The Victorian Turkish Bath website
and what they say about it
This is a single frame, printer-friendly page taken from Malcolm Shifrin's website
Victorian Turkish Baths: their origin, development, and gradual decline
Visit the original page to see it complete—with images, notes, and chronologies
About this website …
The history of the Victorian Turkish bath is virtually uncharted, so the website is an attempt to interest historians in an aspect of Victorian life which has been almost totally forgotten. David Urquhart's reintroduction of the so-called Turkish (actually Roman) bath into the British Isles in 1856 was largely achieved by the Turkish Bath Movement allied to his Foreign Affairs Committees and promulgated in the Sheffield Free Press and the Free Press newspapers.
Created by a retired media resources librarian and historian who has been interested in the subject since 1990, this comprehensive site has seven main sections: Introductory; History of the Turkish bath; general Turkish bath Topics (e.g. caricatures and cartoons, hydropathy, the earliest photos of Turkish baths); some Turkish bath Personalities; Turkish bath Companies; Turkish bath Directory (listing more than 600 establishments and with brief articles about an increasing number of them); and Charivari (a collection of short items on a variety of subjects).
In addition there are many hundreds of illustrations in both thumbnail and enlarged versions,
together with footnotes, bibliography, illustrations index, and two-way acknowledgments. There is also a listing of the 16 Turkish baths that are still open, with contact numbers and addresses. The site is searchable and is updated and augmented regularly.
The site has been selected for …
The UK Web Archive selects websites that publish research, that reflect the diversity of lives, interests and activities throughout the UK, and demonstrate web innovation. Because websites are revisited and snapshots ("instances") are taken at regular intervals, readers can see how a website evolves over time. The archive is free to view, and accessed directly from the Web itself.
…and also as a Britannica iGuide site
The Britannica iGuide is basically the Britannica's directory of the Web’s best sites as determined by their editors. Each year, they 'review and then handpick websites' that relate to one or more of their topics and 'are found to be of top quality'. They then present links to these iGuide sites alongside their own content for that topic.
This means that when one of their members searches on a topic within their online encyclopaedia that is also relevant to our site, they not only present Britannica information, but also provide a link for that topic to our site.
Websites are not submitted to Britannica but independently selected.
What they say about the site:
comments from home and abroad
|
'We may
not be so lucky as to experience an actual Turkish bath at home, but
if you need to warm those bones on these cold winter nights I
suggest virtually plunging in to
victorianturkishbath.org/
'
'victorianturkishbath.org?
‘Everything and more than you might conceivably want to know about Victorian and other Turkish baths is on this site.’ 'This Web site is a fun and educational resource on Turkish baths.' (Muncie Public Library, Indiana) 'This writer has found invaluable a web site set up by Malcolm Shifrin in the United Kingdom…which contains an ever increasing body of information on the Turkish Bath.' (Mt Wilson & Mt Irvine Historical Society, Australia)
'Being directed to the victorianturkishbath website has proved a
revelation 'Malcolm Shifrin is a Turkish-bath maven who, on his extraordinary website notes that “it is the dryness of the air which distinguishes the Victorian Turkish bath from other related types…” ' (Robert Liebman, on Reuter's City Page) 'A mine of information and the creator of one of the finest websites around...' (Ronan Foley, Healing waters) 'This very well-organized site has pretty much everything you every wanted to know about Victorian Turkish Baths.' (Victorian Studies Forum, University of Florida) 'The development and evolution of the Victorian Turkish bath is brilliantly documented by Malcolm Shifrin' (Oliver Wainwright, Architecture and design critic, The Guardian) '…in particular, this website has intrigued me for a couple of years' (Miranda Phipps) 'a leading resource in this area.' 'Malcolm Shifrin's website…was splendidly helpful' '…an extensive account of the origins of the Turkish bath in Britain.' 'well-researched look at a little-remembered feature of life during that time' (Jess Nevins, Fantastic Victoriana) 'innovative website on Victorian Turkish baths' (Victorian Studies Bulletin, Northeast Victorian Studies Association) 'Malcolm Shifrin's wonderful website' (Ferdinand Mount, Full circle) 'Malcolm Shifrin has created a remarkable collection of history, information, and illustration of the Turkish bath in Great Britain and the elaborate etiquette that goes along with the ritual of the hammam.' (Equitteer, Boston, Mass) 'Malcolm Shifrin has a peerless site on the topic of Turkish baths' 'A meticulously researched and very rich site on Victorian Turkish Baths.'
'Just take a
peek inside his website and we don’t think you will be disappointed.'
(Clio Publishing) |
'
(Posted on The
Restaurant Ware Collectors Network)
Comments and queries are most welcome and can be sent to:
malcolm@victorianturkishbath.org