books

1y

#OTD in 1824.

The first issue of a radical quarterly founded by Jeremy Bentham, The Westminster Review, is published in London.

It was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until 1828. Some notable contributors: George Eliot, Harriet Martineau, John Stuart Mill, Mary Shelley, Herbert Spencer, John Tyndall, Caroline Cornwallis, Julia Wedgwood, Elizabeth Clarke Wolstenholme Elmy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Westminster_Review

#books #literature

Frontispiece of The Westminster review v.1 1824.

Full copies are available at Hathi Trust Digital Library:
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008893449

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1y

Replicating Shakespearean-era printing brings its own dramas and comedy

This video from the London Review of Books (LRB) celebrates the Folio’s 400th anniversary by documenting an audacious attempt to replicate the methods used to print the book at the time of its original release.

https://aeon.co/videos/replicating-shakespearean-era-printing-brings-its-own-dramas-and-comedy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Folio

#books #literature #oldprinting

The title page of the First Folio of William Shakespeare's plays.

The title page prominently features an engraved portrait of Shakespeare, created by Martin Droeshout, a relatively young engraver at the time.

The portrait depicts Shakespeare with a high forehead, a mustache, and a goatee, wearing a doublet with a wide lace collar.
The engraving has been both praised and critiqued for its accuracy. Ben Jonson, in his introductory poem to the Folio, vouched for its likeness, calling it a "true representation" of Shakespeare.

Edited 1y ago

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280d

"Understand this, I mean to arrive at the truth. The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it."
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)

Dame Agatha Christie died #OTD 50 years ago.

She wrote 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections. She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie

Agatha Christie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/451

#books #literature

Agatha Christie as a young woman

Unknown author - The Christie Archive Trust

The image captures Christie leaning out of a window with decorative latticed or diamond-patterned glass panes. She is photographed from roughly chest level up, positioned in the window frame.

Christie appears youthful creating volume on top of her head. She wears a distinctive outfit featuring a striped blouse with bold vertical stripes, paired with what appears to be a polka-dotted. A decorative handkerchief or lace detail is visible near her collar area.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Agatha_Christie#/media/File:Agatha_Christie_as_a_young_woman.jpg

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1y

HAPPY PUBLIC DOMAIN DAY!

Books which will enter the US public domain:

William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon (as serialized in Black Mask magazine)
John Steinbeck, Cup of Gold (Steinbeck's first novel)
Richard Hughes, A High Wind in Jamaica
Oliver La Farge, Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story
Patrick Hamilton, Rope

#books #literature #publicdomain
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Edited 1y ago

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1y

#OTD in 1818.

Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus first appears anonymously in London.

Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein

1818 edition at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/41445
1831 edition
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/42324

#books #literature

Title page of first edition of Frankenstein, Volume I.

Author Mary Shelley; publisher Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones

It includes the following details:

Title: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
Volume Information: "In Three Volumes."
Quotation: A quote from Paradise Lost by John Milton:
Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould me man? Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?

Volume Number: "VOL. I."
Publication Details:
Published in London.
Printed for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, located at Finsbury Square.
Year of Publication: 1818.

Victor Frankenstein becoming disgusted at his creation. Illustration from the frontispiece of the 1831 edition. Steel engraving (993 x 71mm) to the revised edition of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, published by Colburn and Bentley, London 1831. The novel was first published in 1818.

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39d

The Legend of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

Phillip Lopate on the Enduring Legacy of Washington Irving’s Most Famous Short Story

https://lithub.com/the-legend-of-the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow/

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41

#books #literature

The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane by John Quidor.

Ichabod flees on a white horse, arm raised in fear, while the headless horseman gives chase on a dark rearing steed through a moonlit forest.

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185d

Lost Federico García Lorca verse discovered 93 years after it was written

Eight-line poem found on the back of a manuscript sheds light on Spanish poet’s preoccupation with time

by Sam Jones

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/apr/18/lost-federico-garcia-lorca-verse-discovered-93-years-after-it-was-written

Lorca at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/56772

#books #literature #poetry

Self-Portrait by Federico García Lorca for *Poeta en Nueva York*

A large dreaming face dominates the centre, eyes closed, crescent moons on the cheeks. Surrounding skyscrapers are covered in alphabets and numbers. Black demon-like creatures prowl the margins. A winged figure floats above. A piano keyboard appears on the right.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Garc%C3%ADa_Lorca#/media/Archivo:Autorretrato_Poeta_NY.jpg

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1y

J. J. Thomson, who was born #OTD in 1856, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1906 for his discovery of the electron, the first subatomic particle to be found.

