Philobiblon

I like to kid myself that in visiting France and spending lots of time in museums I’m improving my French.

So today I learnt that “bonnets d’affranchises” are what is known in English as the “cap of liberty”, given to freed Roman slaves as a symbol of their new status, and more widely used as a symbol of liberty.

OK, so it might not come up while buying a train ticket, but you never know when it might come in handy…