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Consigned to work for a London wine merchant by his stepfather after his mother dies, young David runs away and is taken in by his great-aunt Betsey Trotwood. At first, she seems to harbor a dislike of the boy and she has a formal, often brisk nature. But at heart she is a sympathetic person. She becomes David's guardian and a good provider during his early years of schooling, placing him at a good school in Canterbury.
“David Copperfield” is one of Dickens’ most popular and critically acclaimed novels. The story follows David’s life from childhood to maturity and many of its elements follow events in Dickens’ own life, especially in the early chapters describing David’s provincial upbringing. The story is filled with vivid characters such as Uriah Heep, Mr. Micawber, the Pegottys, and eccentric Aunt Betsey and it ranks as the finest of Dickens’ works. “Of all my books,” Dickens wrote in the preface to the 1867 edition, “I like this the best… like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is David Copperfield.”
Publisher Bradbury & Evans first released the story in monthly parts from May, 1849 through November, 1850, and in book form in 1850. The text was embellished with full-page, black & white engravings by H. K. Browne (“Phiz”). Subscribers who wished a hardcover edition for their libraries would either purchase a copy from the publisher when available or have the serial parts bound into book form, often in leather.
"In Darkest Africa (1890) is Henry M. Stanley’s own account of his last adventure on the African continent. At the turn of that century, the interior of the African continent was largely unknown to the American and European public. With the accounts of great explorers like Stanley, readers became thrilled by stories of African expeditions and longed to follow in the footsteps of these explorers. In 1888, Stanley led an expedition to come to the aid of Mehmed Emin Pasha. The two volumes that compose 'In Darkest Africa; or, The Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equatoria' are his account of what happened." [www.biblio.com/in-darkest-africa-by-stanley-henry-m/work/...]
Picture taken in June, 2011 at an exhibition of Shakespeare First Folios at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC. The "First Folio" is the first collected edition of William Shakespeare's plays. It earned its iconic status because it contains the plays of an author widely regarded as the world's greatest playwright and because it is the first edition and sole source for half of those plays. This copy was a posthumous gift from the printer William Jaggard to his friend Augustine Vincent, a herald in the College of Arms.
"In Darkest Africa (1890) is Henry M. Stanley’s own account of his last adventure on the African continent. At the turn of that century, the interior of the African continent was largely unknown to the American and European public. With the accounts of great explorers like Stanley, readers became thrilled by stories of African expeditions and longed to follow in the footsteps of these explorers. In 1888, Stanley led an expedition to come to the aid of Mehmed Emin Pasha. The two volumes that compose 'In Darkest Africa; or, The Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equatoria' are his account of what happened." [www.biblio.com/in-darkest-africa-by-stanley-henry-m/work/...]
Among the many interesting features of the pageant given on special occasions by the Blackfeet Indians on their reservation in Canada, the most spectacular is the Pony War Dance, or the Departure for Battle. In this scene about sixty young men take part riding horses as wild as themselves. The acting is fierce - not like the conduct of a mimic battle - but performed with the desperate zest of men who hope for distinction in war.
From "The Book of the American Indian" by Hamlin Garland. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1923. 1st ed
With sales of about 200 million copies, “A Tale of Two Cities” is the biggest selling novel in history. It began as weekly installments from April 30, 1859 to November 26, 1859 in Dickens’ literary periodical titled “All the Year Round.” It depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the French revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same period.
Chapman & Hall published the novel in 8 monthly parts (July – December 1859) and in book form that same year and commissioned Hablot K. Browne [Phiz] to create full page illustrations for the story. It was the last of Dickens’ books to be illustrated by Hablot K. Browne.
“A Hopi child is torn from his parents and sent off to boarding school; white settlers encroach on the Cheyenne reservation, and the Cheyenne vow to fight to the death rather than give up their land; Howling Wolf witnesses the brutal murder of his brother and, when he protests, is in turn brutalized; after Sitting Bull’s triumph over Custer’s forces, he vows to fight to the death rather than submit to the white invaders.