Thomson was also a teacher, and seven of his students went on to win Nobel Prizes: Ernest Rutherford, Lawrence Bragg, Charles Barkla, Francis Aston, Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Owen Richardson and Edward Victor Appleton.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Thomson

Books by J.J. Thomson at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/38322

#books #science #physics

J.J. Thomson, Nobel Prize photograph (1906).

Nobel foundation - http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1906/thomson-bio.html

Joseph John Thomson (1856–1940), often referred to as J.J. Thomson, is shown in a candid pose, engrossed in writing or drawing, likely related to his scientific work.

He is depicted as a middle-aged man with receding hair, a neatly groomed mustache, and a composed, intellectual demeanor.

Thomson is wearing formal attire typical of the early 20th century:
A dark tweed suit jacket with a subtle texture.

A high-collared white shirt and a decorative tie or cravat.

A pocket square neatly tucked into his breast pocket, adding to the formal appearance.

He is wearing round spectacles, which were characteristic of the period and contributed to his scholarly appearance.

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279d

Rare set of varied factors triggered Black Death

Volcanic eruptions in the mid-1340s triggered a chain of events that brought the Black Death to Europe.

by Jennifer Ouellette

https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/how-volcanoes-helped-spark-the-black-death/

Original paper:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02964-0

The Black Death at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/698

#books #environment #epidemiology

Pieter Bruegel's The Triumph of Death reflects the social upheaval and terror that followed the plague in medieval Europe.

A moral work depicting Death's triumph over worldly things, symbolized by a great army of skeletons ravaging the Earth. In the background is a barren landscape where scenes of destruction continue to unfold. In the foreground, Death, riding a red horse at the head of his armies, destroys the world of the living, who are led to an enormous coffin with no hope of salvation. All social classes are included in the composition, with neither power nor devotion able to save them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death#/media/File:The_Triumph_of_Death_by_Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder.jpg

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1y

"THE times that tried men's souls," are over- and the greatest and completest revolution the world ever knew, gloriously and happily accomplished."

#OTD in 1776.

Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled "The American Crisis". Paine signed the pamphlets with the pseudonym, "Common Sense".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Crisis

The American Crisis at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3741

#books #literature

An image of the first page from the first edition of The American Crisis, a pamphlet authored by Thomas Paine.

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279d

What January taught George Orwell about control and resistance

Like many of us, George Orwell saw January as a month to be endured rather than enjoyed. You can picture him steeling himself against its cold, gloom, rain, frost and wind.

by Nathan Waddell

https://theconversation.com/what-january-taught-george-orwell-about-control-and-resistance-272860

#books #literature

Picture of George Orwell which appears in an old accreditation for the BNUJ.

Orwell has dark, neatly combed hair swept back from a high forehead, a thin moustache, and a slender face with pronounced cheekbones. His expression is serious and composed, with a direct, steady gaze. He appears to be wearing a jacket over a collared shirt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell#/media/File:George_Orwell_press_photo.jpg

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1y

#OTD in 1864 (until April 16).

James Payn publishes his most popular story, Lost Sir Massingberd, in Chambers's Journal. He follows it in the magazine (August 6 – December 24) by Married Beneath Him. Lost Sir Massingberd was published as a book in two volumes in 1864.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Sir_Massingberd

Lost Sir Massingberd at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37170
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37171

#books #literature

Title page of Lost Sir Massingberd.

The book is in two volumes, with this being Volume I.
Published in London by Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, located at 14, Ludgate Hill, in 1864.
It includes the note: "[The Right of Translation is Reserved.]".

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185d

Another notable & interesting title mentioned in our April's newsletter:

A brief outline of the history of libraries by Justus Lipsius
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78256/

Written in 1602, Lipsius's Syntagma de Bibliothecis is a short Latin scholarly treatise tracing the history of libraries from antiquity. It surveys the great libraries of the ancient world — Egyptian, Greek, and Roman — describing their origins, collections, and fates.

PG's April newsletter:
https://www.gutenberg.org/newsletter/

#books #bibliography

A decorative title page printed in red and black. An architectural frame is flanked by two classical draped female figures holding garlands with tassels. At the top, a medallion contains a bust of Athena wearing a helmet. At the bottom, stacks of books flank an oval cartouche bearing the publisher's details.
The title reads: Literature of Libraries in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, V, edited by John Cotton Dana and Henry W. Kent, published by A. C. McClurg and Company, Chicago, 1907.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/78256/pg78256-images.html

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278d

Alexander the Great, Ancient Gay Icon

Harry Tanner Explores Queerness and Homophobia in the Hellenistic Period

https://lithub.com/alexander-the-great-ancient-gay-icon/

Alexander the Great at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/3864

#books #literature #history

Alexander Cuts the Gordian Knot by Jean-Simon Berthélemy (1767).

