Turgot Plan de Paris (1734)

I am back at the office after a few days off and when I got in this morning, there were a couple of fun things waiting for me. The first was my Michel-Etienne Turgot 1734 Plan de Paris which I wrote about here. I first found out about this map from fellow blogger, The Columnist. He has since told me that he ordered it as well.

Before I decided to order it though, I went to one of the on-line digital copies and dowloaded the sections of the map. Through my wizard Photoshop skills, I was able to re-size all of the pages to make them mesh together. If you'd like a digital copy, which works out to about 44 x 34 inches, e-mail me and I will upload a copy to you either as a PDF or a JPG and in either sepia or grayscale.

The folio version I bought was purchased through CSN World Globes for $60 with free shipping. Each of the 25 sheets measures 19.5" x 13.5" for a finished size of 98.5" x 63". The detail on each page is incredible. The colour isn't quite sepia-toned, but it's not black and white, either. I will probably scan these sheets and have some fun with them!The other fun thing I found when I got back to my office? A large-format printer!

** For a download of the Turgot Plan de Paris, click on the Paris map in the right-hand column **

McLain Wiesand Warehouse Sale

Last year, about this time, my talented friend, David Wiesand had a sale at his warehouse, site of the infamous Arabian Nights party in March. I just got a card from McLain Wiesand, David’s incredible shop, that they’re having another warehouse sale, this year on Friday, September 25 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Saturday September 26, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.They will be having a clearance on all in-house inventory, prototypes, antiques, architectural elements and cast decoratives. The address is 1013 Cathedral Street in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighbourhood. Luckily (ha), I am not working on Fridays, so I can be there banging on the front door of McLain Wiesand at 9:00 a.m. sharp. See you then, David!

P.S. These images are all from last year’s sale.

Small World

Baltimore is also known as Smalltimore, and everyone knows everyone else. I was looking for a picture the other night and one of the Google results was for a wedding photographer who grew up down the road from where my family and a set of cousins lived. He was a little older than the kids in my family, but we all knew each other.

I started reading his blog (where the images illustrating this post are from) and he talked about a wedding he’d recently done at Evergreen that the friend I had dinner with last night catered. She and I talked about knowing him, me when we were kids when we called him Bubby, and she as a colleague who was professional and talented.

On Tuesday, I popped him and e-mail and said I remembered him and recalled our old street and told him how beautiful his pictures were. He wrote back and remembered us and our cousins and we both said that we were sure we’d see each other around soon.

Arthur deRoaldes Remanjon was killed in an accident on Wednesday. Such a talent lost.

10:10

Do you know what your carbon footprint is? I didn’t, but I took a little quiz to see what it was, and I am using more than the average American. The world-wide average for one person is 5.5 tons a year, and for Americans it’s 27 tons a year. I use 34 tons a year. I found this number by using the Nature Conservancy’s Carbon Footprint Calculator.

I think that my score was high for several reasons: I drive a lot and I drive a station wagon. I also don’t really recycle or compost. There’s a campaign in the UK for people to take a pledge to try and reduce their carbon footprint by 10% by the end of the year 2010. It’s a small percentage and a small amount of time, but it is something almost everyone can do.   There are a lot of simple things to do to help save energy and reduce your carbon footprint:

• Turn down your heat by five degrees and add an extra layer of clothes and another blanket.
• Check your tire pressure and your air filter in your car.
• Eat more local food – if it doesn’t travel, it’s better for the environment.
• Buy higher quality items – figuring that if they are more well-made, they will last longer.
• Drive less – take public transportation, or bike to work one day a week.
• Don’t waste food or water.
• Buy antiques – it doesn’t take any additional resources to make them.

I am going to compare my electricity bills now and again in 12 months, and see if there’s any difference. I already go to the Farmers’ Market once a week, and will continue that. I already keep my house pretty cool in the winter, and keep the air conditioning at 80 in the summer (it’s the humidity that’s a killer).

Start small. But start.

All images from here

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Nothing!

The first of September begins the meteorological season of autumn.  Meteorological seasons are different from astrological seasons in that they adhere more closely to what most people’s perception of what our seasons are. Meteorological Autumn is September, October and November, while astronomical Autumn is late September through late December.

As we entered the first days of September, here in the mid-Atlantic the temperatures dropped into the 70’s during the days and the 50’s at night.

