Hoosegow is a fine old American slang term for a jail, still widely known today.  Most people would connect it with the nineteenth-century cowboys of the Wild West.  It’s very likely that they knew the word, but it didn’t start to be written down until the early twentieth century.  The first known example was penned by Harry Fisher, better known as Bud, in one of his early Mutt & Jeff cartoons, of 1908:  “Mutt . . . may be released from the hooze gow.”  The word is from Mexican Spanish juzgao, a jail, which came from juzgado for a tribunal or courtroom.  It shifted to mean a jail because the two were often in the same building (and the path from the one to the other was often swift and certain).  In sense and language origin it’s a relative of calaboose, which is also a prison (from calabozo, a dungeon, via the French of Louisiana).  Hoosegow is now the standard spelling, though in its early days it was written half a dozen different ways.  We link it in our minds with cowboys largely because so much of their lingo was taken from Spanish and then mangled to fit English ideas of the way to say it.  That included buckaroo (Spanish vaquero), bronco (from a word that meant rough or rude), lasso (lazo), lariat (la reata), chaps (chaparreras), hackamore bridles (jáquima), mustang (mesteña), cinch (cincha), as well as the direct borrowings of corral and rodeo.  https://www.alphadictionary.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4191 

By the early 1300s, according to Oxford English Dictionary citations, the noun “shamble” (schamil in Middle English) referred to “a table or stall for the sale of meat.”  In the 1400s, English speakers began using the word in the plural for a butcher shop or a meat market.  And in the 1500s, the plural was used for a slaughterhouse.  By the late 1500s, Oxford says, the word “shambles” came to mean “a place of carnage or wholesale slaughter; a scene of blood.”  In the early 20th century, according to the OED, the word “shambles” took on its modern sense of “a scene of disorder or devastation; a ruin; a mess.”  The dictionary’s earliest example of this new usage is from Microbe Hunters, a 1926 bestseller by the microbiologist Paul Henry de Kruif:  “Once more his laboratory became a shambles of cluttered flasks and hurrying assistants.”  https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/12/shambolic.html

 Butterscotch is a simple mixture of brown sugar and butter.  It can be a hard candy, or a sauce, or a flavor.  The difference between butterscotch and caramel?  Caramel uses white sugar and also includes heavy cream.  posted by Sue  Find recipe for butterscotch pudding  plus links to other old-timey recipes at https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/butterscotch-pudding-recipe/ 

What’s the difference between ignorance and apathy?  I don’t know and I don’t care.

What’s the difference between ignorance, apathy and arrogance?  I don’t know, I don’t care and why should I?

What’s the difference between ignorance, apathy and ambivalence?  I don’t know, I don’t care and I have mixed feelings thinking about it.  

eastering  noun  Eastward movement or drift; the action of turning or moving to the east. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/eastering  westering  adjective  literary  (especially of the sun) nearing the west.  https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/westering 

Written (alphabetic) s is silent in isle, faille, island, aisle, lisle, Carlisle, and Viscount.   https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8860&context=gradschool_disstheses 

Pledges from a political candidate:  I will never permit a negative ad against my opponent, I will never ask anyone for a financial contribution, and finally, I promise to make no campaign promises.  *  We accomplish social change by cooperation, not conflict.  *  Nothing is more successful than martyrdom. * The Senator and the Priest, a novel by Andrew M. Greeley 

 “Collar counties” is a term applied to the five counties that surround the centrally located Cook County in the Chicago metropolitan area:  DuPage County, Kane County, Lake County, McHenry County, and Will County.  There is no documentation of the origin of the term, but it probably came into use in the 1960s or 1970s.  It is widely used in urban planning and public policy circles and in the media.  As metropolitan growth begins to extend into counties outside the ring established by collar counties, the term may begin to lose some of its meaning and utility as a descriptor of the metropolitan region.  http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/3.html 

