#the original manuscript

[patron-minette]

All credit to the wonderful @ferociousconscience for pointing me toward some fascinating background information and additional insights about Magnon in the cut chapter 'Further Adventures of M. Tholomyès' [source]!

This omitted section provides us with further context evidencing that, prior to her scheme involving the mômes in 1832, Magnon had been employing similar tactics and using children to manipulate circumstances to her advantage for many years. Interestingly, Hugo even draws parallels to real-life happenings of the time and briefly ties the character within a wider narrative: 'To those who would find such existences unbelievable, it suffices to respond that they are real.'

Not only do we gain newfound insight here into Magnon's deceitful past and personal affairs when she was 'hardy' and 'young', but this cut chapter also reveals just how long-standing her connection to the Thénardier family really is (a detail which is eluded to in the final novel, but never fully explained).

In fact, the focus of this chapter actually involves Magnon being lent Cosette by Monsieur and Madame Thénardier (for only 3 francs!) so that she can convince the municipal welfare office that she has a child. However, by coincidence, when making her way to the town hall with Cosette, Magnon stumbles upon the wedding ceremony of none other than Tholomyès… resulting in a heartbreaking incident where Cosette recognises her father and calls after him.

I love the deeper insight we get into Magnon's criminality and deceitfulness in these unpublished sections (which, in turn, also helps to emphasise the influence of gender and patriarchal ideals in shaping a perceived sphere of 'Women's Crime' during this period— where it was commonly assumed that women generally committed less violent but more exploitative crimes in comparison to men).

Moreover, I find this additional information about Magnon particularly interesting in light of the fact that, at one stage in the novel's drafting progress, she may have also been intended as Brujon's mother [more info here], originally being given the name La Brujon instead of La Magnon. I'm completely fascinated by the different avenues this character might have been taken if Hugo changed his mind before publication!

[tahopo]

:)

[cerasifera]

history nerds <3

[therepublicofletters]

Biblioteca Domenicana Santa Maria Novella, Florence

[artwins]

another medieval miniature, with Viktor this time

[neon-ufo]

March 2023

Both me and my brother got sick throughout the month

Navid wore a cone for an entire week

Still reading Bionicle, got really into Toa Whenua

Album of the month: Maček Muri in Muca Maca 2 Song of the month: Mačji Banket

[ancientorigins]

When British aristocrat Robert Curzon visited an ancient Egyptian monastery, he had no idea what he’d find. Gospel fragments that questioned the Bible’s very authenticity.

[english-history-trip]

The entire collection of Geoffrey Chaucer’s works held by the British Library is being made available in digital format after the completion of a two and a half year project to upload 25,000 images of the often elaborately illustrated medieval manuscripts.

...

Calum Cockburn, the British Library’s curator of medieval manuscripts, who is in charge of the project, said: “One manuscript of the Canterbury Tales has got this incredible portrait of Chaucer himself that appears at the very beginning of the General Prologue and the famous line, ‘Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote’ [’When April with its sweet smelling showers’]. And in the W of Whan, Chaucer appears with a book open and a quill. That is a really wonderful detail because there aren’t that many surviving portraits of him." “Another of my favourites is a collection of treatises in its own original medieval binding with a clasp on it. And it's intact, it’s been the same for 600 years.” The digital collection had “staggering potential”, he said, and the 25,000 images were of “incredibly high resolution … You can zoom into these images and see detail on the page you would not be able to with the human eye in person. They are really stunning."

Here is the aforementioned folio featuring Chaucer's portrait (Lansdowne MS 851).

[starridge]

got an annotated copy of jekyll and hyde as a part of my quest to get nice hardcovers of the books i enjoy and i’m thoroughly enjoying the annotations so far tbh

[ch0c0tat]

The Hunt or Anxiety Dog ft. Sword

Felt like doing an illustration of a long dog with illuminated manuscript and medieval border vibes.

[patron-minette]

A sketch I found whilst skimming through Victor Hugo’s original handwritten Les Misérables manuscript.

The doodle is located on the pages where Hugo writes about Éponine encountering Marius in the Field of the Lark: ‘Apparition à Marius’ [IV. II. IV]

I am not sure if Hugo’s drawing is meant to be of any of the characters featured in this chapter (my best bet would be that this is a doodle of Éponine, but, my god, she looks very young!), or if the sketch is entirely random and unrelated to the contents of the chapter. Nevertheless I thought it was interesting to post.

[thatlittleegyptologist]

Anyway before I literally screech into the aether about how using only a translation from 1951 and ignoring the person who can read the Late Egyptian original is a really stupid idea, I’m going to go to bed (it’s 12:25am).

[dailykafka]

Question!! I’ve been reading Kafka’s letters to Oskar Pollak, but I have been notified that there is only 11 of the 13(?) letters in “Letters to friends, family, and editors”. Where can I find the missing 2 letters? Thank you!! Have a blessed day!

Those letters were purposefully omitted by Max Brod so it's not accessible for the public. Even the letters that we know of are in some way altered. But I think the letters are kept either in national library of Israel or by private collectors.

[meroaw]

did you know that my shade of scales ocs don’t have canon designs? I actually really like it when people draw them from their in-book descriptions, not the designs I usually do. they all have descriptions on their toyhouses, under the cut is emily’s description from her POV and other characters

… with a semi square snout, fluffy cheeks and long, pointed ears that were also covered in fur. They ended with a tuft of long, sunset purple fur. Her mane matched her own hair, dark, and… her eyes…. (brown)...

… shiny warm brown scales….

… Long, pink-purple claws…

…  Some of the soft, rounded scales had pink and purple tones in them alongside the various shades of brown…

…(wings) they were feathered, completely, unlike Katrina or Jasper’s at all. They were purple and all shades of warm, autumn browns, and whites, in a splash and mix of colours. They reminded her of birds flying in a sunset with the array of colours …

...Her form was far more softer and rounder than Katrina’s lanky and pointy dragon form, with rounder scales and much more fur on her body than Katrina. It made Katrina look far more angular in her shapes for sure. ...

[upennmanuscripts]

Today's #YearOfHours is @freelibraryofphiladelphia Lewis E 118, a book of Hours, use of Rome, written in Siena ca. 1470. The binding is worn but apparently original with original silver clasps, and it contains three miniatures painted by Liberale da Verona.

Online:

[jennablackmorebooks]

I finished writing the first draft of my science fiction manuscript The Mind Game Machine this evening. I started writing it on November 1st.

In a little while, it will enter the editing process, where it will become better, and also longer (this is my shortest first draft in quite a number of years, and I already see places where I'd like to elaborate on ideas and characters).