Baltimore Summer Antiques Show

The Baltimore Summer Antiques Show will take place in downtown Baltimore over the upcoming long weekend. Luckily for me, it’s about a 10-minute walk from my house. More than 550 dealers from the US, Canada, England, France and Germany will be participating.

The range of dealers is amazing. More than 60 dealers will be selling antique silver, 30 will be exhibiting Japanese and Chinese art and porcelain. And more then 60 fine book dealers will be exhibiting as well!

In addition to the antiques, there will be a series of lectures including 18th & 19th Century Decorative Arts Treasures: Telling the Whole Story at Mount Clare Museum House with Alice Davis Donahue of Mount Clare Museum House and Meissen: 300 Years of Exceptional Porcelain with Mimi Levine of Mimi & Steve Levine Antiques.

The Baltimore Summer Antiques Show, now in its 29th year, was taken over several years ago by the Palm Beach Group and infused with new energy.

As I was looking through the list of dealers, I was surprised at how few of them have websites, and how some of them don’t even have an e-mail contact address. Shocking!I have a busy weekend, but I hope to make the time to get over to this show.

Quoth the Raven {Evergreen}

This year, Baltimore is celebrating the 150th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s death with a range of both fun and scholarly events.

On Friday, September 4th, the historic Evergreen House will be showing two Poe-themed movies on their gorgeous lawn. Bring your chair and a blanket. The grounds open at 5:30 and the films start at 7:30. There will be movie-type food for sale. Click here for tickets. Visitors may tour the first floor rooms of the house and see some illustrated Poe books in Evergreen’s famous library.

The first is a 1950’s cartoon version of the Tell Tale Heart.  It’s not really a cartoon, as it’s not animated, but it is a story narrated with pictures and drawings to illustrate it. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1953. It was originally shown in 3-D. Tell Tale Heart was also the first film to be given an X-rating by the British Film Board.  If you are curious as to why, and you can’t get to Evergreen on Friday, you can watch the seven-minute short here.

The second film is The Raven, (1963) starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff and a young Jack Nicholson who said that the raven pooped on him. This 85-minute film has nothing really to do with the famous poem of the same name, although Poe is credited with being one of the writers.

This event is part of Nevermore 2009, a year long celebration of the life (and death) of Edgar Allen Poe.

Forever-more.

Books on Sunday: Magazines

I stopped in at the Book Thing this morning, and managed to pick up a couple of magazines, and some books. It was more crowded than usual and I didn’t feel like bothering with all of those people.

In the design section, I found a couple of House & Garden magazines. They’re always fun to look through and I love reading Dominique Browning’s opening essay. {Click the link for some of Ms. Browning’s more recent writings.) The three issues I picked are all from the summers, so as we prepare to enter September, they will be one last gasp.

I also picked up a copy of the Royal Oak Magazine. Royal Oak Foundation is the American branch of the National Trust in the UK. Since tax laws are very different in the UK (and having been a fundraiser both there and here in the States, believe me, I know this well!), Americans can’t make tax-deductible contributions to overseas charities, so many establish American branches. The Royal Oak magazine has an article about Croome Court, one of their new acquisitions.

One of the books I found looks like it will be fascinating. It’s called In a Gilded Cage, From Heiress to Duchess, by Marian Fowler. Between 1870 and 1910, more than 100 American women married British nobles. Money for a title. This book is the story of six of these women, including Consuelo Vanderbilt.

Finally, I found another one of Dee Hardie’s books, View from Thornhill. If anyone wants it, please let me know. I know that she’s still got loads of fans.

I forgot my bag of books to return, so next week will be large load.

We Will Never Forget

Please remember that there is still much to do in New Orleans, four years after Katrina struck. If you can, make a contribution to a charity in New Orleans or along the Gulf Coast. People are still suffering.Sticker courtesy of a Southern Gent.

Another Paris Map

When I was reading through Joni's comprehensive post on Restoration Hardware's move to Belgian design, I spotted another of the huge Paris Maps I wrote about a few weeks ago here.

While the one I talked about was the classic Etienne Turgot version, Restoration Hardware's version is from Letts, Son & Co. and is from the late 1800's, just before the Eiffel Tour was built. The Turgot version is circa 1739. And RH's version at more than $1800, including shipping, is much more expensive than the versions I featured here. However, RH's version comes framed.

** For a download of the Turgot Plan de Paris, click on the Paris map in the right-hand column **