Eggplant.place

63d

Literary Maps: Real Maps for Imaginary Places

https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2025/12/literary-maps-your-imaginary-guide-to-famous-fictional-places/

Treasure Island at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Treasure+Island

#books #literature

Part of Robert Louis Stevenson's map of Treasure Island

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1y

Australian writer Miles Franklin died #OTD in 1954.

She is best known for her pioneering novel "My Brilliant Career". She was an outspoken advocate for women's rights and played a key role in advancing Australian literature, particularly through her contributions to the depiction of rural life in Australia. The Miles Franklin Award was set up according to the her will.

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

Books by Miles Franklin at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/4051

#books #literature

Portrait of Miles Franklin.

Franklin is frequently shown with a composed, thoughtful expression, indicative of her intellectual depth and dedication to her craft. Her gaze is direct, often looking slightly away from the camera or artist, which gives her an air of contemplation and seriousness. Her eyes convey both determination and introspection, qualities that defined her literary and social activism.

Franklin is typically dressed modestly but with an air of sophistication, often in the styles of the late 19th or early 20th centuries. Whether in a simple blouse or high-collared dress, her clothing underscores her no-nonsense attitude towards her work and life.

Franklin's hair is usually styled in a manner fitting the period, often pinned up or in a short, practical cut. She is not heavily adorned with jewelry or accessories, which reflects her pragmatic, feminist ideals and her rejection of conventional, restrictive norms for women at the time.

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63d

“I met people who gave me books, who handed me a thousand lives so that I might learn to live my own”

—Andrew O’Hagan, on why he supports the Scottish Book Trust Christmas appeal

https://www.heraldscotland.com/business_hq/25609921.andrew-ohagan-join-scottish-book-trusts-appeal-change-lives/

#Scottish #literature #books #reading #Christmas #charity

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64d

The Visual Art and Design of Famous Writers, Part 2

By Steven Brower via PrintMag (from the archives)

https://www.printmag.com/illustration-design/the-visual-art-and-design-of-famous-writers-part-2/

Part 1 is available here:
https://www.printmag.com/design-books/the-visual-art-and-design-of-famous-writers/

#books #literature #illustration_design

This is the title page from Edward Lear's "A Book of Nonsense," published in Boston by Roberts Brothers in 1894. The page features clean, elegant typography with the title prominently displayed at the top.
Below the title and author attribution is the subtitle "WITH ALL THE ORIGINAL PICTURES AND VERSES" in italics.

The centerpiece is one of Lear's characteristic whimsical illustrations showing a rotund gentleman (the "Old Derry down Derry") surrounded by cheerful children and other figures who appear to be dancing or celebrating. The drawing is done in Lear's distinctive simple line-art style, full of energy and movement.

Beneath the illustration is a limerick that reads:
"There was an Old Derry down Derry, who loved to see little folks merry;
So he made them a Book, and with laughter they shook
At the fun of that Derry down Derry."

The publication information at the bottom shows this is an American edition from Roberts Brothers, a prominent 19th-century Boston publishing house.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13646/13646-h/images/bookcovers/book1.gif

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1y

"A poet of one mood in all my lays,
Ranging all life to sing my only love,
Like a west wind across the world I move,
Sweeping my harp of floods mine own wild way."

British writer and poet Alice Meynell was born #OTD in 1847.

She was considered for the position of Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom twice, first in 1892 on the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and later in 1913 on the death of Alfred Austin, but was never appointed to the position.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/546

#books #literature

Alice Meynell in 1912

Published by Herder, MO, USA - https://archive.org/details/poetschantry00bregiala

In the portrait, Meynell is depicted as an elegant woman in her early fifties, with a composed and introspective expression. Her features are soft yet defined, capturing her intellectual depth and delicate beauty. She has an oval-shaped face, with high cheekbones and expressive eyes that give her a thoughtful, almost meditative look.

Meynell’s hair is styled in the fashion of the time, pulled back neatly and coiled into a bun.

She is dressed in a high-collared blouse or dress, typical of early 20th-century women's fashion.

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1y

French writer Juliette Adam was born #OTD in 1836.

She gave an account of her childhood, rendered unhappy by the dissensions of her parents, in Le roman de mon enfance et de ma jeunesse. She published in 1858 her Idées antiproudhoniennes sur l'amour, la femme et le mariage, in defense of Daniel Stern (pen name of Marie d'Agoult) and George Sand.

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

Books by Juliette Adams at PG:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliette_Adam

#books #literature

Photograph of Juliette Adam (1836–1936) French author and feminist.

