Wikipedia calls Charles Théveneau de Morande (1741–1805) a gutter journalist, blackmailer, and spy. He was certainly ‘a large and charismatic man of great physical strength and presence, traits he used to bully and intimidate.  Having received an education in Arnay-le-Duc and Dijon, Morande joined the French army and was possibly wounded serving in the Seven […]

William Crotch (1775–1847) ‘was an exceptional child prodigy and became one of the most distinguished English musicians of his day …  At the age of about 18 months he began to pick out tunes on a small house organ which his father had built, and soon after his second birthday he had taught himself to […]

This is a copy of the first edition of Les amours de Mirtil (‘Constantinople’, but actually Paris, 1761), attributed variously to Fontenelle, Claude-Louis-Michel de Sacy (though he would have been only fifteen at the time), and Marc-Ferdinand Groubentall de Linière.  There was another edition the same year, also with a fictitious ‘Constantinople’ imprint, but unillustrated.  Cohen–de Ricci […]

As it states here, this souvenir item, printed on silk, ‘is presented by Mrs. Langtry on the occasion of the 100th performance of the “Degenerates” [by Sydney Grundy] at the Garrick Theatre.  For permission to use Mr. Kipling’s poem Mrs. Langtry has made to the “Daily Mail” a contribution of £100 for the benefit of […]

Some exciting news this week: I have had my first piece published, by the excellent Encore Publications. The piece, The Angel and the Unicorn, I blogged about once before, after I had written it during lockdown back in 2020. At the time, it still hadn’t been performed, but now it has, by the Choir of […]

I like finding English books which were printed abroad. Published in Paris in 1893, this is a copy of the bilingual regulations—English, then French—of the Reunion Road Club, newly founded in France by American coaching fanatic, George William Tiffany (1842–1905). The son of a Boston banker, Tiffany was ‘one of the most astounding amateurs ever […]