She Needed To Know...

Emma Verey photographed by her husband Adolphus Verey. Verey Collection

It's been a while I know. Somehow I locked myself out of my account and weeks became months and here we are! In the meantime I have been publishing an occasional newsletter using the TinyLetter platform. If you'd like to take a look you can find it here. You can use the 'Archive' button at the lower right corner to see previous issues and subscribe if you like what you see using the button on the left. It's basically my way of sharing things that have surprised and delighted me in the world of books, history, arts and science. A little reading, some podcast recommendations - you get the gist...

Hopefully this blog will once again become a place for more original writing when the mood strikes.

In the meantime, here's a a sample of this month's newsletter.

A month of interesting discoveries...

This week a copy of Shakespeare's First Folio - one of only 230 in existence -  was found in a French library. It is believed that the book was brought to France by the Jesuit order before being confiscated after the French Revolution and placed in the Saint Omar public library where it has lain undisturbed for some 200 years.

An eagle-eyed art historian has re-discovered a long-lost Hungarian avant-garde painting while watching the movie 'Stuart Little' with his kids.

Closer to home I loved this story about the re-discovery of the Verey Collection an intriguing collection of glass negatives taken by Castlemaine photographer Adolphus Verey between 1883-1954. You can see more of the 13,000 strong Verey Collectionhere.

It's been a great couple of weeks for archaeological discoveries too with a beautiful Roman glass plate found in a 5th century AD Japanese tomb, this stunning glass mosaic uncovered at the ancient Greek city of Zeugma in modern day Turkey, and an entire underwater city off the Greek island of Delos.

This week also marks the 40th anniversary of Donald Johanson's discovery of my very favourite fossil, Lucy, the little woman who changed the way we think about human evolution.

How about you? Have you heard about any interesting discoveries lately?

Study in Black

Silhouette portrait of Jane Austen

'Poised', 2010 by Rebecca Mayo. Cotton screenprint with mistletoe dye, felted recycled jumper, thread and paper in found frame.

'For the Love of the Sea', 2010 by Jen Kee

Roman historian Pliny the Elder tells a lovely story about a Corinthian woman, who farewelling her lover by firelight, catches a glimpse of his profile on the wall. Desiring to capture the image she reaches out and grabs a piece of charcoal from the fire filling in his shadow. I love the idea of this romantic pre-photography way of capturing a beloved's image.

The Georgians and Victorians loved it too as a sort of cheap, DIY verison of portraiture. You may remember the scene in Emma Thompson's film version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility where Marianne lovingly traces Willoughby's silhouette. There are many historical examples in museums like the V&A but I think it's great that artists such as Jen Kee and Rebecca Mayo (above) are still using the idea to inform new works of art.