Period Piece (book)
First UK edition
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| Author | Gwen Raverat |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Gwen Raverat |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Published |
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| OCLC | 475803 |
Period Piece: A Cambridge Childhood is an autobiographical memoir by the English wood engraver Gwen Raverat covering her childhood in late 19th Century Cambridge society. The book includes anecdotes about and illustrations of many of her extended family (see Darwin–Wedgwood family).
As the author explains in the preface it is "a circular book" and although it begins with the meeting of her parents (Sir George Darwin and Maud du Puy) and ends with Gwen as a student at The Slade, it is not written chronologically, but rather arranged in a series of fifteen themed chapters, each dealing with a particular aspects of life. The book is illustrated throughout with wood engravings by the author.
The book is dedicated to her cousin Frances Cornford.
It was originally published by Faber & Faber in 1952 in hardback and as a paperback in 1960. It was reviewed in The Times and by David Daiches in The Manchester Guardian
Period Piece has been translated into Danish (Min forunderlige barndom, 1980) and Swedish (Så var det då : min barndom i Cambridge, 1985).
The author's immediate family consisted of her father, Sir George Darwin, her mother Lady Maud Darwin, and their four children; Gwen and her younger siblings Charles Galton Darwin, Margaret, and William "Billy". At the very beginning of the book, two family trees are given, one for the author's mother and one for her father. The family trees are reproduced here with minor modification:
The author's father was Sir George Darwin. Her father had a large extended family. Gwen's grandfather, Charles Darwin died before Gwen's birth, but his wife Emma Darwin ("Grandmama") lived until 1896. Charles and Emma had seven children who survived to adulthood - four uncles and two aunts to Gwen. All bar one of the uncles and aunts were married, and two uncles had children, resulting in five cousins:
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