otd

1y

#OTD in 1889.

Henrik Ibsen's symbolic drama The Lady from the Sea (1888) receives simultaneous first performances in Oslo (in Norwegian) and Weimar (in German). The drama introduces the character of Hilde Wangel who is again portrayed in Ibsen's later play The Master Builder.

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

The Lady from the Sea at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/2765

#books #literature #theatre

Dining room in the house of Dr. Vangel. 1905 Sketch of the scenery for Ibsen's drama “Daughter of the Sea” State Central Theater Museum named after A.A.Bakhrushin. A.A.Bakhrushin State Central Theater Museum.

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1y

#OTD in 1851.

The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo.

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

Le Roi s'amuse at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29549

#books #literature #theatre

Set design for act "IV" (III as normally counted) of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto. (For the production of the Théâtre national de l'Opéra at the Palais Garnier that opened 27-02-1885).

A rustic, slightly decrepit inn or house by a lakeside or riverbank, surrounded by dense trees. The building is shown in a cross-section, revealing two levels.

A warmly lit bedroom where a woman stands holding a torch or candle near a reclining figure on a bed—suggestive of the characters Maddalena and the Duke in Rigoletto.

A dimly lit interior room with a few figures around a table—possibly representing Sparafucile (the assassin) and other characters in the plot’s unfolding.

The scene is bathed in moonlight with dark clouds, creating a dramatic chiaroscuro between the natural night and the warm indoor light.

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1y

#OTD in 1914.

In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

It was founded by Victor Herbert, George Botsford, Silvio Hein, Irving Berlin, Louis Hirsch, John Raymond Hubbell, Gustave Kerker, & Jean Schwartz; Glen MacDonough; publishers George Maxwell and Jay Witmark & copyright attorney Nathan Burkan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Society_of_Composers,_Authors_and_Publishers

ASCAP archives at NYPL:
https://archives.nypl.org/mus/22936

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1y

"Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard.
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!"

#OTD in 1898.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde was published by Leonard Smithers, under the name "C.3.3.", which stood for cell block C, landing 3, cell 3.

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

Ballad of Reading Gaol at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/301

#books #literature #poetry

Cover of The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1904).

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283d

"Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants, willing to be dethroned."
ch. 2: Nestor page 28

Ulysses by James Joyce was partially serialised in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, the entire work was published in Paris by Sylvia Beach #OTD in 1922.

Ulysses at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4300

#books #literature

Picture of first edition of Joyce's Ulysses.

Cover design:
Simple, elegant design in blue-green/teal color
Greek-inspired lettering for "ULYSSES"
Minimal decoration, emphasizing the classical connection
The color was chosen to match the Greek flag (blue and white)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)#/media/File:JoyceUlysses2.jpg

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1y

#OTD in 1889.

August Strindberg's naturalistic drama Miss Julie (Fröken Julie), 1888, is first performed, by the Scandinavian Experimental Theater at the University of Copenhagen. His wife Siri von Essen plays the title rôle.

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

Miss Julie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14347

#books #literature #theatre

Photograph of the first production of Miss Julie at The People's Theatre in November 1906.

Unknown photographer, 1906 - Strindberg and the Five Senses, bu Hans-Goran Ekman.

On the left, a woman dressed in traditional servant attire appears to be engaged in a kitchen task, emphasizing the play’s working-class setting.

In the center-right, a woman in a long white dress (likely portraying Miss Julie) is interacting closely with a man in a formal suit (likely the character Jean), highlighting the tension and intimacy central to the plot.

The set design features modest furniture, utensils hanging on the wall, and exposed wooden beams, reflecting the realistic and detailed staging typical of early 20th-century naturalist theatre.

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1y

"I’m only sorry I couldn’t have had as good a chance as a boy, and have been put to my trade regularly."

American inventor Margaret E. Knight was born #OTD in 1838.

She founded the Eastern Paper Bag Company in 1870, creating paper bags for groceries similar in form to the ones that would be used in later generations. Knight received dozens of patents in different fields and became a symbol for women's empowerment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_E._Knight

A scanned photograph from a newspaper, with accompanying title above ("First Woman Granted an American Patent Is Still at Work on Ingenious Inventions") and caption below ("MISS MARGARET E. KNIGHT AT WORK IN HER EXPERIMENTING ROOM.")

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_E._Knight#/media/File:Margaret_knight_boston_sunday_post_march_31_1912_p.45.jpg

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280d

Four crabs from the cold firth
alive for a shilling. The largest
reared in the pot, in spite of
the fierce water, but soon
we cracked his limbs with our teeth
and wheedled with spoons and fingers
for the last shreds of flesh
from the crannies of his briny body…

—Angus Calder, “Crab”
from WAKING IN WAIKATO (diehard, 1997)

Angus Calder (1942–2008) – journalist, historian, editor, critic, & poet – was born #OTD, 5 Feb

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/crab/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury

Crab
by Angus Calder

Four crabs from the cold firth
alive for a shilling. The largest
reared in the pot, in spite of
the fierce water, but soon
we cracked his limbs with our teeth
and wheedled with spoons and fingers
for the last shreds of flesh
from the crannies of his briny body.

