Marilyn Stafford

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Internet Archive has a Fine Art History collection that includes slideshows of works by many artists. I browsed the slideshow for photojournalist Marilyn Stafford after reading about her death (at 97) last year. She photographed well-known people…fashion….people on the street…refugees – a wide range over a long life. She was born in Cleveland, OH but moved to Paris as a young girl then settled in London. She traveled the world – particularly Tunisia, India, and Lebanon. The slideshow is well worth the look. How many people do you recognize? Which photos are the most thought provoking?

Marilyn Stafford (1925 - 2023)

Golf Courses of the Early 1900s

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I enjoyed browsing the illustrations of golf courses in Britain published in 1910 (available on Internet Archive). It was authored by Bernard Darwin and illustrated by Harry Rountree. According to Wikipedia, the author was the grandson of Charles Darwin; he was the first journalist to cover golf on a daily basis…and he was a high-standard amateur golfer too. The illustrator (according to Wikipedia) was born in New Zealand but moved to London to pursue his career as an illustrator in 1901; he became well know for animal illustration…and British golf courses/golfing caricatures. Enjoy browsing this ‘book of the week.’

The Golf Courses of the British Isles

Eva March Tappan

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I recently browsed Eva March Tappan books available on Internet Archive; she was a prolific author from the early 1900s.  According to the Wikipedia, she graduated from Vassar in 1875 and taught for many years before embarking on her writing career – writing primarily for children. Enjoy these books (including their illustrations) this week!

The world's story; a history of the world in story, song and art V1 - China, Japan, and the islands of the Pacific,  1914

The world's story; a history of the world in story, song and art V2 - India, Persia, Mesopotamia and Palestine,  1914

The world's story; a history of the world in story, song and art V3 - Egypt, Affrica and Arabia,  1914

The world's story; a history of the world in story, song and art V4 - Greece and Rome,  1914

Bailey’s Cyclopedia of Horticulture

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Liberty Hyde Bailey edited the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture from 1916-1919; the six volumes are available from Internet Archive. According to Wikipedia, he had retired from his career at Cornell (1988-1913) to become a private scholar. These volumes must have been one of his post-retirement projects. His daughter, Ethel Zoe Bailey, had graduated from Smith College in 1911 and evidently worked alongside her father on these volumes. His most significant and lasting contributions were in the botanical study of cultivated plants.

The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture Vol I

The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture Vol II

The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture Vol III

The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture Vol IV

The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture Vol V

The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture Vol VI

I enjoyed the illustrations of familiar plants that were being grown in the early 1900s. Most of the illustrations are black and white photographs but I chose sample images from the few that were in color. The produce aisles of our grocery stores have a more limited selection!

The first decades of the 1900s were when a lot of Colleges of Agriculture were formed. Bailey formed Cornell’s College of Agriculture and secured public funding in 1904. Agriculture was rebuilding for the future – trying to get more production of fertile lands farmed, in many cases, by immigrants that had arrived in the prior 50 years. One side of my family tree arrived from Europe in the 1890s. They wouldn’t have seen these books, but they were assisted by the agricultural extension services, the 4-H movement, parcel post, and rural electrification that Bailey helped initiate.

eBotanical Prints – January 2024

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Twenty-one more books were added to the botanical print collection in January – available for browsing on Internet Archive. I did my browsing while I was at home and had the luxury of my big monitors rather than just the laptop screen; they were part of my ‘back to normal’ activities.

The publication range for this group is skewed earlier than usual: 1763 to 1855 with 12 of the 21 books published before 1700.

The whole list of 2,802 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the January 2024 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

Click on any sample images in the mosaic below to get an enlarged version. Enjoy the January 2024 eBotanical Prints!

