You definitely know you have a bibliophile in the family when they look forward to an author's birthday and delight in celebrating it! February 7th marked 200 years since Charles Dicken's birth, Miss E (19), The Editrix, was very excited.
One of The Editrix' most treasured possessions is a complete 36 volume Centenary Edition collection of Dickens' works. Originally belonging to my husband's great aunt, they have moved from one family bibliophile to another.
Miss E's favourite - Our Mutual Friend. She values these 100+ year old books so much that she will often buy or borrow a copy of a particular volume to read, thus avoiding wear and tear on these old books.
I love how the pages are ragged along the side and base of each book. Only the tops of the books are neatly aligned and had been given a painted/inked finish.
Miss E continues to encourage her younger siblings to develop a love of good classical literature, with varying success. None were overly fussed about Charles' 200th birthday, until Miss E declared she was making a birthday cake in his honour so we could all celebrate the occasion.
A decadent chocolate cake was her choice. "How do you know Mr Dickens liked chocolate?" someone asked. Miss E was quick to quote the words below as assurance of her choice! No further objections were raised....
~ Charles Dickens
Yesterday we were reading of George Washington as we slowly move through the ages in our homeschool History/Human Society studies. Miss G (14) who was reading to us, suddenly stopped and said "Today's George Washington's birthday! He's 280!" We were all amazed at this total coincidence. George Washington was quite an amazing man. Miss G quickly completed her lessons as she had decided to make George Washington a birthday cake. We all enjoyed chocolate cake for dessert last night to mark Mr Washington's birthday!
Next week we will be studying Captain James Cook, I wonder when his birthday was......
24 comments:
A wonderful and interesting post for the day! And the perfect way to celebrate Mr. Washington's birthday!! I love it! Delightful!! Hope your week is going well!
Sylvia
Unfortunately, Captain Cook was born in late October, not late February, but, it is his birthday exactly 8 months from next week Monday:) He will be 284.
Celebrating a birthday with a chocolate cake sounds pretty good, and that chocolate cake looks wonderful. Raising readers that are also bakers, now that's perfect.
I am absolutely delighted by your children's interest in literature and history. The fact that you are homeschooling them is very commendable. The Dickens volumes are WONDERFUL! I loved seeing the photos of these old volumes. How special that your daughter wanted to make a birthday cake for him, and very correctly chose chocolate! :-) And what a wonderful coincidence about George Washington's birthday too. As you are in Australia, I am particularly delighted that his birthday was celebrated as well!
I love your wonderful waterlily header photo, and will definitely be back to see and read more about your world. Thanks for checking out my new "current events" blog, too, and commenting. It's new, as you can tell, and I hope it makes some small difference in people being more informed.
All my best!
Give me a piece of that cake, please!
I love reading, but I'd be afraid to own such valuable editions. I'd never forgive myself if something nasty happened to them.
the dickens volumes are beautiful :). have nice day....
As a child and teenager I was so used to seeing books like this - though I didn't appreciate the value of them nor many of the prose within. It wasn't until I had my own children that my love for classical literature grew and I've brought all my boys up surrounded by Dickens and others.
What a great way to celebrate his birthday and etched in your younger ones minds is the link between chocolate and Dickens.......which is great.
ha ha ha...only a Charles Dickens bibliophile would have such a quick and knowing response in regards to the reasoning behind the choice of chocolate cake! Well Done Editrix!
I'm coming to yours for my education! With cakes being baked all the time, - I'll celebrate anyone's birthday. Such a shame I gave up sugar for lent ;-)
A friend with books and chocolate - what a gift!
Love those old books.
A wonderful journey of images for an author who is a history that is never extinguished.
Interesting combination of chocolate, to awaken some interest.
Good grounds for growing young minds.
Best wishes ..
Niki
Such a delightful blog!
This is quite a collection of books. They are beautiful.
Anytime is a good time for a chocolate cake.
Congrats to Miss E for her passion and to Dickens for his 200's... the chocolate cake looks delicious!!!
Seeing your bookish photos is wonderful - a good way to admire them without touching! (However, I wouldn't mind some first-hand experience with the birthday cakes!)
Just goes to show- February is a great month to be born in!
Abraham Lincoln was born in February too!
Trochę książek K. Dickens przeczytałam. Tort bym wspaniałym pomysłem dla uczczenia obu rocznic i pewno był pyszny. Pozdrawiam. *** K. Dickens some books I read. Cake me a great idea to celebrate the two anniversaries, and certainly was delicious. Yours.
I can see you and your family loves books as much as I do and chocolate cake too. Why didn't I think of celebrating George Washington's birthday with a cake. Guess I'm going to have to get the calendar out to see who's next.
I never thought of author's birthdays as an excuse for chocolate cake! Great idea :) I think you will have to wait until October 27 for the James Cook cake!
Well Happy Birthday George...and chocolate cake, yum yum. It is just wonderful that your children are so engaged in reading, the old classics, history. I may stop by to borrow a book and have some chocolate cake!
What a wonderful post. And that cake looks so yummy!!!
Hugs, Linda
I LOVE the way you describe home schooling with your kids. The impression I get is one of learning, togetherness with lots of fun involved!!!
Would love to know what went into that cake. It looks super moist and scrumptious!!!
Another great post! Those old Dickens volumes are wonderful - how privileged to be the owner/carer of such classics. I would be borrowing the books too!
And what a perfect excuse for chocolate cake :)
Really interesting post! And I love all the photos of the old books.
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