3 Free eBooks - December 2013

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for December 2013.

Zeller, Hannah. Wild Flowers of the Holy Land. London: James Nisbet and Co.1876. Available from Internet Archive here. I was taking a Coursera course about the fall and rise of Jerusalem when I happened upon this book. It seemed to fit my mood - thinking about that area of the world. How many of these flowers that grew wild there in the 1876 are still growing wild?

UNESCO. Egyptian Wall Paintings from Tombs and Temples. New York: The New American Library of World Literature, Inc. 1962. Available from the Internet Archive here. This book is recent enough that the images are color photographs. Many of the photographs are famous images but others were new to me and interested me more - particularly the ones that were show in the place they were originally found rather than in a museum.

Dimirov, Bojidar. Bulgaria - Illustrated History. Sofia, Bulgaria: BORINA Publishing House. 1994. Available from the Internet Archive here. I enjoyed both the older aspects of the history and the landscape illustrations in this book. The stratigraphic chart on page 10 shows periods of ancient material culture in the land that became Bulgaria. A portion of the chart is shown to the left.

3 Free eBooks - November 2013

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for November 2013.

Gusman, Pierre.Pompei, the city, its life & art. London: W. Heinemann. 1900. Available from the Internet Archive here. Pompeii still fascinates us today. This book has drawings and color illustrations - for tourists of more than a century ago.

Smith, Watson; Woodbury, Richard Benjamin; Woodbury, Nathalie F. S. The Excavation of Hawikuh by Frederick Webb Hodge: report of the Hendricks-Hodge Expedition, 1917-1923. New York: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. 1966. Available from the Internet Archive here. Hawikuh is located near the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Since I had just visited the Southwest in October - the images in this book prolonged the experience once I got back home to Maryland. The book contained many drawings of the designs from pots that reminded me of the pots at Edge of Cedars State Park.

Japanese decorated silk. 1700. Available from the Internet Archive here. This is a digitized version of a swatch book - decorated pieces of silk mounted in an accordion-type folder. The images on silk are elegant glimpses into the skill of the Japanese in 1700; no wonder the silks were in high demand.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - November 2013

Over a year ago I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are my top 10 for November 2013 - grouped into themes.

Seasonal Food

Pumpkin bake. One way I celebrate fall is to bake a whole pumpkin. It happens almost every year. The one this year was a little larger than usual - purchased at Home Depot; it was a bright orange decoration for our front porch for a few weeks before I decided to cook it. The color deepened after it baked for an hour or so. I cut a wedge, scooped away the seeds and stringy part from the center, and enjoyed it drizzled with butter and cinnamon. Then I divided the rest of the usable pulp into smaller portions - half for the freezer and half for more immediate pumpkin related celebrations.

Pumpkin and Yogurt Custard. It’s worth celebrating when a culinary experiment works; this one did although I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to duplicate it. I roughly followed the pumpkin custard recipe but used plain non-fat yogurt rather than milk, a non-calorie granular sweetener, and more eggs than usual. It developed a sugary crust that was very appealing!

Pumpkin and Ginger Scones. I had never made scones before but decided to try the recipe I posted in my gleanings a few weeks ago. There are two causes to celebrate: these particular scones are really good and scones are incredibly easy to make in a food processor (why did it take me so long to discover this?).

Pumpkin seed oil. It’s green! It’s yummy! I’ve started drizzling it over a mini-pita - making a fancy design like they do in high end restaurants.

Pomegranate. In the past few years - pomegranates have become part of the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration for me. It is their season to be plentiful in the stores and I like to think of them as the ‘jewels’ of the season.

Outdoors in the Fall

Foliage. The play of colors in the forest is the grand celebration before winter starkness.

Hike to the Patapsco. Walking through fields and forest on a crisp fall day is a more active way to celebrate the season.

Elementary School Nature Field Trips. I celebrated during every hike I led for elementary school field trips over the past month. What a privilege it is to share their first experiences: milkweed, black walnuts, wooly caterpillars, maple leaves changing color, the rocks of a stone wall between fields.

