Charles Dickens had an ivory letter opener whose handle was made from the stuffed paw of his beloved but deceased cat Bob. The object is now in the possession of the New York Public Library, where, as part of a celebration of the Library’s 100th anniversary, it’s on display until the end of the year.
The engraving on the handle reads, “C. D. In Memory of Bob. 1862” (the year of Bob’s death).
I learned of this because it was part of Sunday’s New York Times crossword puzzle, successfully solved by Miranda “Holy Rabbit” Hale. (The clue was “The handle of Charles Dickens’s ivory letter opener, in the Library’s collection, is ___________”, and the answer was “The paw of his deceased cat.”)
http://www.customcreaturetaxidermy.com/
This led me to think differently about such things.
Although I’m guessing the “donor” of the ivory received no such loving consideration.
I’m fairly amused that Dickens had a cat named Bob.
That was the first thing that came to my mind– “Bob? Dickens’ cat was named… Bob? Bob, and not, say, Grindlewinkie? Are we talking about the same Charles Dickens here?”
(Miranda got that? *scribbling… next time… can’t…get…NYT crossword…call…Miranda. Got it.)
It was the last clue I got 🙂 I expected it to be something like “made of solid oak wood”, not “made of hiz dead kitteh’s paw”. Totally random!
You still totally rock 🙂
I’m even more fairly amused that a crossword puzzle has a clue to which the answer consists of 6 words!
Are you sure that it was a crossword puzzle?
Ooh, if you haven’t seen the Sunday Times puzzles, you’re in for a treat.
Do you mean the London Sunday Times? The above refers to the New York Times. of course.
Actually, I take the Sunday Times and I usually complete the crossword – the one for stupid people printed in the Culture section, that is.
Between CD’s cat-named-Bob letter opener & Salty’s link…what a long, strange trip this thread is!
Assuming you don’t want Dead links…
In other strangeness, to me it looks weirdly oversized and swordlike for a letter opener.
Curiouser & curiouser!
(Suppose Bob was bob-tailed?)
Nah, wouldn’t have survived the Hunter.
🙂
By the way, the history of fishing weirs is fascinating:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishing_weir
As is that of the Barlow Road:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barlow_Road
So this end opens letters and that end is a backscratcher?
HA! Actually, they have little backscratchers here that are shaped like a small hand and are called “Mago no te” (grandchild’s hand ;-))…
I hope someone makes my hand into the handle of a letter opener…