Philipp Blom
Encyclopedia
Philip Blom is a historian, novelist, journalist and translator. He was born in Hamburg
, Germany, and studied in Vienna
and Oxford
. He holds a DPhil in Modern History from Oxford University. After living and working in London and Paris he now lives in Vienna.
His historical works include To Have and To Hold, a history of collectors and collecting, and Encyclopédie (US edition: Enlightening the World), a history of the Encyclopaedia by Diderot and d'Alembert that sparked the Enlightenment in France. The Vertigo Years, a cultural history of the era 1900 to 1914 in Europe and the United States was recently published in London.
Blom has published two novels: The Simmons Papers and Luxor (in German).
He has also published an authoritative guide to Austrian wines, The Wines of Austria, and an English translation of Geert Mak's Amsterdam (1999).
As a journalist, Blom has written for the Times Literary Supplement, The Financial Times, The Independent, The Guardian, and the Sunday Telegraph in Britain, for various German-language publications (Neue Züricher Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Financial Times Deutschland, Berliner Zeitung, Der Standard, Die Tageszeitung), and for Vrij Nederland in the Netherlands, as well as for other magazines and journals, the BBC, and German radio stations. He currently hosts a live cultural programme, "Von Tag zu Tag", on station Ö1 on Austrian National Radio.
Recently, Blom has written the libretto for an opera, Soliman, a project with the composer Joost van Kerkhooven, and has provided translations for stage productions (The Producers for the Etablissement Ronacher, and La Colombe [a Gounod opera] for the Schonbrunn Theatre, Vienna).
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany, and studied in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. He holds a DPhil in Modern History from Oxford University. After living and working in London and Paris he now lives in Vienna.
His historical works include To Have and To Hold, a history of collectors and collecting, and Encyclopédie (US edition: Enlightening the World), a history of the Encyclopaedia by Diderot and d'Alembert that sparked the Enlightenment in France. The Vertigo Years, a cultural history of the era 1900 to 1914 in Europe and the United States was recently published in London.
Blom has published two novels: The Simmons Papers and Luxor (in German).
He has also published an authoritative guide to Austrian wines, The Wines of Austria, and an English translation of Geert Mak's Amsterdam (1999).
As a journalist, Blom has written for the Times Literary Supplement, The Financial Times, The Independent, The Guardian, and the Sunday Telegraph in Britain, for various German-language publications (Neue Züricher Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Financial Times Deutschland, Berliner Zeitung, Der Standard, Die Tageszeitung), and for Vrij Nederland in the Netherlands, as well as for other magazines and journals, the BBC, and German radio stations. He currently hosts a live cultural programme, "Von Tag zu Tag", on station Ö1 on Austrian National Radio.
Recently, Blom has written the libretto for an opera, Soliman, a project with the composer Joost van Kerkhooven, and has provided translations for stage productions (The Producers for the Etablissement Ronacher, and La Colombe [a Gounod opera] for the Schonbrunn Theatre, Vienna).
Works
- The Simmons Papers, Faber & Faber, London, 1995
- Die Simmons Papiere, Berlin Verlag, Berlin, 1997
- The Wines of Austria, Faber & Faber, London, 2000
- To Have and to Hold: An Intimate History of Collectors and Collecting, Allen Lane/Penguin, 2002 (Translations and foreign editions: USA, Brazil, South Korea, Germany, France)
- Encyclopédie, Fourth Estate, London 2004 (Foreign editions: USA, Brazil, Spain, Germany)
- Luxor, Tisch 7, Cologne, 2006
- The Wines of Austria, Mitchell Beazley, London, 2006
- The Vertigo Years: Change and Culture in the West, 1900-1914, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2008 (Foreign editions: USA, Canada, Germany, Spain, Netherlands)
- A Wicked Company: The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment, Basic Books, 2010
External links
- Philipp Blom's website
- Reviews of To Have and To Hold
- Review of Encyclopedie, The TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, 8 August 2004 - Review of The Vertigo Years, The Guardian 13 September 2008
- Link to Station Ö1 on Austrian National Radio
- Philipp Blom at A M Heath & Co Literary Agents
- On The Edge Adam KirschAdam KirschAdam Kirsch is an American poet and literary critic.-Early life and education:Kirsch is the son of lawyer, author, and biblical scholar Jonathan Kirsch, and a 1997 graduate of Harvard College.-Career:...
review of The Vertigo Years from The New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity... - Review of "Wicked Company" in www.theglobaldispatches.com