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Category Archives: Paris history
Les petits bleus
Elderly guidebooks let you visit Paris in the past. We have three. Two date from 1927 – Muirhead’s Paris and its Environs (Blue Guides), and the Express Guide to Paris and Environs (Publications Anglo-Américaines) – and one from 1950: Nagel’s … Continue reading
A question of time
What do you remember most vividly about your first visit to Paris? For me, more than 20 years ago, it was the astounding range of merchandise in shops and galleries, the parks, and the cleanliness of the city. For a … Continue reading
Posted in Paris civic functions, Paris history, Paris hotels, Paris streets
Tagged Carl Albert Mayrhofer, Charles-Augustin Meurice, Compagnie Générale des Horloges Pneumatiques, Ernest Resch, Flood of 1910, Hotel Meurice, Jules Albert Berly, Paris Flood 1910, pneumatic clocks, rue Ste-Anne, Scientific American, Victor Popp
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The Rise and Fall of the Visual Telegraph
Sometimes we go looking for blog ideas, and sometimes they come along and tap us persistently on the shoulder. This one did – three times. First, I spotted an “advertorial” in a 1912 issue of a small American magazine called … Continue reading
Posted in Paris history
Tagged Abraham Chappe, Abraham-Louis Bréguet, Belleville, Claude Chappe, Ecouen, François Blanc, Louis Blanc, Napoleon Bonaparte, Père Lachaise, Réné Chappe, rue Chappe, rue de l’Université, Saint-Martin-du-Tertre, semaphore, St-Pierre de Montmartre, St-Sulpice, telegraph, Tom Standage
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Gustave Eiffel did not sleep here
On a recent visit to Laywine’s, our favourite pen and stationery store in Toronto, Philippa picked up a desk pad made by the French paper firm Exacompta, and found the following note on the front: Made in the heart of … Continue reading
Posted in Paris architecture, Paris history, World War I
Tagged Clairefontaine, Compagnie Parisienne d’air comprimé, Compagnie Parisienne de Distribution d’Électricité, Denis Cosnard, Exacompta, G. Lalo, Labor, Mignon, Paul Friésé, Quai de Jemmapes, Rhodia, Saderne, Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques
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Get thee to a library
On our last two trips to Paris, much of our time was spent in library research. Here is a picture that our friend Mireille took of us in the library of the Association Valentin Haüy. It consists of one large … Continue reading
Borders, boundaries, and snails
Toronto has recently completed a Ward Boundary Review, its first since, oh, 2000. City councillors were concerned that some wards had far more voters than others. Population was growing downtown and declining in the inner suburbs. After 17 years, Something … Continue reading
Footsteps and Sidetracks
I sometimes think that if I had it all to do over again, I would become a biographer. I’ve no interest in writing fiction when real life is so fascinating. Even in my day-job as a researcher, I love tracking … Continue reading
Posted in Paris art, Paris history, Paris streets
Tagged André Lurçat, Boulogne-Billancourt, Fernand Léger, Gabriel Loire, Georgia O’Keeffe, Henri Matisse, Lucie Brownlee, Mary Callery, Pable Picasso, place du Marché St-Honoré, Quai de Voltaire, Richard Holmes, rue du Belvédère, St. George's Church, Villa d’Alésia
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