SHOBERL, Frederic (1775-1853), editor. The World in Miniature. London: R. Ackerman, [1821-1827].

First edition 30-volume set in original boards. Comprising: Austria, 2 volumes; China, 2 volumes; England, Scotland and Ireland, 4 volumes; Hindoostan, 6 volumes; Russia, 4 volumes; South Sea Islands, 2 volumes; Spain and Portugal, 2 volumes; Switzerland; Tibet; Turkey, 6 volumes. With all plates from these volumes, and majority of advertisements and slips. Abbey 6, Tooley 515.

30 volumes, 12mo (145 x 90mm). 474 aquatints and hand-colored stipple engraved plates, some folding (occasional foxing, offsetting). Original varicolored paper boards with paper labels (most with discoloration to spines and boards, occasional cracking to spines, minor rubbings and bumps to corners, Austria vol. I without World in Miniature advertisement, China without advertisements, Spain and Portugal case separating from text block, Russia vol. I with additional 18-page advertisement, Russia vol.II without List of Plates slip, South Sea Islands vol.I with additional 1-page World in Miniature advertisement, South Sea Islands vol.II binding separating from text block, Hindoostan vol.III folding plates at pp.8,67 mounted and tipped in, Hindoostan vol.V C6 and pl. “Gilder” loose and laid in). Housed in six modern fall-down-back half morocco boxes.

Christie’s

This Madison Avenue institution began as the private library of financier J. Pierpont Morgan and is his artistic gift to the city. Building on the collection Morgan amassed in his lifetime, the museum houses first-rate works on paper, including drawings by Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Picasso; three Gutenberg Bibles; a copy of Frankenstein annotated by Mary Shelley; manuscripts by Dickens, Poe, Twain, Steinbeck and Wilde; sheet music handwritten by Beethoven and Mozart; and an original edition of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol that’s displayed every yuletide. In 2006, a massive renovation and expansion orchestrated by Renzo Piano brought more natural light into the building and doubled the available exhibition space. A theater, Gilder Lehrman Hall, regularly hosts recitals and concerts.

(▶︎ Solos | Dickie Landry (feat. Richard Peck, Robert Prado, Rusty Gilder, Jon Smith, Alan Braufman, David Lee) | Unseen Worldsから)

Solos by Dickie Landry (feat. Richard Peck, Robert Prado, Rusty Gilder, Jon Smith, Alan Braufman, David Lee)

On February 19, 1972, a crew of mostly Louisiana-raised musicians came together at the Leo Castelli Gallery on West Broadway in Soho to perform a wholly improvised concert. This ensemble’s solos spring from collective improvisations and a tumultuous backbeat, loosely inspired by the creations of Coltrane, Coleman, Albert Ayler, and their brethren. The de facto leader was Richard “Dickie” Landry, a saxophonist and keyboardist who joined composer Philip Glass’s group in 1969. Landry had become a fixture in downtown New York’s loft and art scenes at the close of the 1960s, after he high-tailed it by car from Louisiana to the Lower East Side and auspiciously encountered Ornette Coleman at the Village Gate the night of his arrival. For this concert, fellow Glass reedists Jon Smith and Richard Peck joined in, alongside Rusty Gilder and Robert Prado, both doubling on bass (upright and electric) and trumpet. The drum chair was occupied by New Orleans firecracker David Lee, Jr., who brought alto saxophonist Alan Braufman along for the session (Braufman was the only non-Louisiana player in the band). The ensemble stretched out in the gallery for several hours in a configuration reflecting those that took place at Landry’s Chinatown loft, documented in photos by artists Tina Girouard and Suzanne Harris that adorn the inside of the original gatefold album jacket. Recorded live by Glass’ sound engineer Kurt Munkacsi, the album was released as a double LP on Chatham Square, the small imprint Landry and Glass co-ran, in a stark greyscale cover and simply titled Solos. The order of the players’ improvisations was laid out on the album inner labels, though unsurprisingly there’s a fair amount of blend. At the end of the day Solos is beyond category, a rousing exploration of instrumentation, rhythm, and life. This first-time reissue is remastered from the original master tapes, released as a 2LP gatefold with period photos and new liner notes by Clifford Allen, and an additional 30 minutes of bonus material in the digital edition, included with the download code. クレジット2022年10月7日リリース For Bobby Ramirez Dickie Landry: Tenor & Soprano Sax, Electric Piano Richard Peck: Tenor Sax Robert Prado: Trumpet & Bass Rusty Gilder: Trumpet & Bass Jon Smith: Tenor Sax Alan Braufman: Alto Sax David Lee: Drums Kurt Munkacsi: Engineer, 16 Track Skully, Butterfly Productions, Inc Recorded Live Feb. 19, 1972 Leo Castelli Gallery, N.Y.C., 420 W. Broadway Tina Girouard: Photographs, Cover Suzanne Harris: Photographs D. Norsen: Layout, Design Remastering: Stephan Mathieu Produced by Dickie Landry & Leo Castelli