Nadar — Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie

In this photograph, Adam is captured in a dignified, poised manner that reflects her strength and intellectual presence. Her attire and posture convey a sense of elegance and authority, which was typical of portraits of prominent women during this time period. Nadar, famous for his portraits of notable individuals, captured her with a soft focus and lighting that emphasizes her facial features, giving her an air of wisdom and intensity.

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1y

Fossil hunter, folklorist, evangelist, stonemason, newspaper editor, social justice campaigner, & geologist, Hugh Miller (1802–1856) – born #OTD, 10 Oct – deserves to be remembered in the company of Carlyle, Ruskin, Matthew Arnold & JS Mill as one of the leading moral & social thinkers of the 19th century

A 🎂🧵

1/4

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #geology #fossil #HughMiller

A faded 19th-century sepia photograph of Hugh Miller. He is standing, dressed in workman's overalls, his shirt-sleeves rolled up. He has bushy hair and large sideburns, and his left elbow is propped up on a carved gravestone. His right hand rests on a large stonemason's maul, and he holds a chisel in his left hand.

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1y

#OTD in 1802.

The Edinburgh Review, a reforming quarterly, is first published.

Among the most notable of the foreign publications it observed was Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality, which Adam Smith reviewed in the journal's second and final issue, published in March 1756.

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

#books #literature #literarycriticism

The Edinburgh review

Related Names
Smith, Sydney, 1771-1845.
Language(s)
English
Published
Edinburgh : A. and C. Black, 1803-1929
Note
Sydney Smith, though not formally an editor, superintended the first three numbers. Cf. Dict. nat. biog., v. 53, p. 120
Imprint varies
Title from caption
Also issued online
Bancroft AQ E4: From the Reinhard S. Speck Collection of Harriet Martineau

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000530182

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64d

This month's Distributed Proofreaders (DP) Blog is a book that was one of the special projects to celebrate DP's 25th anniversary. "Here foloweth a lytell treatyse of the beaute of women" was published around 1525.

https://blog.pgdp.net/2025/12/01/on-the-beauty-of-women/

The book at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77124

#books #literature

A woodcut "depicts a voluptuous woman wearing nothing but a fancy plumed hat and slippers, playing a lute to a jester sitting at her feet. The Latin inscription in its border, “Peccati forma femina est et mortis condicio,” can be translated roughly as, “Sin and death take the shape of woman.” - https://blog.pgdp.net/2025/12/01/on-the-beauty-of-women/

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Edited 64d ago

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1y

#OTD in 1869.

Model, poet and artist Elizabeth Siddal (d. 1862) is exhumed at Highgate Cemetery in London in order to recover the manuscript of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Poems buried with her.

Rossetti then published the contents in Poems (1870). These became part of Rossetti's sonnet sequence entitled The House of Life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Siddal#After_Siddal's_death

The House of Life at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3692

#books #literature #poetry

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Portrait of Elizabeth Siddal 1854

Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Marsh, Jan (1996). The Pre-Raphaelites: Their Lives in Letters and Diaries. London: Collins & Brown

In the portrait, Siddal is shown with her characteristic long, flowing red hair, which became a hallmark of Rossetti's paintings. Her features are soft but marked by a melancholy or introspective expression, reflecting the delicate and enigmatic quality she embodied in much of Rossetti’s work. The artist’s use of line and color accentuates her pale complexion and ethereal beauty, while her elongated neck and serene posture give her an almost otherworldly grace.

Rossetti’s portrayal of Siddal in this piece emphasizes her as an idealized figure of beauty and fragility, embodying the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of the "tragic muse." Siddal was often depicted by Rossetti in this way, reflecting both her personal struggles with illness and her symbolic role in his artistic vision.

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1y

American illustrator, author and naturalist William Hamilton Gibson was born #OTD in 1850.

Gibson illustrated S. A. Drake's In the Heart of the White Mountains, and E. P. Roe's Nature's Serial Story; and his own books, The Complete American Trapper; Pastoral Days; Highways and Byways; Happy Hunting Grounds; Strolls by Starlight and Sunshine; Sharp Eyes; and My Studio Neighbours.