Flora atlantica, sive, Historia plantarum quae in Atlante, agro Tunetano et Algeriensi crescunt * Desfontaines, René Louiche; Redouté, Henri-Joseph; Redouté, Pierre Joseph * sample image * 1798

Recueil de planches de botanique de l'encyclopedie. * Audebert, J. B.; Lamarck, Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de; Redoute, Henri Joseph; Seve, Jacques Eustache de; Smith, John Donnell * sample image * 1823

Flora fluminensis * Senefelder, A.; Velloso, Jose Mariano da Conceicao * sample image * 1827

Flora's Dictionary * Wirt, E. W. * sample image * 1855

Florae Austriacae, sive, Plantarum selectarum in Austriae archiducatu V1 * Gerold, Josephi Michaelis; Jacquin, Nikolaus Joseph; Kaliwoda, Leopoldi Johannis; Scheidl, Franz Anton V. * sample image * 1773

Florae Austriacae, sive, Plantarum selectarum in Austriae archiducatu V2 * Gerold, Josephi Michaelis; Jacquin, Nikolaus Joseph; Kaliwoda, Leopoldi Johannis; Scheidl, Franz Anton V. * sample image * 1773

Florae Austriacae, sive, Plantarum selectarum in Austriae archiducatu V3 * Gerold, Josephi Michaelis; Jacquin, Nikolaus Joseph; Kaliwoda, Leopoldi Johannis; Scheidl, Franz Anton V. * sample image * 1773

Florae Austriacae, sive, Plantarum selectarum in Austriae archiducatu V4 * Gerold, Josephi Michaelis; Jacquin, Nikolaus Joseph; Kaliwoda, Leopoldi Johannis; Scheidl, Franz Anton V. * sample image * 1773

Florae Austriacae, sive, Plantarum selectarum in Austriae archiducatu V5 * Gerold, Josephi Michaelis; Jacquin, Nikolaus Joseph; Kaliwoda, Leopoldi Johannis; Scheidl, Franz Anton V. * sample image * 1773

Icones plantarum rariorum V1 * Jacquin, Nicolao Josepho * sample image * 1781

Icones plantarum rariorum V2 * Jacquin, Nicolao Josepho * sample image * 1781

Oxalis - Monographia iconibus illustrata * Jacquin, Nicolao Josepho * sample image * 1794

Miscellanea Austriaca ad botanicam, chemiam, et historiam naturalem spectantia * Jacquin, Nicolaus Joseph; Freiherr von * sample image * 1778

Selectarum stirpium Americanarum historia * Jacquin, Nicolaus Joseph; Freiherr von * sample image * 1763

Nicolai Josephi Jacquin collectaneorum supplementum * Jacquin, Nicolaus Joseph; Freiherr von * sample image * 1796

Florae Senegambiae tentamen,seu, Historia plantarum in diversis Senegambiae regionibus a peregrinatoribus Perrottet et Leprieur detectarum * Guillemin, J. A.; Perrottet, G. S.; Richard, Achille * sample image * 1830

Flore d'Egypte, explanation des planches (plates) * Raffeneau-Delile, Alire * sample image * 1813

Flora Antillarum V1 * Tussac, Fr. Richard de * sample image * 1808

Flora Antillarum V2 * Tussac, Fr. Richard de * sample image * 1818

Flora Antillarum V3 * Tussac, Fr. Richard de * sample image * 1824

Flora Antillarum V4 * Tussac, Fr. Richard de * sample image * 1827

Eloise Byington books for children

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Internet Archive has 3 books by Eloise Byington published by Albert Whitman & Company in Chicago around 1930. I couldn’t find anything about the author or the illustrators (Kathleen Stowell Frantz and Marguerite Jones); the copyright was by Albert Whitman & Co. so perhaps their work was contracted/paid by the publisher.

Mother Goose fun, more stories in rhyme(1931)

The wishbone children(1934)

The Pancake Brownies   (1928)

 The books captured my attention simply because of when they were published. My parents were both born in 1931 and as I browsed these books (particularly the illustrations), I thought about whether they would have ever seen these books in elementary school. Did their school have a library of children’s books that supplemented the books used in the classroom? I’ll have to ask my mother….see if she remembers.  

Chinese Bridges

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I recently happened upon an article in The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 75 published in 2003 about two Chinese bridges. One was built in 1594 and the other in 1640. Both still fulfil their original function.

Bridges somehow draw my attention.

  • Perhaps because they represent people working together on a project that required combined talents and skills…as physical manifestation of the level of communication humans are capable of.

  • Perhaps because their continued existence indicates that relationships have been sustained since bridges are often the first to be destroyed in war.  Since these bridges are 100s of years old that is significant.

