The Story of Paris (1906) (Illustrated)
Memoirs of Paris Past
Nonfiction, Travel, Europe, France, History
| Author: | Thomas Okey | ISBN: | 1230000029078 |
| Publisher: | Revenant | Publication: | November 7, 2012 |
| Imprint: | Language: | English |
| Author: | Thomas Okey |
| ISBN: | 1230000029078 |
| Publisher: | Revenant |
| Publication: | November 7, 2012 |
| Imprint: | |
| Language: | English |
** The Memoirs of Paris Past collection presents fiction and non-fiction – travelers' guides, journals, histories, etc. - which wholly or in part shows Paris as it was at different points in history. If you love Paris and want to virtually stroll its streets in past times, search for “Memoirs of Paris Past” to find other works in the series. **
From the author's introduction:
"Obviously in so vast a range of study as that afforded by the city of Paris, compression and selection have been imperative: we have therefore limited our guidance to such routes and edifices as seemed to offer the more important objects of historic and artistic interest, excluding from our purview, with much regret, the works of contemporary artists. On the Louvre, as the richest Thesaurus of beautiful things in Europe, we have dwelt at some length and even so it has been possible only to deal broadly with its contents. A book has, however, this advantage over a corporeal guide; it can be curtly dismissed without fear of offence, when antipathy may impel the traveller to pass by, or sympathy invite him to linger over, the various objects indicated to his gaze."
What the press of the time thought of Okey's work:
"The idea of an historical guide-book is an excellent one, and Mr. Okey follows it well throughout. The illustrations too are almost always up to the mark. There is a chapter on the Louvre which contains some good photogravures of the more important pictures with appropriate notes."
"Also well written and illustrated is Mr. Okey's "Paris" (Macmillan). The particular charm of the book is the prominent place given by the author to the traditions of very early days..... Mr. Okey has grasped the fact that Paris is probably the most highly developed of European cities. We believe this to be so because it is the home of all that is lively, precise, acute, bizarre, original, refined, delicate, subtle. Hence we have in this book a history of France as one may read it in the monuments of Paris, but also the story of the French folk as one may read it in the French of to-day, the successors of the strangely contrasted characters who have crowded the French political, artistic, and literary stage in all ages."
" It is probable that, of all literary tasks, the one most difficult to perform successfully is that of compression and condensation. Mr. Thomas Okey has done this well in his interesting little volume 'The Story of Paris.' When the bibliography of his subject, as given in the preface of his book, is studied, the author must be acknowledged as a master of the art of putting much in a small space. 'The Story of Paris' as here given is but a meagre outline of what this city has passed through.
... The book is a reminder of much that may have been forgotten and an incentive to a fuller knowledge of events which have given a real direction to the affairs of the world."
"The book will serve to remind the older generation of their first impressions of Paris and to inflame with desire the hearts of the younger, for Paris is the Mecca of the pleasure-seeker, the fostermother of the artist, the fair city to which the eyes of all men turn."
** The Memoirs of Paris Past collection presents fiction and non-fiction – travelers' guides, journals, histories, etc. - which wholly or in part shows Paris as it was at different points in history. If you love Paris and want to virtually stroll its streets in past times, search for “Memoirs of Paris Past” to find other works in the series. **
From the author's introduction:
"Obviously in so vast a range of study as that afforded by the city of Paris, compression and selection have been imperative: we have therefore limited our guidance to such routes and edifices as seemed to offer the more important objects of historic and artistic interest, excluding from our purview, with much regret, the works of contemporary artists. On the Louvre, as the richest Thesaurus of beautiful things in Europe, we have dwelt at some length and even so it has been possible only to deal broadly with its contents. A book has, however, this advantage over a corporeal guide; it can be curtly dismissed without fear of offence, when antipathy may impel the traveller to pass by, or sympathy invite him to linger over, the various objects indicated to his gaze."
What the press of the time thought of Okey's work:
"The idea of an historical guide-book is an excellent one, and Mr. Okey follows it well throughout. The illustrations too are almost always up to the mark. There is a chapter on the Louvre which contains some good photogravures of the more important pictures with appropriate notes."
"Also well written and illustrated is Mr. Okey's "Paris" (Macmillan). The particular charm of the book is the prominent place given by the author to the traditions of very early days..... Mr. Okey has grasped the fact that Paris is probably the most highly developed of European cities. We believe this to be so because it is the home of all that is lively, precise, acute, bizarre, original, refined, delicate, subtle. Hence we have in this book a history of France as one may read it in the monuments of Paris, but also the story of the French folk as one may read it in the French of to-day, the successors of the strangely contrasted characters who have crowded the French political, artistic, and literary stage in all ages."
" It is probable that, of all literary tasks, the one most difficult to perform successfully is that of compression and condensation. Mr. Thomas Okey has done this well in his interesting little volume 'The Story of Paris.' When the bibliography of his subject, as given in the preface of his book, is studied, the author must be acknowledged as a master of the art of putting much in a small space. 'The Story of Paris' as here given is but a meagre outline of what this city has passed through.
... The book is a reminder of much that may have been forgotten and an incentive to a fuller knowledge of events which have given a real direction to the affairs of the world."
"The book will serve to remind the older generation of their first impressions of Paris and to inflame with desire the hearts of the younger, for Paris is the Mecca of the pleasure-seeker, the fostermother of the artist, the fair city to which the eyes of all men turn."
