For a while some twenty years ago, there was this meme going around that maintained you might not be as boring as you think you are. I’d like to believe that, but I don’t. About as far as I can … Continue reading
Tag Archives: History
Not too long ago I posted about the engraving of a wonderful reading chair that appeared in the early 19th century magazine, Ackermann’s Repository, but this print may just win the prize…not only for itself, but for what the editors … Continue reading
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, a popular weekly magazine published in London between 1822 and 1847, ran the following short piece in its November 26, 1825 issue which got me giggling–I hope it will do the same to … Continue reading
When Lord George Cavendish, younger brother of the 5th Duke of Devonshire (or should I say brother-in-law of the famous Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire?) inherited one of the family homes in London, Burlington House, he didn’t expect to be plagued … Continue reading
“Did GG’s stuff include a scrapbook?” “There’s one of those late Victorian scrapbooks, with poems and pasted pictures. Is that what you mean?” In my debut novel for Book View Café, The Wizardry of Jewish Women, a scrapbook appears. “This … Continue reading
One of the surest signs of summer where I live is the sudden disappearance of popsicles and ice cream sandwiches from local grocery stores’ freezers on the first really warm day of the season. Ice cream is extremely popular in … Continue reading
by Brenda W. Clough Stephen Sondheim famously complained in “Putting It Together” that the audience doesn’t want to be socked with novelty. It wants what it already knows. And since we all know this, the artist is always trying to … Continue reading
It is a truth universally acknowledged that historical research is probably the most fun you can have with your corset on. I was doing research on Eton in the early nineteenth century a week or so ago, and was on … Continue reading
As 19th century tourists meandered about the English countrysides in search of the picturesque, guidebooks in hand as they viewed scenic vistas and visited stately homes surrounded by artfully planned “natural” landscapes, they might pause to admire a grotto here, … Continue reading
When I returned from Spokane, I brought with me my dad’s old copy of Mein Kampf, one of the few things he wanted me to have he hadn’t already given to me. I almost couldn’t find room for it, but … Continue reading