Somewhere along the line, I had the startling realisation that I could print and bind digitally archived old books that are nigh impossible to find print copies of.

I've had a copy of "The Workwoman's Guide" sitting on my computer for some time - it's a great resource if your looking at patterns for clothing in the 1830s specifically - a lot of more modern books that cover historical costuming don't tend to cover this period overmuch. Being written in that period as well though, finding a physical copy is very unlikely for me.

Now, Adobe Reader does have a pamphlet folding option in its print settings, but it does not have the knowhow to figure out multiple signatures all by itself. As long as you're willing to do a little maths however, it's actually pretty simple to convert a .pdf document into bookfold signatures.

The fancy leaf paper came back for the endsheets on this one, and I lined them up so that the fold of the endsheet was right down the middle of the mirrored pattern, which I think looks so nice :)

I still need to decorate the cover, but still not 100% what I want to do with it. It's a good solid book though, you can give someone a good whack with it.

The zoological keepsake. 1830. Book cover.

Internet Archive

What good comrades they are

Anne Jane Thornton, a 15-year-old girl, dressed as a cabin boy on a transatlantic voyage to find the man she loved, who had gone to America in 1832. On arrival, she found he had died so she took posts on other ships, calling herself Jim Thornton. On her return crossing to London on The Sarah, a crew member noticed that she was a woman and she was taken to the ship's captain, who kept her on as a crewman.

"Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History" - Philippa Gregory

having my first proper Feuilly Moment after skimming an old article on the labor movement in the period immediately after the july revolution.... did you guys know. skilled artisans and craftsmen who made fine goods (Like Fan Makers) were hit hardest by the post-revolution recession because of how many aristocrats were in exile & the sudden drop in tourism. and the dissatisfaction & unrest amongst said artisans and craftsmen was a Big part of the beginning of the formation of secret societies like the society of the rights of man which was the real-life revolutionary group leading the 1832 june rebellion. did you guys know that there is a constant line connecting real-life struggle for progress with that in les miserables. and that line spans past and future. before and after publication. did you guys know that the fan makers really died. did you know we really, really remember them.

Henri Latouche and George Sand by Paul Gavarni, 1831. (eta: dating it c. 1831 based on info from musées de la région Centre)

(Modern flash dictionary, containing all the cant words, slang terms, and flash phrases, now in vogue by George Kent, pg. 6)

(A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose, pg. 490)

okay Edwin holy shit chill

“All civilisation begins with a theocracy and ends with a democracy. This law of liberty succeeding unity is written in architecture.”

— Victor Hugo, Notre–Dame de Paris, 1831

Napoleon gets dancing lessons in 1811 and he apparently leaps like a goat 🤭

Lithuanian army 1830–31

Illustration art by Krzysztof Komaniecki

2005

Smoking, it would be well to add, was considered part of the whole duty of a Romantic man. The cigar, being Byronic, was affected by the "fatally" inclined; the pipe came, not from England, but from Germany; it was Faust-like, Hoffmannesque; it was also Flemish, of course, and the Flemish painters, like Steen and Teniers, were in high repute. A pipe signified a more jolly potatory spirit than a cigar, but it was always possible for the irreconcilable satanics to regard the breathing out of smoke from either as symbolically demoniac. The cigarette was not despised, but its popularity was due also to its picturesque associations. Spain was the home of the cigarette, the papelito as Borel and his friends fondly called it. When they rolled their fragrant Maryland lovingly in the papel they assumed a Spanish allure, Granada rose before their eyes, and invisible guitars played "Avez-vous vu dans Barcelone?" However, cigarettes would have been out of place in the prismatic flames of the punch-bowl. Their Spanish nonchalance suited better the light of day: evening shadows were consecrated to gloom and frenzy, Northern spirits.

