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The Royal Pavilion, Brighton
The Royal Pavilion, Brighton (Folio miniatures) [hardcover] Goff, Martyn [Jan 01, 1976]… 0718114779
32 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
About the author
Martyn Goff
20 books5 followersMartyn Goff was born in 1923, the son of a Russian fur dealer who had emigrated to London and established himself with great success. As a youth, Goff read prodigiously, and at 19 he was offered a place at Oxford to read English, but he joined the RAF and served in the Second World War instead. After the war, at age 22, Goff decided to become a bookseller: in 1946, he opened his first shop and before long opened others.
Goff published his first novel, The Plaster Fabric, in 1957, at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in Britain and authors who wrote openly about it could find themselves prosecuted. However, the book earned a rave review from the popular poet and critic John Betjeman, and, as Goff has said, ‘After that, the authorities could hardly condemn it.’ He went on to publish several other novels; three of these--The Youngest Director (1961), Indecent Assault (1967) and Tar and Cement (1988)—dealt with gay themes. He has also published a number of non-fiction works, including books on collecting vinyl records.
Goff is credited by many as one of the most significant figures in modern British fiction for his involvement with the Booker Prize, which he helped to create and oversaw for its first 36 years. Little noticed and even jeered at in its early years, the Booker under Goff’s chairmanship grew into one of the world’s major literary awards, attracting an annual media frenzy and guaranteeing huge sales for winners and shortlisted novels. As Goff approached retirement in 2002, John Sutherland wrote in The Guardian: ‘The current health of English fiction can be explained in two words: Martyn Goff.’
Martyn Goff lives in London with his partner, Rubio Tapani Lindroos; the two met in the late 1960s after the latter, then a student, wrote a fan letter to the author after reading The Youngest Director.
-Biography used with permission from Valancourt Books
Goff published his first novel, The Plaster Fabric, in 1957, at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in Britain and authors who wrote openly about it could find themselves prosecuted. However, the book earned a rave review from the popular poet and critic John Betjeman, and, as Goff has said, ‘After that, the authorities could hardly condemn it.’ He went on to publish several other novels; three of these--The Youngest Director (1961), Indecent Assault (1967) and Tar and Cement (1988)—dealt with gay themes. He has also published a number of non-fiction works, including books on collecting vinyl records.
Goff is credited by many as one of the most significant figures in modern British fiction for his involvement with the Booker Prize, which he helped to create and oversaw for its first 36 years. Little noticed and even jeered at in its early years, the Booker under Goff’s chairmanship grew into one of the world’s major literary awards, attracting an annual media frenzy and guaranteeing huge sales for winners and shortlisted novels. As Goff approached retirement in 2002, John Sutherland wrote in The Guardian: ‘The current health of English fiction can be explained in two words: Martyn Goff.’
Martyn Goff lives in London with his partner, Rubio Tapani Lindroos; the two met in the late 1960s after the latter, then a student, wrote a fan letter to the author after reading The Youngest Director.
-Biography used with permission from Valancourt Books
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September 14, 2014
A selection of watercolour reproductions of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, taken from Nash's 'Views of the Royal Pavilion, which was first published in 1826.
The illustrations move the reader through the splendid pavilion from a view of the exterior East Front through the spacious entrance hall, the 162 foot Corridor, Chinese in style, to the Banqueting Room with its 45-foot high dome decorated by Robert Jones; it also has an enormous plantain tree and a magnificent gasolier, which is of shimmering crystal and is 30 foot high and weighs a ton.
The Great Kitchen in which Antonin Careme prepared food, the South Drawing Room, the Saloon, which has remained relatively unchanged from Holland's original classic villa, the North Drawing Room, where George IV enjoyed relating anecdotes to those who were prepared to listen, the Music Room, where the masterpieces of Frederick Crace predominate, are also featured.
A delightful little book.
The illustrations move the reader through the splendid pavilion from a view of the exterior East Front through the spacious entrance hall, the 162 foot Corridor, Chinese in style, to the Banqueting Room with its 45-foot high dome decorated by Robert Jones; it also has an enormous plantain tree and a magnificent gasolier, which is of shimmering crystal and is 30 foot high and weighs a ton.
The Great Kitchen in which Antonin Careme prepared food, the South Drawing Room, the Saloon, which has remained relatively unchanged from Holland's original classic villa, the North Drawing Room, where George IV enjoyed relating anecdotes to those who were prepared to listen, the Music Room, where the masterpieces of Frederick Crace predominate, are also featured.
A delightful little book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review