Good day to all picture pickers, visual aficionados, rummaging researchers, history nerds and arty types. It's the latest News of Note, and probably the penultimate one of 2024.

Are you wondering, like us, where this year has gone? The news on the telly is grim and the skies are grey but Christmas is a-coming and our latest missive aims to inspire and educate you about the ever-evolving treasures in our lovely library. Keep the faith and keep on reading. We've got African postcards, marvellous moustaches and some delightful doggy news for you this month.

Out of Africa

We continue to chip away at the digitisation of the John Hinde Archive which, as you may recall, is now housed here at the library.

The latest batch of brilliantly-hued postcards, now added to our website all depict scenes of Africa. With an emphasis on the east Africa countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the collection includes traditional tribal costumes, safari scenes as well as modern views of buildings in Kampala and Nairobi.

Do remember to contact us if you can't find something online as with the archive now on-site, we quite literally have (a lot of) the world at our fingertips.

Miniature Magnificence

We have just added a lovely set of original Raphael Tuck postcards from the TP Archive to our site, showing different views of Queen Mary's Dolls' House, which, coincidentally, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

The largest and most famous dolls' house in the world, it was built between 1921 and 1924 as a gift from the nation to Queen Mary following the First World War. A perfect 1:12 scale replica of an aristocratic Edwardian residence, complete with electricity, working lifts and running water, its tiny rooms range from a fully stocked wine cellar to grand entertaining salons and feature contributions from over 1,500 of the finest artists, craftspeople and manufacturers of the day.

This set wonderfully demonstrates the tiny but opulent interiors and furniture.

Movember

Are you growing a moustache for Movember? If you're looking for some ideas, then check out these hairy greatest hits sported by facially hirsute figures from history.

We simply couldn't resist putting together this moustache-twirlingly good selection.

Royalty in Britain

Our princely collection of royal images have been put to good use in the most recent special bookazine published by ILN Ltd.

Royalty in Britain, offers a tour of the royal realm, past and present and is stuffed full of fabulous illustrations, photographs and covers from the ILN archive.

Not only that, our Head of Sales & Research, Luci, who has been lead writer on several ILN bookazines over the years, is also editor of this latest glossy publication.

It's a good example of our overall expertise on all things royal so do get in touch if you have a regal project in the pipeline.

Published in collaboration with the Royal Warrant Holders' Association, Royalty in Britain is available from all good newsagents now.

Tunnel Vision

14th November marked the 30th anniversary since the first fare-paying passengers departed Waterloo on the Eurostar to use the Channel Tunnel, as good an excuse as any to remind you of the tunnel's lengthy road to construction dating back to original proposals during the Napoleonic era to the ill-fated Channel Tunnel Company of the 1880s.

We have fascinating material on this subject including Punch cartoons and other satirical illustrations, technical drawings via the Institution of Civil Engineers, not forgetting William Heath Robinson's jovial series of cartoons published in The Bystander in 1919.

Paws for a Pupdate

If you're a regular reader of our newsletter, you'll know we love our dogs here at Mary Evans and so we've been delighted about the recent arrival of a very small and very cute new member of staff.

Our IT director Mark (whose erstwhile canine companion and library stalwart, Missie, died earlier this year) has recently introduced Lottie, the working cocker spaniel puppy to the office and she's had great fun, zooming around, disappearing into handbags, licking faces, chewing shoe laces and generally causing a riot. But she's apparently doing very well at puppy training classes so we'll have her retrieving pictures from the archive in no time.

Welcome to the library, Lottie.