Everyone was a child once, even serious wordsmiths. Let’s get started:
A poised Gertrude Stein:

Gertrude Stein at three
An uncomfortable looking Franz Kafka:

Franz Kafka
Everyone was a child once, even serious wordsmiths. Let’s get started:
A poised Gertrude Stein:

Gertrude Stein at three
An uncomfortable looking Franz Kafka:

Franz Kafka

Captain Jinks, Hero by Ernest Crosby. 1902. Illustrated by Daniel Carter Beard.
When you died on 11 February 1963, my mom was nine years old. My grandmother was your age: thirty. She’s eighty-one now, but to all of the world you still look like this:

Sylvia Plath.
How sad.
“The silence depressed me. It wasn’t the silence of silence. It was my own silence.”-Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
Sir John Suckling, poet and inventor of cribbage, was born on 10 February 1609.

Sir John Suckling by Anthony van Dyck, 17th century.
“I prithee send me back my heart,/Since I cannot have thine;/For if from yours you will not part,/Why, then, shouldst thou have mine?”
Louise Tiffany, Reading by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1888).

Louise Tiffany, Reading by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1888).
You’ll want to read this.
Biographical Notes on the Pseudonymous Bells by Charlotte Brontë [courtesy Project Gutenberg]
It is a quick and interesting read.

The Brontë Sisters by Branwell Brontë.
The literary Gods certainly favoured the 7th of February, at least during the 19th century. Charles Dickens, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Sinclair Lewis were born on that day. Impressive, right?

Charles Dickens and His Characters by William Holbrook Beard. Birth year: 1812.
“A loving heart is the truest wisdom.”

Laura Ingalls Wilder. Birth year: 1867.
“The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.”

Sinclair Lewis, 1914. Birth year: 1885.
“Every man is a king so long as he has someone to look down on.”
Austrian artist Gustav Klimt died on 6 February 1918. He was fifty-five.
A few of his paintings:

Der Park by Gustav Klimt, 1909-1910.

Marie Hennenberg by Gustav Klimt.

Nixen (Silberfische) by Gustav Klimt, circa 1899.
The artist:

Gustav Klimt.
“True relaxation, which would do me the world of good, does not exist for me.”-Gustav Klimt
The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes
The Center of Science and Industry [COSI] in my hometown of Columbus is the second stop for this fabulous interactive Holmes experience. It runs 8 February-1 September.
Does this look amazing or does this look amazing? Your call. I am going next month. I’ll be sure to do a follow-up post!

A Study in Scarlet by A. Conan Doyle, with artwork by David Henry Friston. Beeton’s Christmas Annual, December 1887.

Truman Capote Quote