Pete Orford

Innnnnnteresting.

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

A table from the Pall Mall Gazette showing the list of votes for 'Best Living novelist'

Best novelist in PMG's 1885 '10 Greatest Living Englishmen' poll throws up more surprises, for a paper of the London clubland. Wilkie Collins on top (346), only just ahead of William Black, & Walter Besant. Hardy a distant 9th (a mere 20 votes), Meredith (9). 5 in desperation for the dead Trollope.

Novel Beginnings: Charles Dickens Birthday Virtual Conference — The Dickens Society Following the success of the virtual memorial conference, ‘Dickens and Death’, the Dickens Society is pleased to announce another virtual conference; ‘Novel Beginnings; Charles Dickens Birthday Virtua...

This Saturday, join us for a wonderful free online conference celebrating Dickens's birthday: www.dickenssociety.org/the-cricket/...

a polar bear wearing a helmet with the words his dark materials written below it ALT: a polar bear wearing a helmet with the words his dark materials written below it

So I'm guessing this is likely the inspiration for Lee Scoresby's name in Northern Lights, aka the guy who is old friends with a polar bear...

Illustration of a giant toad studded with arrows beside a dead body.

The early twentieth century is about the last time a professional illustrator might not have a dinosaur reference at hand and instead relied on the author's similes. Thus this Megalosaurus/Allosaurus in the Je Sais Tout serial of The Lost World. Conan Doyle says the dinosaur resembled a toad.

My latest paper with Hugo Bowles and Claire Wood examines a Dickens mystery: did he author the recently decoded story “The Two Brothers”? The answer is complicated. The paper showcases our new method, LambdaG (forthcoming!).

Calling all the PhDs I know to make monumental annoyances of themselves (and honestly, who better)

UK drops target for international student recruitment Government to encourage education providers to open campuses overseas as it focuses on reducing migration

In any other context, requiring a high-productivity sector to offshore the production of its highest value-added exports would be seen as the economic illiteracy it so obviously is...

www.ft.com/content/a23c...

‘We want people to sit, pause, relax’: National Trust to open its libraries for public use Charity plans to make stately homes more welcoming by inviting visitors to use furniture and reading rooms

"Bibliophiles will be able to read in libraries at Wightwick Manor, Powis Castle, mid Wales, and Kingston Lacy, Dorset."
#books #reading #heritage #library
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

My three-hour university commute is worth the £7,000 saving on halls Over a third of students choose not to live at university, latest figures suggest - but is it worth it?

'With the Ucas application deadline around the corner on Wednesday 14 January, thousands more will be considering whether doing the same might be worth it for them, too.

More than 700,000 "commuter students" are at universities across the UK.' 1/2

Dickens's works have a long history of being presented in a myriad of forms: serialised instalments, novels, weekly journals, plays, cigarette cards, radio dramas, films, television, computer games...

...and hot dog stands?!?

How universities can cultivate arts and humanities in practical, affordable ways Are the arts and humanities still needed as universities retrench staff and cut costs? Patty Raun explains why curtailing or eliminating these disciplines is an egregious mistake

'Despite persistent myths, employment rates for humanities graduates are comparable to those of STEM graduates, as Humanities Indicators data shows. Early earnings differ but the salary gap narrows significantly mid-career, particularly for graduates who pursue further study'. 1/2

A forlorn landscape of layered rocks in the foreground, with hills fading into the background haze. At upper top right, a small crescent moon, and a bright star.

Open up this picture fully.

Then look at the surface of Mars.

Then look up to the top right.

Spot Mars' moon Phobos high in the sky.

Then notice the bright spot beside Phobos.

That's Earth.

In celebration of Southwark’s literary heritage:
www.dickensfellowship.org/index.php/ce...

Michael Slater obituary Scholar of Charles Dickens who wrote a definitive biography and shone a light on the writer’s more neglected works

Obit for Michael Slater in the @theguardian.com: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...

Tiny Tim, who did NOT die
He destroyed his cage
Yes
YES
Tiny Tim is out

This Is Just To Say

I have eaten
Tiny
Tim, who did
NOT die,

and who
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
he was delicious
so sweet
and so cold

"My name is Tiny Tim, who did NOT die,
Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair"

A middle-aged man with a long scarf touches his hat. He his carrying his son, who is holding a crutch, on his shoulders.

Fred Barnard depicted the same moment in one of his Character Sketches from Dickens (1885). The differences are intriguing, though, with Bob & Tim much more exuberant (Tim with his crutch aloft!) in Barnard's version.

A middle-aged man with a long scarf touches his hat. He his carrying his son, who is holding a crutch, on his shoulders.

"Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim". Charles Green illustration for Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Pears' Christmas Annual 1892 (Day 5 of 7).

The whole point of being an academic is that you need to be willing to spend three days creating a 700-word footnote that you will later delete. And you need to LIKE IT.

Birmingham Town Hall. Birmingham Town Hall is a concert hall and venue for popular assemblies opened in 1834 and situated in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The hall underwent a major renovation between 2002 and 2007. It hosts a diverse programme of events including jazz, world, folk, rock, pop and classical concerts, organ recitals, spoken word, dance, family, educational and community performances, as well as annual general meetings, product launches, conferences, dinners, fashion shows, graduation ceremonies and broadcasts.

Birmingham Civic Trust. Birmingham Town Hall blue plaque commemorates Charles Dickens' first public reading of A Christmas Carol in 1853 to an audience of 2000.

Birmingham Town Hall (UK). New! Birmingham Civic Society blue plaque commemorates Charles Dickens' first public reading of A Christmas Carol in 1853.
#novella #fiction #literature #English

The University of Florida spends about $21 per month per student on library materials and database access.

My goodness, I hadn't spotted that! There's no corresponding moment in the play to relate it to. I wonder if it's purely coincidence, doodling on the artist's part or something more allegorical?

John Leech's original frontispiece for it, "Mr Fezziwig's Ball"--a very spry and jolly elderly couple dancing under the mistletoe with other merrymakers around.

#OTD 1843, a certain Mr Dickens took delivery of pre-publication copies of "A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas" —wonder if he realised just how famous it would become! Here's a gallery of John Leech's original illustrations for it victorianweb.org/art/illustra...

Time person of the year cover for 2025

I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork

this studio spent d e c a d e s ruthlessly defending their IP, only to come to this.