Hundreds of interior design books are published every year, from nitty-gritty how-to guides to lavish volumes that are the publishing world’s answer to lifetime achievement awards.  But they all owe their existence to a pioneering guide that was all the rage in 1897:  The Decoration of Houses, written by Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman Jr.  Wharton, at the time, was a 30-something Manhattan society matron with a keen interest in architecture and interior design, rather than the Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist she would become.  Codman was a blue-blooded architect, one year her junior, with whom Wharton and her husband were remodeling a summer place in Newport, Rhode Island.  Poor taste and vulgarity of all kinds reigned in that New England resort town, thanks to an influx of Vanderbilts and other newly moneyed clans anxious to put their lucre to conspicuous use, so much so that Wharton and Codman decided to write a book about how to build and decorate houses with nobility, grace, and timelessness.  Mitchell Owens  https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/edith-wharton-decoration-of-houses-interior-design

 Edith Wharton (born Edith Newbold Jones; 1862–1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and designer.  Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper class New York "aristocracy" to realistically portray the lives and morals of the Gilded Age.  In 1921, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Literature, for her novel The Age of Innocence.  She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.  Among her other well known works are the The House of Mirth and the novella Ethan Frome.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Wharton 

in the arms of Morpheus prepositional phrase  (literary, figuratively) Asleep, sleeping.  Synonym:  in Morpheus' arms (obsolete)  (by extension, figuratively)  In a state of being completely forgotten, or of unawareness.  March 19, the Friday before the March equinox, is World Sleep Day in 2021, an event organized by the World Sleep Society to highlight the benefits of healthy sleep and the burden of sleep problems, and to promote the prevention and management of sleep disorders. 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2340  March 19, 2021

Mexican horchata is the agua fresca that dreams are made of.  While sweet and slightly creamy, it usually isn’t dairy-derived.  Instead, it’s made by soaking white rice in water and cinnamon for several hours, straining, and adding sugar.  Vaguely reminiscent of a delicate rice pudding, there’s nothing more refreshing than a cold cup of horchata on a hot summer day.  But long ago, horchata was more than just a refreshment.  While the Mexican version of the drink first appeared in the 16th century, its roots date back to an ancient Roman medical elixir made from barley.  In fact, the word horchata comes from the Latin hordeum (barley) and hordeata (drink made with barley).  From its role as medicine in antiquity, the beverage took a circuitous route across Europe and across the Atlantic to Latin America.  Along the way, horchata became a whole family of drinks made from various grains, nuts, and seeds.  Ancient doctors thought that barley, the oldest cultivated cereal in the Near East and Europe, possessed cooling properties.  Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician who famously said, “let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,” recommended barley water for the healthy and sick alike.  But while it was hydrating and nutrient-rich, the ancient drink was fairly tasteless.  Prepared by boiling barley in water, it had to be flavored with honey and fresh herbs.  Maite Gomez-Rejon  https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/history-of-horchata 

“Theirs not to reason why”  The Charge of the Light Brigade by ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45319/the-charge-of-the-light-brigade 

The Charge of the Light Brigade was a failed military action involving the British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War.  Lord Raglan had intended to send the Light Brigade to prevent the Russians from removing captured guns from overrun Turkish positions, a task for which the light cavalry were well-suited.  However, there was miscommunication in the chain of command and the Light Brigade was instead sent on a frontal assault against a different artillery battery, one well-prepared with excellent fields of defensive fire.  The Light Brigade reached the battery under withering direct fire and scattered some of the gunners, but they were forced to retreat immediately, and the assault ended with very high British casualties and no decisive gains.  The events were the subject of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's narrative poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1854), published just six weeks after the event.  Its lines emphasise the valour of the cavalry in bravely carrying out their orders, regardless of the nearly inevitable outcome.  Responsibility for the miscommunication has remained controversial, as the order was vague and Louis Edward Nolan delivered the written orders with some verbal interpretation, then died in the first minute of the assault.  The Light Brigade were the British light cavalry force.  It mounted light, fast horses which were unarmoured.  The men were armed with lances and sabres.  Optimized for maximum mobility and speed, they were intended for reconnaissance and skirmishing.  They were also ideal for cutting down infantry and artillery units as they attempted to retreat.  The Heavy Brigade under James Scarlett was the British heavy cavalry force.  It mounted large, heavy chargers.  The men were equipped with metal helmets and armed with cavalry swords for close combat.  They were intended as the primary British shock force, leading frontal charges in order to break enemy lines.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade 

