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.
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Alexander I as King of Poland and the Incorporation of the Duchy of Warsaw into the Russian Empire in 1815
Alexander I, King of Poland, Tsar and Autocrat of All the Russias Just a reminder of Russia's borders before 1918: in 1815 the greater part of the Duchy of Warsaw became part of the Russian Empire as the Kingdom of Poland, or the Vistula Land, until everything fell
How Many Suffered in Dekulakisation: Estimates by Zemskov, Ivnitsky and Conquest
A photograph of 1930 showing the deportation of a kulak and his family The number of victims of dekulakisation has still not been established and can hardly be stated unambiguously, since the figure includes both those directly repressed (stripped of their property, evicted, exiled, arrested) and, on occasion, the victims
Félix Bonfils, photographs of a dragoman and guide for travellers in Syria
From a guidebook to Syria. Photographs by Félix Bonfils (1831-1885)
The Fire at the Miller Mansion in Saint Petersburg, and Building Bans After Fires in the Laws of Different Countries
On the evening of 1 October the Miller mansion at 3 Isaakievskaya Square in Saint Petersburg burned down. The house dates from the second half of the 18th century; in 1879-1880 it was rebuilt in eclectic forms by the architect Ferdinand Miller, and in 2021 it received the status