The Man

Clarence Bicknell’s Book of Guests in Esperanto – published July 2022

Clarence Bicknell’s Book of Guests in Esperanto is a masterpiece of dedication and arts-and-crafts talent in watercolours, published in book form worldwide.. Published July 2022 on Amazon and in selected bookshops. Clarence Bicknell (1842-1918) built his summer house, the Casa Fontanalba, in the Italian Maritime Alps in 1906, and year-after-year created hand-drawn vellum-bound albums featuring […]

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Postcard from Clarence Bicknell to Emile Cartailhac, April 1911

Postcard from Clarence Bicknell to Emile Cartailhac, April 1911, in the archives of Toulouse University. With thanks to Helen Blancfrancard for finding it and sending us the link. VersoCard postmarked 11th April 1911, over a green stamp of the Bordighera Esperanto Group Antauen. Sent to Le Prof. Emile Cartailhac, 5 rue de la Chaine, Toulouse,

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Clarence’s death and Luigi’s Forget-Me-Not

104 years ago today, 17 July 1918, was a sunny day in Casterino. Luigi Pollini carried Clarence Bicknell out onto the terrace of his ‘cottage’ where he died peacefully, in the surroundings which he loved, encircled by the mountains which he knew as ‘The Gate of Heaven’. Luigi was not just someone in Clarence Bicknell’s

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Margaret = Margherita = Daisy

A decorative floral design from his Book of Guests in Esperanto written and drawn by Clarence Bicknell between 1910 and 1918. Clarence Bicknell wrote a page in Esperanto about each visitor and decorated the page with a botanical drawing, often developing the guest’s initial into a monogram. In the Bicknell Collection curated by Marcus Bicknell

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MARVELS – The Life of Clarence Bicknell

MARVELS: The Life of Clarence Bicknell,Botanist, Archaeologist, Artist.   By Valerie Lester REDUCED PRICE OFFER £10 (approx €11.50 or $12.75) by transfer, PayPal or card at www.clarencebicknell.com/shop A treasure trove of research discoveries enlightens Valerie Lester’s biography of the captivating scientist and artist, Clarence Bicknell. Over 5 years, Lester pored over hundreds of newly-discovered letters, botanical

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Monogram B in the index of a Vellum-bound album

Here is a monogram B in the index of a Vellum-bound album by Clarence Bicknell in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Even in a simple design like this, Clarence’s arts-and-crafts instincts and botanical art skills make a pleasing design. Plans are afoot to publish his Book of Guests in Esperanto which contains several such monogram initials…

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The Paradise of the English in the Ligurian Riviera – Clarence Bicknell presence

We are delighted to announce that Clarence Bicknell will be well represented at an international conference on The Paradise of the English in the Ligurian Riviera – Stories, Landscapes and People at the Villa Marigola near La Spezia in Italy on 25-26 March 2022. I have been invited to present a paper and have co-authored

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Fritz Mader, Pioneer of Natural History – by Graham Avery

It was through his research into Clarence Bicknell that Graham Avery, the Vice-Chairman of the Clarence Bicknell Association, became interested in Fritz Mader. Fritz Mader (1872-1921) alpinist, geologist, botanist, glaciologist, speleologist and photographer, was the son of the pastor of the German-speaking church in Nice. He was educated at a French Lycée in Nice, at

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