Dog's Nose

We are having a Dickensian party tomorrow, with authentic Dickensian drinks taken from Cedric Dickens's Drinking with Dickens. One of these is the Dog's Nose, which I made this evening so you don't have to, ever.
Dog's Nose
1 pint Guinness
2 fl oz gin
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
nutmeg
Heat the Guinness and the sugar together in a small pan until hot, nearly boiling. Turn off the heat. Add the gin and sprinkle nutmeg on top. Offer to Marian. Watch and laugh as Marian takes a sip and then rejects it in revulsion. Take a sip yourself. Realise that this is no laughing matter. Plan what to do when the fifteen people who drink it tomorrow evening are all found dead in a ditch together somewhere near Vallecas. We shall see. Watch, as they say, this space.
The picture at the top of the entry is from here, a blog written by a braver soul than I will ever be.

Bookplate

From a selected Coleridge I bought the last time I was in London. Who knows if it's the M.R., but it's nice to dream.

Dan Hillier (19??- )

More information, as always, here.

Elizabeth Price (1966- )

When I was last in London I went, almost without meaning to, to the Turner Prize exhibition. Elizabeth Price (more information here) was for me the most interesting artist on the shortlist by far, but this may be down to my weakness for cinema, my desire for the womblike darkness of the viewing room, and my love of clerestories.

La vie parisienne

More information about this 'naughty French magazine' here. I was directed to this illustration because I was looking for a definition of rastaquouère, which is my new favourite word.

Ruby Bridges (1954- )

More information here.

The Classic Toscano Cigar

Trophonius

More information here.

Lyda Borelli (1884-1959)

More info, very sketchy, here.

Chuck (1923- ) and Glennis Yeager (née Dickhouse, 1924-1990)

More information about Chuck here.

Han Suyin (1917-2012)

Pen-name of Rosalie Elizabeth Kuanghu Chow. I read And The Rain My Drink over the summer, without knowing anything about the author, another one of the miscellaneous orange Penguins I picked up in fistsfull on first returning to England.

Alex Wylie (1980- )

Among other things, Mr. Wylie is one of the editors of Poetry Proper, which has just published its fourth issue. Crude self-promotion: follow this link.

Carolyn Adams Garcia (1946- )

a.k.a. Mountain Girl, with Ken Kesey while they were all being Merry Pranksters together. More information here.