  • Perhaps the artistry of the construction – the arches – over water (or low places) is their appeal.

Whatever it is – enjoy this week’s eBook pick for this article and others in the same volume. Quite of few issues of this periodical are also available on Internet Archive.

Daisy Dells

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A book for children published in 1927…

Daisy Dells

Rhymes and verses by Clara J. Denton and illustrations by Garnett Cheney, published by Albert Whitman & Co. in Chicago.

I enjoyed the illustrations…thinking about how books for children have changed over the years. The different clothes in the depictions of the children are a sign that these are from an old book, but they still are charming hints at a commonality among childish interests that continue.

Available from Internet Archive.

eBotanical Prints – December 2023

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Twenty more books were added to the botanical print collection in December– available for browsing on Internet Archive. They were almost the only books I read/browsed in December; I was overwhelmingly busy caring for my parents.

The publication range for this group is 1629-1959 – a lot has changed in those 300 years!

The whole list of 2,781 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the December 2023 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

Click on any sample images in the mosaic below to get an enlarged version. Enjoy the December 2023 eBotanical Prints!

Niger flora; or an enumeration of the plants of Western tropical Africa * Hooker, William Jackson (editor) * sample image * 1849

Bouquet de Melastomataceae Bresilieannes * Cogniaux, Alfred; Saldanha del Gama, Jose * sample image * 1887

Bryologia javanica V1 * Dozy, Francois; Molkenboer, Julian Hendrik; Bosch, Roelof Benjamin Van Den; Sande Lacoste, Cornelius Marinus van der * sample image * 1855

Bryologia javanica V2 * Dozy, Francois; Molkenboer, Julian Hendrik; Bosch, Roelof Benjamin Van Den; Sande Lacoste, Cornelius Marinus van der * sample image * 1855

Chung-kuo chu yao chih wu tʻu shuo.ho bien Nan-ching ta hsüeh, Shêng wu hsüeh hsi [ho] Chung-kuo kʻo hsüeh yüan, Chih wu yen chiu so.  * Keng, I-li * sample image * 1959

Collection d'orchide - esaquarelles originales. * Missouri Botanical Garden * sample image * 1900

Contribuciones al conocimiento de la flora ecuatoriana * Sodiro, L. * sample image * 1905

Das entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur im Bau und in der Befruchtung der Blumen * Sprengel, Christian Konrad * sample image * 1793

De plantis exoticis libri duo * Alpini, Alpino; Alpini, Prosperi * sample image * 1629

Descriptio?n de l'Egypte recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee francaise * Raffeneau-Delile, Alire * sample image * 1824

Description des plantes de l'Amerique * Plumier, Charles * sample image * 1693

Descriptionum et iconum rariores et pro maxima parte novas plantas illustrantium * Rottboll * sample image * 1773

Die Coniferen * Antoine, Franz * sample image * 1840

Phyto-iconographie der Bromeliaceen des kaiserlichen königlichen Hofburg-Gartens in Wien * Antoine, Franz * sample image * 1884

Die Flora der deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Sudsee * Lauterbach, Karl; Schumann, Karl Moritz * sample image * 1900

Nachtrage zur Flora der deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Sudsee * Lauterbach, Karl; Schumann, Karl Moritz * sample image * 1905

Die pflanzenwelt Ost-Afrikas und der nachbargebiete * Engler, Adolf * sample image * 1895

Flora Brasiliae meridionalis * Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de * sample image * 1825

Flora Java - Volume 2 * Blume, Carolo Ludovico * sample image * 1828

Flora Peruviana, et Chilensis Plates 1-152 * Ruiz, Hippolito; Pavon, Jose * sample image * 1798

The Great Wall of China (eBook)

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William Edgar Geil is believed to be the first American to have traveled the entire length of the 2,500-kilometer-long Ming section of the Great Wall of China. The book he published about that adventure was published shortly afterward in 1909 and is available on Internet Archive. It is illustrated with photographs taken by the author…documenting the wall as it existed at the time.

The Great Wall of China

So much has happened in China  over the intervening years…and the Great Wall seems to be something that is simply ‘always there.’ I remember two stories about it recently that reminded me that the wall is changing too: it was breached with construction equipment and a study that showed that the encrustations (lichen, moss, cyanobacteria) actually slow down erosion of the wall.