Update # 2

Hi!! Thank you to everyone who expressed interest in my upcoming game! It means a great deal to someone who struggles with their creative self-worth!

I'm progressing a little slower than before ^^;; but everything I wanted to be done should be finished by the release date. And even if I don't, there will still be a release. Managed to get some words down for both Gilder & the Twins route(s). I've also set up the itch.io page and made a discord. I'm not very good at online engagement, but if anyone's interested in moderating or trying out the current build, LMK and I'll message you on discord! :)

For the rest of this update, I'll explain what you can expect during each Go Home Route.

After picking a route, you'll have these four major conversation chains in each route minus the Home Token Route:

Family -> This allows Skipper to learn about how their immediate family members are doing.

Work -> This allows Skipper to learn about how Gilder's business is doing, Skipper's main investment. You may also learn about the state of your finances in certain routes.

Friends -> This allows Skipper to learn about how their friends (like Kieran) are doing. It also reveals the state of Skipper's influence within Madras.

Feelings -> This allows Skipper to pick how they feel about their 6mo stay in rehab. You can choose whether or not you share it.

Not all conversation chains are equal throughout the routes. Each conversation chain will reveal more or less the SOME of the same information. Certain characters may not know the same information that others do. i.e., Gilder will know significantly more about her business + open up the New Investment COSS Plotline, unlike the Twins, who have no interest in how Skipper makes money (this can even lead to a fight with them).

Now here's a little more info about Margan's route!

Margan's route is a little tricky to get through currently. I've done so many "go back ten sentences and fix it there" edits -_-;; For multiple reasons, obviously, but the main one is:

Allowing players to not have a perfect relationship with Margan. I've noticed a trend from a lot of (bolder/louder) fans in the IF community that they don't always love sibling relationships and/or desire the ability to be mean to them. I'm not interested in writing a cruel/mean sibling relationship with any of Skipper's siblings.

But I'm aware that people can have mixed feelings for their siblings, especially Older Siblings who have taken on the task of Parent 2.0.

SO I have developed two major sub-routes within this route. There will also be a hidden Margan Trust stat, which will allow players to open up the Political COSS plotline.

These sub-routes are known as the Voluntary Route & Involuntary Route. There will be multiple opportunities to opt-out of the IVR because so far, it's a bit intense. Some lead you back to the route options menu, while others may take you to an altered version of the Voluntary Route.

The Involuntary Route can lead to a semi-magical altercation if your Skipper is feeling an extra way about being trapped/confronted about ignoring/avoiding Margan's calls. Of course, if the interaction isn't escalated, then Margan can explain their very hasty actions, but overall, I really want it to be understood that this interaction can be escaped without major consequences to your relationship with Margan, even while this sub-route is activated. The more aggressive responses from Skipper will have a negative impact, yes, but there is a fifth, neutral option if your hunt for drama is too intense!

Of the characters in this IF, Margan and Kieran are the ones I want players to feel the least trapped/forced to deal with. They are also the only ones who will unconditionally care about Skipper throughout the game. Kieran, you can hurt/force distance upon, yes, but Margan will always love your Skipper no matter what.