Raking Leaves. I prefer raking to blowing the leaves that fall too thickly on the ground. Raking is quiet work so I hear the birds and squirrels while I enjoy the leaves that still retain their color. They smell like rich forest tea the leaf mulch will become over the winter. There is a nostalgic celebration in raking leaves since the activity is the beginning of the end for fall.

Amanda Cross mysteries. I always celebrate finding a new author. All three Cross books I’ve read so far area already favorites….and there 11 more to go!

Enjoying an Amanda Cross Mystery

The last Amanda Cross mystery was published over 10 years ago - but I’ve discovered them recently. I just finished my third - and favorite so far: Sweet Death, Kind Death. It was published in 1984. As I read it I realized that I am enjoying it more now because of the growing up I’ve done over those 30 years. It is easier to identify with the victim - a woman in her late 50s that believed in women’s lives ‘beginning again just when it was supposed to be over.’ It is counter to what our culture tells us but more and more women in 2013 - boomers - are discovering the 'beginning again' path for themselves.

Another appeal is that the author was an English professor (Amanda Cross was a pen name for Carolyn Gold Heilbrun) and the sleuth in her books, Kate Fransler, is an English professor. What fun to have an imagined set of stories as tangents of a real life! The settings are college campuses and include the challenges that female college professors encountered (or at least the three novels I’ve read so far do…but they are all from the mid-80s or earlier).

I even like the liberal use of quotations from literary sources. They always seem just right for their placement in the story. The dialog is witty - and intellectual…probably realistic for groups of academics.  Before I pass my copies of the books on, I’ll have to glean some favorite quotes (either Heilbrun or her quotes from others).

Not all the books are in print. I have gotten my set from paperbackswap. I have 11 more of the mysteries to savor this winter!

3 Free eBooks - October 2013

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for October 2013.

Mollhausen, Balduin. Reisen in die Felsengebirge Nord-Amerikas Bd. 1. Leipzig: H. Constenoble. 1861. Available from the Internet Archive here. The images of the desert southwest that were published in 1861 are full of plants that are (mostly) realistically portrayed. 

 Macbeth-Evans Glass Company. Shades and Globes. Pittsburgh: Bartlett-Orr Press. 1912. Available from the Internet Archive here. This catalog from the early 1900s has some appealing ‘shades and globes’ for light fixtures that would not look out of place in a home today. I like the iridescent glass and the pattern of the one I clipped for this post.

Wittmack, L. Gartenflora Bd. 42. Berlin: Verlag von Paul Parey. 1893. Available from Internet Archive here. I am still savoring the volumes of Gartenflora ---- going through a few more each month. The chrysanthemum was one of my favorite images from October.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - September 2013

Over a year ago I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are my top 10.

Classes. The quality of the courses I’m taking on Coursera is excellent. I celebrate the first week of courses --- when it becomes obvious how good it is going to be --- and then when something unexpected is offered. The ‘Meet the Researcher’ segment of the Animal Behavior course is one such serendipity.

My weight. I finally - after more than 20 years - I am back down to my pre-pregnancy weight!

Good food. This month I discovered how yummy baked yogurt custard can be - and also enjoyed the best splurge around: a very chocolaty brownie.

Clothes. The t-shirt dresses were so comfortable for the warm days of the month and I discovered that many clothes I pulled out for the cooler days fit better than they did last year (or are too big!).

Books. September was a month I savored some books from authors I’d enjoyed before (May Sarton and Kinky Friedman) and discovered the Amanda Cross mysteries.

Longwood Gardens. Every time we make the trek to these gardens is a treat. You’ve seen evidence of how much I enjoyed the outing in September in the blog posts.

HC Conservancy. It’s always worth celebrating finding another place close enough to home that it can be visited on a regular basis.

Fabulous fall weather. September has been full of perfect days to be outdoors.

Change. I intentionally turned off the computer for hours at a time throughout the month to force some change in my days….and enjoyed the difference!

Visual richness. We aren’t in the colorful part of fall yet but there were two images of September than stand out: a corn field ready for harvest near our neighborhood and a zinnia in a small vase beside my computer monitor. 

3 Free eBooks - September 2013

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for September 2013.

Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen; Dasent, George Webbe, Sir; Nielsen, Kay Rasmus. East of the sun and west of the moon: old tales from the North. New York: G.H. Doran. 1922. Available from the Internet Archive here. Take a look at this eBook for the Kay Nielsen illustrations. They are outstanding. A synopsis of the story is available on Wikipedia here.

International Studio - An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art - Volume 51 (Issues from November 1913 to February 1914). New York: John Lane Company. 1914. Available from the Internet Archive here. What was the art world like just before World War I? Take a look at this volume to find out. One of my favorite  images is shown below; it’s called “An Interlude - the Breadman’s Donkey” from a wood engraving by Helen Hyde. Find out more about her via Wikipedia here. The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery website has a collection of 126 pieces from this artist. Other artists featured in this magazine either were famous or became so afterward. It is well worth a look at the images online.

Moncrieff, Ascott Robert Hope. Bonnie Scottland; painted by Sutton Palmer. London: A. & C. Black. 1912. Available from the Internet Archive here. I loved the pictures of landscapes (mountains, streams, the sea) and castles. I picked a fall picture from the book to feature in this post - to fit the season we are beginning. This book is from the period just before World War I…the year the Titanic sank.

Plants on the Deck

I just finished reading May Sarton’s autobiography from when she was in her 50s - Plant Dreaming Deep. She describes her move to Nelson NH. The garden around the house appears frequently in the book: how it looks from various windows of the house, the cutting of flowers in the morning, the weeding and planting of the afternoons, the taming of brush to reveal a stone wall, the agony of a drought when there was not enough water available for the plants.

I’ve experienced similar thoughts about the garden at my house - particularly with the plants in pots on my deck. It is not a particularly large grouping (this year) and there are only a few types of plants: zinnias, cardinal flowers, mint (3 kinds), and basil (2 kinds).

Hummingbird and cardinal flowerThey are visible from the window over the kitchen sink, through the French door from the breakfast area and the screened in part of the deck. The most frequent viewing is from the kitchen window - when I wash vegetables, get a cup of tea, or stand leaning over the sink to eat a juicy orange or peach. I notice the butterflies, hummingbirds, and goldfinches most frequently from there. There is a chair in the breakfast area turned to look outward for longer observation. When I sit on the deck - I sometimes look at the pots but am more frequently listening to the bird and cicada songs.Tiger swallowtail and zinnia

The plants each have their own mini-story.

The zinnias are from seeds my sister saved from her garden. They are degenerates of hybrids but I find the variety appealing and the insects/birds love both their nectar and seeds. I also like to cut a single flower for a bud vase on my desk.Goldfinch and zinnia seed pod

The mint has been propagated from various places around the house and into pots via cuttings. My favorite is the variety that grows in my daughter’s old turtle sandbox although I cut all varities to dry for use with black tea to make my favorite beverage: mint tea. Mid-way through the season I was introduced to the notion of creating pots of plants that included three components: thriller, spiller, and filler. Mint will be the “spiller and filler” for next year.Mint (pot and turtle sandbox) on right and zinnia on left

Zinnia and cardinal flowerThe cardinal flower was a gift from a volunteer organization I worked with earlier in the season. It is expanding into the large pot I put it in. It will be one of the “thriller” plants for next year. I may start another pot from seed as well. It certainly likes to be kept wet; discovering a long lost, half-full bag of peat moss in the garage just before I created the pot was fortunate. I already have a few mint plants that have taken root at one edge of the pot.

The basil seeds were gifts: seed balls from my daughter and a collection of seeds from my husband (that I thought might we too old to sprout). I cut a few leaves for a salad or sauce several times a week and have - so far - kept it from going to seed.

I keep the plants hydrated with water collected from cleaning fruits and vegetables - unless it is very hot and more is needed. The zinnias visibly droop when they need water; they are the indicator plant for watering.

I am full of plans for next year already. More large pots on my wish list for birthday and Christmas - and I’ll look for pot sales too. And I’m thinking of plants for next year too:

• Thrillers: zinnias, cardinal flower
• Fillers: basil, parsley, mint, cilantro
• Spillers: mint, sweet potato

The rest of the flower beds and gardens around the house are not completely unnoticed, but the pots on the deck are the ones I see most frequently. They are a very special luxury!

