Tag Archives: France

1793: Cards for Equality

Posted on June 20, 2018 by

      Following the French Revolution and its toppling of the French monarchy, Urbain Jaume and Jean-Démosthène Dugourc conceived the idea of a new deck of playing cards that, like the revolutionaries, would toss out its “aristocracy” of Aces, Kings, … Continue reading →

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1957: Description

Posted on April 28, 2018 by

From Alain Robbe-Grillet’s 1957 novel, Jealousy: Now the shadow of the southwest column– at the corner of the veranda on the bedroom side– falls across the garden. The sun, still low in the eastern sky, rakes the valley from the … Continue reading →

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340 AD: Patron Saint of Beekeepers

Posted on April 13, 2018 by

According to tradition, a swarm of bees settled on the face of the infant St. Ambrose, leaving a drop of honey and thus foretelling the saint’s eloquence—his honeyed tongue. He is the patron saint of bees and beekeepers. A certain … Continue reading →

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1863: Dictionary of Hell

Posted on April 7, 2018 by

   Entries from the 1863 edition of Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal: Amduscias: Grand-duc aux enfers. Il a la forme d’une licorne; mais lors-qu’il est évoqué, il se montre sous une figure humaine. Il donne des concerts, … Continue reading →

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1816: The Visions of Thomas Martin

Posted on March 23, 2018 by

Thomas Martin was born in Gallardon, France in 1783. Beginning in 1816, he began to see visions of an elegantly dressed young man who called himself the Archangel Raphael. The youth commanded Martin to travel to Paris to see King … Continue reading →

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1929: From a Paris Plane

Posted on March 22, 2018 by

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson: From a Paris Plane (1929)

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1902: Vines

Posted on March 13, 2018 by

Paul Ranson: Vines (c. 1902)

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