Van Gogh liked yellow

“But yellow is my favorite color. Van Gogh liked yellow too.”

—Henry Bukowski, from his fourth public reading, recorded on lo-tek videotape in 1970. Now available on DVD as Bukowski at Bellevue. So good I had to watch it twice.

more dappled and vived than a bouquet of wildflowers

“Sometimes days passed and stupid Ludmila did not appear in the forest. Lekh would become possessed by a silent rage. He would stare solemnly at the birds in the cages, mumbling something to himself. Finally, after prolonged scrutiny, he would choose the strongest bird, tie it to his wrist, and prepare stinking paints of different colors which he mixed together from the most varied components. When the colors satisfied him, Lekh would turn the bird over and paint its wings, head, and breast in rainbow hues until it became more dappled and vived than a bouquet of wildflowers.”

—Jerzy Kosinski, from The Painted Bird, first published in 1965.

bewitched eyes

“She called me the Black One. From her I learned for the first time that I was possessed by an evil spirit, which crouched in me like a mole in a deep burrow, and of whose presence I was unaware. Such a darkling as I, possessed of this evil spirit, could be recognized by his bewitched black eyes which did not blink when they gazed at bright clear eyes. Hence, Olga declared, I could stare at other people and unknowingly cast a spell over them.

Bewitched eyes can not only cast a spell but can also remove it, she explained. I must take care, while staring at people or animals or even grain, to keep my mind blank of anything other than the disease I was helping her remove from them. For when bewitched eyes look at a healthy child, he will immediately begin to waste away; when at a calf, it will drop dead of a sudden disease; when at grass, the hay will rot after the harvest.”

—Jerzy Kosinski, from The Painted Bird, 1965.

the eyes were staring at me

“The eyeballs lay on the floor. I walked around them, catching their steady stare. The cats timidly moved out into the middle of the room and began to play with the eyes as if they were balls of thread. Their own pupils narrowed to slits from the light of the oil lamp. The cats rolled the eyes around, sniffed them, licked them, and passed them to one another gently with their padded paws. Now it seemed that the eyes were staring at me from every corner of the room, as though they had acquired a new life and motion of their own.”

—Jerzy Kosinski, from The Painted Bird, 1965. Freaky, no? For a real kick, go ahead and reread it, and then type and proofread it!

still in the Dark Ages

“You want to know something? We are still in the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages—they haven’t ended yet.”

—Kurt Vonneget, Jr., spoken by Rudy Waltz in Deadeye Dick, 1982.

“at the Sign of ye Leg”

“The Egyptians seemed to have made occasional use of inscriptons to draw attention to the whereabouts of a trade. Whether the Greek Signs were carved or painted or merely displayed the natural object, is uncertain from the references made by Aristotle. The more general practice of the Romans, as we may still see at Pompeii, was a panel in relief beside the shop front. The earliest forms were some simple object typical of the trade—a hand for the glover, a bunch of grapes for the vintner. In the Middle Ages coats-of-arms, crests and badges began to be used, for as particular trades were confined to particiular streets the trader felt the need for some more individual and distinctive Sign. Sometimes the shopkeeper’s own name would suggest a rebus, as Robert Legg Upholsterer ‘at the Sign of ye Leg’ in Holborn. . . .

Of Signs still to be seen in our streets a few examples persist—the Barber’s Pole and the Three Golden Balls (originally Three Blue Balls) of the pawnbrokers are those most frequently met with. Other devices occasionally seen are the Arm and Hammer of the gold-beater, the Kettle and the Hat which hang in front of ironmongers’ and hatters’ shops, the Fishing Rod and Dangling Trout over the fishing tackle shops, the Roll of Tobacco and the Highlander outside the tobacconists’.”

—Ambrose Heal, from London Tradesmen’s Cards of the XVIII Century; An Account of their Origin and Use, originally published in 1910.

Nathan Drake, Colourman

“Nathan Drake, Colourman. . . . At the White Hart in Long-Acre; London. Sells all sorts of fine Colours & Oils for Painting. Prym’d Cloths, pencils, fine Tools and Palletts; Water Colours prepared in the neatest manner. Also Makes all sorts of Crayons in the best approved methods. Likewise, Lines cleans and mends Pictures and has every Article that is used in Painting or Drawing. all sorts of Colours & Oils for House Painting at the Lowest Rates.”

—From London Tradesmen’s Cards of the XVIII Century; An Account of their Origin and Use by Ambrose Heal, originally published in 1910.

Iohn Wildblood at the Rainbow & 3 pidgons

—From London Tradesmen’s Cards of the XVIII Century; An Account of their Origin and Use by Ambrose Heal, first published in 1910. Some other silk dyers mentioned in the book (although their cards are not shown) are “Green Man”, “Rainbow and Anchor” and the “Rainbow and Dove”.

Mortram

“Mortram. Decorative Painter and Artist in Fireworks. Coats of Arms, Magnificent Temples, Triumphal Arches, Sea Fights, etc. Executed in Fire Works so as to Produce the most Beautiful Effect.”

—From London Tradesmen’s Cards of the XVIII Century; An Account of their Origin and Use by Ambrose Heal. First published in 1910, I found this as a Dover reprint from 1968.

the four Coffins

“Velvet Palls, Hangings for Rooms, large Silver’d Candlesticks & Sconces, Tapers & Wax Lights, Heraldry, Feathers & Velvets, fine Cloth Cloaks. . . . Rich Silk Scarves, Allamode & Sarsnelt Hat Bands, Italian Crape by the Piece or Hatband, black & white Savours, Cloth Black or Grey, Bays & Flannel. . . . Burying Crapes of all Sorts, Fine Quilting & Quilted Matrices the best Lac’d, Plain & Shammy Gloves, Kidd & Lamb. . . . All Sorts of Plates & Handles for Coffins in Brass, Lead or Tin, likewise Nails of all Sorts. Coffins & Shrouds of All Sizes ready made.”

—from an elaborate engraved trade card for undertaker Robert Green, “at the four Coffins”, dated 1752. From London Tradesmen’s Cards of the XVIII Century; An Account of their Origin and Use by Ambrose Heal. First published in 1910, I ran into this Dover reprint from 1968 in a colleague’s office, and she graciously loaned it to me. Thank you Lynne!