Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs in Great Britain

Andrews, William, 1848-1908Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0

Word count: 112K words
Chapters: 12

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs in Great Britain by William AndrewsAuthor: Andrews, William, 1848-1908,Language: English, Class: DA: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Great Britain, Ireland, Central Europe, Release Date: Aug 17, 2017

Editor's review

This book explores the famous frosts and frost fairs of British history, including those held on the frozen Thames, and belongs to a kind of cultural history that interweaves climate phenomena, local customs, and historical memory. Its readability comes from specific scenes: once the river froze, people set up stalls, held amusements, and printed commemorative items on the ice, and these details make "frost" not merely a meteorological record but a stage for social life. The author, William Andrews, devoted long attention to local history and antiquarian subjects, and his prose carries the flavor of late nineteenth-century popular British historical writing. For readers, this book can serve both as an introduction to British climate and folklore and as supporting material for the study of urban history, festival history, and print culture. Noting how the author distinguishes eyewitness accounts, retellings, and legend will help readers better judge the reliability of the material.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in British local history, folklore, and festival culture
Beginners studying climate history, the history of urban life, or the history of the Thames
Browsing readers who enjoy collecting old curiosities and images of ice fairs
Writers who need basic leads on British frosts and frost fairs

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting rigorous climate science data and statistical analysis
Academic researchers who need a systematic general-history framework and detailed annotations
Casual readers who only want fiction or novels

Reading tips

Read the table of contents first, trace several famous frosts in chronological order, then return to the descriptions of particular fairs.
While reading, note the dates and sources the author cites, and distinguish retellings of historical sources from folk legend.
Consult historical maps or engravings of the Thames alongside the text to help reconstruct scenes of the ice fairs.
Read the frost fairs against the prints and commemorative items of the time to understand their social function.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is a frost fair?

A frost fair refers to a fair held in British history when rivers such as the Thames froze for long periods and people temporarily set up stalls, amusements, performances, and trade on the ice. This book describes these phenomena and related records.

Is this book a work of climate science?

No. It is closer to popular writing on history and folklore, focusing on frost events, ice fairs, and related social memory rather than on data analysis and model simulation in modern climatology.

What period does the author cover?

The book covers many famous frosts and frost fairs across British history; it does not deal with only one period. Specific dates and events should be checked chapter by chapter against the citations.

What should readers note about the electronic edition?

This electronic edition was released by Project Gutenberg and is an English public-domain text that generally preserves the original prose and archaic expressions. Readers should judge the sources for themselves and consult modern works on British history where necessary.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Andrews, William, 1848-1908 Author

Andrews, William (1848–1908) was an English popular writer known for his works on folklore, local history and curious antiquarian lore; public information about him is limited, and many details of his life remain obscure. Seven of his books are held here, all centring on old English customs and historical miscellany: he examines the origins of barbers' signs and hair-related customs, describes bygone punishments, church lore and old graveyard epitaphs, and recounts famous frosts and frost fairs in British history. His style is entertaining and informative, drawing curious anecdotes from everyday objects and the margins of written records; his titles usually state their themes directly, and his work reflects the Victorian taste for antiquarian collecting and popular instruction. These books are still consulted by readers interested in English folklore and local memory.