Bestiarius.
Fantastic creatures.
'Bestiaries are part of a tradition that began
in the 3rd or 4th centuries AD with the greek
'Physiologus', a collection of animal-based
moral stories, widely circulated in Europe ...
The artists were often copying from predecessors
and were unlikely to have been familiar with many
of the animals, accounting for the odd appearance
at times. Fabulous animals such as mermaids,
unicorns, griffins and dragons were usually
included. '
Make 42 out of 2,3,4 and 9. You may use each number once and only
once, using any (not necessarily all)
of the arithmetic operators +,-,* and / .
The Embryology of Turtles.
'Swiss-American Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) trained
as a doctor and scientist but devoted his life to
zoology (particularly icthyology), paleontology,
geology and he did groundbreaking work in glaciology.
He was taught by and had close associations with
Georges Cuvier and Alexander von Humboldt and
became a (famous) leading scientist in America
through his field work and his professorship at
Harvard University among many other accomplishments.
He was also the last eminent scientist of his day to
resist Darwin's evolutionary theories - "I trust to
outlive this mania"...'
Postcards from Tibet.
'The plateau was white, the way cold things are
white, and the cold was startling as it bit down
to us. The bus windows rattled in their metal
casements and drafts rushed in through every
crack. I huddled around myself, watching as
the contours of land began to show, sculpted
in gold, greys, white, and shadow. As we passed
through a shallow gorge I saw a long-eared rabbit
at an icy stream. I imagined his footpads on the
frost...'
Elsa Beskow.
'Elsa Beskow (1874-1953) is one of the most well
known of Swedish childrens' books illustrators...'
The Comancheria, Lost Homeland of a Warrior
Tribe.
'... From around mid-18th century, they roamed an
area known coinciding with present-day north-western
Texas, western Oklahoma, parts of southern Kansas and
Colorado and eastern New Mexico. This area, first
called the Comancheria by the Spanish, coincided
with the Southern Plains in which the buffalo
roamed, and in such plentiful numbers that the
Comanche's numbers increased significantly as
well. This was also due to Shoshone immigration
and the capture of enemy women and children...'
The Panopticon.
19th century philosopher
Jeremy Bentham's model totalitarian prison.
'The Panopticon ("all-seeing") functioned as a
round-the-clock surveillance machine. Its design
ensured that no prisoner could ever see the
'inspector' who conducted surveillance from the
privileged central location within the radial
configuration. The prisoner could never know
when he was being surveilled -- mental
uncertainty that in itself would prove to be a
crucial instrument of discipline...'
Baseball and Jackie Robinson.
'When he stepped onto Ebbets field on April 15th,
1947, Robinson became the first African American in
the twentieth century to play baseball in the major
leagues -- breaking the "color line," a segregation
practice dating to the nineteenth century. Jackie
Robinson was an extremely talented multi-sport
athlete and a courageous man who played an active
role in civil rights. '
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With Nature and a Camera.
'Being the adventures and observations of a
field naturalist and an animal photographer'.
Beautifully illustrated work of British natural
history - published in 1898!
16th to 20th Century Maps of Africa.
'This site features digital copies of 113
antique maps of Africa and accompanying text
dating from the mid 16th Century to the early
20th Century. '
Engineering the Renaissance.
15th century engineering manuscripts.
'At the age of 50 Taccola began producing
engineering manuscripts - a new type of technical
publication that favoured the prominent display of
explanatory illustrations - the first of which
was completed in ~1433. These works are said
to contain a large array of devices that had
not previously been recorded but it's
not known for certain how many of these
ideas began with Taccola...'
Kami no Michi (The Way of the Kami): The Life and
Thought of a Shinto Priest.
'May I hope that your meeting with the Reverend
Yukitaka Yamamoto,. 96th High Priest of Japan's
oldest Shrine will point you to a pathway of
inspiration and assist in your own search for
the deep truths upon which humankind's best
hopes for survival and development must be
based.'
A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge.
'When the levees broke, everything changed for New Orleans and
the Gulf Coast. A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge is about
surviving Hurricane Katrina-and its aftermath. Told in webcomic
form, A.D. is written and illustrated by Josh Neufeld, and
presented by SMITH Magazine.'
Mythical Monsters (1886).
