Due to interest shown in the giraffe piano last week, I’m following up with information on other upright pianos.
“There are four main types of upright grand piano. One of the earliest was the 'pyramid' piano (Pyramidenflügel), with a triangular case that tapered to a flat top. Another approach was represented by the 'bookcase' piano. These are extremely tall, rectangular instruments. The strings run vertically up from the keyboard, and the empty space on the treble side would often be filled with shelves. The 'giraffe' piano (Giraffenflügel) has its strings perpendicular to the keyboard. Its case slopes down elegantly from an extremely tall left side to the short treble side. The fourth type of upright grand piano is the 'lyre' piano (Lyraflügel). This evolved from the pyramid, and was built almost exclusively by Berlin piano makers in the second quarter of the 19th century.”
http://www.ptg.org/resources-historyOfPianos-upright.php


Some of the best soil in the world under water
On 15, residents in Iowa City--where the Iowa River was nearing its projected crest and rising downstream--were struggling with the waters, which submerged part of the University of Iowa’s campus and sent workers scrambling to move books and paintings from the university’s Arts Campus.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/us/16midwest.html?em&ex=1213761600&en=26c8215ba785304e&ei=5087%0A
See picture near confluence of Iowa and Cedar Rivers at link above.

Quote
We’re ruled by two different governments in America: the federal government in Washington and the government of the state we live in. The Bill of Rights only limits what the federal government can do to us . . . The Bill of Rights gives us virtually no protection against human and civil rights violations by state governments. And state laws are the ones that affect our lives much more directly than the federal government . . . ”
The Twelfth Card by Jeffery Deaver

June 14 is the birthday of American editor and publisher John Bartlett, born in Plymouth, Massachusetts (1820). His Familiar Quotations (1855) is still familiar and in its 17th edition. Bartlett started working at the University Book Store in nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he was 16. Here he picked up his habit of collecting quotations, many of which came from the Bible and Shakespeare. "Ask John Bartlett" became a pass phrase among students looking for an odd bit of knowledge. Bartlett bought the bookstore in 1849 and married the granddaughter of a Harvard University president a couple years later. Besides books he enjoyed fishing and whist.
June 14 is the birthday of American novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe, (books by this author) born Harriet Elizabeth Beecher in Litchfield, Connecticut (1811). Stowe's most famous work, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), was published in weekly installments for a year in the abolitionist paper National Era before it was published in its entirety. Three million copies of the book were sold before the Civil War began in 1861. The publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin brought Stowe international acclaim. She was invited to give lectures in Scotland and England and met Queen Victoria in 1856. The book was translated into 37 languages and made into both a play and a musical. George Aiken's dramatization was performed continuously from 1853 to 1934 in the United States. Throughout the Civil War, Stowe advocated for rights for former slaves, although she avoided associations with extremist abolitionists. Following the war, the author set up a school for former slaves in Florida.
Stowe said, "The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."
On June 15, 1215, King John of England put his seal to the Magna Carta, one of the first historical documents to state that subjects have rights beyond the power of their rulers. The right to a trial by jury and the right of habeas corpus, which prevents one from being unlawfully imprisoned, have been extrapolated from the Magna Carta. King John was more or less coerced into agreeing to the document by a group of barons who were upset at his disastrous and costly foreign policy.. "Magna Carta" means "great charter" in Latin.
June 16 is the birthday of Joyce Carol Oates,(books by this author) born in Lockport, New York (1938). She's known for novels and short stories in which people's lives are torn apart by violence. She grew up in a rural part of New York, which she later used as the basis for the fictional Eden County, where many of her stories and novels are set. She began making up stories as a child, even before she knew how to write, and drew pictures to record them. The book that had the most profound influence on her life and her writing was Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. She read it when she was about 10 years old, and loved how Alice was calm and rational when facing nightmarish situations. She said that Alice's calmness made a strong impression, and ever since she has tried to write about nightmares and bizarre things in a coherent, calm way.
She published her first story, "In the Old World," in Mademoiselle magazine (1959) just before her senior year of college, and she published her first book of short stories, By the North Gate, a few years later, in 1963. She has gone on to become one of the most prolific writers of her generation, writing more than 70 books in 40 years, including novels, short stories, plays, poetry, and essays. She writes almost everything in long hand before typing, and she usually cuts out a few hundred pages from every novel before it is published.
On June 16, 1858, Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in Springfield, Illinois, urging that the issue of slavery be resolved once and for all. He said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
The Writer’s Almanac