This is something I struggled being okay with while writing my novel: the concept of someone always loving you. That does not mean you can take advantage of them, no. It means they are interested in Skipper's spiritual and personal growth and do not have any major expectations or requirements of Skipper in order to receive their love! The difference obviously is that Kieran does require Skipper to be invested in their personal growth as well (platonic or romantic it does not matter, Kieran needs people to be invested in them for once), while Margan does not. Margan simply understands Skipper as something to be loved and for the most part, does it without resistance.

As you can see, I'm thinking a lot about Margan's introduction. I really want it to be varied but comfortable. My favorite part is the possible hug at the end! Next week I'll discuss Kieran's route.

20 questions for fic writers

pseudo-tagged by @fiannaai

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 32

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 285,207

3. What fandoms do you write for? I've written for Dragon Age, Mass Effect Andromeda, Strange Magic, Tangled, and Frozen.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

House of the Dark Forest (296, Strange Magic)

All In A Kiss (294, Dragon Age)

The Clean-Up Incident (292, Strange Magic)

The Little Merman (245, Strange Magic, incomplete)

Immediately Ever After (230, Tangled)

5. Do you respond to comments? As much as I possibly can.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Honestly, none of my fics end with angst. I just can't bring myself to do it.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Probably Vaasa-Nari. I seriously didn't expect what happened at the end to happen. I will swear for the rest of my life that my hands acted without my permission on that one. However, I'm pretty happy with the result.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I haven't gotten it so far. Most of my fics are for small fandoms and the two I have for larger fandoms went mostly unnoticed or so I thought given that one of them is in my top five...

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA!!!!!!!!

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I have a crossover planned I really want to finish writing featuring the characters from Mass Effect Andromeda in the setting of a game called Days Gone.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not as far as I'm aware.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?  Someone once told me they translated a couple of my Strange Magic fics into Russian.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Kiss It Later, which I wrote with my Gilder wife @jeannedarcprice.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? LMAO I've never had a specific favorite.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? That one's gonna have to go to The Little Merman. Apologies to anyone that wanted more of that one.

16. What are your writing strengths? I'm told I tend to nail characterization.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I spend too much time editing as I go rather than just getting a draft out and editing later.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I've done it before, albeit with the help of Google Translate.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Strange Magic.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? For fics that are posted, I'm most proud of House of the Dark Forest and The Look series. For fics that are trapped in my personal WIP Hell, it's the one I mentioned in #10. I have so many plans for that one.

Tagging: All of you reading this that want to do this!

08/23/23 Mondo Radio Playlist

Here's the playlist for this week's edition of Mondo Radio, which you can download or stream here. This episode: "A Thorn in the Side of Romance", featuring classic power pop and more. If you enjoy it, be sure to also follow the show on Facebook and Twitter!

Artist - Song - Album

Cheap Trick - Hello There (Live) - Cheap Trick At Budokan

Cheap Trick - Clock Strikes Ten (Live) - Cheap Trick At Budokan

Raspberries - I Don't Know What I Want - Greatest

Nick Gilder - Got To Get Out - City Nights

Nick Gilder - Frustration - City Nights

Rock City Feat. Chris Bell - Think It's Time To Say Goodbye - Looking Forward: The Roots Of Big Star

Big Star - In The Street - #1 Record

Alex Chilton - Can't Seem To Make You Mine - 19 Years: A Collection Of Alex Chilton

Big Star - O My Soul - Radio City

The Scruffs - She Say Yea - Wanna' Meet The Scruffs?

Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action - Shake Some Action

Dwight Twilley Band - Three Persons - On Fire!: The Best Of 1975-1984

Todd Rundgren - Couldn't I Just Tell You - Something/Anything?