'Charles Gould, the son of the ornithologist
John Gould, wrote this book in the 19th century on
the subject now called 'cryptozoology,' the study of
(possibly imaginary) animals only known through
anecdotal or folklore evidence. '
Gnosis.
15th to 18th century occult diagrams. Very intriguing.
'An eclectic mix of esoterica purloined from the
Polish site, Gnosis.
The above images come from the Iluminatornia
section of the site. '
Doodle Dandy.
''With a few deft strokes, Saul Steinberg turned institutional
letterhead into signature works of whimsy...'
They Needed to Talk.
Wonderful photograph of two young women, talking.
'The details are a bit sketchy now, but everyone
agrees the picture was taken in Memphis, Tennessee,
on a late summer night in 1973. Karen Chatham, the
young woman in blue, recalls that she had been out
drinking when she met up with Lesa Aldridge, the
woman in red. Lesa didn't drink at the time, but
both were 18, the legal age then. As the bars
closed at 3 a.m., the two followed some other
revelers to a friend's house nearby. In the
mix was a 30-something man who had been taking
pictures all night...'
The 27 Club.
'The "27 Club" is a popular culture reference to a group
of several rock and blues musicians, who experienced a career
that ended with their death at age 27...'
Summer of Love.
'In the summer of 1967, thousands of
young people from across the country flocked
to San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district to
join in the hippie experience, only to discover
that what they had come for was already disappearing.
By 1968 the celebration of free love, music,
and an alternative lifestyle had descended
into a maelstrom of drug abuse, broken dreams,
and occasional violence...'
Studies in Scarlet:
Marriage & Sexuality in the US & UK
1815-1914.
'Studies in Scarlet presents the images of over
420 separately published trial narratives from
the Harvard Law School Library's extensive trial
collections. Included are a number of trials of
the wealthy and renowned such as an account of
the adultery trial of Caroline, Queen Consort
of George IV, the sodomy trial of Oscar Wilde,
and the trial of Harry Thaw for the murder of
Stanford White, the famous architect who was
Evelyn Nesbit Thaw's lover...'
In Palm Springs: US Steel Homes.
'The U.S. Steel homes were experiments in
all-steel construction and angular, modern
shapes. A strip of these private residences are
still standing along Sunny View Drive, tucked
away just Southeast of San Rafael and
Indian Canyon Drives. The project,
designed by Donald Wexler in 1961-63,
proved to be too expensive and only six
homes were built...'
The Royal Games of Burma.
'This is a 19th century burmese parabeik -
a folded concertina picture book usually made
of palm leaves - with watercolour illustrations
of sporting and cultural activites viewed by
royalty. '
Diatoms.
Images of the
interesting diamond-like microscopic beings.
'Who would have thought that so many out there
share my love for these astonishing microscopic
lifeforms. But what's not to love? Diatoms, like
my other all-time favourite, slime mould, are
neither fish nor fowl. Which is to say that they
are neither plants nor animals, and are not
bacteria or fungi either...'
A Hale-Bopp Holiday (1997).
'Seen from the Pik Terskol Observatory in the
northern Caucasus mountains, comet Hale-Bopp
and the bright stars of the constellation
Perseus hang above the snowy, moon-lit landscape.'
The J.L. Carr Collection.
Art of rural England.
'The collection consists of original art works
by J.L. Carr, depicting scenes from around
Northamptonshire...'
'... Joseph (James) Lloyd Carr was born in the
North Riding of Yorkshire in 1912, the youngest
child of a Railwayman. He attended Castleford
Secondary School and later Goldsmiths Teacher
Training College. After teaching in Hampshire
and Birmingham, interrupted by his service flying
reconnaissance missions during the Second World
War, he became headmaster of Highfields Primary
School, Kettering, in 1951...'
Chronicling America: Historic American
Newspapers.
'Welcome to Chronicling America, enhancing
access to America's historic newspapers. This
site allows you to search and read newspaper
pages from 1900-1910 and find information about
American newspapers published between
1690-present. '
Atlas of the Caucasian Languages.
I.e. languages of the Caucasus - a region
rich in
ethnic and linguistic diversity (like other mountainous regions of
the world).
link
10th May
It Came from the Sears 1971 Catalog.
