uke-e  noun  (art) A kind of ukiyo-e (“Japanese painting or woodblock print showing a scene of everyday life”) depicting an auspicious subject, which was popular in Japan during the late 1800s.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uke-e#English   

Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries.  Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica.  The term ukiyo-e (浮世絵) translates as 'picture[s] of the floating world'.  In 1603, the city of Edo (Tokyo) became the seat of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate. The chōnin class (merchants, craftsmen and workers), positioned at the bottom of the social order, benefited the most from the city's rapid economic growth, and began to indulge in and patronize the entertainment of kabuki theatre, geisha, and courtesans of the pleasure districts; the term ukiyo ('floating world') came to describe this hedonistic lifestyle.  Printed or painted ukiyo-e works were popular with the chōnin class, who had become wealthy enough to afford to decorate their homes with them.  The earliest ukiyo-e works emerged in the 1670s, with Hishikawa Moronobu's paintings and monochromatic prints of beautiful women.  Colour prints were introduced gradually, and at first were only used for special commissions.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukiyo-e    

James Renwick Jr. (born 1818, Bloomingdale in Upper Manhattan 1895) was an American architect in the 19th century, noted especially for designing churches and museums. The Encyclopedia of American Architecture calls him "one of the most successful American architects of his time".  He learned most of his skills from his father, and then studied engineering at Columbia College, now Columbia University, in Manhattan.  He entered Columbia at age twelve and graduated in 1836.  He received a M.A. three years later.  Renwick received his first major commission at the age of twenty-five in 1843, in which he won a competitive bidding process to design Grace Church, an Episcopal Church in New York City, which was built in English Gothic style.  In 1846, Renwick won a competition to design of the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, D.C.  Built between 1847 and 1855, the Smithsonian's many-turreted building, often referred to as "the Castle," was designed in Romanesque style, as requested by the Smithsonian's Board of Regents, and was built with red sandstone quarried at Seneca Quarry in Seneca, Maryland.  The Smithsonian Institution Building proved influential in inspiring the Gothic revival in the United States.  In 1849, Renwick designed the Free Academy Building at present-day City College of New York at Lexington Avenue and 23rd Street in New York City.  It was one of the first Gothic Revival college buildings on the U.S. East Coast.  Renwick went on to design St. Patrick's Cathedral, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 51st Street, which is considered his most notable architectural achievement.  He was chosen as architect for the Roman Catholic cathedral in 1853; construction began in 1858, and the cathedral opened in May 1879.  The cathedral is the most ambitious Gothic-style structure, and includes a mixture of German, French, and English Gothic influences.  Renwick was the supervising architect for the Commission of Charities and Correction.  A small group of Renwick's architectural drawings and papers are held by the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University.  See pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Renwick_Jr.   

The Best Reviewed Books of the Week Michael Cunningham’s Day, Benjamin Taylor’s Chasing Bright Medusas  A Life of Willa Cather, and Claire Keegan’s So Late in the Day all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week.  November 17, 2023 by Book Marks   https://lithub.com/what-should-you-read-next-here-are-the-best-reviewed-books-of-the-week-11-17-2023/   

the world is someone's oyster  proverb  All opportunities are open to someone; the world is theirs.  From the version of the play The Merry Wives of Windsor published in the First Folio (1623) of the works of the English playwright William Shakespeare (baptized 1564; died 1616).  The original context was that Ancient Pistol would use force to obtain a loan from Sir John Falstaff, like prising open an oyster with a sword to obtain a pearl.  Derived:  the world is one's lobster  The First Folio of the English playwright William Shakespeare’s plays, regarded as one of the most influential books ever published, was entered into the Stationers’ Register  400 years ago (on 18 November according to the Julian calendar) in 1623. This term originates from the play The Merry Wives of Windsor which appears in the book.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/the_world_is_someone%27s_oyster#English   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2747  November 20, 2023