31 May 2013, Holt Bookshop: author’s talk on Mary Hardy’s life

The Holt Bookshop, an independent outlet in the north Norfolk town a mile from where Mary Hardy wrote her diary, is hosting an author event on Friday 31 May 2013 at 6.30 pm.

Margaret Bird, the editor of the diary, will be giving an illustrated presentation, “Mary Hardy: Holt’s local 18th-century diarist.”

The event is free, and all are welcome.

After the talk there will be an opportunity to buy one or more of the volumes, which Margaret will be happy to sign.

The story of a family

Mary Hardy covers a very wide range of specialist subjects, of interest to historians as well as the more general reader. In poring over this mass of evidence it is easy to forget that the diary is at heart the story of a family: a very active, outward-looking family, as well as an affectionate and united one.

The four-volume set of Diary volumes, with masses of editorial notes and illustrations

To capture something of the interplay of family life with work and events outside the home, the covers of the Diary volumes display a member of the Hardy family against a backdrop of some significance in their lives.

The spines, seen here, concentrate on the family portraits. These four likenesses, taken in 1785 and 1798, are the only surviving portraits of the remarkable couple who lived at Letheringsett Hall (seen on the banner) just down Letheringsett Hill from where Margaret Bird will be giving her talk. The public houses, shops and church at Holt were extremely well known to them, and appear almost daily in the pages of the diary.

Visiting Holt

For further details and directions on how to get to the Holt Bookshop in the Appleyard, please contact the bookshop on 01263 715 858, or see its website.

For those who wish to spend a little time exploring the town before the talk, the Holt Society has just created a most informative and attractive website describing some of the features of the 18th-century market town.