MDMD Intro

[Judy Panetta]

Thanks John, for the compliment and thanks to jbor for the bibliography.
What a list! It was great.


John: 'Zab' is short for Elizabeth, and when I once called a thus-named
friend Zab she thought it was the funniest thing she'd heard in a long time.
I don't know why. Perhaps because Elizabeth can be shortened to so many
things (Liz, Betty, Beth, Liza, Eliza, Betsy etsetry) but she'd never heard
Zab. I'm guessing it's a Pynchon invyntion, yeah?

I was also tickled by this.

>  The LeSparks live in the southeast part of the city...wind of
>Delaware (River), Northern Liberties, Spring Garden, and Germantown all
>being west and north. That is, they live right in town...not in any of the
>suburbs.

John: I'd always assumed they lived in a more pastoral setting, somewhere on
the fringes of town. Just the mental image that came to mind. Don't know
why. Should read more carefully. Thanks! Any nice pictures of this area on
the maps you posted?

This had me going too. Particularly since I know these ares so well. Mulling
over the old maps I could find...I realized that urban topography was less
compact in the 18th cent. at least on this side of the pond even for the
biggest city in the colony at the time. That is, one could live "in town"
(but outside the docks and market square) and have a bit of space.