'I found this Fall 1971 Sears catalog at an
estate sale. Estate sales are where others
come and loot the deceased for fun and profit.
I was hoping to find some nice toy pictures in
this catalog. The toys only show up in the "Wish
Book". I did find over 1600 pages of pure ugly. '
The Murthly Hours.
Illuminated manuscript.
'The Murthly Hours is one of Scotland's great
medieval treasures. Written and illuminated in
Paris in the 1280s, it also contains full-page
miniatures by English artists of the same period,
and was one of the most richly decorated manuscripts
in medieval Scotland. Medieval additions include
probably the second oldest example of Gaelic
written in Scotland.'
Cook's Voyage to the Pacific Ocean.
'The National Library of Australia have 87
engraving plates on display from Captain James
Cook's Voyage to the Pacific Ocean of 1784.
Multiple resolution and pan/zoom options. Cook
was speared and stoned to death in the Sandwich
Islands (Hawaii) in February 1779. '
George Petty 1947.
Pin-up art.
'Regardless of the "kitsch" content and subject
matter, these paintings are wonderful examples of
masterful use of the airbrush. '
China Girls.
'This exquisite and delicate watercolour album
is from Hong Kong. There is very little information
available at Carnegie Mellon University's Posner
Library website. It mentions that the paintings
are by 12 different artists of the 12 beautiful
ladies from 'Hung Lou Meng' by Ts'ao Chan. I am
presuming, from a further snippet, that the book
or story is from the 18th century...'
Welcome to Pyongyang.
'Welcome to Pyongyang by photographer Charlie
Crane and producer Nicholas Bonner offers an
intriguing portrait of tourism in the North
Korean capital. '
Royal Navy Sketchbooks.
"A bound sketchbook containing a series of
36 pencil and watercolour sketches drawn by
Commander Mervyn Scott Lindslay whilst a
prisoner of the Japanese at North Point
Camp in Hong Kong from 1942 to 1945..."
Terrahawks.
80s kids' science fiction TV - classy.
Europe from Moscow (in 1952).
A fine piece of Cold War propaganda art.
'Perspective and the right choice of colours
can help to infuse a map with meaning, this
one being a very good example. The map is
entitled Europe From Moscow, and was featured
in the Time Magazine issue of March 10, 1952...'
Out of Africa: The Kirk Papers.
'The Kirk Papers is a collection of photographs
and papers belonging to East Africa pioneer Sir
John Kirk ...
Born in Barry, Angus, in 1832, Kirk qualified
in medicine at Edinburgh University and then
volunteered for medical service in the Crimea.
An accomplished botanist, zoologist and diplomat,
he was also a talented photographer. This is
evident from the collection of over 250 photographs,
many of them stunning.'
7,000 Stars and the Milky Way.
'This panorama view of the sky is really a
drawing. It was made in the 1950s under the
supervision of astronomer Knut Lundmark at
the Lund Observatory in Sweden. To create
the picture, draftsmen used a mathematical
distortion to map the entire sky onto an
oval shaped image with the plane of our
Milky Way Galaxy along the center and the
north galactic pole at the top. '
Niels and Albert were
excitedly discussing the result of the International Puzzle Competition
in Belgium. There were three contestants, Erwin, Werner, and Marie.
Niels reported that Erwin won, while Werner came in second. Albert, on
the other hand, reported that Marie won, while Erwin came in second.
In fact, neither Niels nor Albert had given a correct report of the
results of the competition. Each of them had given one correct statement
and one false statement. What was the actual placing of the three
contestants?
Personal Animals.
'If the scant information online is
correct, then Käthe Schönberger from Austria
was 15 years old when she produced the
illustrations for 'Aus Thier und Menschenleben'
('From Animal and Human Lives') in 1896. The
personification of animals theme is very
reminiscent of JJ Grandville's work (see
particularly the uniformed chickens fighting).
She picked a fine mentor, if so...'
The Discovery of Global Warming.
'This Web site created by Spencer Weart supplements his much shorter
book, which tells the history of climate change research as a single
connected narrative. '
Chicago's Front Door.
History of Chicago's lakefront.
'This digital exhibit explores the impact of
the Lake Michigan waterfront on the development
of Chicago from its earliest days of French
exploration through the rebirth of the city
after the 1871 Chicago Fire and two World's Fairs. '
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