Mara Rockliff

So this famous French dude called Buffon started badmouthing American flora and fauna in print, and Thomas Jefferson wasn't having it! He used his lifelong passion for numbers to disprove Buffon's assertions (although Buffon actually died before admitting he was wrong) in Notes on the State of Virginia.

Back matter includes a Jefferson quote and more information about his "mania for math" some of "Jefferson's numbers" (answering the questions raised in the book, e.g. How far was an hour's walk? How hot was it in Philadelphia in July 4, 1776?), primary sources, and selected secondary sources.… (mer)

"Addie never wanted to be ordinary." She danced onstage, rode an early bicycle ("the boneshaker"), sailed to America, married a magician and became part of the act onstage. When her husband Alexander died of a heart attack, Addie continued their magic show herself, even performing the dangerous bullet-catching trick.

Adelaide Hermann (1853-1932) wrote an unpublished manuscript, Sixty-Five Years of Magic, which she gave to a niece, and which was rediscovered by Margaret Steele, another stage magician, who published it in 2012.

The large trim size of the book and the pencil illustrations, digitally colored, combine to make a large, inviting "stage," with paper-doll-like figures framing or pointing readers' attention to the main action.

Exciting!

Secrets of the bullet-catching trick, revealed: https://mararockliff.com/bullet… (mer)