books

338d

#OTD in 1923.

A production of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus at The Old Vic, directed by Robert Atkins, is the first in London since 1857. It is also the first to restore the full original text since the playwright's time.

It is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent & bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were extremely popular with audiences throughout the 16th century.

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

Titus Andronicus at PG
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1507

#books #literature #theatre

Title page of the first quarto of Titus Andronicus by Shakespeare, published 1594

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338d

Irish novelist Edith Somerville died #OTD in 1949.

She wrote in collaboration with her cousin "Martin Ross" (Violet Martin) under the pseudonym "Somerville and Ross". Together they published a series of fourteen stories and novels, the most popular of which were The Real Charlotte, published in 1894, and Some Experiences of an Irish R. M., published in 1899.

Books by E. Œ. Somerville at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/5334

#books #literature

Somerville atop her horse Tarbush.

Source book page: https://archive.org/stream/irishmemories00some/irishmemories00some#page/n218/mode/1up

In the photograph, she appears composed and elegant, sitting confidently on her horse.

Somerville is dressed in traditional 19th-century riding attire. This would typically include a riding habit—likely a long, dark-colored skirt and jacket, tailored for horseback riding.

Her hair is styled modestly, often covered by a riding hat or bonnet, suitable for outdoor activity and in keeping with the fashion of the era.

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338d

English philosopher and women's rights advocate Harriet Taylor Mill was born #OTD in 1807.

She is considered to have been a key contributor to many of John Stuart Mill’s most famous works, particularly "On Liberty" (1859) & "The Subjection of Women" (1869). Some of her own writings, such as her essay "The Enfranchisement of Women" (1851), argued for women's equality and their right to vote.

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

Books by Harriet Taylor Mill at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73404

#books #literature

Harriet Mill, by unknown artist, Harriet Taylor Mill (née Harriet Hardy) (8 October 1807 – November 1858) was a philosopher and women's rights advocate. Her extant corpus of writing is very small, and she is largely remembered for her influence, which he said was very great, on her second husband, John Stuart Mill, one of the pre-eminent thinkers of the 19th century, Painting given to the National Portrait Gallery, London in 1982.

In the painting, Harriet Taylor Mill is presented with a refined and composed demeanor, reflecting her intellect and influence as a thinker. Her expression is calm yet thoughtful, with a sense of quiet determination that hints at her significant contributions to women's rights and social reform.

She has a delicate face, with fine features—perhaps high cheekbones, a soft jawline, and bright eyes that convey her sharp intellect. Her lips are often depicted with a slight, gentle smile or in a neutral, contemplative pose.

Her hair is styled in the fashion of the mid-19th century, likely parted in the center and arranged in neat waves or curls around her face, with the rest pulled back in a simple, elegant updo.

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322d

This old image made me think of every single book lover in the Fediverse 📚📖

#bookstodon #books #booklovers

A black and white photo of a book store called "Yesterday's Books" with "Any Book $1.00"

On the first floor, is a big sign "BOOKS will turn you on!"

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333d

#OTD in 1905.

The English actor-manager Sir Henry Irving collapses in his hotel, while playing Thomas Becket on tour in Bradford, dying soon afterwards. 'Into thy hands, O Lord, into thy hands', and though he lived for an hour or so longer he never spoke again" were his last words.

Becket and other plays by Baron Alfred Tennyson at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9162

#books #literature #theatre

Henry Irving as Thomas Becket.

Actor-manager Henry Irving (1838-1905) played the role of Thomas Becket in Becket by Alfred Lord Tennyson at the Lyceum Theatre in 1893. Becket was Irving's last role, he performed the character in Bradford in 1905 and died an hour after leaving the stage.

Bernard Partridge (1861-1945) was a painter and illustrator who became the principal cartoonist of Punch magazine. He acted at the Lyceum in his youth, using the name Bernard Gould, and made many drawings of Irving, some of which appeared in the theatre's souvenir programmes. His work has provided both a record of costumes and scenery and of the dramatic effect of Irving's performances.

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321d

"La reconnaissance a la mémoire courte."

