Powlesbrewerne

At the moment, this periodical is called "Strange Strands" and is in a robots.txt protected directory on inamidst, waiting to be published. The robots.txt file is used in determining which files show up in the Changes and Updates section, so at the moment nobody can see the site, which means that I'm still able to rename it if I want.

So, the Preface entry tells why I chose the current name, but since then I've been wondering about less prosaic names. I really want to capture some of that crazy thin wild mercurial nature that some of the Elizabethan play and book names had. I like the names of Nashe's books, and the names of the stationers of the time. Generally they just said that they were the stationer by the sign of the $something. For example, on a quarto of Henry IV part 1: "Printed by P.S. for Andrew Wiſe, dwelling in Paules Churchyard, at the ſigne of the Angell." Or on one of Henry V: "Printed by Thomas Creede, for Tho. Millington, and Iohn Busby. And are to be ſold at his houſe in Carter Lane, next the Powle head." It seems that the Powle head was St. Paul's Brewery:

First mention : 1349 (Ct. H.W. I. 578).

In 44 Ed. III. , 18 new shops were to be erected at "Powlesbrewerne," 11 ft. in length by 25 in breadth (H. MSS. Com. 9th Rep. p.12).

"le Sarazyneshead" in parish of St. George (sic) by the church of St. Paul opposite a tenement called "Poulesbruerne," 19 H. VI. 1441 (Cal. P.R. H. VI. 1436-41, p.541)

Afterwards called the " Powle head Taverne" (S. 370). See Paul's head.

—St. Paul's Brewery, British History Online

I guess there isn't really any analogue online to the signs, unless my domainmark thing counts, in which case this would be a publication given for free next the sign of St. Hans's Cross. I think it's this kind of characteristicness that gave rise to the newspaper naming conventions of "The Star", "The Guardian", "The Sun", "The Times", "The Daily Mirror", and the possibly upcoming "The World". Solar objects seem the most common; perhaps "The Moon" should be considered the next logical newspaper name.

As for style, I'd like something that is a) traditional, b) contemporary, and c) homely. Not an easy combination to hit, though clichèdly retromodern designs such as those employed in Schott's awesome series of books do fit the bill, so perhaps I should add clichéless. Incidentally, choosing the correct diacritic to use for clich?dly proved to be a bit of a task. The original word of course uses an acute, but the pronunciation warrants a grave. Google records 279 results for e, 130 for é, 5 for è, and zero for ë. I'm using è for now just to be a little risqué.

Once I'm certain of the name and style, I'm planning on releasing the site quietly, letting it slip into Google and seeing if anybody bothers to pick it up. That way there isn't any pressure on me to write, and if people find it they'll just have to take it at face value. The name and style won't have much of a bearing in that sense, but they do have a bearing on how I feel about the site and can often make a considerable impact on the amount that, and style in which, I write.