In that brittle maze
I found no features to remind me
of our brains, our livers
or our smooth bellies, yet doubtless
their functions were held by some part
of the paste of his cavities.

Spread, soup and risotto –
only the gills were rejected.

In the days we ate him
I did not forget
his moment on the floor
to amuse the baby, when she
gloated at the slow clash
of his last menace,
nor that shape which made me think
of a soft soldier
fried in the cockpit of a tank.

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178d

Pale yellow letters
humbly straggling across
the once brilliant red
of a broken shop-face
CONFECTIO…

—Edwin Morgan, “To Joan Eardley”
Joan Eardley (1921–1963) was born #OTD, 18 May

🖼️ Joan Eardley, “Sweet Shop, Rotten Row, 1960–1961”, Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow

https://www.gla.ac.uk/collections/#/details?irn=59156&catType=C

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #art #visualart #painting #20thcentury #JoanEardley

"To Joan Eardley"
by Edwin Morgan

Pale yellow letters
humbly straggling across
the once brilliant red
of a broken shop-face
CONFECTIO
and a blur of children
at their games, passing,
gazing as they pass
at the blur of sweets
in the dingy, cosy
Rottenrow window –
an Eardley on my wall.
Such rags and streaks
that master us! –
that fix what the pick
and bulldozer have crumbled
to a dingier dust,
the living blur
fiercely guarding
energy that has vanished,
cries filling still
the unechoing close!
I wandered by the rubble
and the houses left standing
kept a chill, dying life
in their islands of stone.
No window opened
as the coal cart rolled
and the coalman’s call
fell coldly to the ground.
But the shrill children
jump on my wall.

“Sweet Shop, Rotten Row”. A painting by Joan Eardley. Oil paint is applied thickly, in blotches of colour. A mustard-yellow sign bearing the letters CONFECTIO sits above a blurred shop front, showing a green window on the left and a red door on the right. Three almost abstract figures of children – two girls and a boy, probably – are dashing past the shop from left to right in a swirl of pinks, browns, and blues. The leftmost child has long black hair streaming out behind her head, adding to the sense of swift movement.

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1y

"Il y a aujourd'hui trois cent quarante-huit ans six mois et dix-neuf jours que les parisiens s'éveillèrent au bruit de toutes les clochés sonnant à grande volée dans la triple enceinte de la Cité, de l'Université et de la Ville."

#OTD in 1831.

Victor Hugo's historical romantic Gothic novel Notre-Dame de Paris, known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, is published by Gosselin in Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunchback_of_Notre-Dame

Notre-Dame de Paris at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/2610

#books #literature

The main characters depicted in a frontispiece illustration by Aimé de Lemud (Notre-Dame de Paris, Perrotin éditeur, Garnier frères, 1844).

Aimé de Lemud - This image comes from the Gallica online library under ARK identifier bpt6k15139651/f13

illustration by Aimé de Lemud for the frontispiece of Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris, Perrotin éditeur, Garnier frères, 1844.

Illustration from Victor Hugo et son temps (1881)

Luc-Olivier Merson (1846–1920) - Here

Drawing of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, showing the recently restored galerie des chimères.

A cloaked figure, likely Claude Frollo, the archdeacon in Hugo's novel, is standing on a high balcony or gallery of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

He is leaning against the balustrade, looking pensively over the cityscape of medieval Paris, with rooftops, chimneys, and the Seine River visible in the background.

Surrounding him are several gargoyle sculptures, which are iconic elements of Gothic architecture and Notre-Dame itself.

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1y

"Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords."
Letter (8 June 1762) [to an unnamed recipient], p. 103

#OTD in 1906.

J. M. Dent and Co. initiates the U.K. Everyman's Library series, edited by Ernest Rhys. The first title is Boswell's Life of Johnson.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyman%27s_Library

Life of Samuel Johnson at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1564

#books #literature

Title page to the 1791 first edition The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D, as found on the Google Books scan of the Bodleian Library copy.

Henry Baldwin - https://books.google.com/books?id=P-INAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA327#v=onepage&q&f=false

The title is in a large, serif font, with variations in font size and capitalization for emphasis.

"The Life of Samuel Johnson" is prominently displayed.

“LL.D.” follows Johnson’s name, denoting his honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Boswell’s name is given with "Esq." (Esquire), a common 18th-century honorific.

A Latin quotation (often included in scholarly works of the time) appears below the author’s name.