Single Bullet Theory - There Is The Boy - SBT: 1977-1980

The Charlie Calello Orchestra - Moonlight Serenade - Calello Serenade

The Nerves - When You Find Out - 25th Anniversary

The Nerves - Give Me Some Time - 25th Anniversary

The Romantics - Till I See You Again - The Romantics

The Romantics - Girl Next Door - The Romantics

The Wigs - 180 Degrees - Radio Ready: Wisconsin - Lost Power Pop Hits 1979-1982

The Tyrants - Hard To Get - Radio Ready: Wisconsin - Lost Power Pop Hits 1979-1982

The Baxters - What Ya Gonna Do - History In 3 Chords: Milwaukee Alternative Bands 1973-1982

The RPMs - I Don't Wanna Be Young - History In 3 Chords: Milwaukee Alternative Bands 1973-1982

The Shivvers - Please Stand By - Lost Hits From Milwaukee's First Family Of Powerpop: 1979-82

The Shivvers - Teen Line - Lost Hits From Milwaukee's First Family Of Powerpop: 1979-82

M&Ms - I'm Tired - The Roots Of Powerpop

Real Kids - Now You Know - The Roots Of Powerpop

Shoes - Tomorrow Night - Present Tense

Shoes - Too Late - Present Tense

The Records - Rumour Sets The Woods Alight - Crashes

The Spongetones - She Goes Out With Everybody - Children Of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1996

The Barracudas - I Can't Pretend - Children Of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1996

The Records - The Same Mistakes - Crashes

The dB's - Judy - Stands For Decibels

The dB's - I'm In Love - Stands For Decibels

20/20 - Yellow Pills - 20/20

20/20 - Tell Me Why (Can't Understand You) - 20/20

The Last - Every Summer Day - L.A. Explosion!

The Last - Be-Bop-A-Lula - L.A. Explosion!

The Plimsouls - I Want What You Got - The Plimsouls … Plus

The Plimsouls - Lost Time - The Plimsouls … Plus

Green - Baby Why? - Green

Green - I Play The Records - Green

Introduction to the History of America by M’Culloch is generally accepted to be the oldest American history textbook. It was first published in 1787. There is no author listed, but the publisher is John M’culloch. Unfortunately it’s one of the few old textbooks not available for free online. I hope to change that one day, but for now all the digital copies are behind a paywall.

If you are a student or educator, you can check if your institution has access to to Gilder Lehrman’s digital collections.

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/glc00920

It’s also available via Evans Digital Editions:

http://opac.newsbank.com/select/evans/20471

Gilder Bairn

Do the glowing trinkets show it the way home, or do they set a twisted path for someone else to follow?

Artist: Nils Hamm TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

LADS. LADS.

My INCREDIBLE captain @captain-dad sent me her half of the trade we were doing and LEGIT SQUEALED OUT LOUD when I opened the file. and very thankful no one was around because I was at work.🤣

I AM SO HAPPYYYYY 😍😭🥰😭 IT MEEEE. WITH SEAAAN. HE LOOKS LIKE HE LIKES MEEEE. 😭🥰💖

*Fangirl thirst levels at maximum capacity*

I'm going to make this my new banner for my blog and I can't thank dear captain enough for doing this edit for me. 💞💖

someone : reyder or gilder? 

me, an intellectual : why not both? 

 As much as I love Ryder with Gil, I like Ryder with the shady bastard as well ;D

John Linnell - Selfportrait - ca. 1860

oil on canvas, Height: 91.1 cm (35.8 in) Edit this at Wikidata; Width: 70.2 cm (27.6 in) 

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London, UK

John Linnell (16 June 1792 – 20 January 1882) was an English engraver, and portrait and landscape painter. He was a naturalist and a rival to the artist John Constable. He had a taste for Northern European art of the Renaissance, particularly Albrecht Dürer. He also associated with the amateur artist Edward Thomas Daniell, and with William Blake, to whom he introduced the painter and writer Samuel Palmer and others of the Ancients.

