memory
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memory© Princeton University
Swordsman, tranny, soldier, spy
Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d’Eon de Beaumont (1728 – 1810) led a life that, two centuries later, still seems unbelievable. Author, master swordsman, diplomat and secret agent, he earned one of his century’s rarest distinctions: l’Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint-Louis. His life in Russia, Paris and London was also distinguished by the fact that he spent 49 years of it as a man, then 3...
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memory© Sweet Memories of Arundel
Ils nous vendent leurs salades...sucrées?
Aujourd’hui, il faut qu’on parle d’une nouvelle entente cordiale grâce à la réception anglaise qui est maintenant accordée au chèvre – au plus exactement, au chèvre chaud. Étant donné que nous, les rosbifs, n’avons jamais été doués pour les salades et que nous avons déjà passé plusieurs siècles en gaspillant un grand patrimoine de légumes verts, a réussite anglaise de cette chose est d...
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memory© Maison de Balzac
Paris fashion's good time girl
Before the 20th century’s muse or supermodel, Paris fashion had its own special heroine. She was la grisette, a young woman who spent her life in the service of style. Grisettes made the dresses, lingerie and hats of Paris; they also created the laces, flowers and trim which distinguished them. Despite low wages and sweatshop hours, la grisette always found the time to dance and flirt. In the 1830s, she became a public se...
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memory© J. Liebling
Streets of London
For Londoners, this is a year to celebrate the street photographer, as historic shots of their capital light up the Museum of London. Here, in precious and remarkably vivid photos, one can glimpse the very world detailed by writers like Mayhew and Dickens – as street photography commences in the Victorian era.
While most early photographers fixated on buildings and vistas, some planted equipment around the teeming streets....
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memory© J.P. Poulet
Who sold the idea?
The Paris sales take place twice a year, for five weeks, in both July and January. Since 1906, their actual dates have been set by the government. As with la rentrée (the re-entry from summer vacation) or the baccalauréat exams in June, les soldes function as a moment of national re-examination.
The sales are from being considered an aberration. That place is reserved for London’s after-Christmas frenzy, always a feature...