Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Author: admin

  • Florence – Museo degli Innocenti (Coronation of the Virgin by Benedetto Buglioni)

    Florence – Museo degli Innocenti (Coronation of the Virgin by Benedetto Buglioni)

    This is a glazed terracotta altarpiece that was moved here in 1905 from the Bottigli Chapel at the manor of San Miniato al Montanino outside Figline. There’s an inscription at the base of the altarpiece which dates it to 1520 and it was commissioned by Madonna Francesca.

    This work celebrated its 500th anniversary this year, it’s survived remarkably well since it was created by Benedetto Buglioni, a Florence artist who lived from 1459 until 1521. The colouring gives it a vibrant feel and it depicts the Coronation of the Virgin with St. Dominic and St. Francis. These saints are the founders of two of the most important Catholic orders, the Dominicans and the Franciscans.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Eighty-Eight

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Eighty-Eight

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..

    Conny Wabble

    This is defined as “eggs and brandy beat up together” and the dictionary adds that it has Irish origins. This is a beautifully crafted phrase, of which the origins seem to have been lost, but it is also spelled ‘conny wobble’. It’s primarily a breakfast drink, which I can’t say would appeal much to me if it arrived instead of coffee at some hotel breakfast.

  • Internet Archive and Legal Action

    Internet Archive and Legal Action

    There is a very useful resource of books and publications at the Internet Archive that offers the text of hundreds of thousands of books. They’re in the challenging situation now of finding themselves being sued by four publishers, the Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons and Penguin Random House. The aim of the Internet Archive is to make older books available on-line, and for those books still in copyright, they restrict the number of copies that can be lent out in a similar set-up to traditional libraries.

    It would perhaps be a great shame if the publishers are able to bring down this project at the Internet Archive, but a real problem remains that libraries are failing to service the need of many readers. The stock of titles on the shelves of Norfolk libraries is, to be honest, erratic and users have to pay per book to access the vast majority of useful stock which is at the “County Reserve Store”. The library service does an excellent job of supplying modern fiction titles, but their selection of non-fiction misses out some key texts that I’m not sure any library should be without, not helped by the problem mentioned to me by the library staff member at Dereham that they lost many books to thieves.

    Many of the books at the Internet Archive are out of print, so can only be obtained at some cost from second-hand book dealers. The publishers will probably win their campaign against the Internet Archive, but I’m hoping there is some compromise available. Anyway, the text of their case (in .PDF) is here.

  • Florence – Museo degli Innocenti (St. Mary Magdalen by Agnolo di Polo)

    Florence – Museo degli Innocenti (St. Mary Magdalen by Agnolo di Polo)

    This terracotta figure dates from the first part of the sixteenth century and was inspired by a wooden statue produced by Donatello. It was created and painted by Agnolo di Polo, a local artist who was born in Florence in 1470 and died in 1528. Due to old damage, the hands of the figure are modern and were added in 2015, but are connected with magnets and can be easily removed if required.

    This is the wooden statue, now in the Cathedral’s museum, produced by Donatello.

  • Florence – Florence Cathedral Museum (1523 Choirbook)

    Florence – Florence Cathedral Museum (1523 Choirbook)

    Always lovely to see an old book on display, this one in the Cathedral’s museum dates to 1523 and is known as an antiphonary, or a religious book which was used by the choir. The imagery, beautifully created, depicts Moses showing the Tablets of the Law.

  • Florence – Florence Cathedral Museum (King David by Andrea Pisano)

    Florence – Florence Cathedral Museum (King David by Andrea Pisano)

    This statue was once located on the north side of Florence Cathedral and depicts King David. It was sculpted by Andrea Pisano (1290-1348), who became the Master of Works at the Cathedral in 1340, between 1337 and 1341. This sculpture was part of a set of depictions that were designed to show those prophesied the coming of Jesus.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Eighty-Seven

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Eighty-Seven

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..

    Conger

    This is defined as “to conger; the agreement of a set or knot of booksellers of London, that whosoever of them shall buy a good copy, the rest shall take off such a particular number, in quires, at a stated price; also booksellers joining to buy either a considerable or dangerous copy”.

    This was an arrangement amongst booksellers, which were nearly all in London, to jointly finance the production of a book and they purchased shares to that effect and also agreed to purchase a certain number of copies for their shops. This agreement took hold in the early eighteenth century and lasted until around the middle of the nineteenth century. The subscription model was the other way of funding expensive books, such as encyclopaedias, where purchasers would subscribe in advance to help fund the cost of production and printing.

    The conger agreement was financially very useful to the booksellers and they fought to retain permanent copyright for everything that was produced. Eventually, the courts started to decide that this made books more expensive for the general public and that excessive power was being retained with the sellers. The principle of copyright was extended and the conger model started to face away as competition increased.

  • British Airways – New Club Europe Catering

    British Airways – New Club Europe Catering

    This is the new Club Europe catering that will be used by British Airways over the next three months or so, something of a change from the more substantial and usually cooked offering that was previously provided. Clearly not quite as exciting, but needs must given the current situation. Those passengers in Euro Traveller, who were previously given nothing as it was buy on board, do now get basic soft drinks free of charge.

  • $20,000 to Walk the Appalachian Trail and Drink Beer

    $20,000 to Walk the Appalachian Trail and Drink Beer

    The chance to walk a long-distance trail in the United States and drink beer, but only US citizens can apply. I’ve heard of worse ideas…..

    https://www.dbbrewingcompany.com/cho/rules/

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Eighty-Six

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day Eighty-Six

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the Coronavirus crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored…..

    Comus’s Court

    A little bit niche perhaps, the dictionary defines this as “a social meeting formerly held at the Half Moon tavern in Cheapside”. This London pub operated from at least the mid-seventeenth century until 1817, by which time it had become known as the New London Tavern. It’s so niche as to not really be relevant to most of its readers even at the time, but it does paint a picture of what London was like at the end of the eighteenth century.