16th November 2011

LYME REGIS: Museum supporters gather for launch of historical poem

LYME Regis Museum volunteers, trustees and supporters gathered in the Guildhall on Friday evening to celebrate the publication of historical poem “The Lymiad”.

The satirical poem was written anonymously in 1818 and its original manuscript is one of the main literary exhibits in the museum. It has only now been published with an introduction and historical notes by Dr John Constable and the late John Fowles.

“The Lymiad” is composed in the form of letters from a young lady visiting Lyme to her cousin in Bath. It casts a gentle but satirical eye on the inhabitants of the town, Lyme’s bloody history and the troubled political times of the early 1800s, shedding light on the social life of Lyme Regis at the time of author Jane Austen and fossilist Mary Anning.

At the book’s launch on Friday, chairman of the museum trustees, Stephen Locke, welcomed guests with particular mention to Dr Constable and Mr Fowles’ wife Sarah, and thanked their supporters.

Dr Constable then spoke of the history of the poem and how he came across it in the museum as a visitor to Lyme. After taking interest in it, he soon got in touch with Mr Fowles, a former curator at the museum and well-known author of “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”, and work began.

He said: “I’m sorry it took so long to finish. I would have liked to have completed it so that John could be here today.”

Dr Constable then gave several readings of selected chapters of the poem.

Mrs Fowles thanked the museum for dedicating the book to her late husband, adding: “It’s a real honour”.

She then read a section of a interviewer’s article on Mr Fowles, which she said was a “true refelction” of him.

PICTURE: PUBLISHED AT LAST - Sarah Fowles, John Constable and chairman of the museum trustees, Stephen Locke, with their copies of “The Lymiad”