Vie de Bohème a Patch of Romantic Paris, Orlo Williams

April 6th is coming up soon :)

i have been asked to film a short video of my testimony of the book of mormon.

i want to know how it has impacted your life. the scripture within. what parts speak to you. why you consider it to be sacred scripture.

i don't know what i will do yet but i think i may speak on how it convinced me of continuing revelation, contains messages of liberation and is anti-wealth inequality, it gives solid spiritual advice in growing your faith in God (and has grown my faith and my relationship with my Creator), a focus on the Living Christ, and is spiritually empowering.

i'm going on too long because i started planning. but does anyone else want to join in and post theirs (not necessarily as a video but a text post. but use any medium you'd like.) on April 6th?

not sure of a good tag, but lmk if you have a better one than

#BoMTestimony

lmk and i'll update.

and yes, nuanced views are totally okay. mine certainly is. i'd love to see them.

if you want it up anonymously, you can anon DM me on anon. i will, of course, screen those.

i also ask that we keep it to the Book of Mormon and the Restoration as a whole rather than a specific church to be inclusive of those in other mormon sects.

and be careful to not insult other non mormon religions.

i haven't seen any religious insults on #tumblrstake , i think y'all are respectful and chill. i just like to cover my bases bc i have seen it elsewhere. but the vibes are much different on tumblr than on reddit. thank you all.

The famous anti-slavery token made by the Wedgewood pottery in 1787 entitled 'Am I not a Man and a Brother?' was popular among abolitionists in England. But it would be 1838 before a coin was struck for enslaved women's rights – 'Am I not a Woman and a Sister?' – and then it was made for the American Anti-Slavery Society and popular in America.

English elite women did not feel a sisterhood with women of a lower class or another race. Elite women called for political rights for their own class, not for anyone else. They even used the example of slavery to support their campaign – comparing their inequality to slavery.

"Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History" - Philippa Gregory

Happy Halloween!

IruIchi as Frankenstein and their Monster (book version!)

A delightful find on the website of a rare book dealer: Fashionables, les mois par Gavarni.

These are the themed illustrations by Paul Gavarni that I usually share at the start of every month, but I've never seen them in colour! Unfortunately this 1837 collection is very rare and priced at $6000 USD, but the good-quality images online really bring out the clothing details.

Fashionables of November: tomorrow!

A selection of a few other monthly couples, who might be familiar to readers of this blog. No shortage of sleeves or shapely men.

Barricade day 2023

the June rebellion of 1832

In honour of what we Les Misérables fans call “Barricade day” or June 5th, here is a run down of the 1832 June rebellion, it’s causes, consequences, why it happened at all, the aftermath and how it inspired Victor Hugo to write his perhaps most well known novel and famous 90s pop operatic musical. 

Disclaimer here. 

No formal tags, but, poking: @virgosjukebox, @enjolras-the-revolutionary, @honorhearted & @withinycu in case this interests them.

why did it happen?: June 5th, 1832. The June rebellion, in French: Insurrection républicaine à Paris en juin 1832. France is in in fighting yet again, the constitutional monarchy is replaced with the, to some autocratic president Casimir Pierre Périer, on 16 May 1832. 2 years prior the July revolution had occured, additionally such is the world and the 1830s the people of France are hungry, tired and are looking for a fight. The death of commander Lemarque as mentioned in the book and the musical only pushed the common people further. In short many factors led to the June rebellion. The primary factors however, were... political unrest, inability to feed the working classes and civil unrest as well as influx of new ideas following the exit of Napoleon. 

Consequences: such as every failed uprising goes, the revolutionaries paid dearly for it severe trials followed the June rebellion many were put to death (hanged or shot), many of the leaders of the uprising were, like the American revolution college age school boys or simply angry common people. Famously the person who waved the symbolic red flag of revolt was a Parisian artist who was nearly put to death but escaped via trial.

In pop culture: I don’t need to say it but I am saying it anyway, many only know or care about the June Rebellion because of Hugo’s novel. Additionally, unlike the musical, the book, whilst possessing some hope paints a rather bleak picture of humanity and uprising. Even so, it’s political commentary (novel) holds up and I’ve attended many a political protest to see signs bearing the words, “do you hear the people sing?” 

Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Rebellion#:~:text=On%201%20June%201832%2C%20Jean,the%20July%20Revolution%20of%201830., https://historythings.com/victor-hugos-inspiration-les-miserables-june-rebellion-1832/, https://blogs.bu.edu/guidedhistory/moderneurope/revolutioninfrance/, https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-4438-4721-6, https://youtu.be/Ybi8wzgQBlg, and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUyYLL1BfYc.