The Old Curiosity Club discussion
Great Expectations
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GE, Chapters 01 - 02
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This is mine:
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I'm not sure what this refers to. Tristram and Everyman perhaps? ;)"
;-)
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Another childhood belief crushed."
I have managed to preserve nearly all of mine - just by not listening to people ;-)
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Another childhood belief crushed."
I have managed to preserve nearly all of mine - just by not listening to people ; - )"
Me too.
I've unearthed mine, and the cover I showed you, this one:
contains the plates from Kim's posts 104 and 105, but not 103 or the other two later ones (which I don't like much). It was originally published some time between the 1940s and 1960s, as were all these "Classics Illustrated", although the copy I have is a reprint from 2010, and slightly smaller. I know that as I still have my original of ...
The story strip Art for "Great Expectations" is by Henry C. Kiefer (although the cover artist is unknown), so he is to blame for the dagger!
Let me know Kim, if you'd like anything scanning from this. I quite like Miss Havisham :)
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I'll wait for yours then, and add any which seem irresistible.
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Yes, the first is a reprint, the second the original. For some reason some of the ones I had as a child are the US ones and some the English equivalents! Since they were all from the local paper shop I can't explain it.I've seen the originals go for about £10 each now! Though you can get them for less.
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I am so jealous of you both both for having the Classic Comics and for having access to the pictures/illustrations.
My youth was spent collecting hockey cards. Like Everyman and his comics my hockey cards are long gone. To think I once carried a fortune in my back pocket and played flips with the cards during recess at school.
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Classics Illustrated 043 Great Expectations (1947) #2
Published Nov 1947 by Classics Illustrated.
$665.00
This is a consignment item. A 3% buyer's premium ($19.95) will be charged at checkout. It ships immediately from our office.
Paper: Cream to off white
Slab: New, unblemished
Label #0225742006
Great Expectations, 2nd Printing, Line Drawing Cover. Cited in "Seduction of the Innocent." (HRN 62, original 11/47 date). Cover price $0.15.
Oh, it's from mycomicshop.com in case you want to buy it. There are lots and lots of books that were made into comics.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?pl...
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Thanks Jean.
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Classics Illustrated 043 Great Expectations (1947) #2
Published Nov 1947 by Classics Illustrated.
$665.00
This is a consignment it..."
I'm crying in my tea.
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Exactly Tristram! I only have a few from my childhood, but if I see an old one at just a couple of pounds, I may buy it, so now have a few more. This goes for old children's books I used to have too (from a nostalgic rather than collecting point of view. No intrinsic worth. They're worth more to me than anyone else, probably.)
The way I square this to myself is the opposite side of the coin. So for me it's not exactly a dilemma. Yes, I regret passing on some of these items, but sometimes I find them again and can buy them with not too many pennies. If they cost too much, well I still have my memories :)
Peter - I don't remember hockey cards, but collected all sort of other themed cards in cigarettes and tea and "Weetabix" (a breakfast cereal). Most are stuck in the little books they made for this.Never fear, you can buy spanking new copies of "Classics Illustrated" from Classic Comic Store link here, though I've never used their site. Chris buys them for me occasionally as a present, and he gets them through Amazon. Don't get too excited though - the quality is much "improved". Glossy covers and pages - no newspaper in sight; the pages are quite thick and the cover is paperback weight. Yet they are smaller. A bit odd really, but the artwork etc is identical - they are faithful reproductions.
Edited - Sorry you can get the original copies from Kim's site -much better! Didn't notice that before.
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Fakes. Nothing but fakes. The newsprint pages were part of their glory.
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What a great gift to receive from your husband! So neat.
I have noted the name of the company. I have also noted the more expensive company given by Kim. If I start dropping hints now, will Ana buy my Christmas present(s) early ... ?
;-)
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An attempt at depicting a transgender Pip, possibly? Thought why the hand is so small I have no idea. Your hand should cover virtually the whole of your face. That one barely covers the nose! And why are the fingers so stumpy ...?Scrub all that. It's clearly an alien, impersonating Pip. The five little tombstones were earlier unsuccessful attempts to infiltrate and dominate the human race.
Everyman - I agree, the new publications are fakes, but a nice reminder! Chris knows I'm big into nostalgia of this sort :D Presumably you only read these novels in your carefully stored copies of "All the Year Round"?
Kim wrote: "Here's another one for you. Does anyone know who it is supposed to be?"Hahaha! When I first looked at this picture I thought Pip (?) was reaching for toilet paper!
Did they even have toilet paper in the mid 19th century? From Wikipedia:
The use of paper for hygiene purposes has been recorded in China in the 6th century AD, with specifically manufactured toilet paper being mass-produced in the 14th century. Modern commercial toilet paper originated in the 19th century, with a patent for roll-based dispensers being made in 1883.
Well, there you go. One never knows where our conversations will lead, does one? Always an adventure.
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You're a nut.
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Hahaha! When I first looked at this picture I thought Pip (?) was reaching for toilet paper!
Did they even hav..."