At the center of the composition stands Alexander, shown as a youthful. He wears a metal breastplate, a short tunic, and a flowing blue cloak. With one arm extended, he raises a sword, poised mid-action as he decisively cuts the knot rather than attempting to untie it.

Around him, several figures react with surprise and tension. To the right, men kneel or lean forward, their bodies twisted toward the knot, hands outstretched as if caught between disbelief and awe. To the left, older figures and attendants watch intently, one bearded man appearing contemplative, while a child looks on with curiosity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great#/media/File:Alexander_cuts_the_Gordian_Knot.jpg

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279d

What book(s) are you currently reading or listening to? January 13

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1y

"What remains?" cried Ivanhoe; "Glory, maiden, glory! which gilds our sepulchre and embalms our name."

#OTD in 1819.

Walter Scott's popular Waverley Novel Ivanhoe is published anonymously in 3 volumes by Archibald Constable in Edinburgh, dated 1820. A chivalric romance set in 12th-century England, it represents a move away from Scott setting his fiction in Scotland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/82

#books #literature

Title page of Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, 1st edition.

The text is presented in an elegant serif font, reflecting the formal and refined style of the period.

The title, Ivanhoe, appears prominently at the top, likely in larger font to draw attention, followed by the subtitle A Romance, emphasizing the book's genre.

Walter Scott's name does not appear on the title page because, at the time of publication, the novel was released anonymously. Instead, it is attributed to "The Author of Waverley", connecting it to Scott's earlier works.

Figure caption:
Whether from love of form, or from curiosity, the marshals paid no attention to his expressions of reluctance, but unhelmed him by cutting the laces of his casque, and undoing the fastening of his gorget.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/82/pg82-images.html

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1y

The Ebook of Sky Children is now available for purchase! Print copies will be available on Friday, January 3rd!

You can learn more at my website:
https://owentyme.us/books/sky-children/sky-children.html

Or go straight to the store links:
https://books2read.com/SkyChildren

#author #indieauthor #books #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #actionadventure #fiction

The cover of the novel Sky Children, by Owen Tyme.

The cover shows the dark silhouette of a man against a night sky consisting of a view of the Milky Way, in more stunning detail than it's usually seen.

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279d

📚 One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by: Omar El Akkad

On October 25th, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: "One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late...

https://bookblabla.com/book/one-day-everyone-will-have-always-been-against-this

#books #reading #libraries #biographyautobiography #world #politicalideologies #democracy

$On October 25th, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: "One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this." This tweet was viewed more than ten million times. One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This chronicles the deep fracture that has occurred for Black, brown, Indigenous Americans, as well as the upcoming generation, many of whom had clung to a thread of faith in Western ideals, in the idea that their countries, or the countries of their adoption, actually attempted to live up to the values they espouse. This book is a reckoning with what it means to live in the West, and what it means to live in a world run by a small group of countries—America, the UK, France, and Germany.  It will be The Fire Next Time for a generation that understands we're undergoing a shift in the so-called “rules-based order,” a generation that understands the West can no longer be trusted to police and guide the world, or its own cities and campuses. It draws on intimate details of Omar's own story as an emigrant who grew up believing in the Western project, who was catapulted into journalism by the rupture of 9/11. This book is El Akkad's heartsick breakup letter with the West. It is a breakup we are watching all over the United States, on college campuses, on city streets, and the consequen$

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1y

#OTD in 1846.

Fyodor Dostoevsky's first original novel, Poor Folk, is published in the St. Petersburg Collection.

The first English translation was provided by Lena Milman in 1894, with an introduction by George Moore, cover art design by Aubrey Beardsley and publication by London's Mathews and Lane. It is the first novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, written over the span of nine months between 1844 and 1845.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Folk

Poor Folk at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/2302

#books #literature

First English language edition of Poor Folk by Fedor Dostoiesvsky.

The first English-language edition of Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Poor Folk" was published in 1894 by Elkin Mathews and John Lane in London, and Roberts Brothers in Boston. This edition featured a distinctive cover designed by Aubrey Beardsley, a prominent English illustrator and author associated with the Aesthetic Movement.

The book was bound in original yellow pictorial cloth, a design choice reminiscent of the quarterly "Yellow Book," for which Beardsley served as art director. The cover and title page bore Beardsley's illustrations, including his "key monogram" on the spine and rear cover. This monogram, a stylized design incorporating his initials, was a signature element in many of Beardsley's works.