3 Free eBooks - August 2013

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for August 2013.

Regel, Eduard. Gartenflora. Erlangen: F. Enke. 1859. Available from the Internet Archive here. The text is in German….the botanical prints are the draw to this vintage book. Annual volumes were published until the early 1900s and I am making my way through the volumes.

Mathew, Frank James and Cooper, Alfred Heaton. Ireland. London: A. & C. Black. 1916. Available from the Internet Archive here. A book with many color illustrations of what Ireland was like just before World War I.

Ontario College of Art. The Tangent. Toronto: Ontario College of Art Students’ Club. 1938. Available from the Internet Archive here. This book includes images from Canadian art students from just before World War II.

Tangents from a Book

I just finished reading Marilyn French’s Beyond Power: On Women, Men and Morals. It was written in the 1980s and is somewhat dated. There were quite a few items that surprised me as I read and made me realize how naïve I was about the limitations on women in the US while I was growing up. For example - women were not allowed to serve on juries in Alabama until 1966 when the Supreme Court struck down the state law. There were still many limitations on property ownership in the 1960s as well. But much had improved by the 1980s and early 1990s. Somewhere along the line, progress slowed and increased limitations on women are the new trend - once again, as it has many times before in history.

As I read, my mind jumped very easily to related topics from my own life (since this book was written) or the news:

• I was part of the peak of women entering the computer field. That happened in the mid-80s and has been declining ever since. When I was in school, the college courses for people that wanted to go into programming were in various departments: math, business, and engineering. It was new field and there was an excitement about it. In my classes there were about equal numbers of men and women. The same was true when I started work. Over the years, there were fewer women. I’m sure there are many reasons for the decline - but the move to put computer science almost universally in the engineering department is probably a significant factor.
• Years later, my daughter was in an engineering physics course - one of two women in the class. The professor was not a problem (but was not helpful either). The male students picked on the other woman (said that she wasn’t qualified to be in the class) but fortunately left my daughter alone. She had to beg the other woman to stay in the course….and then study hard without the benefit of a study group. What does this say about what these men will be like once they are in the work force? It causes me to shudder.
• Another experience my daughter had was on a geology field trip - in a van full of people, only two of them women. The guys talked about ‘hot’ women all during the trip. My daughter chose to stay silent and hope they would stop soon. It was not a pleasant field trip. Are the guys rude or just clueless? I assume that it is probably a little of both.
• And in the news - Lindy Boggs died recently. What a great lady she was --- and a champion for the cause of women’s economic rights! Her efforts came after this book was written.

For much of my career, I assumed that the trends toward increasing opportunities for women were on the right track….that the progress made had an unstoppable momentum and that, in time, the perspective of women would be fully integrated into our culture. For the past 10 years or so - I am no longer as certain that is true - and there is a possibility that the trend has reversed. Reading this book reminded me of that.

Cookbooks

I am prompted by Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking to think about cookbooks. Does everyone that cooks have some reference they use at least occasionally? I have three that I use periodically - and almost always for some kind of bread or dessert.

The one I use most frequently is a Good Housekeeping Cookbook my grandmother gave me for Christmas just as I was beginning to help out in the kitchen - about 50 years ago. It was not something I used at first but I liked having such a ‘grown up’ present. I appreciated it more as soon as I was on my own in the kitchen - it was the book I had for guidance. The index is the most referenced part of the whole book but that doesn’t show. The splashes on recipe pages are obvious markers in the book and reveal the favorites. In this book it is corn bread, gingerbread, baked custard, popovers, applesauce cake, coffee cake, and apple brown betty (which I made with peaches at least as often as with apples). Now that I am looking at this book more closely….there is a yummy looking recipe for baked barbeque chicken (homemade sauce); it may be time to look at the other sections of this book!

There are only two pages that are food splattered in the Williamsburg cookbook purchased when I first visited Colonial Williamsburg: Christiana Campbell’s Tavern Sweet Potato Muffins and Sally Lunn. I’ve made the muffins with all kinds of variations: pumpkin instead of sweat potato, left over baked sweet potatoes, canned sweet potatoes, mini-muffins, muffin tops, raisins and nuts depending on what is on hand.

