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Betty Stogs
Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog, in an article about the largely forgotten Cornish folklorist William Bottrell - see William Bottrell and the Strangest Funeral Procession in the World - just quoted...
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The Silence of Dean Maitland: Volume 1
The Silence of Dean Maitland: title page. Note the deleted draft titles:The Agony of Dean Maitland, and A Terrible Price.I was going to start reading Matthew Fitt's Scots SF novel But n Ben A-Go-Go...
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Vigilant in Topsham
I'm not terribly into boats, but Friday had a break from the recent "gray afternoon was wearing on to its chill close" weather; and to shake out the cobwebs, I pottered down to Topsham Quay to look at...
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The Silence of Dean Maitland: Volume 2
On with the reading of Maxwell Gray's 1886 novel The Silence of Dean Maitland.Volume 1 had introduced us to the village of Malbourne, and left us with a cliffhanger. On the New Year's Day of 1863, the...
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The Silence of Dean Maitland: Volume 3
Judkins gives Dean Maitland a shockfrontispiece, 1906 Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner editionOn with the reading of Maxwell Gray's 1886 novel The Silence of Dean Maitland.The first two volumes had followed...
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Blue pill - wrong Kingsley
extract, Nelson's Column, page 15,East Devon Coast & Country, Dec 2012One for Misattribution Corner. I was just reading East Devon Coast & Country, one of our glossy regional magazines. I...
View ArticleThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Trailer #1 - more reflective version.Trailer #2 - more gung-ho version. This afternoon Clare and I went to Vue Exeter to see Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.It was hard to imagine how...
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Scots cyperpunk
The Scottish archipelago as depictedMap via www.floodmap.netA while back I briefly mentioned Matthew Fitt's SF novel But n Ben A-Go-Go (Luath Press, 2000), but I finally got a copy and read it...
View ArticleThe Last Ringbearer
Another recommendation from over-Christmas reading: the 1999 fantasy novel The Last Ringbearer. I mentioned it in February 2011, and liked the concept a lot, but for whatever reason only just got...
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Bright start
Best wishes for 2013 to all my readers. After a rainy Christmas, 2013 started with a bright clear morning and a high tide on the Estuary: conditions that make those perfect picture-postcard Topsham...
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F Hamilton Jackson's Dean Maitland illustrations
I just found a very inexpensive copy of the Kegan Paul, Trench & Trübner illustrated edition - 1897, I think - of Maxwell Gray's The Silence of Dean Maitland, and thought the illustrations, by...
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The serpent that once corrupted man
Where's my card? 'Miss Sapphire — Poses with a Python'. Now don't get the wrong idea — it's right artistic. Costume-wise, I never wear less than the full three tassels, and between shows I am at that...
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The Buckinghamshire Railway
Department of geeky poetry (found while Googling something else): Charles Whitehall's 1849 The Buckinghamshire Railway.The Author of this little workA Gardener has beenMost of his life-time has been...
View ArticleEdward Edwards - malcontent library pioneer
Small world. Lily at The Topsham Bookshop asked if I could help with identifying the authorship of an anonymous 19th-century volume about the Exmouth area (Devonshire. Containing historical,...
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The "Salt Pot"
Base of Old Lighthouse on St Catherine's Hill© Copyright Bob Embleton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons LicenceI like strange and distinctive places. So further to Edward Edwards -...
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Swann songs on Devon history
A cross-post relating to an e-mail received via one of my other hats, as site maintainer for the Devon History Society:inner artwork for How Does Your Land Lie?The South Devon based songwriter Nicky...
View ArticleGlue some gears on it ...
Just glue some gears on it and call it steampunk;That's the trendy fashion nowadays!A copper-painted chunk of some 1980s junkWill fetch a pretty penny on eBay!- Reginald PikedevantA few days ago Felix...
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Chieftain o' the pudding-race
I completely forgot Friday was Burns Night; I like haggis a lot, and it's the one solid excuse in the year to eat it. As luck would have it, however - presumably down to the recent cold weather - I...
View ArticleKlaus Nomi sings Purcell
Stream of consciousness takes you in odd directions. What with the recent weather, I just bought a new body warmer, which due to the padding is somewhat higher and wider in the shoulders than I like -...
View ArticleSpammers' name blindness
I just had a Russian spam offering this:Let's try our chance to be together? I am a sweet and friendly Lady and my dream in life is to meet the favorite man for me. Thousands of miles dividing us, but...
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