The yellow cloth binding, combined with Beardsley's distinctive black ink illustrations, gave the book a striking appearance that stood out among publications of the time.

This edition was part of Mathews and Lane's Keynotes Series and included an introduction by Irish novelist George Moore.

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276d

New #BookReview on my #blog: "Diary of a Bookseller."
https://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2026/01/book-review-diary-of-bookseller.html

#books #reading #ItinerantLibrarian #reviews #bookstodon
💙📚

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1y

Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist Kahlil Gibran was born #OTD in 1883.

He is best known as the author of The Prophet, which was first published in the United States in 1923 and has since become one of the best-selling books of all time, having been translated into more than 100 languages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahlil_Gibran

Books by Kahlil Gibran at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1813

#books #literature

Self-Portrait and Muse, c. 1911 (Museo Soumaya) by Kahlil Gibran.

The painting features Gibran's self-portrait on one side, rendered with introspective and solemn expression.

Opposite him is the figure of a muse, often interpreted as an embodiment of inspiration or creativity, exuding a sense of calm and mystery.

Gibran employs muted, earthy tones—soft browns, creams, and touches of gold—creating a dreamlike atmosphere.

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278d

📚 Nightcrawling by: Leila Mottley

Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are scraping by in an East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison

But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent—which has ...

https://bookblabla.com/book/nightcrawling

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #literaryfiction #familylife #siblings

$Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are scraping by in an East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent—which has more than doubled—and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed. One night, what begins as a drunken misunderstanding with a stranger turns into the job Kiara never imagined wanting but now desperately needs: nightcrawling. Her world breaks open even further when her name surfaces in an investigation that exposes her as a key witness in a massive scandal within the Oakland Police Department. Rich with raw beauty, electrifying intensity, and piercing vulnerability, Nightcrawling marks the stunning arrival of a voice unlike any we have heard before. NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK • A dazzling novel about a young Black woman who walks the streets of Oakland and stumbles headlong into the failure of its justice system. This debut of a blazingly original voice “bursts at the seams of every page and swallows you whole” (Tommy Orange, author of There There). A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, TIME, GOODREADS$

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276d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/SheSeeksPeace

The Hunter seeks peace and quiet to mourn the loss of her best friend in a world that seems bound and determined to make that task impossible. Enemies attack when she’d rather be alone, allies can’t take a hint and the arch-demon Wrath seeks the Hunter’s hand in marriage, even though she’d sooner kill him.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #actionadventure #fiction #books

(Left) The cover of She Seeks Peace, by Owen Tyme.

The background is a snow-capped, craggy mountain with green, grassy hills at its base, which feature yellow and blue flowers.

The foreground is dominated by the round symbol for peace, in gold. Along the bottom of it are two olive branches. At the top is a dove in flight. Arranged on the lower three spokes of it are three figures based on the AIGA symbol for a woman. The figure on the right is blue. The one in the middle is a very dark gray, bordering on black, which includes a top hat. The figure on the left is red and has horns, like a demon.

(Right) The background is a view from the interior of a gun's barrel, with the rifling very apparent and the following quote over the top:

Reggie looked down the barrel of one of his own pistols, which the girl held in both hands, because the M1911 was a little large for someone so small.

There was a long, silent moment as the girl giggled and met his gaze. The murderous look was gone, replaced by something more playful, like a cat toying with a mouse.

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/SheSeeksPeace

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190d

Question: What are the worst books on Project Gutenberg (or other terrible public domain writing)?

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1y

#OTD in 1904.

The first of Virginia Woolf's published writings, "Haworth, November 1904", an account of a visit to the Brontë family home, appears anonymously in a women's supplement to a clerical journal, The Guardian. (A book review written later has appeared in the same journal a week earlier.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haworth

Books by Virginia Woolf at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/89

#books #literature

This is the draft of the essay, which appeared in The Guardian in December 1904. Woolf opens by briefly questioning the legitimacy of literary tourism, and decides that her visit to Haworth is acceptable because it added to her understanding of the Brontës’ books. After walking the West Yorkshire moors in the bleak November weather and spending time in the family’s home and church, Woolf concludes that “however harsh the struggle, Emily, and Charlotte above all, fought to victory.” via @NYPL

https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/galleries/section-1-early-years/item/13112#:~:text=%E2%80%9CHaworth%3A%20November%2C%201904%E2%80%9C%20essay%20draft&text=Woolf's%20first%20published%20essay%20is,The%20Guardian%20in%20December%201904.

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