Author Description

King James I once said that if he were not a king he would like to be an Oxford man. 'I was a modest, good humoured boy,' Max Beerbohm wrote; 'it is Oxford that has made me insufferable,' 'Few cities', Jan Morris observes, 'have been more loved, loathed, and celebrated.' As with the same author's Venice, this book has become a classic account of the character, history, mores, buildings, climate, and people of an uncategorizable city. Jan Morris's elegant and witty prose describes the Oxford which gave the worlds the MG sports car, as well as the Oxford which educated twenty-two British Prime Ministers. For this new edition the book has been revised throughout, bringing up to date a portrait of the small city which has given its name to a marmalade, bags, a grey, shoes, a Group, a Movement, a dictionary, and an accent.