Books · Observations · Mores · Humour

Pigeon and duck recipes in “The Mother’s Book” by the abolitionist Lydia Maria Child

The nineteenth-century American abolitionist and writer Lydia Maria Child, in her book "The Mother's Book" of advice on thrifty housekeeping for those of modest means, gives a veeeery strange recipe for cooking a pigeon. The vegetables she bids one boil for an hour at the

Archive · Books · Moscow · Mores · People · Humour

At a meeting of the members of the writers' housing cooperative, engaged in building a five-storey residential House of Soviet Writers and adding storeys to two neighbouring houses in Nashchokin Lane and a house in Kamergersky Lane (Proyezd MKhAT), Mikhai

At a meeting of the members of the writers' housing cooperative, engaged in building a five-storey residential House of Soviet Writers and adding storeys to two neighbouring houses in Nashchokin Lane and a house in Kamergersky Lane (Proyezd MKhAT), Mikhail Bulgakov expressed surprise that a certain Comrade B-

Observations · Mores · Humour

A steel officer’s bed of the 1800s in a modern interior

I know that everyone but me got rid of their antique metal beds long ago, and more's the pity. Here is an excellent couch, both for the interior and for comfort: a steel officer's bed of the 1800s. One need only add a handsome cover for

Archive · Observations · Science · Society

1980 Minutes of a USSR Academy of Sciences Council Banning Citation of Scientists Who Emigrated

Found an interesting document in my home archive: the minutes of a meeting of one of the councils at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. The agenda is extremely topical and perfectly intelligible in our present circumstances. The item in question was a ban on mentioning in dissertations the

Art · Museums · Mores · Humour

A NATIVE CHILD TO THE OUTSKIRTS?

That is what the painting is actually called. The artist is Akhmet Kitayev, and it belongs to the collection of the Simferopol Art Museum. The canvas dates from 1954, yet the mise-en-scène is thoroughly modern. The family scene, familiar to everyone, recalls Squid Game more than anything else:

NB! · Archive · Architecture · Art · Paris

Models of Old Paris, including a model of the Île de la Cité as it stood in the sixteenth century, made in the early twentieth century by the topographical artist Gaston Renault

NB! · Observations · Heritage · Humour

If you feel like exclaiming with a smirk: "So we have finally run out of ruins of our own!" or asking who is footing the bill, recall last year's news about the restoration of a UNESCO monument, which said that the project involved sponsorial…

Archive · Cinema · Society · Saint Petersburg

On 7 November 1917 the storming of the Winter Palace took place, the seat of the Provisional Government

On 7 November 1917 the storming of the Winter Palace took place, the seat of the Provisional Government. The well-known footage of the storming of the Winter Palace is in fact not documentary: this shot, like many others, comes from Nikolay Evreinov's theatrical production "The Storming

NB! · Cinema · Observations

The Gladiator Is Not What He Was

NB! · Art · Pop Culture · Humour

What a Knightly Collaboration between Balenciaga and Maison Margiela Tabi Might Look Like

Black-and-white press photograph of a plaster sculpture of a reclining nude man in a studio, captioned “Worker’s Rest”.

Archive · Art · Education · Humour

Sculpture “Worker’s Rest”, a 1924 work by a VKHUTEIN student

"Sir, are you all right?" "Can't you see? I'm resting." Work by a VKhUTEIN student, 1924

London · Monarchies · Mores

Spurs in the British colonel's dress uniform and their absence from the women's version

Spurs are part of the full-dress uniform of a colonel in the British Army. At his wedding Prince William wore the ceremonial uniform of a colonel of the Irish Guards and likewise jingled his spurs. The female colonel's uniform, however, does not include spurs: women are supposed

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