Ali Smith (via Transblawg) makes some ill-conceived remarks in the London Times re the availability of translated literature on the UK market: Of all the books published in the UK, only 3 to 4 per cent are translations. What’s the matter with us? Don’t we like to look at anything but ourselves? Are we so…
“The Cardinal Espinosa, prime minister under Philip the Second of Spain, died, as it was supposed, after a short illness. His rank entitled him to be embalmed. Accordingly, the body was opened for that purpose. The lungs and heart had just been brought into view, when the latter was seen to beat. The cardinal awakening…
It’s instructive to compare the 1862 Exámen del plan económico presentado al gobierno de S. M. Para el Ensanche y Reforma Urbana de Barcelona with debates concerning the balance between private, state and corporate interests in contemporary Barcelona.
Slightly off-topic, but irresistible, from Henry Hiram Riley‘s pseudo-ethnography, Puddleford and its people (New York, 1854): Another amusement, frequent in the country, was the turn-out of the ‘Calathumpian Band.’ … No one knew exactly who its members were; but they were always on hand, soon after a wedding, in full uniform, with all their instruments…
The question has been asked, so no, hell, I am not going on the Marcha Ciclonudista on Saturday. It looks exactly like the Dutch Society for Sexual Reform’s sadomasochism evenings were reputed to be (I lived next door): lots of fat old guys drifting around lusting after young female flesh. Let’s keep cycling healthy.
The excerpt feature in Google Books sometimes delivers surreal gems, Escher stones. Here’s one from Advance Japan: A Nation Thoroughly in Earnest: “that the equivalent of the expression ‘not worth a button’ is, in Japanese, ‘not worth the head of a sardine.’ Mackerel also are extremely plentiful.” (I’m translating some mid-nineteenth century colloquial Flemish and…
Moving house, so orders may take longer until mid-February - mail me first if in doubt. Shop deliveries free on foot in Leeds LS1-8 & LS13. Dismiss