London-based writer Kassia St. Clair delivers a mix of science, humor, and art history in The Secret Lives of Colors, a collection of bite-size essays on the cultural and social lore of colors based on her column in British Elle Decoration.  The author arranges her color commentary in blocks:  color entries start with white and end with black; in between, St. Clair tells the stories of colors unglamorous (umber) and obscure (gamboge) with those that kill (orpiment pigment is around 60% arsenic) or change (verdigris is the green patina that results when copper is exposed to air).  She explores etymologies (buff from buffalo) and sprinkles wit (taupe, French for mole, is “browner than a mole had a right to be”) throughout the collection.  https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-14-313114-4  Thank you, Muse reader! 

The Blue Boy (c. 1770) is a full-length portrait in oil by Thomas Gainsborough, now at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.  Perhaps Gainsborough's most famous work, The Blue Boy is thought to be a portrait of Jonathan Buttle (1752–1805), the son of a wealthy hardware merchant, although this has never been proven.  It is a historical costume study as well as a portrait; the painting of the youth in his seventeenth-century apparel is regarded as Gainsborough's homage to Anthony van Dyck and is very similar to Van Dyck's portraits of Charles II as a boy.  Gainsborough had already drawn something on the canvas before beginning The Blue Boy, which he painted over.  The painting is about life-size, measuring 48 inches (1,200 mm) wide by 70 inches (1,800 mm) tall.  The painting was in Buttle's possession until he filed for bankruptcy in 1796.  It was first bought by the politician John Nesbitt and then, in 1802, by the portrait painter John Hoppner.  In about 1809, The Blue Boy entered the collection of the Earl Grosvenor and remained with his descendants until its sale by the second Duke of Westminster to the dealer Joseph Duveen in 1921.  By then, it had become a great popular favourite in print reproductions after having been exhibited to the public in various exhibitions at the British Institution, Royal Academy and elsewhere.  In 1919, the painting inspired German film producer Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau to create his debut film Knabe in Blau (The Boy in Blue).  In a move that caused a public outcry in Britain, it was then sold to the American railway pioneer Henry Edwards Huntington for $728,800 (£182,200), according to Duveen's bill, a then-record price for any painting.  According to a mention in The New York Times dated 11 November 1921, the purchase price was $640,000, which would be $9.17 million in 2019.  The Blue Boy inspired pop artist Robert Rauschenberg to pursue a painting career.  It is often paired with a painting by Thomas Lawrence called Pinkie that sits opposite to it at the Huntington Library.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Boy 

In the Middle Ages a chandler was the person who made wax and candles, which of course was an important occupation before the invention of the electric light.  Since sailing ships needed a lot of candles, the profession was an important one in the seafaring world.  Every port had a chandlery, which was a shop that provided ships with wax and candles (and also soap, which is a byproduct of candle-making, although it’s not known how popular this was with the average seaman).  Gradually these stores expanded to include all sorts of other useful items for ships, including rope, paint, oil, turpentine, tar, varnish, and tools such as axes, hammers, nails, caulking irons, brooms, and many other nautical items that were needed on board ships.  Sailors would buy these products on credit and the ship owner would settle up with the chandlery at a later date.  https://schoonerchandlery.com/so-just-what-is-a-chandlery/ 