I can't believe I'm asking this and will probably go look it up, but what did they use before toilet paper? Thanks for getting that image in my head Mary Lou.
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Thursday, Oct. 4th, 1860.
My dear Forster,
It would be a great pleasure to me to come to you, an immense pleasure, and to sniff the sea I love (from the shore); but I fear I must come down one morning and come back at night. I will tell you why.
Last week, I got to work on a new story. I called a council of war at the office on Tuesday. It was perfectly clear that the one thing to be done was, for me to strike in. I have therefore decided to begin a story, the length of the "Tale of Two Cities," on the 1st of December—begin publishing, that is. I must make the most I can out of the book. When I come down, I will bring you the first two or three weekly parts. The name is, "Great Expectations." I think a good name?
Now the preparations to get ahead, combined with the absolute necessity of my giving a good deal of time to the Christmas number, will tie me to the grindstone pretty tightly. It will be just as much as I can hope to do. Therefore, what I had hoped would be a few days at Eastbourne diminish to a few hours.
I took the Admiral down to Portsmouth. Every maritime person in the town knew him. He seemed to know every boy on board the Britannia, and was a tremendous favourite evidently. It was very characteristic of him that they good-naturedly helped him, he being so very small, into his hammock at night. But he couldn't rest in it on these terms, and got out again to learn the right way of getting in independently. Official report stated that "after a few spills, he succeeded perfectly, and went to sleep." He is perfectly happy on board, takes tea with the captain, leads choruses on Saturday nights, and has an immense marine for a servant.
I saw Edmund Yates at the office, and he told me that during all his mother's wanderings of mind, which were almost incessant at last, she never once went back to the old Adelphi days until she was just dying, when he heard her say, in great perplexity: "I can not get the words."
Best love to Mrs. Forster.
Ever, my dear Forster,
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Friday, Dec. 28th, 1860.
My dear Mary,
I cannot tell you how much I thank you for the beautiful cigar-case, and how seasonable, and friendly, and good, and warm-hearted it looked when I opened it at Gad's Hill. Besides which, it is a cigar-case, and will hold cigars; two crowning merits that I never yet knew to be possessed by any article claiming the same name. For all of these reasons, but more than all because it comes from you, I love it, and send you eighteen hundred and sixty kisses, with one in for the new year.
Both excellent stories and perfectly new. Your Joe swears that he never heard either—never a word or syllable of either—after he laughed at 'em this blessed day.
I have no news, except that I am not quite well, and am being doctored. Pray read "Great Expectations." I think it is very droll. It is a very great success, and seems universally liked. I suppose because it opens funnily, and with an interest too."
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But of course. In copies faithfully handed down in the family from generation to generation.
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"
Well, presumably it's supposed to the Pip, but I didn't realize that they let second graders illustrate comics.
Kim wrote: "what did they use before toilet paper?"I'm pretty sure they used old comic books. :-)
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I'm pretty sure they used old comic books. :-)"
Again, I burst out laughing. My neighbours will be wondering.
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Well, presumably it's supposed to the Pip, but I didn't realize that they let second graders illustrate comics."
I love that comment. :-)
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I'm pretty sure they used old comic books. :-)"
Mary Lou, I blame you for getting me to actually look this up.
Anyone who’s been camping will tell you that a handful of dry leaves sure comes in handy when there isn’t any toilet paper around (and as anyone knows, unfortunate, accidental brushes with poison ivy can happen!). But you may be surprised to learn that before the mass production of toilet paper, the choices for “cleaning up” were far more varied than you might imagine.
Toilet paper was invented in China. The earliest historical accounts of using wads of tissue paper to clean up after… well, afterwards, are found in the 6th century. The first toilet paper was manufactured on a large scale for that particular use occurring in what is today Zhejiang province in the 14th century.
Modern toilet paper wasn’t commonly available in the United States until the mid 19th century. Before it was manufactured in the ubiquitous 4 ½” rolls we all know and love, toilet paper came in bundles of flat sheets, roughly the size of the box of today’s facial tissues (which are larger sheets, folded). The father of American toilet tissue is said to be J.C. Gayetty, and his “Gayetty’s Medicated Paper for the Water-Closet” was available from the Civil War era, well into the 1920s.
But what did people use before toilet paper was readily available? That depends on what part of the world you are from. Traditionally, people in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent use water and the mechanical action of the left hand. Parts of Europe, too, use strategically aimed jets of water, or separate fixtures known as bidets. In those cases, toilet paper is simply used to dry off.
In Japan, flat sticks, a bit like tongue depressors, known as chügi, were drawn from left to right over the soiled area.
In ancient Greece, pottery shards were used with a similar scraping motion. Sometimes these pottery fragments would be inscribed with the name of an enemy before being used.
In Rome, people cleaned themselves after using a public latrine with a sea sponge lashed to a stick, stored in a bucket of salt water or vinegar. It was considered polite to give the sponge a cursory rinse and a squeeze before putting it back in the bucket to get it ready for the next person.
Native Americans used twigs, dry grass, small stones, and even oyster or clam shells.
