious persecution, and Dutchmen doing bad things on the Medway. Yes, of course, Christopher Wren and Isaac Newton, but even so. Sometimes, however, reading a single book can change one's… Continue reading London and the 17th century
Libraries of Science at the Royal Society
An interesting meeting with a full-house audience in the opulent surroundings of the Royal Society in Carlton House Terrace last week (14th March 2025). 'Libraries of Science' is an apt enough title, although the topics covered were mostly more specific. Talks focused mainly on aspects of the libraries of British learned and societies, from Antiquaries… Continue reading Libraries of Science at the Royal Society
A volcanic earth transformed
The relation between natural history and human history is an interesting one, particularly if a bit of information history can be worked in. Two books published in 2023 take very different and contrasting approaches to this topic. Peter Frankopan's The earth transformed: an untold history is one of those works for which the phrase "big… Continue reading A volcanic earth transformed
Haxells Strand Palace [Old London]
At first sight, the modern, if Art Deco influenced, ambience of Haxells restaurant, within the Strand Palace Hotel, does not suggest Old London. But there is an interesting backstory. The hotel itself dates back to 1909, but took its present form in the 1920s, with a redesign in Art Deco style. The expanded hotel incorporated… Continue reading Haxells Strand Palace [Old London]
Overload, attention and medieval diagrams
Information overload, and its attendant pathologies of information, wrongly thought to be a product of the digital age, of social media, and the like, have received much comment in recent years. With attention focused on the ways in which the digital environment removes many of the informational frictions in the communication chain, the long history… Continue reading Overload, attention and medieval diagrams
Rocking documentation redux: rock value
In a post of some years back, I mused on how rocks and minerals could be regarded as documents, conveying information, and as informational entities in their own right, and drew attention to the way in which their documentary/informational status had been discussed by a variety of thinkers, from Suzanne Briet to Luciano Floridi. Some… Continue reading Rocking documentation redux: rock value
“Transmitted as never before”: the communication revolution and the green infrastructure, 1830 – 1880
On 22nd September 2022, I gave a presentation to an international symposium on 'The Genesis of the Green Infrastructure', celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted. The presentation is now available, along with other materials from the symposium, on the symposium website and on YouTube. This presentation reviewed developments in information… Continue reading “Transmitted as never before”: the communication revolution and the green infrastructure, 1830 – 1880
Indexes (and quite a bit besides), history of
In this history of indexes and indexing, Dennis Duncan offers a scholarly, but very readable, mix of information history, literature, information science, and the history of books and reading. To someone, like myself, whose ideas of indexes has revolved around the likes of Index Medicus and Chemical Abstracts, the ideas of satirical indexes, indexes as… Continue reading Indexes (and quite a bit besides), history of
Companioning information history
I have perhaps been remiss in not giving mention before now to what can be called, without much exaggeration, a landmark publication for anyone interested in information history. On the other hand, being only a year late is perhaps not such a problem for a book which will certainly be a valuable reference for many… Continue reading Companioning information history
The Occasional Informationist 