Oh, the Places You'll Go! is a book written and illustrated by children's author Dr. Seuss.  It was first published by Random House on January 22, 1990.  It was his last book to be published during his lifetime.  The book concerns the journey of life and its challenges.  Following its original release in 1990, Oh, the Places You'll Go! reached number one on The New York Times Best-Selling Fiction Hardcover list.  This made Dr. Seuss one of the handful of authors to have number one Hardcover Fiction and Nonfiction books on the list; among them are John Steinbeck, Jimmy Buffett and Mitch Albom; his You're Only Old Once! hit number one on the Nonfiction list in 1986.  In the United States and Canada, Oh, the Places You'll Go! is a popular gift for students graduating from kindergarten through college, spiking in sales in the April-June period.  It reached number one on USA Today's Best Selling Book list in 1997, and reached #2 in 2015 and 2017.  Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."  In 2016, Star Trek writer David Gerrold partnered with artist Ty Templeton and comic label ComicMix to start a Kickstarter project for a Star Trek-based parody of Oh, the Places You'll Go! called Oh, the Places You'll Boldly Go!  Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which manages the assets of Dr. Seuss's estate, sued to stop the Kickstarter, asserting the project violated the copyright of Oh the Places You'll Go!  While the case was found in favor of the fair use defense given by the Kickstarter project at the District Court for the Southern District of California in 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in December 2020, finding that the Star Trek-based book was not parody as it copied too much of the book's original style and composition, only juxtaposing Star Trek characters in place of Seuss' original ones.  Further, the Ninth Circuit argued that the timing of release could also impact the commercial value of Seuss' book, since the latter is typically given out as gifts for graduates.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh,_the_Places_You%27ll_Go! 

WORD FOR MARCH 17  smithereens  noun  originally Ireland, informal)  Fragments or splintered pieces; numerous tiny disconnected items.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smithereens#English

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2339  March 17, 2021  

An embarrasment of riches is an overwhelming abundance of something; having more of a good thing than one needs, especially if this makes it difficult to choose.  It is widely claimed that this idiom owes its origin to John Ozell, who translated a French Play called L’Embarrass des richesses, into English and published this translation in 1735.  Although the title of the French play could indeed be directly translated into “an embarrasment of riches,” the problem with the claim that Ozell originated the idiom is that Ozell did not use this as his title.  Instead, he called the play Plague of Riches.  Although embarrassment of riches has been used in English since at least the 1720s, earlier than Ozell’s translation appeared, it does not appear to have entered common use until the 1800s.  Although the idiom clearly did not come from Ozell’s translation, it is possible that it came from the play.  https://www.idioms.online/embarrassment-of-riches-an/ 

In algebraic geometry, a lemniscate is any of several figure-eight or ∞-shaped curves.  The word comes from the Latin "lēmniscātus" meaning "decorated with ribbons", from the Greek λημνίσκος meaning "ribbons", or which alternatively may refer to the wool from which the ribbons were made.  Curves that have been called a lemniscate include three quartic plane curves:  the hippopede or lemniscate of Booth, the lemniscate of Bernoulli, and the lemniscate of Gerono.  The study of lemniscates (and in particular the hippopede) dates to ancient Greek mathematics, but the term "lemniscate" for curves of this type comes from the work of Jacob Bernoulli in the late 17th century.  See examples, including infinity symbol, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemniscate 

Okra gets a bad rap for its slimy texture.  Virginia Willis wrote a book all about okra.  And here are five of her favorite slime-busting tips:  Choose small, fresh pods.  The smaller the pod, the less slime you'll get.  Cook okra at high heat.  Roasting at high temperatures, searing in a hot cast-iron pan, deep fat frying, or grilling are some of our favorite okra cooking methods.  Wash and dry okra very thoroughly.  If you cook wet okra it will start to steam, which will cause it to slime.  Cook okra in small batches.  If you overcrowd the pan, you're gonna bring the heat down and start steaming and sliming the okra.  Add an acid while you're cooking okra.  We add chopped up tomato, a splash of lemon juice, vinegar, or wine, to add flavor and cut down on slime. https://www.southernliving.com/food/how-to/okra-slime-busting-tips-video

