On this day: the Publication of Thumbelina

1873 illustration from the first Ukrainian translation. X

Danish author Hans Christian Andersen‘s fairy tale Thumbelina was published for the first time on the 16th of December, 1835.

The story, about a “thumb-sized” girl who goes on an adventure involving toads, birds, and a mole, and who then meets a miniature prince, wasn’t well-received at the time because it didn’t teach any morals.

The first English translation of the book was completed by Mary Howitt in the 1840s.

Usually omitted from English versions of the story, Andersen’s original featured a bluebird telling the story to Andersen himself. The bird had been in love with Thumbelina, and was heartbroken when she married the prince.

On this day: the publication of Black Beauty

Repost from 2016

1877 first edition cover. X

Black Beauty, a novel by English author Anna Sewell, was first published on the 24^th of November, 1877.

Considered to be a story about animal rights, the book is about the life of a horse, told in autobiographical form.

Sewell had been barely able to walk since she was fourteen, when injuries to both her ankles were incorrectly treated, and she was an invalid when the book was written and published.

While she lived to see Black Beauty’s initial success, she died of an illness only five months afterwards.

On this day: Xenophobia in America

This anti-Irish propaganda image was published in American magazine in Harper’s Weekly on the 2nd of September, 1871. Created by famed German-born caricaturist Thomas Nast, the man commonly credited with creating the modern-day image of Santa Claus, it was titled “The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things”.

On this day: the death of Granny Smith

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Maria Ann Smith – known as Granny Smith – the creator of the green “Granny Smith” apple, died in the colony of New South Wales, Australia on the 9th of March, 1870.

In 1868 Smith was handed a box of French crab apples from Tasmania at a market in Sydney. After she used them for baking, she discovered a seed in the discarded peels had sprouted in a compost heap. She continued to tend it in its place near a creek.

After her death the property’s new owner marketed the fruit as “Granny Smith”.

Smith married in England, having eight children (who survived early childhood) before emigrating to Australia in 1838.

On this day…

Frederick Farrand Trollope, aged almost three, in his Sunday best and holding a toy sabre. Photographed in Grafton on the 29th of December, 1878.

On the Clarence River, in the north of New South Wales, Australia, Grafton received city status in 1885.

On this day: the opening of Wagga Wagga Railway Station

The railway station in the New South Wales, Australia town of Wagga Wagga opened on the 1st of September, 1879.

The design for the station can be seen below.

On this day: a Centenary in Canada

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Mayor James Sharpe, his wife Edie, and Chief Earl Hill pose in front of the plaque in Centennial Park on the hundredth anniversary of the founding of Deseronto, Ontario, Canada. 19th June 1971. The Sharpes wear 1870s clothing for the occasion.

Deseronto is named after Captain John Deseronto, a native Mohawk leader and a captain in the British Military Forces during the American Revolutionary War.

On this day: the Great Fire of Saint John

Damage on the dockside. X

The Great Fire of Saint John occurred in New Brunswick, Canada on the 20^th of June, 1877.

It was after two in the afternoon when a spark fell onto hay in a storehouse, sparking a fire that burnt for nine hours. At least nineteen people were killed and many more were injured.

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1612 structures were destroyed, including fourteen hotels, eight churches, six banks, and a number of boats. The heat of the flames was so great that some buildings were said to have burst into flames before the fire reached them.

Cities all over the world donated money to the rebuilding effort, including Chicago, a city that had suffered a massive fire less than six years before.

On this day…

Gilbert and Sullivan‘s comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opened at the Opera Comique in London on the 25th of May, 1878.

This poster is from the second year of the show’s run.

On this day…

On the 14th of April, 1877 Leslie’s monthly magazine announced the March 23 execution of John D. Lee, who took part in the Mountain Meadows massacre in 1857.

The massacre involved the Mormon Utah Territorial Militia, accompanied by some Paiute Native Americans, killing between 100 and 140 members of an emigrant party in Utah.

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