The last cookbook was one I inherited from my mother-in-law. I’m not sure whether it was something she had for years or that she bought not that long before she died at a used book sale. Either way - it has a wonderful spice cake recipe (that includes cayenne pepper).

After thumbing through these old books - I’m ready to try a new recipe!

Free eBooks - July 2013

It’s time again for the monthly post of eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for July 2013.

Toronto Art League. Calendar for the year 1901. Toronto: Musson Book Co. 1901. Available here. 1901 was the year one of my grandfathers was born. I collect books that give me a perception of what the world was like then. How different the world was!

Verner, Dorte (editor). Reducing Poverty, Protecting Livelihoods, and Building Assets in a Changing Climate : Social Implications of Climate Change for Latin America and the Caribbean. World Bank. 2010. Available here. I was taking two different Coursera courses - one on Latin American Culture and the other on Climate Literacy; I’m not sure which one listed this as a reference. It makes the point that the progress made in developing countries can be undermined by climate change. 

Musson, Spencer C. and Lewis, John Hardwick. La Cote d'Emeraude. London: A and C Black. 1912. Available here. History of a place before World War I and art work rolled into one. I like the picture below of a bridge. 

3 Free eBooks - June 2013

It’s time again for the monthly post of eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for June 2013.

Chadwick, Luie. Fashion drawing and design: a practical manual for art students and others. London: Batsford. 1926. Available from the Internet Archive here. Scan through the illustrations for historical perspective of fashion illustration or fashion itself. I particularly liked the silhouettes below.

Gordon, Elizabeth. Flower Children. Chicago: P.F. Volland and Company. 1910. Available from the Internet Archive here. The drawings capture both children and flowers. The tiger lily and trillium are shown at the right. What fun it would be to have customs along these lines for ‘dress up’ play!

Quennell, Marjorie Courtney andQuennell, Charles Henry Bourne. A History of Everyday Things in England. London: Batsford. 1918-1934. Three volumes available on the Internet Archive: volume 2, volume 3, and volume 4. This is quite a series - covering from the 16th Century to the early 1930s. The illustrations depict changes in that time period for simple things like staircases to work such as farming and the advent of the industrial age. The high chair from about 1860 (left) looks like a low table with a chair attached to the top! 

3 Free eBooks - May 2013

The Internet has a growing number of online books…and many of them are free. This is my monthly post highlighting 3 that I have enjoyed most this past month.

National Research Council. Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds. December 2012. Available in several downloadable forms here. A new global trends report is published every 4 years following the US Presidential election. It is intended to provide a framework for thinking about possible futures and their implications. Is our future going to be characterized by stalled engines, fusion, gini-out-of-the-bottle or nonstate world…or some combination?

Paxton, Sir Joseph. Paxton’s Magazine of Botany and Register of Flowering Plants. London: W.S. Orr and Co. 1834-1849. More than 10 volumes available on the Internet Archive here. I can’t resist including at least one eBook with botanical prints. Many of the images are quite recognizable - like the azalea at right.

Dobson, George; Grove, Henry M; Stewart, Hugh; Haenen, F. de. Russia. London, A. and C. Black. 1913. Available from the Internet Archive here. Look at this book for the pictures and realize that it is about that time just before World War I when everything was breaking…no one fathomed just how bad it was going to be or what would be built afterwards on the rubble.

3 Free eBooks - April 2013

The Internet has a growing number of online books…and many of them are free. This is my monthly post highlighting 3 that I have enjoyed most this past month.

Gray, Asa. The Forest Trees of North America. Washington D.C., Smithsonian Institution. 1891. This is really the plates prepared for a book. The work was done between 1849 and 1859. It is available in PDF form here. The first three images hooked me for the rest of the volume: magnolias and tulip polar. The tulip poplar in our back yard is just getting ready to bloom…and the image captures the look of the tree quite well.

Redoute, Pierre Joseph. Les Roses. Paris, De L’Imprimerie de Firmin Didot. 1824. There are actually three volumes available on the Internet Archive: 1817, 1821, and 1824. All three contain pages and pages of botanical prints of roses. I was prompted to look for these books when I saw a reference to them in May Theilgaard Watts’ Reading the Landscape of Europe.

