An illustration from Echoes from the Rocky Mountains by John Clampitt (1889).  The caption reads: "A night of terror."

An illustration from The Man in the Moon, February (1848).  The caption reads: "One of Mrs. Butler's 'Oh—oh's.'"

Here's a precursor to Antiques Roadshow, from A Tramp Abroad, Etc. by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1897.

"The golden secret is told," from The Trail of the Serpent by M. E. Braddon, 1861.

"The big sky-man that makes the moons," from Red Apple and Silver Bells by Hamish Hendry and illustrated by Alice B. Woodward, 1899.

An illustration from The Comic History of England by Gilbert Abbott A'beckett (1897).  The caption reads: "Reading the Dream."

Here's a precursor to the 1920's idiom 'down for the count,' from The Jorrocks Edition by Robert Smith Surtees (1892).  The caption reads: "The countess was down."

An illustration from Marvels Over Our Heads by Georg Hartwig (1888).  The caption reads: "Cave in dream lead mine, near Wirksworth, Derbyshire."

"Here we see it in this picture.  It looked as if the waves were angry."  From Chambers's New Geographical Readers, 1891.

From The Innocents Abroad by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1869.

"The snoring match," from Backsheesh by Thomas Wallace Knox, 1875.

From The Baby's Museum by Uncle Charlie, 1882.

An illustration from Stanley in Afrika's Donkere Wildernissen by Henry Morten Stanley (1890).

An illustration from Legal and Other Lyrics by George Outram (1887).  The caption reads: "Oh! what a deevil, &c."

"That sail will never put you under the water again."  Or, to quote Jeremiah 21:10, "And he shall burn it with fire."

Here's how to imbue majesty into something as ordinary as a library stamp.  (We find this majestic library stamp in the Commercial Intelligence Journal, 1921.)

Aaron Tucker has created this amazing site, Chessbard which translates chess games into poetry. You can play classic games, play a game against a chessbot, or modify games. The site then 'translates' the game into poems: both a White poem and a Black poem. Aaron has also written an essay about the project and its development.

I was delighted to be able to contribute to the site. I created some poems (by modifying a classic game) and wrote a discussion about what I did and about chess in general. Read it here.

Really fascinating.

And while you're thinking about chess, definitely check out the very lovely, Calvino-Chess Dictionary by Craig Conley. You can buy the book or read it online. I'd recommend the book!

"The turquoise skull was on the table, and seated before it was my poor friend—dead!"  From The Dwarf's Chamber and Other Stories by Fergus Hume, 1896.

From Pictures of the Chinese, Drawn by Themselves, by Robert Henry Cobbold, 1860.

"If round my footsteps dwell unholy sign or evil spell," from The Misfortunes of Elphin by Thomas Love Peacock, 1897.