Light posting for a few days...

... my only excuse is that I'm working on another "creative" project: assembling a souvenir booklet for HRG&SP Spring 2008 production of "Patience".

In the course of research for this project, I stumbled across a delightful website, maintained by one Joe M. Knapp.

This site,

"... illustrates Oscar Wilde's 1882 lecture tour of America, specifically from the point of view of Columbus, Ohio--one of the many stops along the way in Wilde's effort to imbue the American continent with the principles of aestheticism, along with promoting Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera Patience."

In addition to contemporary press clippings related to Wilde & the Aesthetic Movement - among which is the following gem

"Mr. Oscar Wilde, the professional English 'æsthete,' has come to this country 'to diffuse beauty.' We hope he will lose no time in coming to these parts..." -- Ohio State Journal, Feb. 5, 1882

- the site includes historical photos, cartoons, and commentary on social history.

[Note: navigation on this site isn't tricky, but you need to pay attention to the instructions: "... On each page, one of the graphics (generally the last one) provides a link to the next page in the sequence (the cursor will change when positioned over such graphics).]

Again, I found this a thoroughly delightful website!