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Chargement... The Load of Unicorn (1959)par Cynthia Harnett
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Appartient à la série éditorialePuffin Story Books (257) Prix et récompenses
Bendy, whose family runs a scrivener's shop in fifteenth-century London, solves the mystery when the master printer, William Caxton, fails to receive the paper shipped to him aboard the cargo ship "Madalena." Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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It is so many years since I read it last (maybe 40!) that I'd forgotten the meaning of the unusual title of this book. Unicorn in this context is not the mythical beast but a 'brand' of paper with a unicorn watermark (the cover illustration shows people unloading some Unicorn paper from a ship). The book is set in the late 15th century at the time that Caxton is just establishing his printing press in London, and part of the plot concerns the conflict this causes, as the scriveners (scribes) fear being put out of business by this new-fangled technology, and some use disreputable means to sabotage Caxton's business. A young boy, Bendy (Benedict), is at the heart of this conflict: his father and stepbrothers are scriveners, but he is taken on as an apprentice by William Caxton.
The plot also incorporates another historical figure, Sir Thomas Malory, suggesting how Caxton might have come by the manuscript of his Arthurian tales. There are deeper and darker themes too than commercial rivalry and the history of printing - glory and chivalry, dishonour, treachery and danger are all encountered by young Bendy who learns that the world is a more complex place than his daydreams about chivalrous knights. ( )