Saturday, July 24, 2010


"When empress, her prime duty had been to charm her subjects."
—Toby Faber, FabergĂ©'s Eggs (2008)

Thursday, July 22, 2010


"The magician's trademark 'top hat and tails' dates from Robert-Houdin."
—Michael Symes, Magic and Illusion

Tuesday, July 20, 2010


"Strength braces every nerve."
The Philosophical Magazine, 1809

Sunday, July 18, 2010


"The rebirth of the long-forgotten interrobang."
—William Saffire, Quoth the Maven

Friday, July 16, 2010


"He really got a kick out of the way that Numero phrased things. ... That sly devil sure is slick."
—Stephan R Hutchinson, A Trucker for President

Wednesday, July 14, 2010


"The sign & is said to be properly called Emperor’s hand, from having been first invented by some imperial personage, but by whom deponent saith not."
—William Shepard Walsh, Handy-book of Literary Curiosities (1892)

Monday, July 12, 2010


"If the world does not want it, the copyright is of 'no account.'"
The Publisher's Weekly, 1888

Saturday, July 10, 2010


Eye-in-the-wall don't look at me!
I wouldn't give you the Moon's degree.
Delta: A Review of Arts, Life and Thought in the Netherlands

Wednesday, July 7, 2010


"The unprecedented run of that space 'chariot.'"
Space World, 1971

Monday, July 5, 2010


"This will be the Signal tower, whose silhouette will be an impressive exclamation mark."
—Georges Binder, 101 of the World's Tallest Buildings

Saturday, July 3, 2010


"And that blind paragraph mark with the curled tail!"
—Herbert Jones, Stanley Morison Displayed: An Examination of His Early Typographic Work

Thursday, July 1, 2010


"The hierophant is therefore an expounder."
—Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, The Message of Philo Judaeus of Alexandria