“In these and other stories written from 1890–1905, Hamlin Garland sought to capture his vision of the spirit of the Native American Indian in transition. Based on ten years of visits to reservations in the American West, these stories are of interest for readers today in part because they illustrate a sincere and well-intentioned white reformer coming to understand a culture radically at odds with his own—and discovering in the process that his own culture is less “advanced” than he had supposed.” [Quote from the University of Nebraska Press for the 2005 paperback edition]
The text is accompanied by 35 full-page illustrations by Frederic Remington, most of which had first appeared in Harper's Magazine or Harper's Weekly during the late 1800's.
Published in September 1952 and often described as Steinbeck's most ambitious novel, “East of Eden” brings to life the intricate details of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, and their interwoven stories. The novel was originally addressed to Steinbeck's young sons, Thom and John (then 6½ and 4½ years old, respectively). Steinbeck wanted to describe the Salinas Valley for them in detail: the sights, sounds, smells, and colors. The Hamilton family in the novel is said to be based on the real-life family of Samuel Hamilton, Steinbeck's maternal grandfather.
A 1955 film directed by Elia Kazan is loosely based on the second half of Steinbeck’s novel. It is about a wayward young man played by James Dean in his first major screen role who, while seeking his own identity, vies for the affection of his deeply religious father against his favored brother, thus retelling the story of Cain and Abel. [Source: Wikipedia]
The Moonstone of the title is a diamond (not to be confused with the semi-precious moonstone gem). It gained its name from its association with the Hindu god of the moon, Chandra. Originally set in the forehead of a sacred statue of the god at Somnath, and later at Benares, it was said to be protected by hereditary guardians on the orders of Vishnu, and to wax and wane in brilliance along with the light of the moon.
Rachel Verinder, a young English woman, inherits a large Indian diamond on her eighteenth birthday. It is a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt British army officer who served in India. The diamond is of great religious significance as well as being extremely valuable, and three Hindu priests have dedicated their lives to recovering it. The story incorporates elements of the legendary origins of the Hope Diamond (or perhaps the Orloff Diamond). Rachel's eighteenth birthday is celebrated with a large party, whose guests include her cousin Franklin Blake. She wears the Moonstone on her dress that evening for all to see, including some Indian jugglers who have called at the house. Later that night, the diamond is stolen from Rachel's bedroom, and a period of turmoil, unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill-luck ensues. Told by a series of narratives from some of the main characters, the complex plot traces the subsequent efforts to explain the theft, identify the thief, trace the stone and recover it. [Source: Wikipedia]
No less an authority than T.S. Eliot called “The Moonstone "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels. (He must not have read Edgar Allan Poe.) The story was originally serialized in Charles Dickens' magazine “All the Year Round” between January and August 1868. “The Moonstone” and “The Woman in White” are considered Wilkie Collins' best novels.
C. Auguste Dupin is a man in Paris who solves the mystery of the brutal murder of two women. Numerous witnesses heard a suspect, though no one agrees on what language was spoken. At the murder scene, Dupin finds a hair that does not appear to be human.
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" has been recognized as the first modern detective story. Poe's Dupin displays many traits which became literary conventions in subsequent fictional detectives, including Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. Many later characters, for example, follow Poe's model of the brilliant detective, his personal friend who serves as narrator, and the final revelation being presented before the reasoning that leads up to it. Dupin himself reappears in "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" and "The Purloined Letter".
