Category Archives: History

The Divine Comedy

Posted on April 24, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

In anticipation of the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, Brooklyn artist George Cochrane has worked on a contemporary illuminated manuscript of Dante’s Divine Comedy—all 350,000 characters of the epic poem, plus illustrations, in the original Italian for nearly seven … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Europe, History, Writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

When In Rome

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about Rome over the last few days because of the news that a new archeological site will be opening in the coming year in the heart of the Eternal City. If you haven’t heard, … Continue reading →

Posted in Air Travel, Architecture, Art, Europe, Film, History, Museums, Photography, Tourism | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Ghost Words

Posted on April 20, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

What does palimpsest mean? 1 : writing material (such as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased. 2 : something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface.   One … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Asia, Books, Europe, History, Libraries, Middle East, Museums, Tech, Writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Mystery, History & some Cartography

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

One of the joys of being vaccinated against Covid-19 has been the ability to return to bookstore browsing. On my most recent visit to our local indie bookshop (shout out to Newtown Bookshop ) I picked up a copy of … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Europe, History, Maps, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

A little nostalgic story

Posted on April 7, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Books were an extraordinarily important part of my childhood and I tend to wax nostalgic when I run across a story online about one that I actually owned and read. This week, I happened on a piece about a book … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books, History, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Mad For Alice

Posted on April 6, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

I’ve been mad for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland books since I borrowed my first copy from my local library as a young child. Any museum or library show on the beloved classics is sure to get my attention. So, I sat … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Europe, History, Museums, Theater, Writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Paris For Free

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Every time that I visit Paris, I go to the Louvre. In fact, on some trips I have gone twice in a week. It doesn’t look as though I’ll be popping in to France’s most iconic museum for quite a while. … Continue reading →

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Time Travel Is Possible

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Although I hide it well, I have been a little obsessed with London for decades. I don’t know why, maybe it was my love for British Invasion music from the 60s or a childhood crush on Marianne Faithfull . Who … Continue reading →

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A Strange Case

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

New York City’s amazing Morgan Library has scanned the entire handwritten manuscript to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde  and it’s now available for paging through and reading online. The manuscript of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella “The Strange … Continue reading →

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Will the museum deserve an Oscar

Posted on March 18, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Film lovers won’t be able to visit in-person until the doors open to the public on  September 30, 2021, but new the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures  programming will soon be available online. The pre-opening program includes a screening of … Continue reading →

Posted in Animation, Architecture, Art, Film, History, Museums, Tourism, USA | Tagged , , | 1 Comment