Sale, Edith Dabney Tunis (editor for James River Garden Club, Richmand). Historic Gardens of Virginia. Richmond, William Byrd Press. 1923. Available from the Internet Archive here. The book includes the birds-eye view of many gardens as well as a few vistas from ground level. It is tempting to see how many of these gardens still exist!

3 Free eBooks - March 2013

The Internet has a growing number of online books…and many of them are free. This is my monthly post highlighting 3 that I have enjoyed most this past month.

Featon, Edward and Sarah. Art Album of New Zealand Flora. Wellington, New Zealand. Bock & Cousins. 1889. Available in two volumes: one and two. These volumes were the first full-color art book published in New Zealand. Now the botanical art (and the text) are digitized and available on the Internet Archive. A sample clip from one of the pages is to the left.

The second item on my list this month is a magazine archive rather than a book. I found it when I was looking for resources on the web about May Theilgaard Watts (and about ‘reading the landscape’). Chicago Wilderness Magazine was published from 1997-2009 by Chicago Wilderness (a regional alliance dedicated to protecting nature and enriching life). The archive can be found here. The articles and photographs are focused on the outdoors around Chicago in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.

Toulouse, Pamela Rose. Integrating Aboriginal Teaching and Values into the Classroom. Canada. The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat and the Ontario Association of Deans of Education. 2008. Available here. This is a research monograph from Canada but broadly applicable to diverse, inclusive classrooms. Who does not want children to learn respect, love, bravery, wisdom, humility, honesty, and truth? The site includes other education/teaching ‘research into practice’ monographs as well (follow the link at the bottom of the PDF). 

3 Free eBooks - February 2013

The Internet has a growing number of online books…and many of them are free. This is my monthly post highlighting 3 that I have enjoyed most this past month.

Bulliard, Pierre. Flora Parisiensis Volume 2. Paris, P.F. Didot. 1776. Available here. This is a botanical text that was produced in France while the American Revolution was happening. Multiple volumes are available at the Internet Archive and all contain many color plates like the one to the left of a tulip. This must have been a very expensive book when it was produced!

Ernst, James A. Drawing the Line, Fine and Commercial Art. New York, Reinhold Publishing Corporation. 1962.  Available here. Skipping ahead almost 200 years from the first book, this book does not contain color. It is a book that encourages action…it's a great way to build up your motivation to make some drawings. Any book that causes me to do something is one that goes on my favorites list!

The last item for this month is not a specific eBook. It is a reminder that many public libraries offer eBooks via their web presence that can be checked out for 2 or 3 weeks. Check to see what yours offers. Many libraries use the Overdrive service to drive their selections;  search the Overdrive list of participating libraries to see if your library is on the list. I’ve read over 100 books on my Kindle from my local library. Right now I am working my way through the mysteries written by Nevada Barr!

3 Free eBooks - January 2013

The Internet has a growing number of online books….and many of them are free. This is the monthly post highlighting 3 that I have enjoyed most this past month.

Shin-bijutsukai (2 volumes from early 1900s). Kyoto: Yamada Geikido. Available here. Art from Japan of the early 1900s. The red leaves at the left is a portion of one of my favorite images from the books.

White, John and Michael Dennin. Science Appreciation: Introduction to Science Literacy. ComPADRE. 2010 Available here. This is the text for Coursera’s Science from Superheroes to Global Warming offering. Even if you already consider yourself ‘science literate’ it is worth perusing for an update on how the issue of illiteracy in this particular topic area is being approached in our colleges.

Leonard, Anna B. and Adelaide Alsop Robineau. Keramic Studio periodical (volumes 2, 10, 13, 16 and 20 from 1900 to 1919). Syracuse, NY: Keramic Studio Publishing Co. Available here. Keramic Studio was pioneering periodical for ceramic artists and potters in the early 1900s. It was full of wonderful images that were emerging in that heady time when so much was changing just before World War I and immediately thereafter. The variety of work depicted - from drawings to finished works - is quite broad. Some of my favorites are the images of peacock feathers in volume 10 show in the clips to the right.

The previous eBook posts can be found here.