[Source: Wikipedia]
Here is what Arthur Conan Doyle says of this collection of his short stories:
"I have written 'Impressions and Tales' upon the title-page of this volume, because I have included within the same cover two styles of work which present an essential difference. The second half of the collection consists of eight stories, which explain themselves. The first half is made up of a series of pictures of the past which may be regarded as trial flights towards a larger ideal which I have long had in my mind. It has seemed to me that there is a region between actual story and actual history which has never been adequately exploited. I could imagine, for example, a work dealing with some great historical epoch, and finding its interest not in the happenings to particular individuals, their adventures and their loves, but in the fascination of the actual facts of history themselves. These facts might be colored with the glamour which the writer of fiction can give, and fictitious characters and conversations might illustrate them; but nonetheless the actual drama of history and not the drama of invention should claim the attention of the reader. I have been tempted sometimes to try the effect upon a larger scale; but meanwhile these short sketches, portraying various crises in the story of the human race, are to be judged as experiments in that direction." -- Arthur Conan Doyle.
"In the emotion-charged atmosphere of mid-nineteenth-century America “Uncle Tom's Cabin” exploded like a bombshell. To those engaged in fighting slavery it appeared as an indictment of all the evils inherent in the system they opposed; to the pro-slavery forces it was a slanderous attack on 'the Southern way of life.' Whatever its weakness as a literary work -- structural looseness and excess of sentiment among them - the social impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin on the United States was greater than of any book before or since." (Source: Printing and the Mind of Man).
When Abraham Lincoln met its author at the White House in 1862, he is said to have exclaimed, “So this is the little lady who made this big war?” For Harriet Beecher Stowe, the battle against slavery was a God-ordained crusade to cleanse the United States of an evil affront to humanity. Stowe presented her story in the style of popular works of the day, melodramatically and with religious undertones, but the themes of the novel – the breaking up of families, violence, the naive idea of a return to Africa – are historically significant. Stowe had not only witnessed incidents like the ones described in her novel, but had long been concerned about slavery, having read the autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and Louis Clark, as well as the abolitionist tracts.
When the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850, Stowe began writing “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” It first appeared in serial installments in the abolitionist newspaper “The National Era.” Boston publisher John P. Jewett published the novel in book form on March 20, 1852, two installments before the conclusion of the serial in “The National Era.” The initial printing of the book sold out immediately upon publication and the book went through continual reissue for years. The book eventually sold more copies in the 19th century than any other book except the Bible. The Fugitive Slave Act, in combination with her book, were arguably the catalysts for the Civil War, as even Lincoln implied upon meeting Stowe.
Optimus is doing his best RoboCop impression ^___^
Bulkhead is next on my list, but I can only seem to find him at a much higher price than Optimus... and I'm not sure I'd buy a Ratchet toy.
“The Vampyre: A Tale” was first published in the New Monthly Magazine with the false attribution to Lord Byron as the author. Ownership was promptly denied by the poet who published, with Mazeppa, his own vampire fragment. “The Vampyre” originated at the same evening’s celebrated story-telling in the Villa Diodati in Geneva, which also produced Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” A spectacular success, “The Vampyre” went through five editions in 1819 alone and sold equally well in Europe where Byron’s denial of authorship was less well known. Although by no means the first vampire story, Polidori’s tale was the genesis of the modern vampire legend. Despite the success of his story, Polidori, Byron’s physician and always a troubled man, committed suicide less than two years later.
Nombre: Optimus Prime
Afiliación: Autobots
Línea: Transformers Prime First Edition
Clase: Voyager
Año: 2012
Número de adquisición: 507
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Name: Optimus Prime
Allegiance: Autobots
Line: Transformers Prime First Edition
Class: Voyager
Year: 2012
Number in Collection: 507
The 1600 ton British steamship 'Ava' built in 1855 and wrecked February 1858 off the Port of Trincomalee.
Woodcut from The Illustrated News of the World – First Edition 1858.
‘The Illustrated News of the World and National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages’ was a new publication with the strong visual emphasis of numerous large woodcuts to illustrate local and world events, and also featuring a number of fine steel engravings of eminent persons. The publishers stated their hopes that the publication would match or supplement the existing illustrated magazines:- The Illustrated London News and Punch Magazine .
Published by Illustrated News of the World, The Strand, London. Annual bound collection, red cloth boards 338 pages 42cm x 29cm.
