Nassau, Bahamas – The Bahamas Historical Society’s next talk will be on Thursday, 21st February, 2013 at 6pm at the museum and our guest speaker will be ” An Illustrated Review of Bahamian Books Printed Before 1960″ with Neil Sealey.
An examination of the value of early books about the Bahamas. Mainly non-fiction works written by visitors or short-term residents, but including some local stories. The current availability and price is discussed, as is the recent trend to publish cheap print-on-demand facsimiles of old books.
The value of the books is reviewed in terms of their factual content and impressions of the economic state and social conditions of the islands. Many books were illustrated by lithographs at first and later photographs. Illustrations of the books and their contents will be a major part of the presentation.
Neil Sealey: Bahamian citizenship awarded 1994, but born in Lancashire, England. Barbadian mother and English father, grew up in the West Indies and England. Higher education Oxford University (MA, Geography) and London University (Leverhulme Open Fellowship).
Short career as officer British Merchant Navy and Royal Naval Reserve. Subsequently college lecturer in England and moved to Bahamas in 1978 to teach at COB. Senior Lecturer in Geography until 1995.
Widely published in journals, newspapers and magazines, also author of a number of textbooks and atlases, including Bahamian Landscapes and Bahamas Today. Last presentation to BHS was on Columbus’s landfall in 1992.
Currently director of publishing and wholesale book distribution at Media Enterprises since 1995.
Our January talk on the background of the Cloisters by William Whobrey was much appreciated by a sizable audience. It can be seen on the BHS YouTube site:
I have had a few compliments on my articles in the Tribune’s Saturday Big T and a few people want to get back copies. They started on Saturday 19th and continued Saturday 26th Jan and 2nd February.
By Jim Lawlor, The Bahamas Historical Society
The Bahamas Historical Society (BHS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to stimulating interest in Bahamian History and to the collection and preservation of material relating thereto. Its Headquarters, the former IODE Hall, was a gift from the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE). BHS is on Shirley Street and Elizabeth Avenue in Nassau. www.bahamashistoricalsociety. com
