It was the fall of 1914 when a heady rumor began to circulate amongst the Allied troops of World War I. In August of the same year, the British Expeditionary Force made its first incursion into German-occupied Belgium, only to find itself greatly outnumbered at the city of Mons. St. George and an armed brigade of angels, the story went as it passed from man to man, had appeared on the frontline and repelled — or, in some tellings, smited — the enemy horde, allowing the English to mount a safe retreat.

Passing beyond mere word of mouth in wartime France, the incident was circulated in English newspapers. Local parish publications picked it up and repeatedly reprinted the initial accounts of the miraculous apparition for their congregations. After much repetition, the story of the “Angels of Mons” was deemed credible enough that once skeptical thinkers were citing it as proof of divine intercession.

That is until Arthur Machen, a writer with The Evening News — the very paper where the story had originated — pointed to one of his fiction pieces, “The Bowmen,” that had gone to print on September 29th, 1914. Due to a misprint in its initial publication, Machen’s fantastical retelling of the events at Mons — St. George and all — had been taken by many to be a factual news article. But there had been skeptics from the beginning. After being told the story shortly after its publication, Brigadier-General John Charteris wrote from France: “Men’s nerves and imaginations play weird pranks in these strenuous times.”

After the truth behind the erstwhile urban legend came to light, Machen’s early novels and stories — which had fallen out of favor around the turn of the century — enjoyed a brief renaissance. Initially an author of gruesome and wanton horror stories, the Welsh novelist’s critics had labeled him as an apologist of black magic — the supreme irony being that, in fact, he was. Fifteen years before his the story of the “The Bowmen” was disseminated in churches across England, he had been a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn — an occult secret society that also counted William Butler Yeats and Aleister Crowley as members.

Those Machen’s fortunes waxed and waned as the angels incident receded from public memory, references to the man and his work have cropped up in works by later authors including H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Anton Wilson, Alan Moore, Stephen King and Iain Sinclair. His novels and stories remain in print today — though, in a testament to the selling power of a good urban legend, tale of angelic archers on the battlefield is more often than not republished under the title that made it famous, “The Angels of Mons.”

World War I Store Mauser Replica Automatic Pistol - 1896 German Picklehaub Helmet British 1912 Cavalry Sword Vintage Royal No. 10 Typewriter circa 1914 - 1930s

History Collectors: We offer a wide selection of museum quality replicas and authentic items representing nearly every century of the Common Era and the most significant civilizations of ancient history. Once you browse through our online catalogue, we are certain you’ll find the perfect gift for yourself or a loved one with an interest in history.

On December 1, 1887 the first story about the fictional but historically famous British sleuth Sherlock Holmes was published. The story was “A Study in Scarlet” and first appeared in “Beeton’s Christmas Annual” capturing front page space. The work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is well known in popular fiction, television and cinema. But the man behind the man is a little less familiar.

Born May 22, 1859, Doyle was still in his 20s when he created the character of Sherlock Holmes. It wasn’t an easy upbringing for Doyle and his family and his experience colored the man he was to be. Born into a Scottish family to a story telling mother and alcoholic father, Doyle was sent to England for his schooling. Being Scottish, he was teased by his English classmates and had a hard time adjusting. He did discover however that he had inherited his mother talents for story telling and writing.

Doyle left school at 17 bolstered rather than beaten down by his upbringing and circumstances. Despite coming from a family of well known artists, Doyle chose medicine as his career path. Perhaps this is where the character of Dr. Watson came into being. Doyle chose to be the foil to his own imagination rather than the central character of his books.

The character of Holmes actually came from a college professor Doyle met during his schooling. A master of logical deduction and puzzle solving, the professor inspired Doyle and influenced his writing.

As a medical student, Doyle was offered a position as a ship’s doctor and had the opportunity to travel to the Arctic. Throughout his travels and during his studies, Doyle was publishing short stories to make a little extra money. Although he did work as a doctor both off and on board ship, Doyle encountered many circumstances that left him poor and dissatisfied.

Eventually, Doyle set up his own practice in Plymouth, England and worked hard as a doctor during the day and as an author at night. He spent a year perfecting and drafting “A Study in Scarlet”. Despite trying out other characters and story lines after this, it was the Sherlock Holmes mysteries that changed Doyle’s life and catapulted him toward literary fame.

Doyle wrote, married, had children, traveled and wrote some more. He was a dedicated and passionate author. In 1893, Doyle killed off the Holmes character disappointing thousands of fans but Doyle had other things on his mind. His father died, his wife became fatally ill and he sank into depression. Doyle’s later life was filled with paranormal investigation, trips to America, service in Africa during the Boer war, a new marriage, more children and of course, writing stories, plays and poetry to solidify his place as one of Britain’s most celebrated Victorian writers. He passed away in 1930.

Many writers yearn for the talent and luck of a man like Arthur Conan Doyle. Few are aware of the colorful and sometimes dark life he had to lead in order to color his pen just so. Still, because of him we have Holmes and Watson and remain historically grateful.