From May through November 1864, 20-year-old Sergeant Major Robert H. Kellogg of the 16th Regiment Connecticut volunteers and most of his regiment were confined in Confederate prisons at Andersonville, Georgia and Florence, South Carolina. Upon entering the notorious Andersonville prison, Kellogg scribbled into his diary: “Our hearts failed us as we saw what used to be men now nothing but mere skeletons covered with filth & vermin.”
Robert Kellogg’s “Life and Death in Rebel Prisons” was published in 1865, right after the American Civil War while the horrors of that time were still fresh in the author’s memory. The book was based on his journal and the accounts of other Union Army prisoners. It details the harsh conditions and daily atrocities of life in Confederate prisons as well as some details of the war.
“Hofzinser is famous for his minimalistic approach to performing his illusions. Rather than presenting large-scale effects to impress his audience, Hofzinser focused on a simple setting using small props to demonstrate his skills. Playing cards were one of Hofzinser's specialties and he was one of the earliest performers to demonstrate card tricks. He invented many card manipulations, some of which continue to be used by magicians today.” [Source: www.geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/Johann_Nepomuk_Hofzinser]
Bononcini, Giovanni [1670 AD -1747 AD], Astartus an Opera as it was Perform'd at the Kings Theatre for the Royal Accademy. London: J. Walsh and J. Hare, [1721], First Edition, 2 leaves, 81 pages, engraved throughout, table of songs and advertisement. Size: folio (34.2 x 22.8cm). Condition: early inscription ("Giv'n to ye Musick-Club by Mr. Professor Goodson Aug: 30 1722") and stamp of 'Musical Society Oxford' to title, Dolmetsch Library stamp and pencil shelfmark ("II C 45") to verso of title, manuscript Dolmetsch Library label affixed to head of spine with translucent adhesive tape, old manuscript labels to upper cover ("21"; "915 V"), contemporary marbled boards, red morocco label gilt to upper cover ("Astartus"), with later endpapers (watermarked "1804"), cracked at lower hinge, old ink stains to outer edges, covers worn. RARE. The last copy we have traced at auction was sold at Sotheby’s on 9 December 1999 (lot 42). LITERATURE: RISM B 3557 and BB 3557; Smith and Humphries, no.191. A revised version of Bononcini's original opera of 1715 was premiered at the King's Theatre in London in November 1720. It was one of only two London operas for which Bononcini, Handel's great London rival, published the overture and arias.
The novelist Ernest Hemingway once remarked that “all modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn,” and other writers such as poet T. S. Eliot and African American novelist Ralph Ellison have added their acclaim. Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Clemens, worked for eight years on the story of an outcast white boy, Huck, and his adult friend Jim, a runaway slave, who together flee Missouri on a raft down the Mississippi River in the 1840s. The book has been controversial since the day it was published, opinions ranging from “the book is a masterpiece” to the book is “trash and suitable only for the slums.” The free-spirited and not always truthful Huck narrates the colorful stories in the book in his own coarse and ungrammatical voice. He shows a lack of respect for religion and adult authority and repeatedly uses the “n” word. Some readers view the book as satire and consider it a powerful attack on racism. Others believe it contributes to a “racially hostile environment” and are offended by the language and the portrayal of the slave Jim. In spite of it all, Huck Finn remains the Great American Novel to the many people who have read it and loved it.
This is the first American edition of Doyle’s first Professor Challenger story in which an exploring party led by Challenger venture deep inside the South American jungle to a lost plateau where dinosaurs still reign. The movie “Jurassic Park” owes much to this novel. This edition features sixteen illustrations, five by Maple White and eleven by Joseph Clement Coll.
"First on the Moon" is the story of Apollo 11 and the personal experiences of the three astronauts who put man on the moon. The voyage begins with President Kennedy's pronouncement on May 25, 1961, that the United States would put man on the moon before the decade was out, and continues through the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.
