A wooden writing slope in a museum case, with letters, envelopes, an inkwell, a quill and a penknife.

NB! · Books · Museums · Observations

Charlotte Brontë's writing desk with the quills and penknife she used

Charlotte Brontë's writing desk, with a penknife. For the most part she wrote with genuine quills, although the fountain pen had already been invented and was in active use.

NB! · Archive · Paris

Photographs of Paris in the Days of the Commune

NB! · Books · Observations

A Rat in the Head: American Science-Fiction Writer Rog Phillips Knew It All Back in 1959

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Humour

Alberto Giacometti's "Standing Woman", by the Swiss master of the twentieth century, and an Etruscan statuette of the 3rd century BC

"Standing Woman" by the twentieth-century Swiss master Alberto Giacometti and a statuette of the Etruscans of the 3rd century BC. Which is which, you must work out for yourselves

NB! · Architecture · Madrid · Moscow · Observations

Modernism Everywhere, Each to His Own: A Petrol Station in Madrid on San Lorenzo de El Escorial and a Petrol Station Opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow

NB! · Art

Flowers, Frédéric Bazille, 1868

Portrait of a young red-haired girl in a red gown with gold embroidery and a pearl headdress, holding a small book.

Cinema · Monarchies · Observations · Society

People from sub-Saharan Africa as characters in alternative histories of the West

Anne Boleyn Before and After the Introduction of the New Concept of World Cultural History. Note that, as dramatis personae of the alternative history of the West, they now use chiefly natives of the countries south of the Sahara, rather than non-Europeans of any other description. Precisely those whose

NB! · Architecture · Humour

If Fred Flintstone is hiding in this house, just nod

NB! · Books

Maria Was an Open Book

Madrid · Observations · Mores · Reportage

Almond soup at the Lhardy restaurant and its cuisine rated five out of ten

Trying ajoblanco, the Spanish cold soup of raw almonds, in the Madrid restaurant of Agustín Lardy, named after a Spanish painter of the nineteenth century. Almond soup is, in essence, the same thing as satsivi. At the bottom of the plate sit a little fish and a little salad, and

Aristocracy · Madrid · Monarchies · Museums

Grand Master's Mantle of the Order of Charles III, Owned by King Ferdinand VII, in the Royal Collection in Madrid

Mantle of the Grand Master of the Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III. This is the second most important order in Spain after the Order of the Golden Fleece. The mantle belonged to King Ferdinand VIl. It is made of light blue silk in honour of the Virgin

Art · Books · Madrid · Museums

The mind is its own place

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. John Milton Illustration: detail from The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, 1490-1510, Prado, Madrid

Alexandr Radayev