Elizabeth Fry

by Jane Whitney | Biographies & Memoirs |
ISBN: Global Overview for this book
Registered by Flares on 2/28/2004
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Flares on Saturday, February 28, 2004
Bought for 10 cents in a second-hand shop.

This is a book in English by a British author, but this edition is the Austrian edition from 1947. It is the biography of Elizabeth Fry, who now appears on the five pound note, so it was interesting to find out what she had actually done! Answer- a lot, in particular prison reform in women's prisons, and she had a great influence on the politics and royalty of the day helping to change the treatment of criminals. She probably had a great influence in future decisions concerning the training and improvement of criminals, abolition of the death penalty, improvements in nursing, etc. And she had ten children and demanding relatives! It gives a different picture of life at the end of the 18th century to that of Jane Austin, who was a contemporary.

I enjoyed this book, although it is written in rather an old-fashioned way. The second half of the book (in which her famous work is done) is the more interesting, I found the lengthy quotes from Elizabeth's journal in the first half rather boring! But it is worth it to read the second half.

Journal Entry 2 by stemonitis from not specified, not specified not specified on Monday, April 17, 2006
It's taken me a while to get around to reading this, because I wanted to find another copy for my permanent collection. The book itself is a well-written biography of Elizabeth Fry, the famous prison reformist and general good egg. The author was, like the subject, a Quaker, so there's a fair amount of religious comparison in the book, much of which is probably important, since without being a Quaker, Fry would probably not have achieved what she did, or at leat not the way she did.

However, the real reason for reading this book is the story behind the publisher. It is an Austrian "Guild Book", published by the British Publishers Guild in Austria after the Second World War, while parts of Austria were under British control. While the Americans imported chewing gum and nylons, the British gave the locals... literature. Of all the forms of propaganda, this must be among the least aggressive. "Elizabeth Fry" is the twentieth and penultimate book in the Austrian Guild Books series (for the curious, "The Flower of Grass" by Émile Cammaerts is number 21) and, while this copy is a bit worn at the edges, it does come complete with the original dust jacket. It is a piece of Anglo-Austrian publishing history.

Oh yes, another thing I should mention: there are quite a few typos in the book, and in one place two adjacent lines have been inadvertently swapped (p. 124: "As the colour came back to Betsy's cheeks and the / great deal of time. Her sisters were busy all day, and yet / liveliness to her spirits it seemed to her that they wasted a / what did they do?" should read "As the colour came back to Betsy's cheeks and the liveliness to her spirits it seemed to her that they wasted a great deal of time. Her sisters were busy all day, and yet what did they do?").

Journal Entry 3 by stemonitis at Haydn Kino (ehem. OBCZ) in Wien Bezirk 06 - Mariahilf, Wien Austria on Thursday, December 21, 2006

Released 17 yrs ago (12/20/2006 UTC) at Haydn Kino (ehem. OBCZ) in Wien Bezirk 06 - Mariahilf, Wien Austria

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