Category Archives: Europe

Map of Stories

Posted on December 12, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

The Map of Stories is a wonderful interactive map that provides the opportunity to explore tales from throughout Scotland. The site allows visitors to discover the oral storytelling traditions of Scotland and listen to folktales from the ancient land. The … Continue reading →

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The Answer is Still 42

Posted on December 11, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Although the wildely popular comic sci-fi novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was published in the UK in 1979, it wasn’t released in the colonies until 1980. This year, legions of fans in North America are celebrating the 42nd anniversary … Continue reading →

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Alice in Wonderland

Posted on December 9, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

It’s been a while since I shared another example from the seemingly endless versions of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland. This version from the 1920s features 48 full-color illustrations by Margaret W. Tarrant. The illustrator: Margaret Winifred Tarrant (1888 – … Continue reading →

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First Around The World Trip

Posted on December 7, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Ever since I was indoctrinated as a young child with filiopietistic reverence for Columbus and the entire panoply of European explorers, I’ve been fascinated by their extraordinary journeys. Recently, I discovered a wonderful website that traces the route of Ferdinand … Continue reading →

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The Most Beautiful Bookstore in the World ?

Posted on December 6, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Over the past few decades nearly every listicle on the world’s “most beautiful bookstores” has included the incredible Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal. I am embarassed to admit that although I was briefly in Porto, I never made it to … Continue reading →

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Just a postcard from Kafka

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I recently stumbled on this postcard from the German National Library that is dated 1918 from Franz Kafka to his publisher Kurt Wolff. Personally, I never sent postcards to my publisher, but then again he was a terrible person. And … Continue reading →

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Recognition At Last

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Each day, nearly 12 million French consumers visit a bakery and leave with an iconic loaf of bread. Each year, French bakeries produce more than 6 billion baguettes. It is an international symbol recognized as part of the daily life … Continue reading →

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Chain Gang

Posted on November 30, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

When the public library in Rawicz, Poland needed to move its entire collection from it’s 70 year-old library to a new building 350 meters away it put out a call for help from the local community. On November 25, 2022, … Continue reading →

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The Direction of Travel

Posted on November 25, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

When I ran across Christian Nolle’s terrific periodical Directions of Travel I thought that some of you other travel and map geeks might need to know about the project. Nolle’s fascination with air travel and maps began when he was … Continue reading →

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Bizarre Books

Posted on November 21, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Brian Lake who manages Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers in Bloomsbury, London has compiled  a volume of truly odd and eccentric book covers in his new book Librorum Ridiculorum A Compendium of Bizarre Books. The books in the collection range from fairly … Continue reading →

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