metareading
Sep. 20th, 2010 12:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wombat1138Have concluded that Naomi Novik's "Temeraire" series has succeeded in eating me as a new fandom, at least to the extent of getting me to read (or at least browse) assorted reference materials that I probably wouldn't've read otherwise, ranging from world butterfly compendia to early Qing histories/biographies.
A particularly odd book that I found in the local library system is A Manchu Monarch : an Interpretation of Chia Ch'ing by A.E. Grantham; this particular copy was a 1976 reprint with no original publication details inside. It's "odd" in that its subject breadth isn't too different from a standard popular history and it doesn't wander into historical novel by inventing dialogue, but it keeps having stylistic freakouts into florid narrative overkill; e.g., "as the newly liberated spirit passed away from the sick-bed in the early hours of a spring morning, grateful itself, it may have merged more readily into all the blossoming loveliness outlined against the blue of a cloudless sky."
Based on assorted Googlage, the author's full name is Alexandra Etheldred Grantham (nee von Herder), born 1867. Her husband, Captain Frederick Grantham, served during the Great War with 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers and was killed on 9 May 1915 just before the Battle of Aubers Ridge, according to information in the same thread from this post:
(The original post had "Alexander" instead of "Alexandra", which I changed it to in the above paste.)
Her second son, Alexander Grantham (1899–1978), served as the 22nd Royal Governor of Hong Kong from 15 March 1947 – 23 January 1958.
Another ref expands out Alexandra's name to "Mrs. Alexandra Etheldred Emily Maria Sylvia (von Herder) Grantham, later Mrs. JWN Munthe"; zh.wikipedia gives her maiden name the slightly different spelling "Alexandra Ethelred Marie Sylvie Emillie von Herder".
This pge identifies her second husband as Johan Wilhelm Norman Munthe-- born 27 Jul 1864 (Bergen, Norway);(re)married 21 Feb 1919; died 13 May 1935 (Peking, China). It was the second marriage for both of them; there's no info there about any children-- oh, he has his own Wikipedia entry too.
There's a remarkably snarky article about Munthe's Asian art collection (and its legacy for an LA museum that unwisely acquired it) here.
As for Alexandra herself, I still haven't found a death date for her (though she had other publications as late as 1938), or even the original publication date of the "Manchu Monarch" book (other than presumably before 1919). I did find the fleeting quote "ALEXANDRA VON HERDER is a great grand-daughter of the eminent poet and philosopher,. Johann Gottfried von Herder".
The Norwegian Wikipedia article on General Munthe cites her as "datter av Alexander von Herder og Anna Sylvia Wilding von Königsbrück".
Her father seems to be the same "Baron Alexander von Herder" (the poet/philosopher's son) who bought Schloss Salenstein in 1869. The mineral herderite is named after her paternal grandfather, Siegmund August Wolfgang von Herder (1776-1838).
A particularly odd book that I found in the local library system is A Manchu Monarch : an Interpretation of Chia Ch'ing by A.E. Grantham; this particular copy was a 1976 reprint with no original publication details inside. It's "odd" in that its subject breadth isn't too different from a standard popular history and it doesn't wander into historical novel by inventing dialogue, but it keeps having stylistic freakouts into florid narrative overkill; e.g., "as the newly liberated spirit passed away from the sick-bed in the early hours of a spring morning, grateful itself, it may have merged more readily into all the blossoming loveliness outlined against the blue of a cloudless sky."
Based on assorted Googlage, the author's full name is Alexandra Etheldred Grantham (nee von Herder), born 1867. Her husband, Captain Frederick Grantham, served during the Great War with 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers and was killed on 9 May 1915 just before the Battle of Aubers Ridge, according to information in the same thread from this post:
Frederick William Grantham was born in South Norwood, Surrey, on 10/7/1870. He was the son of Sir William Grantham, an eminent judge of 100 Eton Square, SW London and Barcombe Place, Sussex. Frederick trained as a lawyer and was called to the bar in 1894. Whilst at Trinity, Cambridge, he joined the volunteers (in about 1890). He served with the Post Office Rifles (in 1893) and the Munster Militia (in 1899). He was appointed Clerk of Assize in the Oxford Circuit, was a great traveller in the Far East and an authority on eastern philosophy. He married Alexandra von Herder (who was 3 years his senior) and they had Hugo (born 1895), Alexander (born 1899) and Godfrey (born 1912). The family leased Beeleigh Abbey from 1912.
(The original post had "Alexander" instead of "Alexandra", which I changed it to in the above paste.)
Her second son, Alexander Grantham (1899–1978), served as the 22nd Royal Governor of Hong Kong from 15 March 1947 – 23 January 1958.
Another ref expands out Alexandra's name to "Mrs. Alexandra Etheldred Emily Maria Sylvia (von Herder) Grantham, later Mrs. JWN Munthe"; zh.wikipedia gives her maiden name the slightly different spelling "Alexandra Ethelred Marie Sylvie Emillie von Herder".
This pge identifies her second husband as Johan Wilhelm Norman Munthe-- born 27 Jul 1864 (Bergen, Norway);(re)married 21 Feb 1919; died 13 May 1935 (Peking, China). It was the second marriage for both of them; there's no info there about any children-- oh, he has his own Wikipedia entry too.
There's a remarkably snarky article about Munthe's Asian art collection (and its legacy for an LA museum that unwisely acquired it) here.
As for Alexandra herself, I still haven't found a death date for her (though she had other publications as late as 1938), or even the original publication date of the "Manchu Monarch" book (other than presumably before 1919). I did find the fleeting quote "ALEXANDRA VON HERDER is a great grand-daughter of the eminent poet and philosopher,. Johann Gottfried von Herder".
The Norwegian Wikipedia article on General Munthe cites her as "datter av Alexander von Herder og Anna Sylvia Wilding von Königsbrück".
Her father seems to be the same "Baron Alexander von Herder" (the poet/philosopher's son) who bought Schloss Salenstein in 1869. The mineral herderite is named after her paternal grandfather, Siegmund August Wolfgang von Herder (1776-1838).