Useful reading

[NJS]

...features a Tom & Jerry cartoon on the cover

Now I understand why the book is an "illustrated" history.

In case anyone is wondering: it's the 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons by Cruickshank - rather than by Disney!

NJS

[hectorm]

...features a Tom & Jerry cartoon on the cover

Now I understand why the book is an "illustrated" history.

In case anyone is wondering: it's the 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons by Cruickshank - rather than by Disney!

[NJS]

That's the picture, Hector! Here is another interesting one which is reproduced (in colour) on page 28 of Walker:



Crockford's Club in 1843; D'Orsay centre calling a main. That building (one of the very earliest purpose-built casinos), is still at 50 St James's Street and, for a while (until it was broken by a football manager a couple of years ago), it was again a casino in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. I can easily recognize the room as one of two in the building. In fact, I am reasonably sure that it is the room on the 1st floor south front and, if it is, the bottom right hand corner is exactly the spot where I dropped a packet one evening in a disastrous run at Blackjack.

NJS

[Dr T]

A gentlemans Wardrobe by Paul Keers. Interesting and a good reference book.

[hectorm]

A gentlemans Wardrobe by Paul Keers. Interesting and a good reference book.

Very enjoyable reading indeed, and it gives you useful practical advice like asking your tailor to make the buttonhole a bit nearer to the edge of the lapel so you can wear the ribbon of your légion d'honneur more elegantly.

[Dr T]

A good but long read is "Beau Brummell The Ultimate Dandy" by Ian Kelly. I would advise not to read the last 20% of the book as it has a sad and depressing ending - im not sure Brummell would have approved of that part.

[Frederic Leighton]

Robert Alter: The Book of Psalms. A Translation with Commentary; W.W. Norton & Co., 2009. Fascinating introduction, especially the part on the poetry of Psalms and the challenges of preserving the rhythm of ancient Biblical Hebrew in the English translation. Beautiful edition with deckle edge.

[couch]

Indeed. And Alter's earlier The Art of Biblical Poetry is great preparation, with valuable insights into the poetic techniques of all the Hebrew scriptures. Very enlightening, and equips one to better appreciate (and question) the choices made by translators.

[hectorm]

Beautiful edition with deckle edge.

Focusing on the form and not the substance: I´m old enough to remember that -when I was a child- some bound books still needed a letter opener (my mother wouldn´t let me use a knife). This "cutting" of the paper made for -although not quite a deckle (which was soft and scalloped)- an uneven page edge.
Irony that nowadays, just when the physical book is becoming more and more of a rarity, deckle edges are used as a decoration to increase its appeal.
What could be the equivalent of deckle on a bespoke garment?

[Frederic Leighton]

[...] deckle edges are used as a decoration to increase its appeal. What could be the equivalent of deckle on a bespoke garment?

Ah! interesting question, Hectorm! Thinking better, this modern use of deckle edges reminded me of RTW more than bespoke garments, like those jackets with 4 buttons on the cuff, the last of which is working and has a contrasting buttonhole in red, purple or other silly colour.

[hectorm]

Don´t know if useful is the right word, but re-visiting it after so many years made an extremely entertaining and nostalgic reading:
"The Art of Wearing Clothes: the history of this rare masculine art and of the men who practice it supremely well" by George Frazier. Published more than 50 years ago and reproduced in Esquire magazine.