Things to do Thursday: Get to know Cole of the Book Arcade
E W Cole is definitely a contender for most colourful historical personality from Moonee Valley. Never heard of E W Cole? Perhaps the cover of one of his books might jog your memory? Cole compiled and published a series of Funny Picture Books. The first one launched on Christmas Eve 1879 and they remained incredibly popular for decades. Remember this? If you remember the Funny Picture Books you’ll probably remember that Cole loved absurd humour. The first of the series has been made available for free online thanks to the Gutenberg Project – so one of your suggested things to do this Thursday is to re/discover Cole’s Funny Picture Book #1. B e warned though: what was considered funny and family appropriate then is not necessarily still considered funny – or appropriate for anyone – today, but the book is certainly interesting, has a few gems, and even the bits we cringe at now say a lot about the culture of the time and place in which the book was published. E W...