This edition of the novel contains six color illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith. The book was first published in the US in 1966 under the title “The Garden of Evil” by Paperback Library. In 1988, it was adapted into a film by Ken Russell.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Q-PyZxZjw
“The Lair of the White Worm” was Bram Stoker’s twelfth and last novel, published a year before his death. The novel, along with “The Jewel of Seven Stars, is one of his most famous after “Dracula.” It is a horror story about a giant white worm that can transform itself into a woman. Partly based on the legend of the Lambton Worm from North East England, the White Worm in Stoker’s story is a large snake-like creature that dwells in a hole or pit and feeds on whatever is thrown to it. It is thought to reside in the house of Arabella March, a local lady and a suspect in numerous crimes that cannot be proven.
“The last man to go snatched up a child, and carried it off in front of him on his horse.”
“Tom Sawyer Abroad” features Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in a parody of adventure stories like those of Jules Verne. In the story, Tom, Huck, and Jim set sail to Africa in a futuristic hot air balloon, where they survive encounters with lions, robbers, and fleas to see some of the world’s greatest wonders, including the Pyramids and the Sphinx. The story is told using the first-person narrative voice of Huck Finn and is a sequel, set in the time following the title story of the Tom Sawyer series, “Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” [Source: Wikipedia]
Steel plate engraving of the British Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston (Henry Temple) from the Illustrated News of the World – First Edition 1858.
‘The Illustrated News of the World and National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages’ was a new publication with the strong visual emphasis of numerous large woodcuts to illustrate local and world events, and also featuring a number of fine steel engravings of eminent persons. A competitor to the existing illustrated magazines:- The Illustrated London News and Punch Magazine .
Published by Illustrated News of the World, The Strand, London. Annual bound collection, red cloth boards 338 pages 42cm x 29cm.
The image is from the 14th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1892-93, by J. W. Powell, Director, Part 2. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1896. The description which follows summarizes the detailed information accompanying the image in the report.
On arriving at the agency at Pyramid Lake the Paiute furnished A’piatan a wagon and an Indian guide across the country to the home of Wovoka in the upper end of Mason valley. The next day he was admitted to his presence. The result was a complete disappointment. A single interview convinced him of the utter falsity of the pretensions of the messiah and the deceptive character of the hopes held out to the believers.
Saddened and disgusted, A’piatan did not stay, but started at once on his return home. On his way back he stopped at Bannock agency at Fort Hall, Idaho, and from there sent a letter to his people, stating briefly that he had seen the messiah and that the messiah was a fraud. This was the first intimation the Kiowa had received from an Indian source their hopes were not well grounded.
“The Gift” was an annual literary anthology published in a gift book format for the years 1836, 1837, 1839, 1840, and 1842-1845. Each book was published by Carey & Hart of Philadelphia in the fall of the year prior to the date given in the title, so that The Gift for 1836 was actually issued in October of 1835. Five of the gift books include new tales by Edgar Allan Poe – “Manuscript Found in a Bottle” (1836), “William Wilson” (1840), “Eleonora” (1842), “The Pit and the Pendulum” (1843), and “The Purloined Letter” (1845).
Robert Bonfils was the art director and cover artist for the San Diego-based Hamling Organization during the sixties and seventies and, for a decade, he worked exclusively for them. He produced some of his best covers during this period. The books were published under imprints such as Nightstand Books, Leisure Books, Adult Books, Candid Readers, Companion Books and other lines within the Hamling group. Before then, he produced book covers for the Chicago-based Merit Books and Newsstand Library and Las Vegas’ Playtime Books. He retired from doing cover art in the mid seventies, but he remained active as a painter of fine art in San Diego. Bonfils covers are now incredibly popular and sought after by book collectors, particularly fans of what is called “good girl art” (or GGA).
Being the worm today...
