Peter Robinson | Japan Women's University (original) (raw)
Books by Peter Robinson
This is a reprint of the 1939 James Guthrie Pear Tree Press edition of Eleanor Farjeon's 'A Susse... more This is a reprint of the 1939 James Guthrie Pear Tree Press edition of Eleanor Farjeon's 'A Sussex Alphabet', with a new introduction and notes. It is issued as part of a two-volume set which includes the new poetry collection 'A South Downs Alphabet' produced by school children and U3A students as part of a literary outreach project in conjunction with The Write House and the South Downs National Park (with Heritage Lottery Funding).
History of an Historic Hotel in Alfriston, East Sussex.
History of the historic seat of the Earls of Chichester, Sussex.
Articles by Peter Robinson
Japan Women's University Faculty of Letters Bulletin No. 73, 2024
This short paper discusses how Conan Doyle's 'The Valley of Fear' (1914) was advertised and marke... more This short paper discusses how Conan Doyle's 'The Valley of Fear' (1914) was advertised and marketed in its serial form in the 'New York Tribune's Sunday Magazine'. It contends that the circumstances of its underwriting (the highest amount paid for a serialisation) was formative in its unusual two-part structure, which resulted in it being marketed in two very different ways in the UK and US respectively.
Studies in English and American Literature, 2020
This brief paper analyzes a pamphlet containing a story featuring Peter Pan and Wendy, with a foc... more This brief paper analyzes a pamphlet containing a story featuring Peter Pan and Wendy, with a focus on JM Barrie's philanthropic support of Homes for Children.
Studies in English and American Literature, 2023
In the leisured country houses of the Edwardian 'Golden Afternoon', sun-dials re-entered the popu... more In the leisured country houses of the Edwardian 'Golden Afternoon', sun-dials re-entered the popular and artistic imagination in a way not seen since their medieval heyday. It is the purpose of this article to contemplate and to contextualize their second 'moment in the sun'.
Journal of the Faculty of Humanities, Japan Women's University, 2020
This paper contextualizes Gertrude Jekyll's sole contribution to The Times' Woman's Supplement, t... more This paper contextualizes Gertrude Jekyll's sole contribution to The Times' Woman's Supplement, their motivation for soliciting what would have been an expensive contribution by the leading horticultural luminary of the day, and analyzes the contents of the article itself, helping to better shape our understanding of Jekyll's social positioning and relationship with the female rights movements.
Through analysis of the advertising and para-textual material surrounding a selection of eighteen... more Through analysis of the advertising and para-textual material surrounding a selection of eighteenth-century publications, this essay proposes that the phrase ‘This Day is Published,’ which was used to head many literary advertisements for the eighteenth-century publisher James Ridgway, cannot be simply considered as a publication marker, or as a literary convention emerging from a period when books in England were required to be registered at Stationers’ Hall, London. Instead, the phrase formed part of a powerful rhetorical trope of the ‘new’, which significantly extended the ‘event’ of publication and combined with other subtle advertising strategies, impacting sales, circulation, and more critically, reader reception.
As the events of the French Revolution reached their peak, David Williams (1738-1816), former dis... more As the events of the French Revolution reached their peak, David Williams (1738-1816), former dissenting minister-turned-deist, educator, and political reformer, published the pamphlet Lessons to a Young Prince in which he alerted the Prince of Wales to the benefits of political misanthropy. Although a transparent attack on party politicking, the work laid out an alternative constitutional vision for England, well received in reforming circles. Nonetheless, the advent of the Revolution changed the way Lessons were read by contemporaries and led to the addition of a substantial extra lesson which responded to Edmund Burke’s rather lurid account of the excesses of the sans-culottes. However, unlike many of his other works and despite their wide readership, Lessons were never owned by Williams, appearing anonymously in their first edition, and subsequently in all other editions under the pseudonym ‘Old Statesman’. This article seeks to explain Williams’ decision to remain uncoupled from his work and argues that its rhetorical function far exceeded its use as a means to avoid censorship.
Book Chapters by Peter Robinson
This is a reprint of the 1939 James Guthrie Pear Tree Press edition of Eleanor Farjeon's 'A Susse... more This is a reprint of the 1939 James Guthrie Pear Tree Press edition of Eleanor Farjeon's 'A Sussex Alphabet', with a new introduction and notes. It is issued as part of a two-volume set which includes the new poetry collection 'A South Downs Alphabet' produced by school children and U3A students as part of a literary outreach project in conjunction with The Write House and the South Downs National Park (with Heritage Lottery Funding).
History of an Historic Hotel in Alfriston, East Sussex.
History of the historic seat of the Earls of Chichester, Sussex.
