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Lispector, Clarice

(Encyclopedia)Lispector, Clarice klârˈĭs lēspĕkˈtər [key], 1920–77, Brazilian author, b. i...

Bacon, Francis, English painter

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Francis, 1910–92, English painter, b. Dublin. A self-taught artist, Bacon rejected abstraction in painting to explore a repertoire of strange, fractured, and often bizarre figurative images, ...

Langland, William

(Encyclopedia)Langland, William, c.1332–c.1400, putative author of Piers Plowman. He was born probably at Ledbury near the Welsh marshes and may have gone to school at Great Malvern Priory. Although he took minor...

Merchants of the Staple

(Encyclopedia)Merchants of the Staple or Merchant Staplers, English trading company that controlled the export of English raw wool. The first wool staple (i.e., a place designated by royal ordinance as a special ce...

Larkin, James

(Encyclopedia)Larkin, James, 1876–1947, Irish labor leader. The Irish Transport and General Workers' Union, which he organized and of which he was secretary, had as its goal the combining of all Irish industrial ...

Truth, Sojourner

(Encyclopedia)Truth, Sojourner, c.1797–1883, American abolitionist, a freed slave, originally called Isabella, b. Ulster co., N.Y. Convinced that she heard heavenly...

Murray, Sir James Augustus Henry

(Encyclopedia)Murray, Sir James Augustus Henry, 1837–1915, English lexicographer. In 1879 he assumed the editorship of the New English Dictionary (the Oxford English Dictionary), which was his life's work (see di...

Jameson, Anna Brownell (Murphy)

(Encyclopedia)Jameson, Anna Brownell (Murphy) jāˈməsən [key], 1794–1860, English essayist, b. Dublin. The diary of her travels on the Continent as governess to a wealthy family was later published as The Diar...

Elliott, Charles Loring

(Encyclopedia)Elliott, Charles Loring, 1812–68, American painter, b. Scipio, Cayuga co., N.Y.; pupil of John Trumbull and John Quidor. His portraits number over 700. His principal works include the portraits of M...

Simpson, Matthew

(Encyclopedia)Simpson, Matthew, 1811–84, American Methodist bishop, b. Cadiz, Ohio. In 1839 he became the first president of Indiana Asbury Univ. (now DePauw Univ.). He edited (1848–52) the Western Christian Ad...