From: "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein
Published by Harper & Row- First Edition (1974)
The Strand became one of Great Britain's most prestigious fiction magazines, with the Holmes series its most popular feature. Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles” first appeared in the pages of The Strand as a nine-part series in the August, 1901 through the April, 1902 issues. This crime novel about a diabolical hound on Dartmoor is one of the UK's best loved novels and the top Sherlock Holmes story. George Newnes, publisher of The Strand, issued it in book form in August, 1902. The magazine version of the story featured sixty illustrations by the artist Sidney Paget, which were pared down to sixteen for the book. Sidney Paget is best known as the creator of the popular image of Sherlock Holmes which influenced interpretations of the detective in nearly all subsequent films, plays and books. In all, Paget illustrated one Holmes novel and 37 Holmes short stories.
Robert-Houdin (1805-1871), the Father of Modern Magic, was the son of a clockmaker and worked as a watchmaker before pursuing a career as a magician. He brought clockwork precision to his magical effects and electricity to the magic stage for the first time. He wore top hats and tails to lend authority to his work and was forced to reveal his tricks to authorities to avoid prosecution for witchcraft. Napoleon III allegedly sent him to Algiers in 1856 to outdo the miracles performed by religious leaders there. His magic tricks left the Arabs awestruck and thus kept France’s influence strong. He is best known for making orange trees grow before an audience’s eyes and suspending bodies in air. He published his autobiography, “The Memoirs of Robert-Houdin,” in 1859. [Source: www.biography.com/people/robert-houdin-9344559]
A Marine flyer since 1935, Colonel Gregory “Pappy” Boyington was encouraged to resign his commission to fly with the Flying Tigers in China. There he got credit for six Japanese planes. But when he applied for reinstatement in the Marine Corps, he found himself disgraced for “having left the Corps in time of national emergency.” For nearly three months he parked cars in a Seattle garage until, in desperation, he telegraphed an Under Secretary of the Navy. In a few days he was on the way to the South Pacific where he was given a squadron of misfits. These pilots, unwanted by other outfits, and led by the oldest active Marine fighter pilot, made one of the great records of the war. The heart of this book is the colorful story of Boyington’s Black Sheep Squadron.
“Pappy” Boyington was a wild, hard drinking, professional Marine flyer who was one of the most unconventional heroes of World War II. As wild and independent as he was, he was a competent leader of men and had no desire to change his ways. He had never let anyone kick him around, and he saw no reason why he should let the Japanese do so in the air or after he was taken prisoner.
Winner of a Congressional Medal of Honor and a Navy Cross for his achievements while leading the Black Sheep Squadron, “Pappy” Boyington had twenty months as a prisoner of the Japanese in which to gain emotional maturity and sobriety. He freely admitted that during the nearly two years he spent as a P.O.W. his health improved due to the enforced sobriety. He retired from the Marine Corps on August 1, 1947.
Many people know of Pappy Boyington from the mid-1970s television show Baa Baa Black Sheep, a drama about the Black Sheep squadron based very loosely on Boyington's memoir, with Boyington portrayed by Robert Conrad. Many of Boyington's men were irate over this show, charging it was mostly fiction and presented a glamorized portrayal of Boyington. Boyington himself often told interviewers and audiences that the television series was fiction and only loosely related to actual history. Here is a 1970’s interview with Boyington and the actor who portrayed him on television, Robert Conrad.
Percival Lowell (1855-1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars. In 1894, he chose Flagstaff, Arizona as the home of his new observatory, the now famous Lowell Observatory. For the next fifteen years, he studied Mars extensively, and made intricate drawings of the surface markings as he perceived them. He was particularly interested in the canals of Mars, as drawn by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, who was director of the Milan Observatory. Lowell published his views in three books: “Mars” (1895), “Mars and Its Canals” (1906), and “Mars As the Abode of Life” (1908).
Lowell’s works include a full account of the “canals,” single and double, the “oases,” as he termed the dark spots at their intersections, and the varying visibility of both, depending partly on the Martian seasons. He theorized that an advanced but desperate culture had built the canals to tap Mars’ polar ice caps, the last source of water on an inexorably drying planet.
