3 Free eBooks - December 2014

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 2014.

Boggs, Jean Sutherland, Douglas W. Druick, Henri Loyrette, Michael Pantazzi, and Gary Tinterow. Degas, 1834–1917. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1988. Available from the Metmuseum site here.  This is the catalog for a large scale retrospective exhibit of Degas’ work in the late 80s. There are lots of examples of his works and his process for their creation. There are many other similar books on the Metmuseum site that make it worth browsing.

Wilson, Charles William. Picturesque Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt. New York: D. Appleton. 1880. There are four volumes available via the Internet Archive: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3 and Volume 4. With all the wars that have happened in the area between 1880 and today - I wonder how many of the places depicted in the drawings are still standing. Many looked very old in 1880!

Hariot, Paul. Atlas colorie des plantes medicinales indigenes. Paris : Librairie des sciences naturelles. 1892. Available at the Internet Archive here. I always enjoy a book of botanical prints - which is what this is. I like the way the prints are an intersection of art and science. There is another book from the same author that I am looking forward to viewing too.

3 Free eBooks - October 2014

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 2014.

Heminway, M. & Sons Silk Co. A Treatise on Embroidery. New York: M. Heminway & Sons Silk Co. 1907. Available from the Internet Archive here. I started out looking at this book as a snapshot of embroidery from the early 1900s. Then I decided that the botanical depictions were quite good (the California poppies are my favorites). I savored the colors and artistry. In the days before television, embroidery rose to an art form - it was the tangible product of ‘free time’ for many women. In my adolescence in the 1960s, my grandmother taught me some basic embroidery stitches and I made a few pieces - and then stopped. I didn’t have time for it during high school, college and career; now, when I could return to it, embroidery does not appeal to me.  I don’t know anyone else that embroiders either.

Gell, William. Pompeiana. London: Jennings and Chaplan. 1832. Available from the Internet Archive in two volumes: one and two. Pompeii has attracted tourists for a long time. These volumes are from a time before the large numbers of the modern era.

Tennyson, Baron Alfred with decorations by Howard Pyle. The Lady of Shalott. New York: Dodd, Mead, & Company. 1881. Available from the Internet Archive here. The illustrations make this worth a look. Sumptuous.

3 Free eBooks - September 2014

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 2014.

Calvert, Albert Frederick. Southern Spain - Painted by Trevor Haddon. London: A&C Black. 1908. Available from the Internet Archive here. I particularly liked the images of courtyards….beautiful outdoor spaces.

Moore, Frederic. The Lepidoptera of Ceylon. London: L. Reeve & Co. 1890. Three volumes from the Internet Archive: one, two, three.  The author was very active in India as well. I’ve looked at all the volumes for Ceylon and have started the ones for India. I wonder how many of the species still exist?

Brown, Leanne. Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day. New York. 2014. Available from the author’s website. You’ll get hungry just looking at recipes in this book!  I got caught on the first one (tomato scrambled eggs)…made it for lunch before I finished the rest of the book!

Enjoy some wonderful images (and some good food ideas)!

3 Free eBooks - August 2014

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 2014.

Shelley, George Ernest; Keulemans, John Gerrard (lithographer/llustrator). A monograph of the Nectariniidae, or, Family of sun-birds. London: Published by the author. 1876. Available from the Internet Archive here. The illustrations are the best of this book and there are other books that have the same lithographer also available on the Internet Archive that are worth a look too (although I think the sun-birds book is the best).

Dam, Jan Daniël van; Tichelaar, Pieter Jan; Schaap, Ella; Lins, P. Andrew. Dutch Tiles in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art.1984. Available from the Internet Archive here. I started looking for books that had tile patterns after the Coursera course I am taking on Symmetry used them as part of the introduction to the vocabulary used to discuss symmetry. What do you think of the grapes and pomegranates tiles? Notice that the tiles are rotated to create the pattern (the stems always point to the center).

an hui sheng chu si hai zong zhi hui bu. xiao mie wen ying de ye sheng zhi wu. 1958. Available from the Internet here. This is a Chinese botany book. I always enjoy botanical prints and these were no exception. It was also good to realize that books from around the world are making their way into the archive.

Enjoy these and many other books that are freely available on the internet.

On Trends in the US

There are quite a few news items about trends in the US. There are some that are appealing to me - and that I feel part of my life:

• Buying locally grown food
• Taking advantage of free online courses (Coursera is the one I’ve enjoyed)
• Reading online books (most of my reading these days is electronic rather than printed on paper)

There are other trends that don’t jive with my life right now:

• Watching television. I was an hour of less of television per day (there was an article about hours per day trending upward with the average being 4 hours per day)
• Interacting via social media. I do occasionally look at Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest….but not daily. The content can too easily be overwhelming rather than helpful.
• Moving to ‘senior’ housing. I have no desire at all to live in an area that is not age diverse. I like have children in the area where I live.
• Exercising as part of a class or club. I’d rather formulate my days to exercise as part of the way I live my life.

Now that I’ve started thinking about trends….I’ll do the ‘next step’ thinking when I read or hear a news item about a trend in the US.  I’m feeling a little rebellious these days so I anticipate that I’ll be bucking more trends than following.

Free eBooks - May 2014

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for May 2014. This month I’ve selected 3 books that are multiple volumes - totaling 35 ‘books’ in all.

Commission des sciences et arts d’Egyte. Description of Egypt. Second Edition. Paris: C.L.F Panckoucke. 1820. There are 5 volumes of plates about Antiquities, an atlas, 2 volumes of plates about the Modern State, and3volumes about Natural History. Available from the World Digital Library here. These are the volumes produced from Napoleon’s team in Egypt. I found them based on a reference in the Roman Architecture course I took on Coursera; they supplemented another course I finished recently on Cairo Architecture and the course I am taking right now on The Art and Architecture of Ancient Nubia. The drawings were very detailed.

