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Linear Scripts

(Encyclopedia)Linear Scripts, forms of Minoan writing. The earliest Minoan writing consisted of pictographs, called Cretan hieroglyphs, which date from about 2000 b.c. The first linear script, Linear A, dates from ...

Grand Rapids

(Encyclopedia)Grand Rapids. <1> City (2020 pop. 198,917), seat of Kent co., SW central Mich., on the Grand River; inc. 1850. The second largest city in the stat...

Great Pyrenees

(Encyclopedia)Great Pyrenees, breed of large working dog whose fossil remains date its existence in Europe from the Bronze Age (1800–1000 b.c.). It stands from 25 to 32 in. (63.5–81.3 cm) high at the shoulder a...

half-timber house

(Encyclopedia)half-timber house, type of construction of the Middle Ages in N Europe, used chiefly for dwellings. Some French examples date from the 12th cent., and by the 13th cent. the building method had reached...

Zao Wou-Ki

(Encyclopedia)Zao Wou-Ki or Chao Wu-chi, 1920–2013, Chinese-French painter who combined a traditional Asian sensibility with Western abstraction. He studied ink painting and calligraphy as well as Western art tec...

Bigot, François

(Encyclopedia)Bigot, François fräNswäˈ bēgōˈ [key], 1703–77?, intendant of New France (1748–59), b. Bordeaux, France. At Louisburg, where he served (1739–45) as commissary, it has been said that he ind...

bookplate

(Encyclopedia)bookplate, label pasted in a book to indicate ownership, also called ex libris [Lat.,=from the books of]. The bookplate is usually of paper on which heraldic or other designs are engraved or printed. ...

Vionnet, Madeleine

(Encyclopedia)Vionnet, Madeleine, 1876–1975, French fashion designer. She worked for Parisian and London dressmakers and designed for the Callot Soeurs and Jacques Doucet houses before opening her own studio in 1...

telegraph

(Encyclopedia)telegraph, term originally applied to any device or system for distant communication by means of visible or audible signals, now commonly restricted to electrically operated devices. Attempts at long-...

Stephen Harding, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Stephen Harding, Saint, c.1060–1134, English monastic reformer. He entered the abbey at Sherborne in his youth; later (c.1077) he went to the Molesme abbey (near Châtillon-sur-Seine) in Burgundy. I...