John Linnell was born in Bloomsbury, London on 16 June 1792. where his father was a carver and gilder. He was in contact with artists from an early age, and by the age of ten was drawing and selling portraits in chalk and pencil. His first art teacher was the American-born artist Benjamin West, and he spent a year in the house of the painter John Varley, where William Hunt and William Mulready were also pupils, and made the acquaintance of Shelley, Godwin and others. In 1805 he was admitted to study at the Royal Academy, where he obtained medals for drawing, modelling and sculpture. He was trained as an engraver, and executed a transcript of Varley's "Burial of Saul."

In 1808, the 16-year-old Linnell moved into Mulready's house, whose wife had accused him of infidelity with both other women and boys. Linnell's association with Mulready may have caused the breakup of Mulready's marriage.

In later life Linnell occupied himself with the burin, publishing, in 1833, a series of outlines from Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, and, in 1840, superintending the issue of a selection of plates from the pictures in Buckingham Palace, one of them, a Titian landscape, which he engraved in mezzotint. At first he supported himself mainly by miniature painting and execution of larger portraits, such as the likenesses of Mulready, Richard Whately, Peel and Thomas Carlyle. Several of his portraits he engraved in line and mezzotint.

He painted many subjects like the "St John Preaching," the "Covenant of Abraham," and the "Journey to Emmaus," in which, while the landscape is usually prominent the figures are of sufficient importance to supply the title of the work. But it is mainly in connexion with paintings of pure landscapes that his name is known. His works commonly deal with some scene of typical uneventful English landscape, which is made impressive by a gorgeous effect of sunrise or sunset. They are full of true poetic feeling, and are rich and glowing in colour.

Linnell commanded large prices for his pictures, and about 1850 he purchased a property at Redhill, Surrey, where he lived till his death on 20 January 1882, painting with unabated powers until within the last few years of his life. He devoted himself to painting landscapes notably of the North Downs and Kentish Weald. His leisure was occupied with a study of the Bible in the original, and he published several pamphlets and treatises of Biblical criticism. Linnell was one of the best friends and kindest patrons of William Blake. He gave him the two largest commissions he received for single series of designs—£150 for drawings and engravings of The Inventions to the Book of Job, and a like sum for those illustrative of Dante Aligheri.

He was a friend of the painter Edward Thomas Daniell. A blue plaque commemorates Linnell at Old Wyldes' at North End, Hampstead. The plaque mentions that William Blake stayed with Linnell as his guest.

“In part girls’ extensive reading reflected new possibilities brought about by developments in the American reading public, the publishing industry, and the distribution of reading matter. Printing was one of those industries in nineteenth-century America—like the ginning and the weaving of cotton— that was transformed by technological advances. The result was a substantial increase in the production of books and a much wider distribution of those books, helped along also by the free library movement. High rates of literacy both encouraged and resulted from this increase in the availability of printed materials. 

The American Revolution itself, many historians have argued, was galvanized by a public literate enough to read and debate the pamphlets issued by politicized journeymen printers. Women were not well represented among those numbers, though probably many women who could not write could read. In the decades immediately following the Revolution, the literacy rate among women rose dramatically. A study of rural Vermont in 1800 concludes that even away from urban areas ‘‘the proportion of women engaged in lifelong reading and writing had risen to about eighty percent.’’ 

With the opening of common schools in the nineteenth century, girls were educated the same ways that boys were—unevenly, sometimes at home, sometimes at school, but effectively. By 1880 reading literacy was claimed by 90 percent of the native-born American public and 80 percent of their foreign-born compatriots. The explosion of print in the nineteenth century was enabled by a variety of developments in both technology and distribution. Technological innovations in printing nourished the growth of the antebellum reading public. 

The innovations of stereotyping and electrotyping preserved an ‘‘impressment’’ of the type once it had been set so that future editions would not require expensive resetting. The result was that before the Civil War the cost of books dropped to roughly half of their cost in the late eighteenth century. Although at seventy-five cents or more such a price was still too costly for skilled male laborers who earned only a dollar a day, and although inadequacy of lighting in many working-class homes helped to limit the Victorian reading public, a substantial proportion of Americans—those who were coming to constitute the aspiring middle class—were able to gain access to books.