Books and Bulletins from The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities

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This week’s collection of books from Internet Archive are from The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm. The first two are books published in the 1960s. The rest are bulletins from 1929 to 2003. So many things to browse! I primarily looked at the images but some of the articles caught my attention as well. These volumes are a mix of history and art….from a part of the world I have never visited…but enjoy from afar. Enjoy the sample images from each volume!

Sung Ming: Treasures from the Holger Lauritzen Collection

Korean Ceramics

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 01

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 02

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 03

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 04

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 05

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 06

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 07

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 08

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 09

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 10

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 11

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 12

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 13

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 14

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 15

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 16

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 17

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 18

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 19

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 20

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 21

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 22

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 23

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 24

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 25

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 26

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 27

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 28

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 29

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 30

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 31

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 32

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 33

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 34

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 35

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 36

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 37

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 38

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 39

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 40

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 41

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 42

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 43

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 44

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 45

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 46

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 47

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 49

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 50

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 53

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 54

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 55

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 56

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 57

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 58

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 60

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 61

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 62

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 63

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 64

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 67

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 68

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 70

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 71

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 72

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 73

The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities - Bulletin 75

1912 version of Twas the Night Before Christmas

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Project Gutenberg has the 1912 version of Clement C. Moore’s Twas the Night Before Christmas illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith. The Santa is more elf like….short, very round…and not dressed in red and white! A little perspective on how the vision of Christmas has changed over the last 100 years….

Twas the Night Before Christmas

eBotanical Prints – November 2023

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Twenty-four more books were added to the botanical print collection in November – available for browsing on Internet Archive. More than half the publications this month contain color images; I’m always pleased when I find new-to-me botanical books with images like these.

The publication range for this group is 1727-2012; it is interesting the think about how the technology behind publication of books such as these changes over that 200+ years.

The whole list of 2,761 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the November 2023 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

Click on any sample images in the mosaic below to get an enlarged version. Enjoy the November 2023 eBotanical Prints!

Medical botany; or, illustrations and descriptions of the medicinal plants of the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin pharmacopoeias: Comprising a poular and scientific account of poisonous vegetables indigenous to Great Britain V1 * Stephenson, John; Churchill, James Morss; Burnett, Gilbert Thomas * sample image * 1834

Medical botany; or, illustrations and descriptions of the medicinal plants of the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin pharmacopoeias: Comprising a poular and scientific account of poisonous vegetables indigenous to Great Britain V2 * Stephenson, John; Churchill, James Morss; Burnett, Gilbert Thomas * sample image * 1834

Medical botany; or, illustrations and descriptions of the medicinal plants of the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin pharmacopoeias: Comprising a poular and scientific account of poisonous vegetables indigenous to Great Britain V3 * Stephenson, John; Churchill, James Morss; Burnett, Gilbert Thomas * sample image * 1834

Medical botany; or, illustrations and descriptions of the medicinal plants of the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin pharmacopoeias: Comprising a poular and scientific account of poisonous vegetables indigenous to Great Britain V4 * Stephenson, John; Churchill, James Morss; Burnett, Gilbert Thomas * sample image * 1834

Flora and pomona, or, the British fruit and flower garden * McIntosh, Charles * sample image * 1829

On buds and Stipules * Lubbock, John * sample image * 1899

George Engelmann :botanical notebook 38 : Yucca (Agavaceae) * Engelmann, George * sample image * 1851

On Welwitschia :a new genus of Gnetaceae * Hooker, Joseph Dalton * sample image * 1864

Annales Musei botanici lugduno-batavi V1 (1863) * Miquel, Fredrich Anton Wilhelm (editor) * sample image * 1863

Annales Musei botanici lugduno-batavi V2 (1866) * Miquel, Fredrich Anton Wilhelm (editor) * sample image * 1866

Annales Musei botanici lugduno-batavi V3 (1867) * Miquel, Fredrich Anton Wilhelm (editor) * sample image * 1867

Annales Musei botanici lugduno-batavi V4 (1869) * Miquel, Fredrich Anton Wilhelm (editor) * sample image * 1869

