Reissue of The Immortal Dinner by Penelope Hughes-Hallett

[Cath]

While innocently leafing through The Independent at the weekend I noticed that The Immortal Dinner has been re-issued and is being re-reviewed:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-strangers-child-by-alan-hollinghurstzero-degrees-of-empathy-by-simon-baroncohenempire-by-jeremy-paxmandear-zarl-by-zarghuna-kargarthe-immortal-dinner-by-penelope-hugheshallett-7833996.html?origin=internalSearch

On 28 December, 1817, the painter Robert Haydon held a dinner party at which the guests included Keats, Wordsworth, Charles Lamb and the explorer Joseph Ritchie. Hughes-Hallett's enjoyable history of this one evening, with its poetry readings, discussion of the merits of Homer, Shakespeare and Milton, debate about art and science, tipsiness, mockery and nonsense, also gives a wider picture of Regency society, with digressions into the acquisition of the Elgin Marbles, the career of Humphrey Davy, the politics of the Royal Academy, and the genesis of Frankenstein. A memorable evening, memorably evoked. I wonder if the drama critic John Reynolds, who was invited but didn't turn up, kicked himself afterwards.

Why "Robert Haydon"? He was called Benjamin Robert Haydon!! Stanley Plumly made this slip in Posthumous Keats, too.

The story of the new cover is here:
http://patrick-leger.blogspot.de/2012/05/immortal-dinner.html

[Saturn]

Excellent news, I missed getting it when it was first published and always regretted it.

[Cybele]

The Immortal Dinner is certainly a good read. I hadn't realized it had gone out of print!
I had a nice talk about the book with the librarian at the Athenaeum of Ohio/Mt St Mary's seminary where Haydon's giant painting currently lives. (It's had some adventures through the years, and appears to be loved and protected where it is now.)

The digressions were among the things I liked best about the book, another favorite bit was the peek into the social habits of the era. (In other words, cheap time travel! )

[Raphael]

Time travel...my greatest wish....!! I long for it every day.

[BrokenLyre]

Thanks for the link - enjoyed seeing the process of the cover.
I love B. R. Haydon's quote about Keats in that book!

I was gone on vacation the past few weeks....daughter is married now... glad to be back reading this site again