one of those oh-so-utilitarian posts ~

[lookingland]

for the 50bookchallenge:

no. 45 ~ glory, glory, hallelujah! by irvin s. cobb. this is a funny little book written by a journalist who found his 15 minutes of fame touring the country and presenting glowing talks about the service of "colored" regiments during the war. one of those perfect examples of inherent racism even in die-hard abolitionists.

no. 46 ~ inside the victorian home: a portrait of domestic life in victorian england by judith flanders. stupendously wonderful book for those of you who love day-to-day minutiae of victorian living. it's very english, but lots of stuff here crosses the pond. invaluable for some of those quirkier domestic questions of sanitation, cooking, and cleaning.

this is an illustration from the book by flanders.
it shows a scene (with numerous symbolic leitmotifs)
of the collapse of the domestic life
as a result of a woman's failure to
manage the household.

and, also for the challenge, here are the trial transcripts, which i am definitely counting as at least a book and a half. there are parts i didn't scrutinize word for word, but i think tackling all 5 books oughta count for something.

no. 47 ~ the trial of the assassins and conspirators at washington city, d.c., may and june, 1865, for the murder of president abraham lincoln. published by the peterson brothers. this is a good solid source even if it is issued by the media. i'm using it as my secondary source after poore.

no. 47 & 1/4 ~ the trial : the assassination of president lincoln and the trial of the conspirators by benn pitman (edited by edward steers, jr.). i'm only using this as a quick reference because it's broken down and indexed in a way the others are not. i can find stuff in here and then know where to look in the other copies. otherwise, it doesn't really serve for what i need.

no. 47 & 1/2 ~ the conspiracy trial for the murder of the president by ben perly poore in three voluminous volumes. the mother of all trial transcripts second only to the national archives' handwritten file in the LAS. this is the script i'm working from primarily. it doesn't have certain details that the peterson transcript has regarding court business, which make the two excellent complements.

Comments

[ephignia.livejournal.com]

What a chilling painting...

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

it's too hard to see the paintings on the walls in this scan, but they are of a shipwreck and a fire disaster.

lovely stuff!

: D

[gwyn-hwyfar.livejournal.com]

Very much like the scene at my house :D :D

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

one of my favorite things in the painting is that the children are building a teetering house out of playing cards ~ showing their future dissolution and ruination.

: D

[littlewings04.livejournal.com]

I love the Flanders text. It's so valuable for anyone who writes in the period, and it's just such a fascinating thing. I spent about 6 months debating whether or not to pick it up, and I'm so glad I did. It's amazing, the standards we take for granted as modern people. It really is a fantastic way to challenge the basic assumptions that come to most folk courtesy of the Hermeneutical Circle.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

the big revelation to me ~ or perhaps the thing i had not really considered as much as i should have ~ was about buying used furniture that was infested with bugs and all the horrors of dealing with fleas and such ~ laundering the bed clothes. man, what a grueling, horrific task. makes modern day washing look like leisure.

: D

[rabiagale.livejournal.com]

I've seen this picture before. Now it's going to nag at me until I figure out which book I saw it in.

this is an illustration from the book by flanders.
it shows a scene (with numerous symbolic leitmotifs)
of the collapse of the domestic life
as a result of a woman's failure to
manage the household.

Failure to manage the household? From her prostrate position, I'd have expected the woman to have been caught in an adulterous affair, at the very least. :P

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i almost think the victorians would have considered that the lesser of the two offences.

you could sleep around if you were quiet about it, it sometimes seemed. but a disastrous household state was obvious to the world and therefore eeeeeeeeeeek! scandal!

it's all about keeping up appearances.

: D