 In “Food Flirts” TV show, sisters Marilyn and Sheila Brass discover two ethnically diverse dishes then head home to mash them together to create their own inspired recipes.  “It’s comforting to know that we never stop learning from one another,” Marilyn proclaims on the first episode.  “We are a melting pot.  We always have been and we always will be.”  Sheila said “Food Flirts” should really be called “Food Without Borders.”  Marilyn said she would change the name to “It’s Not What You Put on the Table, It’s What You Bring to the Table.”  Julie Levine  https://www.jweekly.com/2018/08/14/let-pbs-series-food-flirts-bring-your-family-together/

 Loie Fuller (born Marie Louise Fuller; 1862–1928), also known as Louie Fuller and Loïe Fuller, was an American actress and dancer who was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques.  Born Marie Louise Fuller in the Chicago suburb of Fullersburg, now Hinsdale, Illinois, Fuller began her theatrical career as a professional child actress and later choreographed and performed dances in burlesque (as a skirt dancer), vaudeville, and circus shows.  An early free dance practitioner, Fuller developed her own natural movement and improvisation techniques.  In multiple shows she experimented with a long skirt, choreographing its movements and playing with the ways it could reflect light.  By 1891, Fuller combined her choreography with silk costumes illuminated by multi-coloured lighting of her own design, and created the Serpentine Dance.  After much difficulty finding someone willing to produce her work when she was primarily known as an actress, she was finally hired to perform her piece between acts of a comedy entitled Uncle Celestine, and received rave reviews.  Almost immediately, she was replaced by imitators (originally Minnie "Renwood" Bemis).  In the hope of receiving serious artistic recognition that she was not getting in America, Fuller left for Europe in June 1892.  She became one of the first of many American modern dancers who traveled to Europe to seek recognition.  Her warm reception in Paris persuaded Fuller to remain in France, where she became one of the leading revolutionaries in the arts. A regular performer at the Folies Bergère with works such as Fire Dance, Fuller became the embodiment of the Art Nouveau movement and was often identified with Symbolism, as her work was seen as the perfect reciprocity between idea and symbol.  See pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loie_Fuller 

To sleep like a log/top  To sleep very soundly.  The earliest simile of this kind, now obsolete, is to sleep like a swine (pig/hog), which dates from Chaucer’s time.  I shall sleep like a top,” wrote Sir William Davenant in Rivals (1668), no doubt referring to a spinning top that, when spinning fast, is so steady and quiet that it seems not to move at all.  This simile persists, particularly in Britain.  To sleep like a log is more often heard in America, although it has English forebears back as far as the sixteenth century.   An older cliché is to sleep the sleep of the just, meaning to sleep soundly, presumably because one has aclear conscience.  Its original source is a 1695 translation of a passage from the French dramatist Jean-Baptiste Racine’s Summary of the History of Port-Royal.  https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/sleep+like+a+top   See also https://wordhistories.net/2016/06/24/sleep-like-a-top/ 

With a culinary tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages and a language whose roots are much older, Ireland has a number of mysterious food terms by Diane Chang   Read about Irish food from Balnamoon Skink (soup made with trussed fowls and seasoned with herbs and onions) to Yellowman (golden confection with a texture similar to honeycomb) at https://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/holidays/article/boxty-coddle-and-balnamoon-skink

If you go back a few hundred years to the 16th and 17th centuries, great authors such as Shakespeare and Chaucer wrote of characters who were green with envy.  Shakespeare uses green to describe both envy and jealousy at least three times in his works.  In Othello, Iago refers to the ‘green-eyed monster.’  In Anthony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare wrote of the ‘green sickness,’ meaning envy.  And in Merchant of Venice, he used the term ‘green-eyed jealousy.’  Link to books about color at https://www.sensationalcolor.com/green-with-envy/ 

