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Yury Averbakh on living chess in the USSR of the 1950s and the OBKhSS intervention
I am often asked about my chess past. Above all it is a draughts past, strictly speaking, but I remember plenty of stories from the lives of chess players. I recall a tale told by the well-known Soviet chess official Yury Averbakh, who is now 95. He once shared
NB! · Monarchies · Mores · Paris
The Imperial Toilette of the Second Empire
NB! · Archive · Observations · Mores · Humour
The Perils of Fashion, a Nineteenth-Century Depiction
The perils of fashion, a nineteenth-century depiction. Pity there is no such picture for brains
NB! · Observations · Mores
Stay beautiful, by the standards of any age, whichever you prefer
Books · London · Mores
William Taylor, publisher of “Robinson Crusoe”, left his widow a fortune in 1724
William Taylor Was the Owner of a Shop in Paternoster Row with the Promising Name "The Ship" By the end of his life the successful businessman had managed to put by between 40 and 50 thousand pounds. By the standards of the eighteenth century that is an enormous
Faith · Art · Mores
Legends of Saint Wilgefortis and the origin of the image of the bearded virgin
There are two legends of the venerated Virgo fortis, the "strong virgin": one tells of a daughter (one of nine) of a Portuguese king of the eighth century, who secretly took a vow of chastity and prayed that the wedding her father had arranged with a pagan might
NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Mores · People
The table is laid for ten: George Sand receives her guests
The table is laid for ten: George Sand receives her guests. In this photograph you can make out that the head of the table is reserved for a certain Prince. Know, then, that the place card reads 'Le Prince Jérôme Napoléon'
NB! · Art · Mores · Nature · Humour
The Rhinoceros Clara in a Painting by Pietro Longhi, Venice, 1751
Clara is 13, weighs 3 tons, has been touring all over Europe since the age of 3 in a coach drawn by 8 horses, and her urine is sold as medicine. The year is 1751. The Grimani Family and the Rhinoceros (and a heap of dung), Pietro Longhi, Venice
NB! · Architecture · Observations · Mores · Paris
Found on Google Street View the Deer Park I wrote about yesterday
Found on Google Street View the Deer Park I wrote about yesterday. It is hard to imagine that in the eighteenth century this place was such a den of iniquity. A couple of years ago the building was on sale for 6.5 million euros
Monarchies · Observations · Heritage · Mores · Humour
Everyone loves to recall the story of Peter I scooping up the seven-year-old Louis XV in his arms; the event even has a monument at Peterhof, the original of which was stolen during the war and may well now stand in some private park…
Speaking of parks, when I think of Louis XV, what comes to my mind is his boarding house of harlots, which was called the Parc-aux-Cerfs (the Deer Park), after its location, not far from Versailles. Louis was altogether a dreadful whoremonger and was constantly unfaithful to his wife,
Monarchies · Mores · People
Death of Agnès Sorel in 1450 and the Arrest of Jacques Cœur, Accused of Poisoning Her
On 9 February 1450 Agnès Sorel died of puerperal infection. But a rumour was put about at once that she had been poisoned, and the poisoner was named as Jacques Cœur. Which is odd, since Agnès was the patroness of the royal financier: she secured him good commissions and shielded