Books illustrated or by W. Hamilton Gibson at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=W.+Hamilton+Gibson&submit_search=Go%21

#books #literature #illustrations

Harvested from the Book "William Hamilton Gibson; artist--naturalist--author" (1901) by John Coleman Adams. This is the frontispiece from the book. The book is in the public domain and scans can be found at https://archive.org/details/williamhamiltong00adam

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CONWAY MEADOWS. By W. HAMILTON GIBSON

Engraved by W. H. Morse

In: The Heart of the White Mountains, Their Legend and Scenery by Samuel Adams Drake

Available at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42447

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64d

When the day-birds have settled
in their creaking trees,
the doors of the forest open
for the flitting
drift of deer
among the bright croziers
of new ferns
and the legible stars…

—Robin Robertson, “What the Horses See at Night”
published in SAILING THE FOREST: Selected Poems (Picador, 2014)

https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/robin-robertson/sailing-the-forest/9781447231554

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #naturewriting #naturepoetry

What the Horses See at Night
by Robin Robertson

When the day-birds have settled
in their creaking trees,
the doors of the forest open
for the flitting
drift of deer
among the bright croziers
of new ferns
and the legible stars;
foxes stream from the earth;
a tawny owl
frisks the long meadow.
In a slink of river-light,
the mink’s face
is already slippery with yolk,
and the bay’s
tiny islands are drops
of solder
under a drogue moon.
The sea’s a heavy sleeper,
dreaming in and out with a catch
in each breath, and is not disturbed

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by that plowt – the first
in a play of herring, a shoal
silvering open
the sheeted black skin of the sea.
Through the starting rain, the moon
skirrs across the sky dragging
torn shreds of cloud behind.
The fox’s call is red
and ribboned
in the snow’s white shadow.
The horses watch the sea climb
and climb and walk
towards them on the hill,
hear the vole
crying under the alder,
our children
breathing slowly in their beds.

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64d

Robert Burns & the Glenriddell Manuscripts
22 January 2026, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh – free

Discover the incredible story of the Glenriddell Manuscripts – the largest collection of Robert Burns’s original writings in the world.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/robert-burns-and-the-glenriddell-manuscripts-tickets-1975276014733

#Scottish #literature #RobertBurns #18thcentury #poetry #song #letters #manuscripts

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49d

goodk kkkkk unjam ingwe nches lass? start again goodk
lassw enche sking start again kings tart! again sorry…

—Edwin Morgan, “The Computer’s Second Christmas Card”
published in COLLECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 1990)

https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781857541885/collected-poems/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #concretepoetry #20thcentury #computing #EdwinMorgan

(written in bright green text, in a monospaced font on a black background, to emulate an old CRT computer monitor; the text is divided up into blocks of five letters each)

The Computer's Second Christmas Card
by Edwin Morgan

goodk kkkkk unjam ingwe nches lass? start again goodk
lassw enche sking start again kings tart! again sorry
goodk ingwe ncesl ooked outas thef? unmix asloo kedou
tonth effff rewri tenow goodk ingwe ncesl asloo kedou
tonth effff fffff unjam feast ofsai ntste venst efanc
utsai ntrew ritef easto fstep toeso rryan dsons orry!
start again good? yesgo odkin gwenc eslas looke dout?
doubt wrong track start again goodk ingwe ncesl asloo
kedou tonth efeas tofst ephph phphp hphph unjam phphp
repea tunja mhphp scrub carol hphph repea tscru bcaro
lstop subst itute track merry chris tmasa ndgoo dnewy
earin 1699? check digit banks orryi n1966 endme ssage

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49d

Marking the centenary of the birth of journalist, author, & native Gaelic speaker Finlay J. Macdonald (1925–1987), the BBC has commissioned John Urquhart to make Gaelic translations of a series of readings recorded by Macdonald for Radio 4

https://www.welovestornoway.com/index.php/articles/40837-celebrating-the-work-of-finlay-j-macdonald

#Scottish #literature #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #Hebrides

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1y

French illustrator, etcher, lithographer, caricaturist, and novelist Albert Robida died #OTD in 1926.

He was an early pioneer of science fiction and founding father of science fiction art. He edited and published La Caricature magazine for 12 years. Through the 1880s, he wrote an acclaimed trilogy of futuristic novels. In the 1900s he created 520 illustrations for Pierre Giffard's weekly serial La Guerre Infernale.

Albert Robida at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1043

#books #literature #illustration

Notre-Dame de Paris. Illustration by Albert Robida published in Le Rire, no. 382, “À l'occasion du centenaire de Victor Hugo”, March 1, 1902.

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Map flanked by vignettes of major cities. Includes notes. Published as a supplement of La Caricature. Map of Europe with cartoon-like allegorical and human figures representing individual countries.

Albert Robida — https://id.lib.harvard.edu/curiosity/scanned-maps/44-990142735370203941

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1y

#OTD in 1893.

Finley Peter Dunne introduces the fictional character Mr. Dooley in the Chicago Evening Post.

