Mr Herbert Railton, illustrator

Something more to Mr Railton than the usual denatured Victorian book illustrator. Thank-you Dave Walker and the inestimable library at the RBKC.

Bad Education

Slightly off any topic at all to do with history, I wonder how long before some benighted college student is accepted onto a PhD programme somewhere to produce their thesis “Inherent racism, oppressive hierarchies and social divisiveness in the Harry Potter Series.” Think about it: Dobby the house elf was a slave. The Gringotts bank… Continue reading Bad Education

Burt Shavitz: Way to go, Burt

Detail from today’s New York Times obit of Burt Shavitz, beekeeper and co-founder of Burt’s Bees lip balm:- “He had hawks and owls and stunning sunsets and his neighbors’ good will, he explained, and no claims to gregariousness. Two of his dogs were listed by name in the local telephone directory; he wasn’t.”

Religious significance has the whip hand on the road

The Victorians — people of the age, not just those under the flag of the British Empire — were proudly aware that they did not know everything; though each and every day they grew to know more and more. They knew how to put things together. They knew how to explore. They gloried in doing… Continue reading Religious significance has the whip hand on the road