While this idea excited the public, the astronomical community was skeptical. Many astronomers could not see these markings, and few believed that they were as extensive as Lowell claimed. In 1909 the sixty-inch Mount Wilson Observatory telescope in Southern California allowed closer observation of the structures Lowell had interpreted as canals, and revealed irregular geological features, probably the result of natural erosion. The existence of canal-like features was definitely disproved in the 1960s by NASA’s Mariner missions. Today, the surface markings taken to be canals are regarded as an optical illusion.
Lowell's greatest contribution to planetary studies came during the last decade of his life, which he devoted to the search for Planet X, a hypothetical planet beyond Neptune. In 1930 Clyde Tombaugh, working at the Lowell Observatory, discovered Pluto near the location expected for Planet X. Partly in recognition of Lowell's efforts, a stylized P-L monogram – the first two letters of the new planet's name and also Lowell's initials – was chosen as Pluto's astronomical symbol.
Although Lowell's theories of the Martian canals are now discredited, his building of an observatory at the position where it would best function has been adopted as a principle for all observatories. He also established the program and an environment which made the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh possible. Craters on the Moon and on Mars have been named after Percival Lowell. He has been described by other planetary scientists as "the most influential popularizer of planetary science in America before Carl Sagan". Lowell is buried on Mars Hill near his observatory. [Source: Wikipedia]
“Oliver Twist” is Dickens’ second novel and it is full of greed, corruption and dark humor. Orphan Oliver Twist starts his life in a workhouse and is sold into an apprenticeship with an undertaker. He escapes from there and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger, a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets, which is led by the elderly criminal Fagin.
Dickens presents an unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives, as well as exposing the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London in the mid–nineteenth century. An early example of the social novel, Dickens satirizes the hypocrisies of his time, including child labor, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of working as a child laborer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's own youthful experiences contributed as well. “Oliver Twist” is a good example of Dickens’ belief that the novel should do more than merely entertain.
Oliver Twist has endured as one of the most compelling child protagonists in fiction. His story has been the subject of numerous adaptations, for various media, including a highly successful musical play, “Oliver!”, and the multiple Academy Award-winning 1968 motion picture. [Source: Wikipedia]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VogHwP0C5VY
Unlike most of Dickens’ novels, “Oliver Twist” was not issued in monthly parts. It did appear in “Bentley’s Miscellany” magazine from February 1837 through April 1839, but the three volume book edition was published complete in November 1838. The book included 24 engravings by George Cruikshank and identified the author as “Boz.” Dickens decided that he would no longer be known as “Boz,” but his decision was too late for the earliest copies, those published between November 9 and 16, 1838.
Shipwrecked Englishman Edward Prendick meets Dr. Moreau’s Beast Folk, comprising Leopard-Man, Hyena-Swine, Satyr-Man, Fox-Bear Witch, Dog-Man, Ape-Man and the Sloth Creature. The novel has been the source for no less than six movies, including a version in 1977 with Burt Lancaster and Michael York and one in 1996 with Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, David Thewlis and Ron Perlman. H. G. Wells in his 19th century novel anticipated the conversion of animals into human-like beings by way of vivisection. A little over a century later, the introduction of human DNA in an animal’s genetic code may be a feasible way of doing it, a scary possibility explored in the 1996 film.
Written by William Shakespeare, published in 1623. View all four folios at digital.lib.MiamiOH.edu/folios.