Japan Women's University Faculty of Letters Bulletin No. 73, 2024
This short paper discusses how Conan Doyle's 'The Valley of Fear' (1914) was advertised and marke... more This short paper discusses how Conan Doyle's 'The Valley of Fear' (1914) was advertised and marketed in its serial form in the 'New York Tribune's Sunday Magazine'. It contends that the circumstances of its underwriting (the highest amount paid for a serialisation) was formative in its unusual two-part structure, which resulted in it being marketed in two very different ways in the UK and US respectively.
Studies in English and American Literature, 2020
This brief paper analyzes a pamphlet containing a story featuring Peter Pan and Wendy, with a foc... more This brief paper analyzes a pamphlet containing a story featuring Peter Pan and Wendy, with a focus on JM Barrie's philanthropic support of Homes for Children.
Studies in English and American Literature, 2023
In the leisured country houses of the Edwardian 'Golden Afternoon', sun-dials re-entered the popu... more In the leisured country houses of the Edwardian 'Golden Afternoon', sun-dials re-entered the popular and artistic imagination in a way not seen since their medieval heyday. It is the purpose of this article to contemplate and to contextualize their second 'moment in the sun'.
Journal of the Faculty of Humanities, Japan Women's University, 2020
This paper contextualizes Gertrude Jekyll's sole contribution to The Times' Woman's Supplement, t... more This paper contextualizes Gertrude Jekyll's sole contribution to The Times' Woman's Supplement, their motivation for soliciting what would have been an expensive contribution by the leading horticultural luminary of the day, and analyzes the contents of the article itself, helping to better shape our understanding of Jekyll's social positioning and relationship with the female rights movements.
Through analysis of the advertising and para-textual material surrounding a selection of eighteen... more Through analysis of the advertising and para-textual material surrounding a selection of eighteenth-century publications, this essay proposes that the phrase ‘This Day is Published,’ which was used to head many literary advertisements for the eighteenth-century publisher James Ridgway, cannot be simply considered as a publication marker, or as a literary convention emerging from a period when books in England were required to be registered at Stationers’ Hall, London. Instead, the phrase formed part of a powerful rhetorical trope of the ‘new’, which significantly extended the ‘event’ of publication and combined with other subtle advertising strategies, impacting sales, circulation, and more critically, reader reception.
As the events of the French Revolution reached their peak, David Williams (1738-1816), former dis... more As the events of the French Revolution reached their peak, David Williams (1738-1816), former dissenting minister-turned-deist, educator, and political reformer, published the pamphlet Lessons to a Young Prince in which he alerted the Prince of Wales to the benefits of political misanthropy. Although a transparent attack on party politicking, the work laid out an alternative constitutional vision for England, well received in reforming circles. Nonetheless, the advent of the Revolution changed the way Lessons were read by contemporaries and led to the addition of a substantial extra lesson which responded to Edmund Burke’s rather lurid account of the excesses of the sans-culottes. However, unlike many of his other works and despite their wide readership, Lessons were never owned by Williams, appearing anonymously in their first edition, and subsequently in all other editions under the pseudonym ‘Old Statesman’. This article seeks to explain Williams’ decision to remain uncoupled from his work and argues that its rhetorical function far exceeded its use as a means to avoid censorship.
This paper highlights the emergence of a distinctive, romantic-inspired lyricism in garden period... more This paper highlights the emergence of a distinctive, romantic-inspired lyricism in garden periodical entries and advertisements describing newly introduced Asian plant species to England during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Such literature became increasingly prominent and recognizable in a flourishing gardening press that included: periodicals, newspapers, plant catalogues, botanical dictionaries, and horticultural society proceedings and transactions. It is proposed that such advertising material moved steadily away from its roots which were embedded within the trope of ‘exoticism’ towards the softer tones of Romanticism which emphasized harmonious experience within the celebrated picturesque, often rejecting the scientific rationalization which characterized scholarly botanical literature of the period, and deliberately invoked and imitated Romantic writers. Such advertisements resonated with practitioners of the ‘gentlemanly’ pursuit of gardening. The paper further suggests that this change in the modality of the literature and advertisements can, at least in part, be explained by the saturation of England with new exotic plant species from around the world, causing botanical discourse to move away from one centered around ‘rarity and scarceness’ (a fetish for the new and the unpossessed) to one which emphasized the integration of plants within arenas of ‘aesthetic taste’ such as the garden. As adventurous plant collectors penetrated ever deeper into Asia – greatly facilitated by the opening up of Japan in the Meiji period – as well as the development of new hybridizing techniques, the premium placed on individual specimens gave way to concern for the harmonization of the garden.
Hosted by the Garden's Trust, 2024
Canine Cultivators: A Brief History of the "Gardener's Best Friend" "...a dog has no business in... more Canine Cultivators: A Brief History of the "Gardener's Best Friend"
"...a dog has no business in a garden; but... if a rabbit gets in, as rabbits will at times, a dog is essential for its execution." Herbert Maxwell (March 20, 1926, The Gardeners' Chronicle, p. 219).
