A thing of beauty

Michael Sowa, painter of genius.

Bargepole's back

Now available in paperback is Michael Bywater's Lost Worlds. Buy it. Now. Here's a writer who deserves his royalties. And you'll enjoy it too. Trust me. Would I lie to you? Lie with you maybe, but to you, never.

A word for it

We all know, don't we my little ones, that it's a fallacy that the Inuit have three hundred words for snow? Utter bunkum. Yet how many words do we have for the four-wheeled things that trundle about the place? I'll bet Nanook and Nell never spend their nights in the igloo wondering why it is that in English there are three hundred words for car.

But some things do need a word and there isn't always an English one. Have a look at this and chortle into your snifter as you encounter Johnny Foreigner's weird world of words.

The Gashlycrumb Tinies

Just the sort of thing for teaching the tots their alphabet is Edward Gorey's marvellous Gashlycrumb Tinies.
Coincidently, I went to Gorey once. Went with the Flame-Haired Temptress. You'd know her if you saw her.

Nihilartikel and Mountweazel

Don't believe all you read......
Nihilartikel and Mountweazel

Beowulf

Just about anything you will ever need to know about Beowulf.

A kindred soul

“The thought came over me, am I to spend all the best part of my life in this wretched bondage, forcibly suppressing my rage at the idleness, the apathy and the hyperbolical & most asinine stupidity of these fat-headed oafs and on compulsion assuming an air of kindness, patience & assiduity?”
Charlotte Bronte, on teaching, in her diary for August 1836.

I think I need a trip to Haworth.
Or, if you feel the same, here's an alternative.

Give three-piece a chance

Enter the doffing zone that is The Chap and let the civility soothe your fevered soul.

Our American Cousins

Unlikely as it may sound, some of our colonial brethren eschew the 'wild' western apparel we so often associate with life at the fringes of the Empire and appear to take an interest in sartorial matters. Their musings can be found here!

47 Ginger-headed sailors

Don't you find that some things go so well together? Port and stilton? Red feathers and a hula-hula skirt? Jeeves and Wooster? Pop along here and see the latter pair in all their glory. You could even let your wife or your servant enjoy this.

A Tailor's blog

Here is the blog of Thomas Mahon, bespoke Savile Row tailor. There are some excellent hints and tips on civilised dressing, freely available to all by the miracle of the Interweb.