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1y

#OTD in 1824.

Lord Byron falls ill at Missolonghi while taking part in the Greek War of Independence. He dies of fever on April 19. The Greeks mourned Lord Byron deeply, and he became a hero.

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

Books by Lord Byron at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1708

A Narrative of Lord Byron's Last Journey to Greece by Pietro Gamba (1825):
https://catalogue.beic.it/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma9926855804741&context=L&vid=39BEIC_INST:39BEIC_INST&lang=it&search_scope=Library&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=LibraryCatalog&query=any,contains,A%20Narrative%20of%20Lord%20Byron%27s%20Last%20Journey%20to%20Greece%20by%20Pietro%20Gamba%20(1825)

#books #literature

The reception of Lord Byron at Missolonghi.

Theodoros Vryzakis - https://www.nationalgallery.gr/artwork/i-ypodochi-tou-lordou-vyrona-sto-mesolongi/

Byron is depicted in a grand and heroic manner, wearing traditional Greek attire, symbolizing his deep admiration for the Greek cause.

Byron is surrounded by Greek freedom fighters, dressed in traditional foustanella skirts, capes, and turbans, showing the diverse Greek factions.

Greek Orthodox clergy are present, emphasizing the role of the Church in the revolution.

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1y

#OnThisDay, 15 Feb 1776, Hannah Cowley’s first play, The Runaway, opened at Drury Lane.

Cowley had written her play and sent it to David Garrick, Drury Lane’s manager, after sitting through a particularly rubbish play. Garrick cast a young Sarah Siddons in the lead.

Siddon’s character rails against the marriage vows: 'I won't hear of it, “love” one might manage that perhaps, but “honour, obey”!’

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #Histodons #BritishHistory

an engraving of Hannah Cowley. She is a white woman with a mass of dark hair.

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206d

#OnThisDay, 20 Apr 1902, Maria Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie refine radium chlorine. The discovery leads to Marie being the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903.

The committee had planned to only award the Nobel to Pierre and Henri. Committee member and Swedish mathematician Magnus Gösta Mittag-Leffler alerted Pierre Curie to the plan. Pierre insisted Marie also receive the prize.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomenInSTEM #NobelWomen #Histodons

posed photograph of Maria Skłodowska-Curie in her lab holding a volumetric flask. She is a white woman with dark hair in a bun.

Pierre and Marie outdoors with their bicycles, during their honeymoon.

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1y

#OTD in 1836 (dated April)

The first monthly part of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens is issued in London. On April 20, the original illustrator, Robert Seymour, shoots himself and Dickens has more freedom to develop the story in his own way.

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

The Pickwick Papers at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=The+Pickwick+Papers&submit_search=Search

#books #literature

Cover of serial, "Pickwick Club" by Charles Dickens.

Typical cover illustrations depict Mr. Samuel Pickwick, the kind-hearted and portly founder of the club, along with his fellow club members—Mr. Tupman, Mr. Snodgrass, and Mr. Winkle. They are often dressed in 19th-century attire, engaged in comical or exaggerated activities, such as traveling in a carriage, engaging in lively discussions, or encountering eccentric characters.

Many editions feature artwork inspired by the original illustrations by Hablot Knight Browne (known as Phiz) or Robert Seymour, who initially illustrated the novel. The scenes on the cover typically capture the novel’s lighthearted and satirical tone, emphasizing Dickens’s signature blend of humor and social commentary.

Edited 1y ago

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281d

"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear."
Quiet Strength (2000)

~Rosa Parks born #OTD in 1913

She is best remembered for her refusal on December 1, 1955 to obey bus driver James Blake's demand that she relinquish her seat so a white man could sit in the row.

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

#civilrights #blackhistorymonth

Photo of Rosa Parks.

This image shows Parks:
In what appears to be the 1950s
Wearing glasses and a striped blouse
Smiling warmly at the camera
With a dignified, composed bearing
In an outdoor setting
A man visible in the background

Edited 281d ago

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1y

#OTD in 1920.

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald sets him up as a writer and celebrity. An initial 3,000 copies sell out in three days. The book's reputation dims in later years, but Dorothy Parker will recall that it was seen as innovative when it first appeared.

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

This Side of Paradise at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/805

#books #literature

Cover of Fitzgerald's 1920 novel, This Side of Paradise, by illustrator W. E. Hill. The cover's title text is in white font, and the background is dark yellow.

The cover depicts a haughty young woman wearing a white dress and holding a hand fan with large white feathers.

Behind her, a dashing young man in a dark suit, white shirt, and black bow tie is leaning forward as if to whisper in her ear.

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1y

"She belonged to a different age, but being so entire, so complete, would always stand up on the horizon, stone-white, eminent, like a lighthouse marking some past stage on this adventurous, long, long voyage, this interminable — this interminable life."