Swiss philosopher & politician Benjamin Constant was born #OTD in 1767. Author of numerous essays on political & religious issues, he also wrote psychological novels, such as Le Cahier rouge and Adolphe.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/5256

More details Roche - Portrait de Benjamin Constant (1767-1830), écrivain et homme politique - P1679 - Musée Carnavalet Hercule de Roche - https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/en/node/153046

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284d

Was once again reminded of Ursula K. Le Guin's daily schedule, and why this woman was an icon on every single level.

#UrsulaKLeguin #Books #Bookstodon #book #Writing #WritingCommunity

Ursula Le Guin‘s daily schedule

5:30 a.m. - wake up and lie there and think.
6:15 a.m. - get up and eat breakfast (lots).
7.15 a.m. - get to work writing, writing, writing.
Noon - lunch.
1:00-3:00 p.m. - reading, music.
3:00-5:00 p.m. correspondence, maybe house cleaning.
5:00-8:00 p.m. make dinner and eat it.
After 8:00 p.m. - I tend to be very stupid and we won't talk about this.

This was Le Guin's daily schedule first appeared in an interview she gave in 1988 (and more recently reappeared in Ursula Le Guin: The Last Interview and Other Conversations).

Edited 282d ago

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321d

"Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
"The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swych licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour..."
Opening lines. The Canterbury Tales

~Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – October 25, 1400)

#books #literature

More details Portrait of Chaucer as a Canterbury pilgrim, Ellesmere manuscript of The Canterbury Tales. The Tale of Melibee „A yong man called Melibeus, myghty and riche, bigat upon his wyf, that called was Prudence, a doghter which that called was Sophie. Upon a day bifel that he for his desport is went into the feeldes hem to pleye. His wyf and eek his doghter hath he left inwith his hous...

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331d

#OTD in 1922.

T. S. Eliot founds The Criterion magazine, with the first appearance of his poem The Waste Land. This will be first fully published in book form by Boni & Liveright in New York in December.

Eliot's goal was to make it a literary review dedicated to the maintenance of standards and the reunification of a European intellectual community.

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

The Waste Land at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1321

#books #literature #poetry

Title page of the first book edition (December 1922) of The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot.

Edited 331d ago

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331d

"Were all men equal to-night, some would get the start by rising an hour earlier to-morrow."

#OTD in 1848.

Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life is published anonymously by Chapman & Hall in London in two volumes.

Gaskell was paid £100 for the novel. The publisher Edward Chapman had had the manuscript since the middle of 1847.

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

Mary Barton at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/2153

#books #literature

(no description)

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331d

English poet and novelist Letitia Elizabeth Landon died #OTD in 1838.

Her first major breakthrough came with The Improvisatrice and thence she developed the metrical romance towards the Victorian ideal of the Victorian monologue, influencing fellow English writers such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Alfred Tennyson and Christina Rossetti.

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

Books about Letitia Elizabeth Landon at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56166

#books #literature #poetry

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838); variation of the original painting by Daniel Maclise.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L.E.L.) was a renowned English poet and novelist of the early 19th century, known for her Romantic works. In the portrait by Daniel Maclise, she is depicted with a delicate and refined appearance, typical of Romantic portraiture of the time. The original shows her seated gracefully, with soft curls framing her face, gazing thoughtfully into the distance. Her attire consists of elegant 19th-century clothing, with rich textures and details.

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331d

#OTD in 1858.

The farce Our American Cousin by the English playwright Tom Taylor is first performed at Laura Keene's Theatre in New York City, with the American Joe Jefferson in the title rôle and the English actor Edward Askew Sothern as Lord Dundreary.

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

Our American Cousin at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/3158

#books #literature #theatre

Photograph of Edward Askew Sothern as Lord Dundreary.

Unknown author - http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2009/02/our_american_cousin_revisited.html

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332d

#OTD in 1892.

The first collection of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories from The Strand Magazine (June 1891–June 1892), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, is published by George Newnes in London; it includes Doyle's favourite, "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", which was originally published in February.

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

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1661

#books #literature

Illustration of the Sherlock Holmes short story The Speckled Band, which appeared in The Strand Magazine in February, 1892. Original caption was "WHICH OF YOU IS HOLMES?"

