Cool articles and links from the week

Quirky History: The Hatpin As A Lady’s Weapon Of Choice, Posted by E.H. Kern, Quirk Books
In advance of the release of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, learn about real women who used mundane items to fend off attackers.

 

The Invention of Serendipity, by Horace Walpole, The Paris Review
The author of The Castle of Otranto has some thoughts on happy accidents.

Phenomena Over and Under the Earth (1878), Public Domain Review
Illustrations of weather from Victorian-era Austria

anemocracy, n. a government by the wind, Futility Closet
In A Word, complete with photographic illustration

Photographs of British Algae by William Herschel, NYPL Digital Archives
Early photographs by the man most known for the discovery of Uranus

Confessions of William Burke, University of Edinburgh
On the anniversary of the hanging of Edinburgh’s most notable serial killers