The Ides of March is the 74th day in the Roman calendar, corresponding to 15 March.  It was marked by several religious observances and was notable for the Romans as a deadline for settling debts.  In 44 BC, it became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar which made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history.  The Romans did not number each day of a month from the first to the last day.  Instead, they counted back from three fixed points of the month:  the Nones (the 5th or 7th, nine days inclusive before the Ides), the Ides (the 13th for most months, but the 15th in March, May, July, and October), and the Kalends (1st of the following month).  Originally the Ides were supposed to be determined by the full moon, reflecting the lunar origin of the Roman calendar.  In the earliest calendar, the Ides of March would have been the first full moon of the new year.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ides_of_March 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2338  March 15, 2021 

Joseph Moncure March (1899-1997) was a poet, essayist and Hollywood screenwriter who is best known for his long narrative poems The Wild Party and The Set-Up.  http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/amherst/ma210.html 

List of films based on poems (such as Beowulf (1999, USA); Beowulf (2007, USA); Beowulf & Grendel (2005, Iceland, United Kingdom, Canada); Braveheart (1995, USA), from The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace, by Blind Harry; Casey at the Bat (1927, USA); El Cid (1961, USA, Spain, Charlton Heston); The Set-Up (1949, United States) based on the narrative poem The Set-Up by Joseph Moncure March; The Shooting of Dan McGrew (1924, United States); Troy (2004, United States), from the poem The Iliad by Homer; Ulysses (1954, Italy) based on the epic poem Odyssey by Homer; and The White Cliffs of Dover (1944, United States) based on the poem The White Cliffs by Alice Duer Miller with additional poetry by screenwriter Robert Nathan at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_poems 

If a palindrome is a word that reads the same backwards as forwards, then a semordnilap is a word that spells out a different word when read backwards, like stressed and desserts, or diaper and repaid.  That definition makes the word semordnilap a semordnilap itself—but whereas most semordnilaps are little more than sheer coincidence, a word or name that is intentionally invented by reversing another existing word is properly called an ananym.  Words coined by reversing others aren’t quite as rare as they might seem.  It’s a technique used to invent everything from place names, like Adanac in Canada and Adaven in Nevada, to first names:  the Scots name Segna is thought to have been invented by (mostly) reversing the name Agnes, while Nevaeh, coined by reversing the word heaven, recently crept into the top 100 girls’ names in America.  It’s also a popular source of brand names, like Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions.  Fiction writers too often call on ananyms when it comes to inventing characters and settings, like Samuel Butler’s Erewhon (a mangled reversal of nowhere) or Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood (set in the fictional Welsh village of Llareggub, a none-too-subtle reversal of “bugger all”).  And when a mysterious Hungarian aristocrat named Count Alucard turns up in New Orleans in the 1943 film Son of Dracula—well, you can guess what happens next.  Paul Anthony Jones  Find ten examples of ananyms at https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/91206/10-backwards-words-ended-dictionary 

South America’s palm trees provide coquitos.  These tiny treats are the full-sized fruits of the Chilean wine palm—a tree Darwin once called “very ugly.”  According to varying reports, these gargantuan plants can live from a century to a millennia.  Locals enjoy the flavor both raw and cooked, though some tasters say the skin leaves a residue on the tongue.  The fruit’s firm, white insides have a crunchy sweetness, reminiscent of an almond.  And unlike a mature coconut, a whole coquito nut can be eaten in one bite.  (Just be sure to crack its shell open first.)  Like its full-size brethren, these marble-sized coconuts are put to myriad uses.  Chileans add them to cookies, cakes, ice cream, and jellies for texture and nuttiness.  Peruvians incorporate them in traditional ranfañote, a coquito- and salty cheese-topped bread pudding.  Puerto Ricans also know coquito, but as something different.  It’s a cousin of eggnog, made with coconut milk on the island.  https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/coquito-nuts-mini-coconuts 