Dunne's essays contain the bartender's commentary on various topics (often national or international affairs). They became extremely popular during the 1898 Spanish–American War and remained so afterwards; they are collected in several books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Dooley

Books by Finley Peter Dunne at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1559

#books #literature

Drawing of the fictional bartender Mr. Dooley and his customer Hennessy.

E. W. Kemble (1861–1933) - Mr. Dooley's Philosophy, frontispiece https://books.google.pt/books?id=yqhaAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA241&dq=mr+dooley+hennessy&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Dooley (right) and Hennessy, by E. W. Kemble (1900)

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1y

English explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist Isabella Bird died #OTD in 1904.

Despite health problems in her youth, Bird became an avid traveler later in life. She authored several books about her travels: "The Hawaiian Archipelago," "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan," and "A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains." Bird was the first woman to be elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1892.

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

Isabella Bird at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/393

#books #literature

Portrait of Isabella Lucy Bishop.

The image shows a black and white engraved portrait of a woman. She is wearing a high, dark-colored hat or headdress that appears to be textured or patterned. The woman's face is depicted in detail, showing sharp, attentive eyes gazing directly at the viewer. Her expression is serious and composed.

She is wearing a high-collared garment, possibly a coat or cloak, with what looks like a bow or scarf at the neck. The style of dress and portrait technique suggest this is likely from the 19th century.

The engraving style uses fine lines and cross-hatching to create shading and texture, giving the portrait a sense of depth and detail despite being a monochrome image.

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1y

"Nothing, it is true, is more common than for both Science and Art to pay homage to the spirit of the age, and for creative taste to accept the law of critical taste."

Letter 8 - On the Aesthetic Education of Man (1794)

~Friedrich Schiller

#books #literature #poetry

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72d

Hey #Bookstodon - I am in a bit of a reading rut and need some #recommendations to help me get out. Do you have any good recommendations for historical #fiction? I would even take some well-written #history or #travel books. My only restriction is that I would like recommendation not focused on the United States (but I am open if it is good). Thanks!

#Books #literature #historicalfiction #histodon #histodons @bookstodon

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1y

16 Great Sculptors Who Changed the History of Art, from Michelangelo to Rodin

From the ancient Greeks to 20th-century Modernists, this look at 16 famous sculptors is a timeline of the development of Western art.

By Jessica Stewart via @mymodernmet

https://mymodernmet.com/famous-sculptors-art-history/

About sculptures at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=sculpture&submit_search=Go%21

#art #culture #sculpture #books #literature

“Aphrodite of Knidos” Marble, Roman copy after a Greek original of the 4th century by Praxiteles. (Photo: Museo Nazionale Romano di Palazzo Altemps via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

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“Psyche Revived by the Kiss of Love” by Antonio Canova (Photo: Jean-Pol Grandmont via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

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1y

#OTD in 1892.

Ida B. Wells began publishing her research on lynching in the United States, for which she was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize special citation, in 2020.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14975

#books #literature

Ida B. Wells (author), Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases, book cover, 1892. Unknown author - http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14975/14975-h/14975-h.htm

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49d

"I have now attained the true art of letter-writing, which we are always told, is to express on paper exactly what one would say to the same person by word of mouth."
Letters of Jane Austen

Happy birthday Jane Austen, born #OTD 250 years ago!!

At PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/68

#books #literature

Back-view watercolour of Jane Austen by her sister Cassandra Austen, 1804.

A 1804 watercolor by Cassandra Austen depicting her sister Jane Austen from behind, seated outdoors beneath flowering trees. Jane wears an elegant white empire-waist dress with a blue ribbon sash and bonnet, gazing toward a pastoral landscape in this tender, intimate family portrait.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen#/media/File:JaneAustenCassandraWatercolour.jpg

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1y

American author Elizabeth Prentiss was born #OTD in 1818.

She is well known for her hymn "More Love to Thee, O Christ" and the didactic story Stepping Heavenward (1869).

Books by Elizabeth Prentiss at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/948

#books #literature

Drawing of Elizabeth Prentiss from the frontispiece of The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss Provided by the Wheaton College Archives - From the frontispiece of The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss, compiled by her husband George Lewis Prentiss (New York: Randolph & Co., 1882)

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63d

Felix Salten: the Jewish author and hunter who created Bambi

Bambi is a beloved story which has entertained people for decades. Though the tale of the deer's life has been enjoyed by generations, many do not know the name of its author.

by Adrian Murphy

https://www.europeana.eu/en/stories/felix-salten-the-jewish-author-and-hunter-who-created-bambi?mtm_campaign=europeanathemed-animation-nov2025

Salten at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/35122

#books #literature