Tag Archives: Library

Diary entries which mention books and other publications read by Arthur Linfoot. See also Arthur Linfoot’s Library.

Omar Khayyám

Cover ImageOmar Khayyám (1048-1131 A.D.) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy and music. While it is not clear from the diary which of Omar Khayyám’s writings had engaged Arthur Linfoot’s interest, it was almost certainly his most famous work, The Rubáiyát.

The image here is of Arthur Linfoot’s own copy, which is still held in a family collection and is clearly marked “second edition”.

Arthur Linfoot wrote that he had “read a bit of Omar Khayyam” while on holiday in St. Andrews on 29 June 1915.

23 April 1915; Friday

April 1915, , , ,

At work as usual. Got a sales book a bit further up today. Read a bit at night. Bought the “Roadmender.”1 Shipping between England & Holland stopped. Had short walk last thing. Mr Chadwick called at the shop. Edward off all day.

  1. “The Roadmender”, by ‘Michael Fairless’ (Margaret Fairless Barber, 1869 – 1901), is a consolatory Christian work, written by Fairless/Barber in her last illness and published 1902. It was immensely popular (reprinted 31 times in 10 years) before the era of effective modern medicine and during WW1; old copies still abound. See also: Arthur Linfoot’s Library ↩

The Roadmender

Cover ImageThe Roadmender is a 1902 Christian spiritual book by Margaret Barber, writing under the pseudonym Michael Fairless. The book became a popular classic, running through 31 editions in 10 years.

The book is written as a series of meditations on the road to heaven with the author adopting the persona of The Roadmender.

Arthur Linfoot bought a copy of The Roadmender on 23 April 1915 and subsequently lent his copy to Willie Wanless on 6th May, the same day as his friend and colleague Bob Brotherston had died of wounds incurred during battle in France.

29 March 1915; Monday

March 1915, ,

At work as usual. Snow in the morning but got out fine. Did a bit shorthand1 at night from Macauley’s Essays2 and played a bit.

Received news of the Falaba3 disaster also the Aquila.

  1. See Pitman’s Shorthand. ↩

  2. Thomas Babington Macauley, now best known for his poem Horatius (“Then out spake brave Horatius, The Captain of the Gate:…”) whose essays, originally published in the Edinburgh Review, were collected as Critical and Historical Essays in 1843. See also Arthur Linfoot’s Library. ↩

  3. Falaba: See footnote yesterday. ↩

Critical and Historical Essays

Critical and Historical Essays, published in 1843, is a collection of articles by Thomas Babington Macaulay, later Lord Macaulay, which originally appeared in The Edinburgh Review. Most of the essays have as their subjects noted literary or political figures.

Macaulay is now best known as author of his poem Horatius, from Lays of Ancient Rome(“Then out spake brave Horatius, The Captain of the Gate…”).

Arthur Linfoot wrote on 29 March 1915 that he “did a bit shorthand at night from Macauley’s Essays” and again on 19 April 1915 that he “did some shorthand from Macaulay’s essay on Milton”. It appears to have been his habit to copy text from works such as Macaulay’s essays as a way of honing his skills at Pitman’s shorthand.