'Tis Fitz We Understand

The prefix Fitz- is an old word for "son of", especially used for the illegitimate sons of royalty.  Bear that in mind as we lay out this factoid.

We recently came across this exciting book, A Descriptive Catalogue of the manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam Museum, by Montague Rhodes James (yeah, that M. R. James). The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge and was founded in 1816 with the bequest of the library and art collection of the 7th Viscount FitzWilliam.

The Supersizing of the Last Supper

Knowing that Leonardo da Vinci's 15th century painting The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time, I'm sort of surprised Bellairs's didn't find a way to spoof it somewhere in Saint Fidgeta and Other Parodies.

Anyway - when an academic study decided to show proof of food portions increasing over time, how far back did they go? How about all the way back to the Last Supper, as this March 23 Reuters article noted:

Goreyana: The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost

Goreyana author Irwin Terry out-does himself with his notes about the various pieces of artwork for The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost:

• Edward Gorey provided artwork for the full wrap around dust jacket, the hand lettered type for the cover and spine, a frontis drawing, and two interior spot illustrations. I have all of these pieces of art in my collection, and also have the water color sketch Mr. Gorey made for the dust wrapper design.
• Mr. Gorey often blocked out color paintings by making a loosely painted sketch before proceeding with the final illustration. I am not aware of any other preliminary art which exists from the Bellairs series. The preliminary art shows all the major elements in place for the dust jacket, although the evil floating face in front of Johnny on the cover is inexplicably smiling! This piece of art is a wonderful look into how Edward Gorey sketched out his paintings. Artists often create color renderings before attacking complicated paintings, and Mr. Gorey's sketches are always very loose. This piece has paint liberally splashed about!
• It has been pointed at Bellairsia that on the first edition hard cover edition of this book, the spelling on the stained glass window is incorrect - "ZABU". It is corrected on the paperback edition to "ZEBU". Looking closely at the original artwork, there is a practically invisible paste-up over the showing where Mr. Gorey corrected his mistake. This misspelling is even more unusual considering the word is spelled correctly on the sketch.
• The two pieces of interior artwork complete the collection from this title. The smaller of the two could have easily been lost over the years, and the diagram drawn by "Professor Coote" at the end of the story is another example of the care Edward Gorey took for even simple illustrations.

Statues, Figures, and Irving Finkel

In the novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell there is a wonderful passage in which the statues in York Minster Cathedral are brought to life by magic and begin to speak. The Into My Own blog speculates what the "statues and figures that can be seen in Edinburgh" might be pontificating about.

Time Capsule: 1566

March 9, 1566: When you settle down for the night, what sort of book do you dig out of the shelves? History?  Mystery?  Romance?  A book Lewis finds in his uncle’s house is Volume IX of Stoddard's Lectures, labeled "Scotland, England, and London":

Top 10 Mistypings

As we prepare for the tenth anniversary of Bellairsia, we’re using our moderately-new Twitter feed to share some memorable moments and commentary in the form of Top Ten lists.

Hannah Duston, Badass of the Week

Long-time fans will recognize the name Hannah Duston from John’s stories as she is memorialized in Johnny Dixon’s adopted home of Duston Heights. Stephan Kinsella reminds us of her story:

Despite what Riverdale Elementary School’s annual First-Grade Thanksgiving Day Class Play might have you believe, early Colonial America wasn’t all one giant super happy mecha fun time made out of maize, delicious roasted turkey breast, and Pocahontas teaching John Smith the meaning of friendship and cooperation by baking pumpkin pies and putting out on the Sabbath.

Underappreciated Author: John Bellairs

by Novel Nematode (Feb. 26, 2010)

(Originally published at novelnematode.wordpress.com)

Big Mouth Strikes Again

Years later, a passage from The Face in the Frost reminds a reader about wider-than-usual mouths.  Take heed, sir: Kuchisake Onna pops up The Tower at the End of the World. 

Women in Bellairs' Fiction

What's Kate reading? Bellairs, again, as this prolific reader and blogger (who has reviewed more than a few Bellairs titles) has a new commentary on the female characters in John’s novels.

Light and Shade, Alas! Alas!

Vincent Desjardins is an illustrator and a fan of children's book illustrations who noted he was recently inspired by The Dark Secret of Weatherend

Goreyana: Weatherend & Spell

Notes from Goreyana about The Dark Secret of Weatherend and The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull:

(Almost) Everywhere Washington Slept

In a 1999 Smithsonian Magazine article, Timothy Foote explained, driven by duty to present himself to the citizens of the shaky new union, young George Washington spent the night in so many inns and private houses that “George Washington Slept Here” became a real estate cliché, as well as the title of a clunky 1940 stage show and 1942 comedy film starring Jack Benny.

One wonders, if the phrase was so popular, if Professor Childermass and Johnny ever saw it on something during the course of their adventures throughout New England.  It would be nice to pretend Washington slept at ... oh, let's say the Fitzwilliam Inn in New Hampshire, the site of The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull.  However, the inn opened in 1796 and the former president would die a mere 3 years later, so --

Anyway --

Fast-forward to a Feb. 14 Boston Globe article about where Washington slept in Newburyport.  The library of all place.

Top 10 Gorey Titles

In preparation for what would have been Edward Gorey’s 85th birthday later this month, we’re counting down what are, in our meager opinion, the top ten strangest sounding Gorey book titles. Who else could come up with something as arcane as The Eclectic Abecedarium?

Time Capsule: February 8, 1910

February 8, 1910: 100 years ago today – February 8, 1910 – William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America. Popular legend says that Boyce first learned of the Scouting movement organized by Lord Robert Baden-Powell from an Unknown Scout that gave him directions on a foggy London street in late 1909.