#maskelyne

[rogueslove]

Rogue by Maskelyne

[drhoustoun]

Spending a Penny

Last Friday’s Daily Telegraph reported on Network Rail’s decision to stop charging for access to the public toilets in three major London train stations, a move that will spread joy to travellers:

Commuters finally have something to cheer about after Network Rail revealed it will stop charging to spend a penny at major stations.

The choice of euphemism is particularly interesting. When one can instantly think of gems such as ‘powder one’s nose,’ ‘visit the little boy’s room,’ ‘answer nature’s call’ and ‘see a man about a horse,’ let alone the creative crudities a thirty second internet search will unearth, why would one decide to ‘spend a penny?’ Whilst I suspect the author would not realise this, their choice of euphemism tugs them into a spiralling reference that pulls inevitably towards the legacy of one of England’s most influential magicians, a man called John Nevil Maskelyne (1839-1917).

Maskelyne was a performing magician with a gift for invention. His start in show business came when he saw a performance by The Davenport Brothers, a pair of performers who claimed to demonstrate spiritualistic phenomena in their shows, making contact with the dead. According to Maskelyne’s own account, a chink in the curtains shone a light on the Brother’s performance, both literally and figuratively, revealing it to be the result of trickery rather than a manifestation of supernatural power. Armed with this knowledge Maskelyne teamed up with George Alfred Cooke, his friend and a cabinet maker, and put on a show which duplicated the Davenports effects but made no supernatural claims.

From this humble beginning, Maskelyne went on to build a magical empire, first with Cooke and later with England’s greatest magician David Devant. Between 1873 and 1905 Maskelyne performed a run of shows in Piccadilly’s Egyptian Hall, a record three-decade-residency that led to the venue becoming known as ‘England’s Home of Mystery’ and made the London the magic capital of the world.

A significant part of Maskelyne’s performance repertoire was based on his ability as an inventor and mechanic. A major feature of his show, for example, was a mechanical figure called Psycho, pictured with Maskelyne at the top of this piece. Psycho was an automaton capable of playing games of Whist with members of the audience, as well as answering simple questions, and made over 4,000 appearances in Maskelyne’s shows.

Maskelyne’s inventiveness extended well beyond his theatrical creations and he is credited with designing numerous other items. One such creation was a typewriter that allowed text to be produced with differential spacing, a format which creates a more balanced, legible work. (Today you would be hard pressed to find text set out with monospacing but it was not until the introduction of the electric typewriter that differential spacing became the norm.) Perhaps his most influential creation, however, was a simple and durable coin operated lock that was installed in public toilets throughout London. The cost of using the lock, and therefore the facilities it controlled access to, was one English penny: Hence the euphemism: ‘spend a penny.’

So in one short sentence The Telegraph demonstrated the ubiquity of Maskelyne’s invention, through their choice of euphemism, whilst deploying it to celebrate a step in the demise of his conceptual creation. Perhaps the silver lining, at least from Maskelyne’s point of view, could be that they published it in a differentially spaced typeface.

[leftoverlondoner]

London’s greatest entertainment

That’s quite a claim, but in 1900 may well have been true.

[womw]

@tieandco and a stunningthejewellers @lovewatches @watchgramm by earnshaw1805 from Instagram http://ift.tt/1LPZBa0

[kowalia]

I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. I fucking can't believe it.

I mean, seriously? I am the only one in this website who is absolutely in love with the book "Obsidian Mirror"?

I fucking can't believe it.

I'm alone in this fandom? This will be the fandom of an only person? Me alone?

The tag "Oberon Venn" have NOTHING. I'm still looking for it, but in the google there's NOT A SINGLE FANART.

I can't accept this. What a ultraje.

If I will be the only one in this fandom, I will fight for it.  *Dries a tear* I will not let Sarah, Jake, David, Piers, Moll, Maskelyne and, of course, my loved one, Oberon Venn, alone in the universe, with not even a single fanart. 

!!!

But now we all have to agree at one point:

Obsidian Mirror? Really? ok, the mirror is really made of obsidian and all but C'MON 

Here, in Brazil, the name of the book is "Espelho do Tempo" wich means "Mirror of Time". A pretty better and attractive name, uh?

[theantikeychop]

A rare British-made Maskelyne typewriter, ca.1893, with its top plate removed.  Spotted at the Milwaukee Public Museum.

[fuckyeahdisneyfanart]

[bertramfiddle]

Maskelyne and Cooke, Mysterious Victorian Entertainers