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Hello friends and welcome once again to
the history page. This week our topic is not an historical
event, but rather a one-man institution by the name of Martin
Davies. Many of our regular readers are already familiar with
Davies' encyclopaedic knowledge of history, literature, art,
architecture and culture in all of its manifestations. This
intellectual maven is our trouble-shooter here at Ibiza History Culture,
and, when faced with difficult queries from readers, we automatically
pass them on to him.
All About Martin
One of Davies' most endearing habits is
that he always brings a bag of books with him whenever he
calls round to someone's house or office. Not a carrier bag,
mind - a sports bag, full of rare volumes, magazines, Internet
print-outs, photographs and sundry study materials - all thoughtfully
provided for the delight and erudition of his hosts. Once,
at a party, he made me wash my hands before allowing me handle
a particular art book. It was a limited edition as well as
a personal gift to him from London's V&A Library, making
the volume doubly valuable. His precaution was understandable,
for the book's cover was bound with pure silk and its pages
were of such an extraordinary creamy quality that any stray
mark would have defiled it.
Like Erasmus, Davies spends most of his
salary on books. If there is anything leftover, he buys food.
Not surprisingly, he is quite thin, as any book is game for
his biblomania. He is just as likely to buy a children's book
as he is to buy an in-depth treatise on ancient pagan religion.
He recently bought the Usborne's Book of World History (miniature
edition), despite the fact that he read history at Oxford.
"It's quite a well done book," he explains, justifying
the whim.
Any book that strikes Davies as well-made,
well-thought out or well-presented will sooner or later end
up on the shelves of his well-stocked library. A single book-buying
spree may see him emerging from the shop, bleary-eyed, with
a mind-bending (and perhaps 'spine-bending') selection of
tomes ranging from maps of ancient sea-routes to the great
works of Rumanian literature. The purchase might also include
a few translations of books he already possesses - simply
to compare the use of language. A self-help book would probably
be tossed in - something along the lines of 'Ten Keys to Better
Punctuation' - while 'The Life and Works of Motzart' would
comprise his racy weekend reading.
Culturally Varied Childhood
What elevates a person to such lofty realms?
The answer, if there is one, probably lies in Davies' childhood.
By the age of ten, he had already lived in three different
hemispheres of the globe. Born normally enough into a British
family in Liverpool, Martin was taken to live in Fiji at the
impressionable age of six. His father was a civil engineer
whose services were in great demand in several of the British
spheres of influence. After three exotic years in the New
Hebrides, the family of six returned to Britain (Wales this
time) for a six month stint, and then relocated, once again,
to Guyana on the northern coast of South America. Martin spent
two years there, excelling at school without really meaning
to, until the age of eleven, when his parents sent him to
St. Chance prep school in the UK. As a prepubescent child,
he was traumatized, but did not let that stand in the way
of his continuing academic excellence. From St. Chance he
went on to Shrewsbury public school and, finally, to Oxford
University, where, as mentioned earlier, he read history.
Portrait of the Student as a Young Man
By the age of 21, Davies had finished his
formal education, but was still undecided as to what career
path to follow. He had been awarded a scholarship to do a
Masters in Computer Science at Newcastle University, but dropped
out after only one month. He realized that computers, while
fascinating objects, were not the real love of his life, and
found himself, instead, spending all of his free time at the
library researching Romanesque architecture. This new interest
had been sparked by a recent six-month stint in Germany to
sharpen his language skills. But, what really happened (or
I should say also happened) is that Davies fell in love with
Minden Cathedral, one of Europe's most stunning works of Romanesque
architecture.
Davies realized that, in order to pursue
the highways and byways of his intellectual yearnings, he
should spend every day in a library. The idea struck like
lightning: he could study to be a librarian. Without further
ado, he enrolled in a librarianship course at the Newcastle
Polytechnic, and upon receiving his degree, landed a job at
the V&A Library in London (a division of the museum of
the same name). During this time, he was able to use and peruse
the library to his heart's content, a happy circumstance that
gave birth to his first published work, Romanesque Architecture:
A Bibliography.
Carried on the Wings of Love
At the age of 33, passion struck. Davies
met his future partner, an Ibicenco hairdresser who was vacationing
in London, and, a year later, he came to live on the White
Island permanently. Since then, he has continued in his characteristic
line of writing and research, publishing in 2000 the best-selling
photography anthology, Eivissa-Ibiza: One Hundred Years
of Light and Shade. He has also contributed to many local
publications and is currently preparing, among other projects,
a translation of a Norwegian travel log about Ibiza, The
Road to San Vicente.
One last note to set the record straight:
although he is not the partying kind, Davies has tested out
the island's legendary nightlife on more than one occasion
(two to be exact), and enthusiastically upholds Ibiza's clubs
as the best in the world. "With a mere two visits I have
satisfied my clubbing needs for life!" he often quips.
Closing
There is much more to say about Martin Davies,
but I will bring my account to a close for this time. My aim
was merely to acquaint the readership with this fascinating
personality, as he will be taking over for me during the next
five weeks. I leave you, then, in the capable hands of this
vigorous researcher for a refreshing change of pace. Davies
has decided to devote his articles to books (what else?) that
have been written about Ibiza during the course of the previous
century. Enjoy!
Emily
Kaufman
emilykaufman@ibizahistoryculture.com
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