In H. K. Browne’s illustration, David seems cheerful enough riding on the top of the carriage on the journey from Canterbury to London. However, here is the textual passage on which the image is based:
“I have always considered this as the first fall I had in life. When I booked my place at the coach-office I had had "Box Seat" written against the entry, and had given the book-keeper half-a-crown. I was got up in a special great-coat and shawl, expressly to do honour to that distinguished eminence; had glorified myself upon it a good deal; and had felt that I was a credit to the coach. And here, in the very first stage, I was supplanted by a shabby man with a squint, who had no other merit than smelling like a livery- stables, and being able to walk across me, more like a fly than a human being, while the horses were at a canter!” [Page 201]
“David Copperfield” is one of Dickens’ most popular and critically acclaimed novels. The story follows David’s life from childhood to maturity and many of its elements follow events in Dickens’ own life, especially in the early chapters describing David’s provincial upbringing. The story is filled with vivid characters such as Uriah Heep, Mr. Micawber, the Pegottys, and eccentric Aunt Betsey and it ranks as the finest of Dickens’ works. “Of all my books,” Dickens wrote in the preface to the 1867 edition, “I like this the best… like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is David Copperfield.”
Publisher Bradbury & Evans first released the story in monthly parts from May, 1849 through November, 1850, and in book form in 1850. The text was embellished with full-page, black & white engravings by H. K. Browne (“Phiz”). Subscribers who wished a hardcover edition for their libraries would either purchase a copy from the publisher when available or have the serial parts bound into book form, often in leather.
Andy is our final finalist for the September - November Issue coverstar for PS Mag due to launch mid September.
Written by William Shakespeare, published in 1623. View all four folios at digital.lib.MiamiOH.edu/folios.
Published by W. J. Johnston, New York.
Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.
Tesla gained experience in telephony and electrical engineering before immigrating to the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison in New York City. He soon struck out on his own with financial backers, setting up laboratories and companies to develop a range of electrical devices. His patented AC induction motor and transformer were licensed by George Westinghouse, who also hired Tesla for a short time as a consultant. His work in the formative years of electric power development was involved in a corporate alternating current/direct current "War of Currents" as well as various patent battles.
Tesla went on to pursue his ideas of wireless lighting and electricity distribution in his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs, and made early (1893) pronouncements on the possibility of wireless communication with his devices. He tried to put these ideas to practical use in his ill-fated attempt at intercontinental wireless transmission, which was his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project. In his lab he also conducted a range of experiments with mechanical oscillators/generators, electrical discharge tubes, and early X-ray imaging. He also built a wireless controlled boat, one of the first ever exhibited.
Tesla was renowned for his achievements and showmanship, eventually earning him a reputation in popular culture as an archetypal "mad scientist". His patents earned him a considerable amount of money, much of which was used to finance his own projects with varying degrees of success. He lived most of his life in a series of New York hotels, through his retirement. He died on 7 January 1943. His work fell into relative obscurity after his death, but in 1960 the General Conference on Weights and Measures named the SI unit of magnetic flux density the tesla in his honor. Tesla has experienced a resurgence in interest in popular culture since the 1990s. [Source: Wikipedia]
Battle of Cawnpore (Kanpur), a decisive battle of the Indian rebellion of 1857.
Woodcut from The Illustrated News of the World – First Edition 1858.
‘The Illustrated News of the World and National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages’ was a new publication with the strong visual emphasis of numerous large woodcuts to illustrate local and world events, and also featuring a number of fine steel engravings of eminent persons. The publishers stated their hopes that the publication would match or supplement the existing illustrated magazines:- The Illustrated London News and Punch Magazine .
Published by Illustrated News of the World, The Strand, London. Annual bound collection, red cloth boards 338 pages 42cm x 29cm.
This 1908 whodunit is the author’s first. Rachel is a middle-aged spinster who has had custody of her orphaned niece and nephew since they were children. Halsey and Gertrude are now 20 and 24, respectively, and they talk Rachel into renting a house in the country for the summer. The house they choose belonged to a bank defaulter who had hidden stolen securities in the walls.
The first night Rachel is there, there is a mysterious trespasser and something falls down the stairs in the middle of the night. After Halsey and Gertrude arrive on the second night, there is a murder, and Halsey and the friend he’s brought to stay disappear. Halsey returns a few days later, without his friend and without an explanation, but by then other strange goings-on have occurred to the dismay of the residents.