Graffiti

Examples of 18th century graffiti taken from Dover Castle and Canterbury Cathedral, those in Dover made mostly by prisoners of war and those in Canterbury made by monks and schoolboys from King’s School. There is a bench in a cloister of the Cathedral where dozens of schoolboys traced around the soles of their shoes and hands. Amongst the prisoners’ carvings the most common symbol is the heart, and the designs tend to be more intricate and complete than the schoolboys’ efforts which are cruder and often unfinished (due to the nature of how and where these different groups interacted with the surfaces of the buildings that held them, the time and light available to them, the difference in confinement/supervision).

Scarce and beautifully printed book. First and only edition. Hardcover, good condition. 1967.