Sidney Paget (1860 - 1908)

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332d

#OTD in 1926.

The children's book Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne first appears, published by Methuen in London.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh_(book)#

Winnie-the-Pooh's entrance into the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2022 was noted by several news publications, generally in the context of a greater Public Domain Day article.

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2022/#fn6text

Winnie-the-Pooh at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/67098

#books #literature

First edition cover

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328d

"Call me Ishmael."

#OTD in 1851.

Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.

In the October 1851 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine "The Town Ho's Story" was published, with a footnote reading: "From 'The Whale'. The title of a new work by Mr. Melville, in the press of Harper and Brothers, and now publishing in London by Mr. Bentley."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick

Moby-Dick at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/15

#books #literature

The whale or Moby Dick (half-title page), Herman Melville, 1851

Herman Melville and one more author - State Library of New South Wales, [https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/74VK2oZrBwKZ/l3gXqDvw8yl0N DSM/813.3/M531/2A1

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329d

#OTD in 1911.

German novelist Hans Fallada, kills his best friend in a suicide pact staged as a duel.

Fallada made a pact with a friend, Hanns Dietrich von Necker, to stage a duel to mask their suicides, feeling that the duel would be seen as more honorable. However, because of both boys' inexperience with weapons, it was a bungled affair. Dietrich missed Fallada, but Fallada did not miss Dietrich, killing him.

Hans Fallada at Projekt Gutenberg-DE
https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/autoren/namen/fallada.html

#books #literature

German writer Hans Fallada (1893–1947), depicted in Bonniers litterära magasin Nr.6, 1936.

In the image, Fallada appears as a middle-aged man with a solid, slightly rounded face. His expression is calm yet intense, reflecting a contemplative nature and the inner turmoil often associated with his life and writing. His eyes, framed by slightly heavy eyelids, have a distant, introspective gaze, as if lost in thought. His short, dark hair is combed neatly, and his face bears a mustache, common to his appearance in the 1930s.

Fallada's attire is formal but modest, in keeping with the style of the time. He is dressed in a suit with a high-collared shirt and a simple tie, perhaps signaling his role as a respected writer while also hinting at his working-class sensibilities. The black-and-white portrait from Bonniers litterära magasin emphasizes sharp contrasts, with Fallada's face and suit emerging starkly from the background, highlighting his features with a sense of gravity and weight.

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329d

#OTD in 1771.

Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by Mozart at age 15.

This is a pastoral opera in two parts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Parini. It was commissioned by the Empress Maria Theresa for the wedding of her son, Archduke Ferdinand Karl, to Maria Beatrice d'Este on 15 October 1771.

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

https://imslp.org/wiki/Ascanio_in_Alba,_K.111_(Mozart,_Wolfgang_Amadeus)

Books about Mozart at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=mozart&submit_search=Go%21&start_index=26

#books #music #opera

School of Verona, attributed to Giambettino Cignaroli (Salo, Verona 1706-1770), Portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the age of 13 in Verona, 1770. Offered for auction at Christie's Paris on 27 November 2019, from the collection of the descendants of pianist Alfred Cortot.

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327d

"The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself."

#OTD in 1847.

Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is published (as "an autobiography, edited by Currer Bell") in London by Smith, Elder & Co. in 3 volumes.

The first American edition was published the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York.

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

Jane Eyre at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1260

#books #literature

The title page to the original publication of Jane Eyre, including Brontë's pseudonym "Currer Bell".

St John Rivers admits Jane to Moor House, illustration by F. H. Townsend

F. H. Townsend, 1868-1920 - http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1260/1260-h/images/

"Hush, Hannah! I have a word to say to the woman.

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326d

#OTD in 1917.

The 51-year-old poet W. B. Yeats marries 25-year-old Georgie Hyde-Lees at Harrow Road register office in London, with Ezra Pound as best man, a couple of months after Yeats' proposal of marriage to his ex-mistress's daughter, Iseult Gonne, is rejected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._B._Yeats#Marriage_to_Georgie_Hyde-Lees

Books by W. B. Yeats at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1719

#books #literature #poetry

Walter de la Mare, Bertha Georgie Yeats (née Hyde-Lees), William Butler Yeats, unknown woman, summer 1930; photo by Lady Ottoline Morrell.