In rural agrarian communities, handfuls of straw were frequently used, but one of the most popular items to use for clean-up was dried corncobs. They were plentiful, and quite efficient at cleaning. They could be drawn in one direction, or turned on axis. They were also softer on tender areas than you might think. Even after toilet paper became available, some people in Western states still preferred corncobs when using the outhouse.
Frugal settlers without indoor plumbing also deployed squares of newspaper, pages of telephone books, or the Sears Roebuck catalog because the paper was newsprint style, which was good for absorbency and softness. And some would even resort to using the pages of our own Farmers’ Almanac, which was often faithfully (and conveniently) hanging in the outhouse.
This past year, Americans bought over seven billion rolls of toilet paper, most of which is soft and designed to dissolve in water, making it friendly to our sewer and septic systems.
After I read my way through all that I found that Wikipedia has an entire page devoted to cleansing yourself. I am not going to read all this again, but just in case you want to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anal_cl...
"Kim wrote: "I'm pretty sure they used old comic books. :-)"All this fascinating information you found, and it doesn't actually cover the English way. You were closer than you knew Kim...
At least in the early part of the 20th century, most houses in England had sheets of old newspaper, roughly torn into squares and threaded on a piece on string, hung on a hook in the outside lav! And yes, I do remember this in older members of my family. I hated that place - full of cobwebs and spiders. Chris tells me that in his family he hated it because he thought bears lived there!
Of course with the price of newspapers now, it doesn't seem a particularly cheap way of going about it!
Kim wrote: "Mary Lou, I blame you for getting me to actually look this up.."You're welcome. :-) Isn't learning fun?! Now let's all take a moment to say thank you to JC Gayetty.
(PS In a pinch [so to speak], I'm told that coffee filters come in handy. As a tea drinker, I have no first hand knowledge of this assertion.)
A rather risqué ditty from Chris's Infant school, back in the days of yore, ran,"In days of old
When men were bold
And loo rolls weren't invented
They wiped their bums
On sugar plums
And thus they were contented."
After my lengthy absence, I've started back at this first thread to start getting caught up. However - there are so many posts and I've missed so many enlightening conversations! lol! Oh, I really want to seek out those comics, they look fantastic! I was not into comics as a child, but my husband likes the Tintin comics such as Tintin in Tibet, so I've gotten him the combined volumes over the years and now we have the entire set - my son likes to read them now. I've also read some fantasy and horror comics in the past couple of years and have the entire set of the The Sandman volumes. Others I've just requested from the library, but looking back at some of them they would be great to own.
And the toilet paper conversation has me giggling. I was going to say that my grandfather always said they used the Sears catalogue. :)
And a variation on Jean's ditty above, my grandfather always recited this one:
"In days of old
When knights were bold
And toilet paper had not been invented
They dropped their load
In the middle of the road
And walked away contented."
Definitely from the same stable LOL! It seems that infants had a choice between correct grammar and correct scansion!I guess if you rattle off "hadn't-been-invented" quickly, it's better?
Jean wrote: "I guess if you rattle off "hadn't-been-invented" quickly, it's better?"Well, I remember reciting it in a leisurely manner, and possibly my grandfather said it slightly differently, but this is the way I remember. I am no poet and it sounded good to me at the time. It got us all giggling anyway. :)
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My first husband's grandparents were still here when we first were dating and they still had an outhouse in the yard. Come to think of it almost all the houses had one still in the yard, and as far as I know they were all used as garden sheds. I think they're all gone now, I'll have to look the next time I walk through town. Anyway, his grandfather still used the outhouse, he couldn't get used to these "new" bathrooms so until he died he walked up the yard every time he had to go. And they had two bathrooms in the house.
Have a look for the rusty nail in the door ...I think what got the little 'uns giggling was the rude word "bum" :D
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Some goblin that has not been mentioned in the story yet?
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No, Jean. The five little tombstones are in fact markers for the area where the spacecraft is going to land.
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I just try to think logically ;-)
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Hahaha! When I first looked at this picture I thought Pip (?) was reaching for toilet paper!
..."
Here's an attempt to re-unite the topics of toilets and books again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NygOF...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2ZID...
You can't top Seinfeld.
I remember that at my grandparents' house there was no toilet paper but old newspapers torn into strips in the bathroom. However, my grandparents moved on to regular toilet paper in the mid-70s, and they were probably the last people in our region to do so ;-)
Here's the order for the Classics Illustrated for these chapters. The cover is message 114. The title page I've put in the "Reading Schedule" thread - that's page 1. Here is page 2:
Page 3 is Kim's comment 104Page 4 is Kim's comment 105
Here's page 5:
The Old Curiosity Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Simplicissimus: Der Abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch (other topics)Tintin in Tibet (other topics)
The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes (other topics)
Great Expectations (other topics)
Struwwelpeter: Fearful Stories and Vile Pictures to Instruct Good Little Folks (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Hans Christian Andersen (other topics)Edward Ardizzone (other topics)
Edward Ardizzone (other topics)
Oh yes, so it was :( Just a bit of hype then.