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Monthly Archives: April 2024
When in Rome
When I visited Rome for the first time more than four decades ago, I quite randomly chose to pop in at the Museo della Civiltà Romana to see the massive model of the ancient city. The archaeologist and architect Italo Gismondi … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Art, Europe, Film, History, Museums
Tagged Colosseum, Italy, Roma, Roman Forum
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Biblio Trivia
1. The rarest book in the world is a 1593 first edition of Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare. The Bodleian’s copy “is the only known copy of this book in existence.” 2. The first book ordered on Amazon was a scientific tome called Fluid Concepts … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Europe, History, Libraries
Tagged Agatha Christie, Amazon books, Jules Verne, William Shakespeare
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Fun and Games with Art and Maps
Backdrop Backdrop is a map based game which is somewhat similar to the very popular GeoGuessr game. However in Backdrop instead of Google Maps Street View images you have to identify the locations depicted in famous paintings by some of history’s … Continue reading
The Dwindleberry Zoo
I was today years old when I discovered THE DWINDLEBERRY ZOO by G.E. Farrow (London/Glasgow/Dublin/Bombay: Blackie, 1909) Illustrated by Gordon Browne. It seems that G.E. Farrow was one of the masters of the Victorian fantasy genre. In this tale a boy eats a … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Books, Europe, Writing
Tagged book illustration, Children's literature, Fantasy, Victorian literature
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Many years later, as he faced the firing squad…
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. I first read One Hundred Years of Solitude during my first year at university when I … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Film, movies, South America, Writing
Tagged Columbia, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, magical realism, novels
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Emulating Books
I look forward to visiting the upcoming Emulating Books: Book Objects from the Lynn and Bruce Heckman Gift which is an intriguing new exhibition that features a wide range of items which look like books but aren’t. Running through July … Continue reading