In this entertaining talk, Dr Robinson tests the compatibility of two popular, but much bowdlerized sayings: that the English are a 'nation of gardeners', and of 'dog lovers.' Drawing on historical materials taken from the gardening press, the talk examines the different roles that dogs have played in English gardens through time. Whether to provide security, act as pest controllers, or as family companions, dogs are an integral part of the garden story. They have been rendered in stone, as in the famous Jennings Dog, and celebrated intimately by their owners, who have incorporated them into their garden designs. Christopher Lloyd's dachshunds, Dahlia and Canna, live on in a pebble mosaic, and who could forget the nation's favourite golden retriever, Monty Don's Nigel, now remembered fondly in box topiary. But celebrated as they are today, dogs and gardens have not always been viewed as complementary. With a proclivity for ad hoc excavation, penchant for chasing animals, not to mention for making certain natural deposits which offended Edwardian sensibilities, dogs have at times been cast as enemies of the garden, inducing a wide range of solutions from the comical to the downright cruel. This, then, is the untold story of the Canine Cultivator.
Hosted by The Gardens Trust , 2023
This talk, hosted by The Gardens Trust considers the role of plants in Hisui's design work, inclu... more This talk, hosted by The Gardens Trust considers the role of plants in Hisui's design work, including for 'Mitsukoshi' magazine, and as a designer more generally. It suggests that Hisui's botanical sketchbooks and interest in plants allowed him to simplify and abstract them in his later design work, much like in Picasso's 'The Bull' regression in a series of lithographs.
Hosted by The Garden's Trust, 2023
This talk looked at Hisui Sugiura's early career and particularly his album of 'One Hundred Flowe... more This talk looked at Hisui Sugiura's early career and particularly his album of 'One Hundred Flowers' (Hisui Hyakkafu), published 1920-1922. Tracing his artistic evolution and method of composition using numerous examples and plant species , the talk discussed Hisui's preoccupation with, and close observance of, the growth habits of plants, their silhouettes, outlines, and profiles, and his philosophy of imperfection which incorporated blemishes and imperfections into a coherent aesthetic whole.
Hugh Lofting’s most famous literary creation, Doctor John Dolittle, a kindly, middle-aged man cap... more Hugh Lofting’s most famous literary creation, Doctor John Dolittle, a kindly, middle-aged man capable of conversing with animals, was first introduced to the American reading public in The Story of Doctor Dolittle in 1920. Two years later a UK edition emerged, the same year that The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle was published. Controversially expunged of racially derogatory language in modern editions, little notice has been taken of contemporary newspaper serializations of the Dolittle stories that attempted to capitalize on the commercial success of the books. Beginning on the 29 October 1922, The New York Tribune serialized both books in their weekly Sunday Magazine under the collective title The Adventures of Doctor Dolittle. This illustrated lecture explores how, although the serialization largely maintained close textual fidelity and reused the majority of Lofting’s iconic illustrations, they were often re-captioned, which represents a non-authorial editorial intervention significantly altering narrative positionality.
Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965), poet and author, much like Mary Shelley, was born into a creative an... more Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965), poet and author, much like Mary Shelley, was born into a creative and literary family. Her father, Benjamin Leopold, was a prolific Victorian novelist, whilst her brothers Joe and Herbert also succumbed to the allure of the pen. Despite no formal education, her oeuvre was excitingly broad, but it is for her children’s stories that she is most noted, particularly Martin Pippin in the Apple-Orchard (1921). In 1917 she rented a cottage in Amberley, Sussex, and stayed there for two years. This talk introduces her Sussex-inspired works, outlines her extensive literary contacts in the Sussex area, describes the places she is known to have visited vis-à-vis her work, and finishes with a discussion of her most famous lyrics – the hymn Morning Has Broken (1931) – popularized by Cat Stevens’ in 1972, which it is popularly believed were inspired by visits to Alfriston. The talk draws upon her published works, manuscripts, correspondence, and several biographies.
These vignettes are based on historical characters associated with Stanmer House, Brighton. They ... more These vignettes are based on historical characters associated with Stanmer House, Brighton. They were performed in full costume at the newly restored Stanmer House, on 9th November 2007.
![Research paper thumbnail of Novelists & Newspapers: The Golden Age of Newspaper Fiction, 1900-1939 [Curated Exhibition]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/53797869/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Novelists & Newspapers, The Golden Age of Newspaper Fiction, 1900-1939 [a bilingual public exhibi... more Novelists & Newspapers, The Golden Age of Newspaper Fiction, 1900-1939 [a bilingual public exhibition in English and Japanese, curated by Peter Robinson]
29 April - 25 June 2017 Komaba Museum, University of Tokyo (Japan)
http://museum.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/exhibition.html#Novels
Discussion Prompt Questionnaire (please answer as fully as possible where relevant to your research)