Home Objects Photographs of ‘George Eliot country’ by Speight

Photographs of ‘George Eliot country’ by Speight

Black and white photograph showing a church and churchyard. Surrounded by a green/brown mount. At the top are the words, Coton Church (Shepperton). Underneath the photograph is a quote from George Eliot's book, Scenes of Clerical Life. The signature of the photographer, Speight is shown underneath. Black and white photograph showing the side view of a house. It is mounted on green/brown card. The title Mrs Pettifer's House and an extract from Janet's Repentance by George Eliot is written on the left hand side of the mount. Black and white photograph showing the interior of a room. There is highly patterned wallpaper on the walls, A coal fire and oven can be seen on the right hand side. Above the very high fireplace are ornaments. There are two chairs and a table on the left hand side. Above this is a painting hanging on the wall. It is within a green/brown cardboard mount and the title Interior of South Farm, Arbury is typed on white paper beneath the photograph. Black and white photograph showing a house whose wall are clad in ivy. Trees and bushes are all around the front of the building. Image is within a green/brown card mount. The words The Elms School are written on the mount. Black and white photograph of a large building with numerous windows and chimneys. Two boys are sitting on the low wall outside the building. The title The college for the poor (coton workhouse) and an extract from Eliot's Scenes of Clerical Life is written on right hand side of the green/brown card mount. Black and white photograph showing the doorway to a house. In a green/brown card mount. The title Lawyer Dempster's house and an extract from Janet's Repentance by George Eliot is written underneath. Black and white photograph of an old school room with tables and books underneath. The chalk board at the front has the words George Eliot's School room written on it. The title the old school room, the elms, Nuneaton is written on the right hand side of the green/brown mount.
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Included in the amazing collection of postcards and photographs of places associated with Eliot, the library holds a special set of photographs taken by Clare Speight, a local photographer who had several shops in Warwickshire including Nuneaton.

Here are a selection of the original images he took which link the places Eliot knew as a child to the quotations from her early stories giving the viewer an insight into Eliot’s life and writing.

Speight published the images as postcards in the 1910s possibly to coincide with the 1919 commemoration of Eliot’s birth and they are an example of early Eliot tourist memorabilia.

Courtesy of the Speight family and John Frearson.

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