portrait-photo

The Wunderkammer of the Mild Colonial Boy, Esq., a Reactionary Tory Gentleman, who armed only with a Steampowered Babbage Engine and Pure Intentions, wanders the Time Streams and Aetheric Plane gathering an Eccentric Hodgepodge of Curiousities, Frivolities, Whimsicalities and Nonsense.

Q. Why is your Tumblelog called "My Ear-Trumpet Has Been Struck by Lightning"?

A. Because "My Grandmother's Ear-Trumpet Has Been Struck by Lightning" wouldn't fit in the available space.

Victor Hugo: I know you’re all hooked up on the story and you want to know whether Valjean gets Cosette or is caught by Javert BUT let’s take a break, I need to tell you all about the battle of Waterloo.

kat8brains:

erindizmo:

utterlydeceptivetwaddlespeak:

Let’s now take a detour into the French sewer system because we can.

And then we’ll take a fascinating look at Parisian street slang!

Every time I read old books I’m reminded that these people were often paid by the word.

(Source: hoflords, via kat82beamup)

books0977: The first page. Illustration by Émile Bayard. From Ninety-Three, vol. 2, Victor Hugo, London, New York, 1874. Ninety-Three (Quatrevingt-Treize) is the last novel by the French writer Victor Hugo. Published in 1874, shortly after the bloody upheaval of the Paris Commune, the novel concerns the Revolt in the Vendée and Chouannerie – the counter-revolutionary revolts in 1793 during the French Revolution. It is divided into three parts, but not chronologically; each part tells a different story, offering a different view of historical general events.

books0977:

The first page. Illustration by Émile Bayard. From Ninety-Three, vol. 2, Victor Hugo, London, New York, 1874.

Ninety-Three (Quatrevingt-Treize) is the last novel by the French writer Victor Hugo. Published in 1874, shortly after the bloody upheaval of the Paris Commune, the novel concerns the Revolt in the Vendée and Chouannerie – the counter-revolutionary revolts in 1793 during the French Revolution. It is divided into three parts, but not chronologically; each part tells a different story, offering a different view of historical general events.

"The soul aids the body, and at certain moments, raises it. It is the only bird which bears up its own cage."

— Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (via polymnia)

(via perstephsanscouronne)

"Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake."

— Victor Hugo (via bluecollarclassicist)
oldbookillustrations: Radoub. Gustave Brion, from Ninety-three vol. 1, by Victor Hugo, London, New York, 1889. (Source: archive.org)

oldbookillustrations:

Radoub.

Gustave Brion, from Ninety-three vol. 1, by Victor Hugo, London, New York, 1889.

(Source: archive.org)

oldbookillustrations: Leblanc and his daughter had just left their seat, and the daughter had taken her father’s arm… François Flameng, illustration to Les Misérables, from Illustration des oeuvres complètes de Victor Hugo vol. 3 Paris, 1885. (Source: archive.org)

oldbookillustrations:

Leblanc and his daughter had just left their seat, and the daughter had taken her father’s arm…

François Flameng, illustration to Les Misérables, from Illustration des oeuvres complètes de Victor Hugo vol. 3 Paris, 1885.

(Source: archive.org)