Access to books did not define an American public, but increasingly it defined a class of those who hoped to rise in station. Improvements in printing technology fostered the growth of another literary genre, the periodical, which launched many novels in serialized form in both Britain and the United States. Periodicals in the United States and Britain budded in the early nineteenth century, and a number flowered at midcentury, feeding and fed by the literacy and leisure of Victorian readers. Included among these were a growing selection of magazines targeting special audiences, especially youth. 

Youth’s Companion, founded in 1827, mustered the greatest longevity and the highest circulation, and it was joined by the influential St. Nicholas (1873), which amassed a distinguished group of writers. The preeminent magazine for women, Godey’s Ladies Book, achieved a circulation of 150,000 at its prime just before the Civil War. Girls and women provided much of the readership for the general family magazine as well, including Scribner’s, Harper’s Weekly, North American Review, and Century. Periodicals had the advantage of providing regular access to print for a reading-hungry populace and were especially cherished by those far away from lending libraries and those whose economic circumstances forced them to ration their reading. 

…The public library movement expanded access to reading material beyond the ranks of the wealthy. Along with the growth of common-school education, libraries provided the institutional underpinning of the reading revolution. As early as the eighteenth century, groups of ambitious private citizens had united to share access to precious books. Later in the century clerks, merchants, and mechanics, too, gathered to form so-called ‘‘social libraries’’ which could be joined by payment of a fee. 

It was to one of these libraries which Lois Wells, a resident of Quincy, Illinois, received a three-month subscription for her seventeenth birthday in 1886, probably because there was no public library in her town. The importance of an educated citizenry to a republic encouraged the founding of more free facilities, however. Beginning in Boston, and then expanding outward to New England and on to the Midwest, free libraries aimed to offer to all citizens the opportunity for uplift and self-culture which was previously available only to an elite. 

The Boston Public Library opened its doors in 1854, and other cities followed suit in increasing numbers after the Civil War. States supported local efforts by passing legislation which would allow townships to divert public funds to the support of free libraries. A massive government report in 1876 listed 3,682 public libraries, a number which would rise to at least 8,000 by 1900. Access to public libraries was uneven, however, thinning out as one moved west and especially south from New England and the mid-Atlantic. 

Taking up the slack between the vogue for reading and its limited supply, Sunday schools enhanced their appeal and ensured the quality of children’s reading matter by acquiring book collections and issuing weekly books to deserving students. When the American Sunday School Union and other religious publishers began issuing prepackaged ‘‘libraries’’ of their own publications in the midcentury (one hundred books for $10), the custom became even more prevalent—until eclipsed by the public-library movement itself. 

…The project of self-culture did not regard all reading as equal, of course. The removal of girls from their mothers’ elbows as informal apprentices in housewifery meant a partial surrender of daughters to a national or trans-Atlantic culture. Advice givers subjected it to scrutiny, often discussing the appropriate fare for Victorian girls. In the United States, those standards became the defining standards for genteel culture as a whole. 

Richard Gilder, the eminent publisher of Century, outlined the rules for his writers. ‘‘No vulgar slang; no explicit references to sex, or, in more genteel phraseology, to the generative processes; no disrespectful treatment of Christianity; no unhappy endings for any work of fiction.’’ Designed for reading aloud within the family circle, genteel fiction as a whole, but periodical literature in particular, had to pass what was named by poet Edmund Stedman the ‘‘virginibus’’ standard—whether it would be appropriate even for the unmarried daughters of a respectable bourgeois family to listen to or to read.

This reading program had some general precepts. Of course, religious literature of all kinds was favored for study and improvement. The old was better than the new, a rule that encouraged history, and for younger children, myths and legends. Seventy-three years old in 1880, the writer and woman’s rights advocate Elizabeth Oakes Smith suggested a conservative regimen for girls which included history, biography, constitutional and moral philosophy, geography, travel literature, science, and ‘‘the several branches of natural history which open up to the mind the wonders and mysteries of this beautiful world in which we live.’’ 