Cycadeae quaedam americanae, partim novae * Miquel, Fredrich Anton Wilhelm  * sample image * 1851

Monographia cycadearum * Miquel, Fredrich Anton Wilhelm  * sample image * 1842

Monographia generis Melocacti  * Miquel, Fredrich Anton Wilhelm  * sample image * 1840

Stirpes Surinamenses selectae * Miquel, Fredrich Anton Wilhelm (compiler) * sample image * 1851

Botanicon parisiense * Aubriet, Claude; Boerhaave, Herman; Vaillant, Sebastien; Verbeek, H.; Verbeek, J.; Wandelaar, Jan * sample image * 1727

Botanical review, or the beauties of flora * Donovan, E. * sample image * 1790

Botanical Report * Eduran, Elias; Hilgard, Theod. C. * sample image * 1855

Astragalogia, nempe astragali, biserrulae et oxytropidis *     Candolle, Augustin Pyramus de; Didot,; Garnery, Joann. Bapt.; Redoute, Pierre Joseph * sample image * 1802

Botanique (atlas from Astolabe Expdeition 1837-1840) * Hombron, Jacques Bernard; Decaisne, Joseph; Dumont d'Urville, Jules-Sébastien-César; Jacquinot, Charles Hector; Montagne, Jean François Camille * sample image * 1845

Text-book of structural and physiological botany * Thome, Otto Wilhelm; Bennett, Alfred William * sample image * 1877

Khawa karpo :Tibetan traditional knowledge and biodiversity conservation * Moseley, Robert K.; Salick, Jan * sample image * 2012

Advances in legume biology * Stirton, C.H.; Zarucchi, Jame Lee * sample image * 1989

History via art

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Hannah (Nannie) Hudson Moore’s 1905 book includes many examples of children in paintings. My favorites are not the princes and princesses (which seem to be the majority). I like the ones that depict children that were obviously well cared for…in poses that look like children! Children then must have moved the way they do now – learning to walk and run…being outdoors…having quiet time indoors. Often the clothes seem cumbersome. How did they play? From another perspective - I always wonder if the children in the pictures managed to grow to adulthood; life expectancy was shorter then with a lot of children succumbing to diseases that are not prevented by vaccines. The book is available from Internet Archive:

Children of other days;notable pictures of children of various countries and times, after paintings by great masters

Decorative Arts Before WWI eBooks

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James Ward was an Irish artist known for his murals in Dublin City Hall. It turns out that he was also a writer of textbooks including two books about decorative art and ornament…including the use of color published in 1909 and 1914 respectively.

Historic ornament: treatise on decorative art and architectural ornament

Colour decoration of architecture, treating on colour and decoration of the interiors and exteriors of buildings

The books present the history of decorative arts and are also a snapshot of how that history was viewed/applied at the time the books were written. I wondered how the field was impacted by the war, the roaring 20s, financial depression and WWII. These books were written in a ‘calm before the storm’ – before the faster and faster pace of the modern world was acknowledged.  

Both books are available on Internet Archive.

1897 Montgomery Ward’s Common Sense Cookery

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In 1897, Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business. Its first serious competition (Sears) had opened the year before.

They also published a book about cooking in 1897 that is available via Internet Archive. The title page indicates it is about more than just recipes: what to eat and how to prepare it, hygienic and scientific cooking!

They also published a book about cooking in 1897 that is available via Internet Archive. The title page indicates it is about more than just recipes: what to eat and how to prepare it, hygienic and scientific cooking!

The illustrations try to show the ideal of food preparation and enjoyment in the late 1800s.

Montgomery Ward & co.'s Common Sense Cookery

My mother remembers her parents ordering from Montgomery Ward in the 1930s for Christmas presents. I remember looking at their catalogs in the 1960s although I also looked at Sears catalogs.

I remember two other books from Wards.

One was the Wendy Ward Charm Book from the 1960s. It was full of somewhat dated information for teenaged girls; much of it we absorbed then jettisoned the parts that didn’t work for us as we entered the work force in the 1970s (the “I am Woman” era).

The other was the book written by Robert L. May on assignment to Montgomery Ward 1939 – the creation of Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer. I bought a copy for my daughter in the early 1990s from Wards! It can be checked out from Internet Archive here.

