This was a practice where the mother…often disguised or hiding often under a spread…holds her baby tightly for the photographer to insure a sharply focused image.

Hidden Mother : Tintypes and Cabinets Flickr Group

(via Roslyn Cook / Retronaut)

Exactly when the first Yarmouth Bloater was made is not clear, but it is believed to have been around 1835 when a herring-curer named Bishop had a happy misfortune.

It transpired that one night a quantity of fresh herrings had been missed and not processed, so as not to waste these fish Bishop is said to have covered them in salt, spitted them and hung them up in the smokehouse.

On his return the next morning he was amazed by their colour and taste and so proceeded to perfect the cure.

In 1919 a Mr J W de Caux J.P. wrote, “A real Yarmouth bloater is a full herring slightly salted and smoked; it should be eaten within two or three days, as it will not ‘keep’ long, and soon loses its flavour.”

Get that classic 19th century look with our Gentlemen’s Moustache, a costume facial hair accessory. This costume facial hair is available in a variety of colors including black, blonde, light grey, dark grey, light brown and medium brown. Our Gentleman’s Moustache costume facial hair is made of 100% human hair on a lace back for a realistic look. Spirit gum is needed to apply this item. This human hair moustache facial hair would make a great accessory to a Englishman, Colonel Major or other 19th century character costume. One size fits most adults.

ANYWAYS: An Antarctic Mystery, as far as I can tell, is based on the idea that The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym is, in fact, completely true, and these later adventurers are going to follow up on his report. I am certain that I am failing to communicate how completely awesome this is, that Jules Verne is in some meta, wonderful way based an entire novel on the premise that the framing of yet another foundational adventure novel is in fact not a framing but a true thing. And he spends SIXTY PAGES setting this up.

Well, some guy at a blog I’ve never heard of wrote an article about them.

Joy Delyria and Sean Michael Robinson have produced a brilliant satirical essay that re-imagines the acclaimed television series The Wire as a 19th-Century serialized novel. It’s wonderful, and will give you a reason to use the word “Dickensian” today.

Via Geekosystem

Thanks, @amandagt via @bittman, @kbittie, and @adevries18.

Specifically, he’s been tweeting gorgeous photos from this collection all afternoon.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: An imposing, handsome figure, Buchanan stood a bit over 6 feet tall and had broad shoulders and a sizable paunch. He had a very fair complexion and large blue eyes. His massive forehead receded to silky gray hair, which he wore swept up and back. He had rather small feet for his size and took quick steps. His most distinctive feature was a wryneck; his head was habitually cocked to the left. Unlike most victims of wryneck, his was not caused by muscular malfunction. Rather, it was a result of a peculiar eye disorder. One eye was nearsighted, the other farsighted; also the left eyeball was pitched higher in the socket than was the right. To compensate, Buchanan early developed the habit of cocking his head and closing one eye. If he were talking to someone or examining something close up, he would wink shut the farsighted eye; if gazing in the distance, he closed the nearsighted one. For reading he found it easier to focus with a candle in front of his eyes. He apparently coped well with the disorder, for he read much throughout his career and did not wear glasses until near the end of his life. His health otherwise generally was sound. One of Buchanan’s eyelids twitched, which, combined with his personality (in 1825, at least) led a modern Jackson biographer to describe Buchanan as a “winking, fidgeting little busybody.”

Buchanan, a wealthy bachelor with Epicurean tastes, was celebrated for serious drinking. He chided his liquor merchants for delivering champagne to the White House in small bottles. He would use his Sunday ride as an excuse to visit the Jacob Baer distillery in Washington and pick up a ten-gallon cask of “Old J.B. Whiskey.” It would amuse him when White House guests mistook the initials J.B. for his own. A journalist of the time wrote “There was no head ache, no faltering steps, no flushed cheek” associated with Buchanan’s drinking. “Oh no! All was as cool, as calm and as cautious and watchful as in the beginning. More than one ambitious tyro who sought to follow his example gathered an early fall.” Buchanan would begin his drinking with cognac and end with old rye. Two or three bottles might be consumed at one sitting. The press commented on his resistance to alcohol’s effects. Buchanan dressed carefully, commonly in a black suit and white neckwear.

(Thanks to Pinky for the Presidential Ham tip.)

Old Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas.

Ten-plus bedrooms. Seven-plus bathrooms. Twenty-five thousand square feet.Three-plus acres.

Kinda pricey for the likes of us, though. Listed at $975K.

But maybe we could bargain ‘em down. The seller is described as “very motivated.”

Oh, and there’s this: “The fort sits on the banks of the Rio Grande River across from Ciudad Juarez.”

Spelled Cuidad Juarez in the listing. Indeed.