An advice giver twenty-five years later explained why myths were appropriate for children’s reading: they were ‘‘interpretive of the beautiful and useful in nature, of the high and noble impulses of the heart, and of the right in human intercourse.’’ The counsel to admire the beautiful and to seek the pure and the true left advice writers conflicted about the most popular genre on the reading lists of girls: the novel. The right novels had power to do much good. The British advice writer Henrietta Keddie recommended ‘‘without fail [Elizabeth Gaskell’s] Cranford, and Miss Austen’s books, to make you a reasonable, kindly woman.’’ 

The goal of such works was to discipline aspiration, however, for the exemplary woman would be ‘‘satisfied with a very limited amount of canvas on which to figure in the world’s great living tapestry.’’ Elizabeth Oakes Smith implored young girls to avoid the low road and ‘‘most of the fictions of the day,’’ admitting only ‘‘those based on the eras of history, such as the inimitable works of Walter Scott,’’ and the works of Dickens, which ‘‘may deepen our sympathy for the miserable and erring.’’

Another later counselor to young girls, Harriet Paine, in Chats with Girls on Self-Culture (1900) also challenged the appropriateness of realism: ‘‘Girlhood is not the time for any novelist who does not believe that something besides the actual is possible and necessary.’’ She too applauded Sir Walter Scott, who was always ‘‘to be trusted to present a natural world which is nevertheless rosy with the light of romance,’’ and Dickens: ‘‘I never knew a girl who loved Dickens who was not large-hearted.’’ 

Paine was more inclusive, though: ‘‘There are half a dozen fresh, sweet story-writers girls are always the better for reading,’’ and then she enumerated Louisa May Alcott and a number of British writers, including Dinah Mulock-Craik, Anne Thackeray, and Charlotte Yonge. Much fiction, however, did not grow ‘‘where the rose-tree blooms’’ but instead led young readers ‘‘through mire and dirt,’’ advisers cautioned. Genteel periodicals for youth contained some of the most pointed warnings to youths of both sexes about the dangers of inappropriate reading. 

An outburst from St. Nicholas in 1880 warned that a craving for sensational fiction is more insidious, but ‘‘I am not sure that it is not quite as fatal to character as the habitual use of strong drink.’’ The reading of illicit fiction ‘‘weakens the mental grasp, destroys the love of good reading, and the power of sober and rational thinking, takes away all relish from the realities of life, breeds discontent and indolence and selfishness, and makes the one who is addicted to it a weak, frivolous, petulant, miserable being.’’

The power attributed to the vicarious excitement of the emotions remained something of a constant through the nineteenth century. Given such acknowledged dangers, how did girls get access to such books? The question of access played out in a debate over the holdings of public libraries. Librarians made up a new group of elite reformers who aimed to elevate the public intellect through their professional organization, the American Library Association. 

In 1881, the ALA attempted to impose uniform censorship on the collections formed for the public good, and got as far as surveying major public libraries and compiling a list of sixteen authors ‘‘whose works are sometimes excluded from public libraries by reason of sensational or immoral qualities.’’ The list included twelve female domestic novelists—such popular writers as E. D. E. N. Southworth and Mary Jane Holmes. It did not go farther. The library ultimately compromised its genteel ambitions with the tastes of the public, and by the turn of the century reliably stocked what its readers wanted to read.”

- Jane H. Hunter, “Reading and the Development of Taste.” in How Young Ladies Became Girls: The Victorian Origins of American Girlhood

hello & congrats on getting your blog set up 😊

i gotta know, from the ask list you shared, what are the ROs' opinions on sour candies? 🍬

Thank you so much for the ask, Arlo!!!!

I'll edit this post when the other ROs are revealed, but for now, here's Kieran, Gilder, and Ilian!

