the Atlantic Telegraph

Last week, I finished doing the final, final copyediting queries to an article on representations of laying the Atlantic Telegraph cable in 1865 - a failed expedition - or, more precisely, Robert Dudley's illustrations to William Russell's book on the telegraph.  Indeed, that sounds rather an esoteric topic ... though I tried to make it not so - it came out of a conference paper, which was the nearest I've ever come to giving a paper on a topic not of my own choosing (but it helped the conference organizers get a grant, and I learned so much).  And in the process, I became decidedly interested in the Cable and how it (and England and America) were represented in cartoons and publicity.

Looking for one particular image source last week, I fell foul of the lures of Ebay ... and though this image (of the 1858 attempt, which didn't in the end come off) doesn't figure in the piece, these two angelic messengers floating along elegantly at the bottom of the Atlantic have long been a favorite of mine.  I was so happy to welcome them ...