Roberts, David. The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, & Nubia. 6 volumes available from the Internet Archive here. London: Day & Son. 1855. I found this series when I did a search for ‘Nubia’ in the Internet Archive. I haven’t tried to pair the drawings of the same ruin from 1820 (Napoleonic team) and 1855 but it probably would be possible. Some of the monuments were still partially covered with sand (and thus protected from erosion more than they are now) and the dams on the Nile had not been built to inundate the ones south of Aswan.

Wild Flowers of America. New York: G.H. Buek & Co. 1894. There are 18 issues available from the Internet Archive here.  Many of these flowers are recognizable. I’ve seen the columbine in many local gardens this year!

3 Free eBooks - April 2014

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for April 2014.

Boston Architectural College. The year book of the Boston Architectural Club: containing examples of modern architecture. Boston Architectural Club. 1929. Available from the Internet Archive here.  There are quite a few year books available but I picked this one to highlight because it has pictures of the Bok Tower. I created the collage below with pictures from this 1929 book (black and white) and some that I took last November. The antennae (lightning rods?) have been added.

French Silk Sample Book. 1895. Available from the Internet Archive here.  This is a book of actual silk swatches that has been scanned! The surprise to me was how ‘modern’ some of the fabric patters were.  I included some of them in the collage below.   

Stuart, James. Revett, Nicholas.The antiqvities of Athens. London: J. Haberkorn. 1762. Two volumes available on the Internet Archive: Volume 1 and Volume 2.  This was a reference in one of the Roman Architecture lectures on Coursera and I was thrilled to find the books available on the archive. I appreciated the attention to detail in the drawings. They must have taken pains to get exact measurements of many of the buildings….and some of them were in much better shape in 1762 than they are today.

3 Free eBooks - March 2014

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for March 2014: birds, insects and flowers. I am anticipating spring!

Gould, John. The Birds of Europe. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. 1837. Five volumes are available on the Internet Archive: volume 1, volume 2, volume 3, volume 4, and volume 5. A few years ago I saw an exhibit of John Gould’s bird prints (large books) in a museum in Tennessee….and made a note to check the Internet Archive for any scanned versions of his work since the exhibit only displayed a small portion of the volumes. It was such a pleasure to finally browsing through these books online.

Fabre, Jean-Henri; Stawell, Rodolph, Mrs; Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander; Detmold, Edward Julius. Fabre's Book of Insects. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company. 1926. Available on the Internet Archive here. The illustrations by Detmold are the draw for this book.

Galeotti, Henri); Funck, Nicolas; Morren, Edouard. L'Horticulteur practicien; revue de l'horticulture franaise et trangre. Paris: A. Goin. 1858. Two volumes are available on the Internet Archive: 1857 and 1858. The illustrations of rich with color and detail of flowers….it’s like touring a conservatory online. I picked the forsythia illustration because it reminded me of how disappointed I that our neighbor’s forsythia is likely to have a hard time this year since the deer have eaten all the tender parts. It might not manage any blooms at all!

3 Free eBooks - February 2014

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for February 2014.

Michaux, François André; Hillhouse, Augustus Lucas. The North American Sylva, or A description of the forest trees of the United States, Canada and Nova Scotia. Paris: C. D’Hautel. 1819. Volumes available on the Internet Archive: volume 1, volume 2, volume 3, volume 4, and volume 5. This series fit perfectly with my planning to look at trees more closely this year. Once I found the first one - I went through all 5! They are full of illustrations.

Malonyay, Dezso (Desi). A magyar nép mvészete : számos szakért és mvész közremködésével. Budapest: Franklin-Társulat. 1907. Volumes available on the Internet Archive: volume 1, volume 2, volume 3, volume 4, and volume 5. This series is about Hungarian folk art. I enjoyed the art work rather than trying to wade through the machine translation of the Hungarian text. There is a lot included - ordinary room arrangement with bedding piled high on the single bed, embroidery on clothes (jackets, skirts, shirts, aprons, scares), furniture - painted with stylized botanical motifs, some elaborately carved, decorative facings for doorways and gates, carved or painted canes and knife handles, and dyed eggs with designs created with wax.

Crockett, William Shillinglaw; Smith, William, jr. Abbotsford. London Adam and Charles Black. 1905. Available on the Internet Archive here. This book is about Sir Walter Scott’s country house in the Scottish Borders written at a time when his great-granddaughter had created a ‘catalog’ of Abbotsford. I enjoyed the illustrations more than anything else.

3 Free eBooks - January 2014

It’s time again for the monthly post about eBooks that are freely available on the Internet. The three below are my favorites for January 2014.

Reed, Chester Albert. Wild Flowers East of the Rockies. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co.1910. Available from the Internet Archive here. This book had great illustrations. I found myself looking forward to spring when I can out to find skunk cabbage and trillium.

Bailey, John; Schneider, Carri; Vander Ark, Tom. Navigating the Digital Shift: Implementation Strategies for Blended and Online Learning. Digital Learning Now. 2013. Available in several formats here. This book is a series of papers about the adoption of Common Core State Standards and the shift to personal digital learning.

Moncrieff, Ascott Robert Hope; Palmer, Sutton. The Heart of Scotland. London: A & C Black. 1909. Available from the Internet Archive here. I like the golden colors of the paintings by Sutton Palmer. They are full of details too - enough to make the 1000 words that picture are touted to be worth.