In the image, the group is outdoors, likely in a garden or rural setting, characteristic of Lady Ottoline's gatherings at her homes. The lighting is soft, typical of an English summer, lending a relaxed and somewhat nostalgic quality to the photograph.

Walter de la Mare, the English poet and author, stands or sits calmly, perhaps slightly to one side.

Bertha Georgie Yeats (née Hyde-Lees), the wife of William Butler Yeats, appears in the photograph with a sense of quiet elegance.

William Butler Yeats, the famed Irish poet, stands or sits prominently in the image, his distinctive features easily recognizable.

The unknown woman is present alongside the others, her identity and role a mystery, adding an air of intrigue to the photograph.

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329d

Polish composer and virtuoso pianist Frédéric Chopin died #OTD in 1849.

To this day, Chopin's music remains one of the most widely performed, and an indispensable part of the universal piano repertoire. Along with Franz Liszt, he is the father of modern piano technique and influenced a whole line of modern composers, including Claude Debussy, Alexandre Scriabine, Maurice Ravel and Sergei Rachmaninov.

Books by or about Frédéric Chopin at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric+Chopin&submit_search=Go%21

#books #music #art

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327d

"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own."

Irish writer Jonathan Swift died #OTD in 1745.

Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, Gulliver's Travels, & A Modest Proposal. He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms—including Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M. B. Drapier—or anonymously.

Books by Jonathan Swift at PG
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/326

#books #literature

Charles Jervas portrait of Jonathan Swift.

In the portrait, Swift is shown as a middle-aged man, with his characteristic rounded face and full, expressive features. His hair, worn in long, flowing curls, is typical of the wigs of the early 18th century, a fashion among men of high status. His gaze is direct, with piercing, intelligent eyes that convey both a sharp wit and deep contemplation, traits often associated with his satirical writing.

Swift is dressed in clerical attire, signifying his role as a clergyman within the Church of Ireland. He wears a dark robe with a white clerical collar, which contrasts against the rich, dark tones of his clothing.

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321d

Argentinian poet and author Alfonsina Storni died #OTD in 1938.

Her first book, La inquietud del rosal, brought her recognition from the literary circles in Buenos Aires; but it was her volume El dulce daño that won her popular success.

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

Alfonsina Storni walking along the promenade of Mar del Plata. Unknown author - Archivo General de la Nación Argentina Inventory 7770

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305d

In November 1873.

The children's periodical St. Nicholas Magazine begins publication by Scribner and Company in New York under the editorship of Mary Mapes Dodge.

Books by Mary Mapes Dodge at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/402

#books #literature

St Nicholas-cover

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330d

Available from 1 November: another thriller I translated, by the same author as the last one, Catherine Cooper.

This time we're going skiing in the French Alps, but there's another storm, which means nobody can leave the chalet... 🏠 🇫🇷 🏔️ ⛷️ 🍷 🍄 🌨️ 😱

#books #thriller #hetchalet #BookTranslation #translation #xl8 #boeken #BoekVertaling #VertaaldDoorEenMens #TranslatedByAHuman

Book cover: four glasses of champagne on a table outside against a snowy landscape, one glas has blood spatters on it and there are shards of glass on the table.

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326d

Dutch author and poet Isabelle de Charrière, known as Belle van Zuylen, was born #OTD in 1740.

She is now best known for her letters and novels, although she also wrote pamphlets, music and plays. She took a keen interest in the society and politics of her age, and her work around the time of the French Revolution is regarded as being of particular interest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabelle_de_Charri%C3%A8re

Books by Isabelle de Charrière at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Isabelle+de+Charri%C3%A8re&submit_search=Go%21

#books #literature #poetry

Isabelle de Charrière by Jens Juel, (1777), Bibliothèque publique et universitaire de Neuchâtel.

Jens Juel - http://www.charriere.nl/images/juel.htm [1]

Isabelle de Charrière, born Isabelle Agneta Elisabeth van Tuyll van Serooskerken, known as Belle de Zuylen (1740-1805)

Edited 326d ago

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