Joseph Farington (1747–1821)

I picked this volume of Farington's diary up to read his thoughts on the Ireland Shakespeare forgeries, which he writes about extensively. But I got drawn in, and ended up reading through the whole volume. Farington's high society lifetstyle, dinners with famous figures, meetings of the Royal Academy and other artistic and literary groups make for fascinating reading, and he also writes often about the literary world of 1790s London: the buying and selling of books, publication dates and subscriptions, plus auctions of books and art. His accounts of conversations and debates on all manner of subjects make for an engrossing read.… (mer)