The world of books and art, 1789 – 1914
Book review – Bodysnatchers by Suzie Lennox (2016). Digging up the untold stories of Britain's Resurrection Men This was my Christmas read, and one of the most enjoyable non-fiction books I've read for some time. A bit surprising given the subject matter; corpses, the desecration of graves and dissection of cadavers in Georgian era Britain.... Continue Reading →
Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886) O God!' I screamed, and 'O God!' again and again; for there before my eyes--pale and shaken, and half fainting, and groping before him with his hands, like a man restored from death - there stood Henry Jekyll! In an ideal world... Continue Reading →
On this day in 1830, a poem (later a nursery rhyme) Mary Had a Little Lamb, by Sarah Hale was published. Later in the decade Lowell Mason set the poem to a melody adding repetition in the verses. The poem was the first thing recorded by Thomas Edison on his newly invented phonograph in 1878... Continue Reading →
Yes - these are real Victorian design patents. We might laugh at some of them now, but they represent the hopes and dreams of a previous age. A design patent is a form of legal protection granted to the ornamental design of a functional item. But enough of that, here are ten of my favourites:... Continue Reading →
The Long Victorian 