Victor Tissot ebooks

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Victor Tissot was a French journalist and writer. Two of his books from the later 1800s for the as ‘books of the week.’ They are both available on Internet Archive with illustrations worth browsing.

These books reflect the knowledge and perceptions of the time --- so remember ‘late 1800s’ when viewing the depictions of places and people. More people were interested in and traveling to remote places…hence more travel books being written. The authors sometimes combined the travels of others into their works…used multiple illustrators (some illustrators also relying on information from others rather than observing in-person). There was plenty of opportunity for incorporation of ‘not quite right’ information!

(click on small sample images to see a larger version).

L'Afrique pittoresque (Picturesque Africa)

Les contrées mystérieuses et les peuples inconnus (Mysterious countries and unknown peoples)

(Note the caption of the last picture mentions Missouri!)

eBotanical Prints – October 2023

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Twenty more books were added to the botanical print collection this month – available for browsing on Internet Archive. More than half of the books are Harvard’s Botanical Museum Leaflets from 1957 to 1982. These are relatively modern botanical prints! The rest of the volumes for October are “Contributions from the Gray Herbarium.” My favorite image is the next to last: silhouettes of Monstera leaves.

The whole list of 2,737 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the October 2023 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

Click on any sample images in the mosaic below to get an enlarged version. Enjoy the October 2023 eBotanical Prints!

Botanical Museum leaflets V17 * 1957 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V18 * 1959 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V19 * 1962 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V20 * 1964 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V21 * 1967 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V22 * 1967 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V23 * 1974 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V24 * 1976 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V25 * 1977 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V26 * 1978 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V27 * 1979 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V28 * 1982 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V29 * 1982 * Harvard University * sample image

Botanical Museum leaflets V30 * 1982 * Harvard University * sample image

Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University no. 40-50 * 1917 * Harvard University, Gray Herbarium * sample image

Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University no. 101-105 * 1934 * Harvard University, Gray Herbarium * sample image

Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University no. 179-184 * 1956 * Harvard University, Gray Herbarium * sample image

Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University no. 185-191 * 1956 * Harvard University, Gray Herbarium * sample image

Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University no. 206-208 * 1976 * Harvard University, Gray Herbarium * sample image

Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University no. 209-212 * 1982 * Harvard University, Gray Herbarium * sample image

Portland, Maine in 1940

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The US Work Projects Administration sponsored Writers’ Projects in many states – putting people to work as a step out of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The project in Maine produced a well-illustrated city guide for Portland in 1940. The illustrations are a mix of photographs, painting, and drawings. The book is available on Internet Archive. The images are worth a look as a snapshot of the city at that time (i.e. history) and for the artistry of the illustrations.

Portland City Guide

I selected 6 sample images from the book. A quick search revealed that the Portland Head Light and Portland Observatory still exist. The Wikipedia article for the city includes a picture of the waterfront that looks quite different from ‘The Twentieth Century City’ image!

The Delineator from 1890 – 1932

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Internet Archive has 39 volumes of The Delineator magazine from 1890 to 1932. It was published by Butterick Publishing Company – the same company that I remember from the 1960s and 1970s for patterns; I was making most of my own clothes at that time. The magazine always included patterns for clothes but as I gleaned images for this post – I also included advertisements, covers, educational displays. Click on any part of the mosaics below to see a larger version. Links to each volume are included…the historical perspective from browsing these volumes is worth it!

The first mosaic contains images from the magazines published in the 1900s. Some of my favorites are the ad for FAB flakes (Babes in the wools), the October 1922 cover full of fall foliage, covers showing active women (golfing and skiing), aquarium fish and Christmas trees. The most thought provoking was the one with a woman and, presumably, her two sons in miliary uniforms from the January 1919 issue; I wondered if the one on the left looking less serious was the younger brother. A peace conference was being held in Paris that month…but waves of the 1918 flu were happening around the world…and the US.  

The second mosaic contains images from the 1800s. The last color images were in 1897. The magazine was also more skewed to fashion/patterns than in the 1900s. Huge sleeves, corsets, and elaborate hats were in vogue (note that this was also the time when some birds were almost wiped out to get feathers for hats!). How did anyone really swim in those bathing costumes from 1894?