Book lore and places

The real places, people and legends behind the books: the Whitby that Bram Stoker walked, the black dog of the Norfolk coast, the woman behind the most famous Victorian cookbook and the chemist who left gaps for elements nobody had found. Stories worth knowing before you read, or read again.

Set of three Mrs Beeton style kitchen prints in a botanical stipple engraving: Plate I Lemons, Plate II Mushrooms and Plate III Herbs, each a fine dotted illustration on cream paper with a numbered caption.

12 October 2026

Who was Mrs Beeton?

Her name is on the cookbooks in half the grandmothers' kitchens in Britain. The real Isabella Beeton was a 25 year old magazine editor who died at 28. This is her story.

Mendeleev periodic table print on aged manuscript paper: elements in columns in brown ink and pencil, with gaps and question marks where Mendeleev predicted elements not yet found, and corrections in the margin.

12 October 2026

Mendeleev and the periodic table

Every chemistry classroom has one on the wall. The periodic table is a chart of elements, and it is also one of the best predictions in the history of science. Here is the man who made it.

Dracula art print in Victorian mezzotint style: Whitby churchyard by moonlight, a long dark figure bending over Lucy asleep on a seat, with the ruins of Whitby Abbey behind. Shown framed in black, white or natural oak and unframed, with the style reference and behind-the-scenes shots.

5 October 2026

Dracula in Whitby: the real places behind the novel

Everyone remembers Transylvania, but the most frightening chapters of Dracula happen on the Yorkshire coast. Bram Stoker found the name, the shipwreck and the churchyard in one seaside town, and you can still walk every step of it.

Hound of the Baskervilles art print in a 1790s colour print style: a huge black hound bursts out of the fog on Dartmoor under a full moon as two men with revolvers rise from the rocks. Shown framed in black, white or natural oak and unframed, with the style reference and behind-the-scenes shots.

5 October 2026

Black Shuck and the real legends behind The Hound of the Baskervilles

Britain is full of phantom black dogs, and Arthur Conan Doyle borrowed the best of them for his most famous Sherlock Holmes story. Here are the legends behind the hound, and the scene I chose for my print. No spoilers for the ending.

Who was Mrs Beeton?

Mendeleev and the periodic table

Dracula in Whitby: the real places behind the novel

Black Shuck and the real legends behind The Hound of the Baskervilles

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