#OTD in 1915.

Virginia Woolf's first novel, The Voyage Out, is published in London by the firm of her half-brother, Gerald Duckworth.

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

The Voyage Out at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/144

#books #literature

Cover of the first edition of w:Virginia Woolf's w:The Voyage Out, Duckworth & Co., London, 1915.

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1y

#OTD in 1862.

The first two volumes of Victor Hugo's epic historical novel Les Misérables appear in Brussels, followed on April 3 by Paris publication, with the remaining volumes on May 15. The first English-language translations, by Charles Edwin Wilbour, are published in New York on June 7, and by Frederic Charles Lascelles Wraxall, in London in October.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables

Les Misérables at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Les+Mis%C3%A9rables&submit_search=Search

#books #literature

Émile Bayard, Cosette sweeping, 1862, reproduced in Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (London, G. Routledge and Sons), 1887. Rare Books Collection, State Library of Victoria.

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1y

“its power as a starter in crowd psychology comes from Mackay’s insistence on humanising the follies he describes. No macroeconomic constructs here – just good old greed, optimism, superstition & cunning plans”

—Charles Mackay (1814–1889) was born #OTD, 27 March – best remembered today for his 1841 book Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds

1/3

https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog/the-great-and-awful-book-of-human-folly-charles-mackays-popular-delusions-2/

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #psychology #masspsychology #economics #stockmarket #bubbles

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1y

"Someone has a great fire in his soul and nobody ever comes to warm themselves at it, and passers-by see nothing but a little smoke at the top of the chimney and then go on their way."

Quote in his Letter (no. 155), June 1880.

~Vincent van Gogh, born #OTD in 1856.

Van Gogh's letters are available online at:
https://vangoghletters.org/

Books by Van Gogh at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Vincent+van+Gogh&submit_search=Search

#books #art #literature

"Van Gogh painted this self-portrait in the winter of 1887–1888, when he had been living in Paris for nearly two years. Since his arrival in the city he had devoted much study to the dotted Pointillist technique, thereby learning how he might apply it in his own fashion. His use of brushstrokes running in a variety of directions created a self-portrait with a halo-like circle round his head. This variation and the dynamics it created were Van Gogh’s own contribution to the new style of painting." (Van Gogh Museum notice)

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1y

#OTD in 1885.

Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published in the US for the 1st time, in New York by Charles L. Webster, illustrated by E. W. Kemble, the 1st impression having been delayed for replacement of an unauthorized obscene alteration to one of the illustrative plates. Its first-person narrative in colloquial language is initially controversial but ultimately influential in the development of realism in American literature.

At PG
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/76

#books #literature

Cover of the book «Adventures of Huckleberry Finn» by Mark Twain, 1884

E. W. Kemble (1861–1933)

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1y

#OTD in 1930.

While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto, making it by far the first known object in the Kuiper belt. It was immediately hailed as the ninth planet.

However, its planetary status was questioned when it was found to be much smaller than expected. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formally redefined the term planet to exclude dwarf planets such as Pluto.

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

#science #astronomy

The astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto here shown with his homemade 9-inch telescope.

In the image, he is shown standing next to his homemade 9-inch Newtonian telescope.

He is dressed formally, wearing glasses, a white shirt, and a tie, and appears to be adjusting or inspecting the telescope.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clyde_W._Tombaugh.jpeg

The telescope itself is a large tube mounted on an equatorial mount, with visible mechanical adjustment components.

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1y

"The name of the one was Obstinate and the name of the other Pliable."

#OTD in 1678.

The first part of English nonconformist John Bunyan's Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress, partly written while he was imprisoned for unlicensed preaching, is published in London.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim%27s_Progress

The Pilgrim's Progress at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/131

#books #literature

Title page of Pilgrim's Progress Date: 1678 Author: John Bunyan (1628-1688).

The text on the page includes the full title, which describes the work as an allegory delivered "under the Similitude of a Dream." The book details the journey of a Christian pilgrim from "this world" to "that which is to come," emphasizing spiritual struggles and redemption.

The title page also includes a biblical reference (Hosea 12:10) and publication details, indicating that the book was printed in London for Nathaniel Ponder.

Additionally, there is a handwritten inscription at the top of the page with the name "Joseph Middleton" and the year "1784," likely indicating a former owner of this copy.

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278d

#OTD in 1823 novelist Ann Radcliffe died.

She "was an English novelist who pioneered the Gothic novel, and a minor poet. Her fourth and most popular novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho, was published in 1794.... Her novels combine suspenseful narratives, exotic historical settings, and apparently-supernatural events."

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

Books by Radcliffe at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1147

#books #literature

"Emily discovering a body in Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)." - picyrl.

The drawing shows a woman holding a lantern. She is pulling back a curtain which reveals a dead man lying on a bed.

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