History Store History DVDs Replica Guns Replica Swords Scale Model Kits

History Collectors: We offer a wide selection of museum quality replicas and authentic items representing nearly every century of the Common Era and the most significant civilizations of ancient history. Once you browse through our online catalogue, we are certain you’ll find the perfect gift for yourself or a loved one with an interest in history.

Video game systems for the home are a multi-million dollar industry and the current popular consoles from companies like Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft are technological marvels with games that look more like movies than like video games. The thing all of these systems have in common is they owe their existence to one of the earliest arcade video games that was translated into a home version and was responsible for the beginning of the video game industry. The game released in 1972 by Atari is PONG which is a game based on tennis and has simple graphics by today’s standards but was a phenomenon when it was first released. Atari founder Nolan Bushnell assigned the task of designing the game to Allan Alcorn as a training exercise. Alcorn was experienced with electrical engineering and computer science but had never designed games before so this was way to get him accustomed to creating games. Bushnell based his idea on an electronic table tennis game he had seen for the Magnavox Odyssey video game system. The game is played either by one player versus to computer or two players against each other by controlling a paddle that moves vertically on the screen. A ball is volleyed back and forth and points are scored by hitting to ball past the opponents paddle. Shortly after the game was released in bars and arcades, other companies created their own versions of PONG.

Atari added features to their designs and to stay ahead of the competition and they pushed their employees to design and create new games. In 1974, an Atari employee named Harold Lee suggested making a version of Pong for the home that would work with television sets. Atari promoted the idea to some companies who thought the product was too much of a risk and turned them down. Sears was interested in the product and offered an exclusive deal to sell the product with the Sears Tele-Games logo. The product launched on a limited basis during the Christmas season of 1975 and was an instant success selling approximately 150,000 units. Predictably, other companies jumped on the band wagon and released their own home versions of the game adding variations and other features. To try and stay ahead, Atari released new versions over the years with elements such as 4 players working together in pairs or playing against each other.

Magnavox wound up suing Atari after PONG became such a success claiming they had violated their patent and Nolan Bushnell settled with them out of court in 1976. As part of the settlement, Magnavox would get rights to Atari products for one year so Atari decided to delay releasing anything for that year. Magnavox sued other companies that produced similar games and either settled or won. Regardless of the beginning of the idea, it is widely believed that Atari Pong was the game that laid the foundation for the success of video games in arcades and also in the home.

History Store History DVDs Replica Guns Replica Swords Scale Model Kits

History Collectors: We offer a wide selection of museum quality replicas and authentic items representing nearly every century of the Common Era and the most significant civilizations of ancient history. Once you browse through our online catalogue, we are certain you’ll find the perfect gift for yourself or a loved one with an interest in history.

Few books have played such a large role in history as Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, except perhaps the Bible and the Koran. Published on November 24, 1859, Darwin’s book discussed such new ideas as natural selection, the survival of the fittest and of course, the natural evolutionary progression of homo sapiens. This non religious version of reality sparked a controversy that the world had never known.

Darwin’s research for the book had taken place on the HMS Beagle years before. As he traveled to the Galapagos Islands and other exotic places, he made observations on the nature of environment and the effect of climate on the development of species. He had a theory that animals were not merely created by an invisible being but they progressed along a very long line of evolution. Their “origins” were in the prehistoric world. Pure heresy of course.

That may be why it took Darwin several years before he spoke and wrote publicly on his theory of evolution. The first edition consisted of only 1, 250 copies. A second printing took place in December adding an additional 3,000 copies as well as a German translation to the controversy.

For forward thinking Victorians, Darwin’s book was the must have item of the year. Those who embraced the humanist enlightenment sentiments of the previous century felt compelled to explore such new “scientific” ideas. Science was on the rise in the mid to late 19^th century and the scientific method found favor among academics.

There was talk of a knighthood for Darwin before the church interposed. Darwin’s peers reacted in one of two ways: in favor or against the concept that man was descended from apes. Less than a year after the book was published, the term “Darwinism” was coined.

This was the era of tea rooms and private clubs, public libraries and the graduation of public space into a permanent part of society. Many people didn’t quite understand the concept as it was still so new, but it didn’t stop them from trying. The book was read and debated, sparked both cries of heresy and cries of progress. Darwin had changed human perception forever, cast doubt into tightly fixed views. Pulled a Copernicus if you will.

If you were alive in 1859, you had heard of Darwin’s book on the natural order of things. And of course, if you are alive today, You’ve probably heard of it too. Charles Darwin’s theories have enjoyed over a century of debate and study. Despite the fossil record, the work of anthropologists and the logical nature of the idea, many still refuse to accept Darwin’s theories. Because of this, there seems no let up in the debate or argument that started over 140 years ago. Sometimes a book is more than a book. Sometimes it’s the start of an historical movement.

History Store History DVDs Replica Guns Replica Swords Scale Model Kits

History Collectors: We offer a wide selection of museum quality replicas and authentic items representing nearly every century of the Common Era and the most significant civilizations of ancient history. Once you browse through our online catalogue, we are certain you’ll find the perfect gift for yourself or a loved one with an interest in history.