Kieran is pretty neutral about sweets, but they'll probably enjoy it if it's a soft kind. He's expressive, so if it's too sour, he'll make a face and spit it out. She's probably seen videos of pets/familiars eating sour candies, which means you'll likely catch her feeding it to your familiars. #hashtag look at my spouse's demonic cat cry while eating this sour patch kid lmfao <3

Gilder dabbles in confectionery since she wants her elixirs and cordials to be palpable and easy to consume. With her acquired sweet tooth, Gilder greatly enjoys hard, sour candy (plus candies and other snacks are easier to eat when you're always working). Really sour candies make them freeze in shock, so you're likely to catch them staring into space with a blank expression. Almost as if they've been hit by total body paralysis…

Ilian is a Ghoul, which means he has a weak sense of smell and taste (ghouls can smell & taste magic best because they typically feed on their Sire's energy/magic). He'll eat mortal food, but primarily for show or boredom. They enjoy making fun of Skipper(s), who can't handle sour or spicy food.

09/28/22 Mondo Radio Playlist

Here's the playlist for this week's edition of Mondo Radio, which you can download or stream here. This episode: "Lookin' for Some Action", featuring classic power pop and more. If you enjoy it, remember to also follow the show on Facebook and Twitter!

Artist - Song - Album

Cheap Trick - Hello There (Live) - Cheap Trick At Budokan

Cheap Trick - Clock Strikes Ten (Live) - Cheap Trick At Budokan

Raspberries - I Don't Know What I Want - Greatest

Nick Gilder - Got To Get Out - City Nights

Nick Gilder - Frustration - City Nights

Rock City Feat. Chris Bell - Think It's Time To Say Goodbye - Looking Forward: The Roots Of Big Star

Big Star - In The Street - #1 Record

Alex Chilton - Can't Seem To Make You Mine - 19 Years: A Collection Of Alex Chilton

Big Star - O My Soul - Radio City

The Scruffs - She Say Yea - Wanna' Meet The Scruffs?

Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action - Shake Some Action

Dwight Twilley Band - Three Persons - On Fire!: The Best Of 1975-1984

Todd Rundgren - Couldn't I Just Tell You - Something/Anything?

Single Bullet Theory - There Is The Boy - SBT: 1977-1980

Quick Pick!!! - Shake That Monkey (Radio Mix) - Shake That Monkey (Single)

The Nerves - When You Find Out - 25th Anniversary

The Nerves - Give Me Some Time - 25th Anniversary

The Romantics - Till I See You Again - The Romantics

The Romantics - Girl Next Door - The Romantics

The Wigs - 180 Degrees - Radio Ready: Wisconsin - Lost Power Pop Hits 1979-1982

The Tyrants - Hard To Get - Radio Ready: Wisconsin - Lost Power Pop Hits 1979-1982

The Baxters - What Ya Gonna Do - History In 3 Chords: Milwaukee Alternative Bands 1973-1982

The RPMs - I Don't Wanna Be Young - History In 3 Chords: Milwaukee Alternative Bands 1973-1982

The Shivvers - Please Stand By - Lost Hits From Milwaukee's First Family Of Powerpop: 1979-82

The Shivvers - Teen Line - Lost Hits From Milwaukee's First Family Of Powerpop: 1979-82

M&Ms - I'm Tired - The Roots Of Powerpop

Real Kids - Now You Know - The Roots Of Powerpop

Shoes - Tomorrow Night - Present Tense

Shoes - Too Late - Present Tense

The Records - Rumour Sets The Woods Alight - Crashes

The Spongetones - She Goes Out With Everybody - Children Of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1996

The Barracudas - I Can't Pretend - Children Of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1996

The Records - The Same Mistakes - Crashes

The dB's - Judy - Stands For Decibels

The dB's - I'm In Love - Stands For Decibels

20/20 - Yellow Pills - 20/20

20/20 - Tell Me Why (Can't Understand You) - 20/20

The Last - Every Summer Day - L.A. Explosion!

The Last - Be-Bop-A-Lula - L.A. Explosion!

The Plimsouls - I Want What You Got - The Plimsouls ... Plus

The Plimsouls - Lost Time - The Plimsouls ... Plus

Green - Baby Why? - Green

Green - I Play The Records - Green

Fraps did a thing and I am still laughing at their faces.