Feature: Museums at Night runs from May 13-15
Published: 12 May, 2011
by DAN CARRIER
IT had the words “rubbish” written in green ink across the manuscript – but the book, which had been summarily dismissed by a reader at the Bloomsbury publishing house Faber and Faber, was set to become one of the outstanding novels of the 20th century.
The story of how William Golding’s seminal work Lord of the Flies was rescued from the bin is just one of many fascinating facts Faber’s archivist Robert Brown is due to reveal tomorrow night (Friday).
This weekend, museums in Camden, Islington and Westminster are opening their doors for special after-hours sessions as part of the nationwide Museums at Night event – and the previously secret archives of the publishing house will be thrown open to a select few for a guided tour.
Among the thousands of handwritten letters between such literary luminaries as TS Eliot and Ted Hughes is the first manuscript of Golding’s masterpiece.
“It had been dismissed and put among other discarded novels,” reveals Mr Brown. “But it was rescued when a Faber reader, Charles Monteith, was in a hurry to catch a train to Oxford and wanted something to read.
“He grabbed the first copy of a manuscript he could find – and it was Lord of the Flies. He read it on the train and realised there was something in it, but he felt it was three times too long. He thought by shortening it – which Golding did –it would work.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Other highlights of the weekend include a candle-lit tour of the London Canal Museum, based in King’s Cross. They have commissioned 15 artists to produce works that have been inspired by their museum and its unique collection of artefacts. In addition, the museum itself has a fascinating story to tell.
It opened in 1923, but as chairman Martin Sach explains, the King’s Cross warehouse has a much longer background to boast about – and owes its existence to the vision of an itinerant émigré and the lack of refrigeration in the Victorian period.
Swiss-born immigrant Carlo Gatti moved to London to escape poverty. “He came here penniless and sought his fortune – which he comfortably did,” Mr Sach said.
Mr Gatti recognised the demand for ice and struck deals with Norwegian businesses who farmed ice. He had ships carry blocks from the fjords of northern Europe to the Regent’s Canal and from there to his warehouse, where in 1861 he had sunk two giant wells to store them in.
His business acumen extended not only from selling ice, but producing ice cream. Using a process that would see cream churned in special vats surrounded by his Norwegian ice, he soon had a product that was incredibly popular with his Victorian contemporaries.
Elsewhere, there is a night celebrating émigré London at the National Portrait Gallery tomorrow (Friday). Highlights include klezmer music filling the gallery with the violin and accordions of London Klezmer Tvsey, a discussion with David Edmonds, Sarah Bakewell, and Julian Baggini discussing portraiture and philosophy, a vintage photography session and a screening of the classic Soviet era film, The Battleship Potemkin.
• Museums at Night runs from May 13-15. Full details of events at www.culture24org.uk