All I really want to do is hibernate in as few clothes as decently possible, in my den and lounge around, read, eat and listen to music.

I've managed to escape a few social events simply because I wasn't here. The excessive heat takes the pleasure out of everything. These temperatures are fit for elephants and rhinos, not humans.

But back to business. Last week I gave you some notes on the Easter issue of Treasures, but there is more to it than that. It is a bumper issue,  so I will give you a few more comments about it. 

Paul Xuereb who was drama critic for The Sunday Times of Malta for many years, a friend of Francis Ebejer (1925-1993), and who has taken part in his plays, wrote a well-illustrated article about Francis. In A Father of Modern Maltese Drama. Dr Xuereb analysed and commented on Francis's  works from his short stories to this radio and television plays, novels and stage plays.

I remember Francis sitting on a table outside Tony's bar, at the Ferries in Sliema and I invariably stopped to exchange a few words if I happened to be down there shopping.  

He was most unfortunate in his relationships with women. His first wife ran off with their children, a son and a daughter, the son later on died;  another two relationships with women ended unhappily as both died out of season. However, the last relationship produced a talented son, Damian, who is a well-known and admired artist.  For anyone interested in Francis Ebejer and his works, this is the most complete article I have come across so far. Moreover, there are some excellent illustrations.

I particularly enjoyed reading Dr Klaus Vella Bardon's article in the series My Favourite Object, because I know the family and my mother's great friend was one of his mother's sisters, until she left for New Zealand. I had the good fortune of meeting her many years later, when she returned on holiday for a reunion with her family and Klaus and Susan kindly invited me over.

This is a story about precious documents relating to midwifery in the early nineteenth century which are now at the National Archives, in the Santo Spirito Hospital, in Rabat, Malta. They were found in early 2007 in the Bardon's large family house and garden in Valley Road, Birkirkara "which was obliterated to give way to Costa Coffee and accompanying apartments."

"It was in this house that we came across memorabilia that belonged to the Bardon family. These included graduation certificates, rolled in old newspapers and stuffed in a drawer and two large books written in Italian. The books were in an appalling condition, Luckily we held on to them... These  manuscripts contain a series of lectures delivered in Italian by the teacher of obstetrics at the Civil Hospital in Valletta"

Klaus's mother, who was so kind to me when I returned to Malta after my husband's death, came from a privileged background. The Bardons were also well connected and well-off.

In this article the author writes about his mother's ancestor, Salvatore Bardon a medical doctor "who lived in the tumultuous historical era that spanned the last years of the Order of St John, the French of Napoleon, and eventually the British in 1800."

Dr Paul Cassar the eminent historian who was lent at least one of the volumes by Mrs Bardon "wrote a detailed treatise about this document and won the medical essay prize of the British Medical Association (Malta Branch) in 1972."

There is interesting material about Salvatore Bardon who served his country selflessly especially during the outbreak of the plague in 1813. He recovered from an attack and held a high position in at least two hospitals. "Interestingly, he was also involved, almost 40 years later in 1852, freely handling cases of plague as he rightly considered himself immune. In his report, written in 1854,  on the plague in Malta of 1813, W.H. Burrell considered Salvatore Bardon the best living authority on the plague in Malta."

Dr Vella Bardon's mother gave him the two volumes on obstetrics copied by Salvatore Bardon before she died. Aware of their fragility he was advised to donate them, which he did, to the Archives in Rabat.  He continues to tell us about the work of restoration which such  volumes require and the problems involved. He is full of praise for Melvin Caruana and his teams at the National Archives in Rabat. Such work requires patience, knowledge and time. I am astonished at the amount of time needed to restore such documents. In the words of Dr Vella Bardon, Malta has indeed an "unbelievably rich historical heritage."

I had a friend who loved saying, "A paper torn, is a headache gone." Certainly not in this case!

Another beautifully illustrated article is that of Toni Sant, who has such a distinguished career. In Experiencing Palazzo de la Salle's Sala dei Cavalieri as a Simulacrum he takes the High Baroque setting of the Sala dei Cavalieri, Palazzo de la Salle in Valletta, as a case study for elaborating ideas on imagined realities and simulation in relation to historical fact.

This room is a favourite place. It is spectacular. I could hardly believe that "the four main paintings within the room are early twentieth-century copies of full-length portraits by Antoine de Favray (1706-1798) depicting prominent Grand Masters of the Order of St John..."

The copies were made by Domenico Micallef whose father was a carpenter.  Domenico attended drawing lessons under the tutorship of Edward Caruana Dingli who also supported the teenager in his formal artistic training and through his financial assistance. However, the gifted Domenico died in 1933, at the age of twenty-seven. Such is destiny.

The author goes on to argue that the room "is a simulacrum full of simulations and opportunities for simulations. It creates a new reality based on one that no longer exists... however the simulation is far from accurate and one modern detail unwittingly shatters the illusion quite effortlessly. In all such spaces, the electric lighting that illuminates them now was presumably introduced around the 1920s. Before that time it is safe to assume that like most other palatial buildings, the rooms at Palazzo de la Salle were largely lit by candles and oil lamps etc."

Mine is nothing but a superficial look at this article. Dr Sant it also a philosopher and it needs a better mind than mine to do this article justice.

The last article is by Nadette Xuereb, an art historian who specialises in female patronage and gender issues in art. Her article Giuseppe Briffa (1901-1887): an insight into his depictions of the Female Nude, reproposes the intimate, private portrayals of the female form as a testament of a Maltese twentieth-century artist teetering between the allure of modernism and the grip of tradition. I found this paper refreshing and very interesting. Another gifted Maltese artist. It is a pity that most of Briffa's female nude depictions are situated either in private collections or within the reserve collection at MUZA in Valletta. It is obvious that we need a bigger museum to be able to exploit much more of the collection.

Treat yourself to a subscription of Treasures or at least buy the occasional copy. I find it totally absorbing.

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