Breakfast Links: Week of January 6, 2014

Here's a fresh serving of Breakfast Links - our weekly round-up of fav links to other websites, blogs, articles, and images, gathered from around the Twitterverse.

• Early 19th c. fashion prints showing half-mourning for royalty.

• Image: How to shoot your beloved? These young ladies were instructed by Cupid himself! The HagueKB76H5.

• "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog": How Mark Twain's first short story became the breakout bestseller of 1865.

• Fashion of the forgotten: researching the dress of indentured and enslaved women, 1750-90.

• A brief history of pointy-toed flats.

• This week in 1933, the Sacred Cod was stolen from the statehouse in the fish heist that shocked Massachusetts.

• New favorite website: Cinderella bibliography.

• Engine of terror: how Brixton made the treadmill famous (and infamous.)

• Image: Exciting (!!!) news about Jane Austen's little-known military career.

• The medical case for beards: Victorian doctors praised them as a filter, a relaxant, and a remedy for sore throats.

• Perfect for Downton Abbey viewing: 1920s recipe for English Scones.

• Recipe for 'Peristaltic Persuaders', 18th c remedy for constipation.

• Proof via Laura Ingalls Wilder: school wasn't canceled for bad weather in 1882.

• A giraffe sandwich? Researchers discover you could order one in ancient Pompeii.

• A carved skull clasp closes a pilgrim's portable Book of Hours, c.1500.

• A favorite gift for 19th c. readers in England and America: the illustrated gift annual.

• Charlotte of Savoy, Queen of France (c1441-1483), was second wife to King Louis XI.

• Image: The Hampton Court moat as Henry VIII intended, thanks to recent floods.

• Buried alive: exploring the darkened waters of London's River Westbourne.

• Suffering through rheumatism in the 18th c: Lady Bristol endures joint pain, falls, & swollen feet, yet still continues duties at Court.

• Don't be an "Idle Dick"! Boys in prison encouraged to read picture stories, 1840.

• Bejeweled fingertips: a vulgar, bedazzling fad of the moment in 1903.

• That most fashionable of restaurants in Gilded Age NYC: now-lost Delmonico's, 1897.

• Image: Making a cameo appearance, from the J.Paul Getty Museum.

• There was much more to George III than his madness - including his architectural drawing.

• Image: Wrapper from funeral biscuit, 1828, given to mourners at funeral for Mrs. Oliver.

• Surreal photos  taken this week of "Chiberia", the Second City's frozen shore - including an iceberg in Lake Michigan.

• Twelfth Night, always an excuse for a big blow-out celebration in 18th c. England.

• Image: Northern Lights seen this week in Brighton over the Brighton Pavilion. 

• For once the developers didn't win: the prettiest building in Times Square has been saved & repurposed.

Hungry for more? Follow us on Twitter @2nerdyhistgirls for fresh updates daily.

Above: At Breakfast, by Laurits Andersen Ring.