A demijohn is a very large bottle, sometimes up to 10 gallons in capacity. Most were hand blown and some have pontiled bottoms. They were used as containers to hold wine, molasses, and other liquids. [..]

A cask holding the old unit of liquid measure of the same name equal to 42 US gallons.

Geoffrey Chaucer was the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages. He wrote The Canterbury Tales, a group of stories ranking among the masterpieces of literature. Chaucer was born in London around 134 [..]

Honoré de Balzac was a French writer of realist novels. Balzac was born in Tours, France on 20 May 1799. Balzac conceived of the idea of collecting his novels into one mammoth continuum entitled La Co [..]