Several things more or less constitute a post
To a seminar this pm on an early C20th collector/collection of erotica, actually, sexually-themed items, a large number of which were distinctly less than arousing phallic amulets. It was all quite interesting (there were issues about classification, display and censorship that related to my work on printed sexological material of the era), but I was having real problems not being earwormed by Little Willy.
Relating to which, I keep meaning to post a link to this really excellent post from last week by Dr Petra Boynton, Penis Size Worries.
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Kathryn Hughes mourns the rise in postal prices and the decline in letter-writing, but I think she overly romanticises The Letter, having in my professional capacity having come across many laconic and deeply boring letters. Also, the idea that people only use email for functional communications, surely some mistake there?
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Liked today's biography from the ODNB: Mohl [née Clarke], Mary Elizabeth (1793-1883), salon hostess and author (and another example that I did not know about of C19th older woman marrying much younger man. I particularly liked this final line:
'To the end, she had read avidly. ‘If there were no more books’, she contended, ‘the best thing would be to hang oneself, for life would not be worth having’
So like one.
Dept of PSAs: the con_or_bust auction is running until Sunday. Go and bid! (My own offers are a mother of pearl pendant and earring set and a blog post, either here or as a guest post on your own blog.
Nominations are still open for the The great Dickens Codslapperama. Go and get your Dickens h8 on!
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