Patrick Leary

That Ruskin number goes a long way to explain the enormous edition of his work later published by Cook and Wedderburn, both of whom were in their early 30s when this poll came out. His status as greatest writer/thinker of the age must have seemed incontestable to them when they began their work.

You know you’re back in Texas when…

I so hope that one of those The Woman’s Journal tote bags survives in a museum somewhere.

Well, it’s something to do.

PhD students in the UK with a Victorianist bent will want to take particular note of the placement titled "Illustrated Newspapers: Beyond the Illustrated London News": cdn.sanity.io/files/v5dwki...
@rs4vp.org #Victorian

Just tried it and it seems to be back. But my goodness how dependent we are on something that can disappear so completely and with no warning.

That’s so interesting. It reminds me of the way William Heinemann, in the following century, would sometimes include an extra spine label tipped in at the back for when the original one wore off. Here’s a copy of Max Berbohm’s AND EVEN NOW with what booksellers call the “spare label.”

This native Texan thanks you for the reminder, Kate.👍🏻

At least Trollope was recently deceased. You'd think that Thackeray voter would have wondered why no new WMT novels had come out since 1863.

“an herbicide”? An hilariously silly usage, WaPo. One hardly expects @bcdreyer.social levels of copy editing at your beleaguered paper, but this sort of thing is an habit worth avoiding.

Last spring somebody was kind enough to put Pym’s Excellent Women in my hands. It was so delightful I’m convinced it helped me recover from the flu. The best non-fiction I’ve read lately is The Gales of November, by John Bacon, about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

That’s my hobby, too! I focus on getting children’s books into the kiosks, because they tend to disappear quickly from LFLs, and don’t get donated as often. My local public library has been pitching in. Books meant the world to me when I was a kid, and giving them away like this is so satisfying.

Hooray, Dr Matt!!!

Yes

V for Vivant, apparently (1818-1876).

Definitely

His West Wing performance was brilliant. That Arnold Vinick was one of Sorkin’s imaginary Republican moderates doesn’t diminish the charm and persuasiveness that Alda brought to that character. The last scene, with Smits’s Matt Santos, is a particular gem.

I am old enough to remember when this resource was freely avilable to all researchers. Now it is behind a high paywall and completely inaccessible to independent scholars or those at smaller universities.

The ESPN+ app was such a joy to
have last year for the grand slams—you could watch any match anytime. Putting a new “Unlimited” paywall around all the best matches this year deliberately ruins all that. There’s no reason at all to keep paying for ESPN+, and the upgrade is far too expensive.

Punch caricature of George Augustus Sala, 27 August 1881 p. 84

That's so interesting. Of course he had been in the public eye for well over 20 years at that point, and the frequent subject of the kind of celebrity interviews ("authors at home" etc.) that had become all the rage. Still, the difference from all the other prominent journalists is surprising.

Same here -- terrific plotting and a surprisingly tender love story. Now if JF would just spill the behind-the scenes tale of its publication...

Always great to see digitisations made freely available online! I scanned the HLHS back run of newsletters and journals a few years ago: www.huddersfieldhistory.org.uk/publications...

In their case the lack of what normal citizens and LEOs think of as "training" (restraint, de-escalation, concern with proper procedure, etc.) isn't a bug, it's a feature. ICE/BP officers aren't *accidentally* brutal and lawless. They're behaving exactly as they've been trained to behave.

Source?

Congratulations to Graham Law, who has made his deeply researched biography of critic and journalist Eneas Sweetland Dallas freely available: glaw.w.waseda.jp/ESD-PofJ.pdf See also the @vicmanch.bsky.social review of his earlier work on Dallas at www.victorianweb.org/periodicals/... #victorian

This is so sweet of you, Mercedes, thanks!

I long for a world in which I can go back to getting steamed about the latest editorial by Bill Kristol, Jen Rubin, Mona Charen, Charlie Sykes, or Liz Cheney. Until then, I'm profoundly grateful to have them on my side, and will forever after count them among the heroes of the resistance.

Donna Reed in “It’s a Wonderful Life”

Thanks for this. I’m reminded that even in older movies glasses could be important signifiers. Mary (Donna Reed) doesn’t need glasses in Bedford Falls, but in the dystopian world of Pottersville she’s consigned to a bespectacled life as the old maid librarian.

Nothing wrong with this look…

He’s a good guy being careful. She doesn’t know this district and doesn’t care about the people in it. She’s an “influencer” who thought she could parachute in and snag Jan’s seat, or at least get lots of attention. Public service matters, and Biss has put in the work.