thefloatingpoem

[thefloatingpoem]

Telegrams - not the app

Since these are important for both Letters from Watson and Dracula Daily, as well as a chunk of other late Victorian/Edwardian literature, I thought I would share some useful notes on these.

Telegrams were the Victorian form of a direct message sent over the nascent telegraphic network, which was at this point all wires.

Various undersea cables had been laid by the 1890s, allowing messages to be sent across the Atlantic or even to Australia. However, bandwidth was limited.

These messages were by no means instant - you had to wait for them to be passed between operators and that could take a few hours - but they were much faster than post.

They were not cheap - you were charged by the word and there was a minimum charge. Unless you were a diplomat or military officer, messages were generally kept reasonably short. It would be for things like "I'm coming home on the next steamer" or "buy the thousand nunchucks" or "I'd like three rooms at the Golden Krone in Bistritz."

But you could also send someone birthday messages or wedding greetings. Or indeed petition governments.

You would either go to a post office and dictate the message to an employee, or you could complete a form with your message and a stamp to indicate you had pre-paid (books were available), then get your page boy to take it to the post office. Or put it in any letter box.

The telegrams would be delivered to the person's address or could be collected. For example, if you were staying at a hotel, you could get messages sent there and collect them from reception. You will sometimes see characters in old movies asking the receptionist if they have any messages for precisely this reason.

Many of these networks were operated by governments, especially in Europe. This had implications for privacy of course.

To shorten messages and ensure a degree of confidentiality, various commercial code books were available. Common abbreviations would also be used, like FWD, which still exist today.

STOP, COMMA etc. tended to be used by governments and the military rather than civilians.

While the traditional Morse code single key was still very common, various typewriter and other machines were in use by this time that sped up traffic considerably.

#dracula daily #I adore this information thank you so much for sharing with us OP

[thefloatingpoem]

#dracula daily

[thefloatingpoem]

Just realized Frankenstein is composed of dated letters. Frankenstein daily, when?

#dracula daily #Frankenstein fortnightly????? #please tumblr?????? #can we????

[thefloatingpoem]

#dracula daily

[thefloatingpoem]

Lucy: Three proposals in one day! Isn’t it awful!

Meanwhile Jonathan: I am surely in the toils. I know now the span of my life. God help me!

#dracula daily

[thefloatingpoem]

May 24th

There will be a Dracula Daily update today!

#dracula daily #live laugh lizard fashion #dracula daily my beloved

[thefloatingpoem]

Dracula, wrapping up his paperwork: Well, that’s just about everything covered. My thanks for a job well done, but time to (un)die, my friend

Jonathan (in Drac-u-Vision):

Dracula: Ohhh, fine, one more month of psychological torture first. As a treat <3

Jonathan, wondering what the hap is fuckening: …To who? You or me?

Dracula: Yes <3

#dracula daily #this is so hilarious op #Jonathan Harker : best pet Dracula’s had in centuries!

[thefloatingpoem]

#dracula daily

[thefloatingpoem]

A fun thing to notice with today’s entry. 

When Dracula originally tells Jonathan to write that he would be staying with the Count for another month, the date was May 12. That implies Jonathan would’ve been able to ‘leave’ (get drinked) around June 12. Now the exit date has been pushed back to June 30. The serious takeaway is that, for fun and for punishment, Jonathan is now being coerced into playing out the cat and mouse psychological torture session for another month and a half. He’s got three whole new weeks to stew in.

Which is insidious…but also useful, considering Jonathan is actively playing for time. So it’s not much of a punishment.

For him.

The Brides: You said we’d get him by June 12th!

Dracula: Hmm. So I did. But, there’s work to be done. Can’t be helped.

The Brides: What work? You finished all the real estate junk a week ago!

Dracula: Maybe I need his help picking out color swatches for the walls. 

The Brides: >:( >:( >:(

Dracula: :)

The Brides: …Is this because we tried to sneak a drink from him ahead of schedule? 

Dracula: Who can say? My ways are manifold and mysterious.

The Brides: Your ways are bullshit.

Dracula: My ways are about to include a solicitor-shaped thermos for the road and no kisses at all if you want to keep it up.

#dracula daily

[thefloatingpoem]

Jonathan: This door I was told not to open is jammed shut

Jonathan: [bodyslams] Though I shan't let such a small matter stop me

#dracula daily

[thefloatingpoem]

Jon he's really trying here cut him a break

(tumblr crunched the resolution of this comic a lot rip)

#dracula daily #dracula really couldn’t get anybody to do the dishes #and I find that hilarious

[thefloatingpoem]

I know Jonathan’s going thru the Horrors and all but I just really wanna know like what he’s eating lately you know???? What’s dracula cooking for him, what’s on the menu chez dracula are we eating more paprika hendl? Are we cooking up some sausages?? Are we having Transylvanian meatball soup??

#dracula daily

[thefloatingpoem]

Does anybody wanna remind me what the fuck hamlet wanted to write down when he started yammering about his tablets

#I have not read hamlet since 2006 #when my brain was not fully developed #dracula daily #hamlet

[thefloatingpoem]

Only one (1) baby in a bag for three (3) voluptuous vampire maids????

#dracula daily

[thefloatingpoem]

Voluptuousness count in Dracula Daily

May 16: 2

Total: 3

#dracula daily

[thefloatingpoem]

[having almost been seduced to death by the Horrors] Dear reader: you won't believe this line of Hamlet I now understand

#dracula daily #you too can be almost seduced to death by the Horrors

[thefloatingpoem]

In a voice which, though low and almost in a whisper seemed to cut through the air and then ring round the room he said:—

"How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him when I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me! Beware how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me." The fair girl, with a laugh of ribald coquetry, turned to answer him:—

"You yourself never loved; you never love!" On this the other women joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the room that it almost made me faint to hear; it seemed like the pleasure of fiends. Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, and said in a soft whisper:—

"Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him you shall kiss him at your will. Now go! go! I must awaken him, for there is work to be done."

How quickly we went from "Goodness Me, I Love Food, I'll Ask For All The Recipes" by Jonathon Harker to "I Am Gay For My Dinner" by Count Dracula.

#I am gay for my dinner #I’m SCREAMING #dracula daily