Bits & Bobs for the Week of 18 June 2023
Below is a collection of the interesting things I've been reading over the last week or so
@raylehmann over on the hellsite1 asked his Gen-X followers if they had any memory of the iconic book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. The comments on this thread are fascinating, and Lehmann's followers identify a trend - those born at the tail end of Gen X (late-late 70s to 1980) seem to remember having Goodnight Moon read to them growing up; I definitely do. But earlier Gen Xers don't.
GnM was originally published in 1947, but didn't receive wide publication until the mid-1970s and really took off by the early 90s, if this tweet is to be believed:
initial release: 6,000 copies
1953: 1,500
1970: 20,000
by 1990, total > 4 million
Irritating gap in sales figures, but consistent with it becoming popular enough to not be niche in mid 1980s. I wonder if the b. '78-81 ppl are a regionally biased sample? Big cities, perhaps?— James Durbin (@theamazingdrj) June 5, 2023
I asked D…
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