It’s a long since I’ve been to West Wycombe, it’s not very far by road, I understand, but the Oxford Tube only seems to serve the plainly weird Lewknor Turn.
You can see Sir Francis Dashwood’s stuff easily and clearly from the train to Marylebone, though but.
When it’s not snowing and everything is “running”, however.
So I was very pleased last week to receive from Eamonn Loughran his beautifully produced and very finely colour illustrated Secret Symbols of the Hell Fire Club.
Eamonn is not only a producer of many very high quality books, which he bookbinds too, but has produced several rare editions of hard to get books – I’ve seen a few. It is obviously a labour of love – but it’s certainly a labour.
I like loads of things about Eammon’s work, apart from his painstaking attention to detail.
This particular work examines very closely the symbolism of Francis Dashwood’s caves, “cabals” et al. There’s lots to say, and Eamonn says lots.
Chapter One deals of a mister called Maxwell Ashby Armfield, who, with his missus lived in West Wycombe for a while.
The whole world+dog knows about the motto of the Hellfire Club – I can’t translate it because I have neither ancient French nor modern English – but seems to go along the lines of the Sanskrit “svecchachara”, meaning be true to your own path.
Eamonn has produced many wonderful books from the past and for the future too. This is not an uncritical review of this particular book, yet, but as I used to be a letterpress printer myself, I’d encourage you to check out his website, Hell Fire CLUB. ∑