In the German language, Schwein gehabt or “having a pig” means being lucky, and giving away little porkies made of sugar and almond paste is a New Year’s tradition meant for good fortune.  If you've ever been to Germany around Christmastime, you've probably seen a marzipan pig.  Giving away little porkies made of sugar and almond paste is a New Year's tradition meant for good fortune.  In the German language, Schwein gehabt or "having a pig" means being lucky.  It's an expression that comes from medieval times, when a farmer who had bred a lot of pigs would be having a banner year.  Marzipan is a sweet delicacy that became popular in Germany around the same time, especially in the northern city of Lübeck.  Once an important medieval trading town, Lübeck's become regarded over the years as one of the best places in the world to get this smooth, sugary candy.  Barbara Woolsey  See pictures at https://www.vice.com/en/article/gvmjxw/marzipan-pigs-are-the-sweetest-way-to-celebrate-new-years-in-germany 

Founded in 1744, Sotheby’s is the oldest and largest internationally recognised firm of fine art auctioneers in the world.  It has a global network of 80 offices and the company’s annual worldwide sales turnover is currently in excess of $4 billion.  Sotheby’s founder, Samuel Baker, was an entrepreneur, occasional publisher and successful bookseller who held his first auction under his own name on 11 March 1744.  The dispersal of “several Hundred scarce and valuable Books in all branches of Polite Literature” from the library of Sir John Stanley fetched a grand total of £826.  In 1767 Baker went into partnership with George Leigh. Leigh was a natural auctioneer with an actor’s sense of timing.  His ivory hammer is still on display at Sotheby’s London galleries.  On Baker’s death in 1778, his estate was divided between Leigh and Baker’s nephew John Sotheby, whose family remained involved in the business for more than 80 years.  During that time the company extended its role to take in the sale of prints, coins, medals and antiquities.  In 1842 John Wilkinson, the firm’s senior accountant, became a partner and when the last of the Sotheby family died in 1861, Wilkinson took over as head of the business.  Three years later he promoted Edward Grose Hodge, and restyled the company Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, the name it carried until 1924.  Read more and see pictures at https://www.sothebys.com/en/about/our-history 

March 8, 2021  A rare self-published cookbook by Andy Warhol—one of only 34 color copies made—is up for auction this month at Bonhams.  Warhol collaborated on the book with his friend Suzie Frankfurt, who wrote the text, and his mother, who did the calligraphy, adding deliberate misspellings.  The cookbook is a parody of late 50s haute cuisine cookbooks, inventing dishes like “Omelet Greta Garbo” (which is “always to be eaten alone in a candlelit room”) and “Seared Roebuck” (“roebuck shot in ambush infinitely better than roebuck killed after a chase”).  This was in 1959, before Warhol was famous; the team couldn’t even sell 34 copies, and most were given away to their friends.  The copy up for auction bears the inscription, in Warhol’s hand, “To De De”—it was a gift to the fashion editor D.D. Ryan.  Walker Caplan  See some of the recipes at https://lithub.com/take-a-look-inside-this-rare-self-published-andy-warhol-cookbook/ 

The first virtual Non-Fungible Token (NFT) artwork to be sold at a major auction house closed at $69,346,250 during an online auction by Christie's on March 11, 2021.  The record-breaking sale of "Everydays:  The First 5000 Days" catapults the creator, Mike Winkelmann, who goes by Beeple, near the summit of the most expensive living artists to date, placing him just below David Hockney and Jeff Koons. Hockney's painting "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" sold for $90.3 million in 2018, while Koons' stainless steel sculpture "Rabbit" topped the list at $91.1 million in 2019.  Jacqui Palumbo  See picture at https://www.cnn.com/style/article/beeple-first-nft-artwork-at-auction-sale-result/index.html 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2337  March 12, 2021