Victorian Decorative and Applied Arts

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The Journal of Design and Manufactures was published between 1849 and 1852. Henry Cole and Richard Redgrave were the editors; both were active in British design education reform of the period. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries has 6 volumes (36 monthly issues) in their Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture. The volumes include many illustrations, plates, plans, and mounted samples. Enjoy browsing them!

The journal of design and manufactures Vol. I 1849

The journal of design and manufactures Vol. II 1850

The journal of design and manufactures Vol. III 1850

The journal of design and manufactures Vol. IV 1851

The journal of design and manufactures Vol. V 1851

The journal of design and manufactures Vol. VI 1852

Images of the Middle East in the 1830s

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The New York Public Library Digital Collections has the lithographs from Léon de Laborde’s Journey through Arabia Petraea, to Mount Sinai, and the excavated city of Petra available online. There are 60+ plates to browse! I liked that almost all of them include people…providing scale to the monuments and landscapes depicted. How many of those places still exist…how many are rubble now because of the many wars that have happened in the years since 1830?

I’ve selected 4 sample images…click on the small image to see a larger version….then click on the link below to go the whole collection and view them as a book online.

Voyage de l'Arabie Pétrée par Léon de Laborde et Linant

Ippolito Rosellini’s Ancient Egypt

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The New York Public Library Digital Collections includes the illustrations of Ippolito Rossillini’s I Monumenti dell'Egitto e della Nubia. It was published between 1832 and 1844 documenting the Franco-Tuscan expedition to Egypt (1828-1829) and after the death of Jean-Francois Champollion (leader of the expedition) in 1832.

There are over 400 plates to enjoy – some simple drawings and some with color. I picked 6 of the color images as samples.

I monumenti dell'Egitto e della Nubia disegnati dalla spedizione scientifico-letteraria toscana in Egitto

The images are best enjoyed using the ‘view as a book’ option for the document.

eBotanical Prints – January 2025

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Twenty more books were added to my botanical print eBook collection in January - available for browsing on Internet Archive. The are mostly in English but there is some Japanese, German, French, and Spanish. They cover a range of botanical topics: medical plants, British flowering, herbs, plants of Brazil/Paraguay, and fungi.  Overall - the 20 books were published over 150 years (1794-1944).

My list of eBotanical Prints books now totals 3,043 eBooks I’ve browsed over the years. The whole list can be accessed here. Click on any sample image below to get an enlarged version…and the title hyperlink in the list below the image mosaic to view the entire volume where there are a lot more botanical illustrations to browse.

Enjoy the January 2025 eBotanical Prints!

Anleitung zu Anbau, Ernte und Verwendung der Arzneipflanzen * Fries, Martin * sample image * 1876

Nanpōken yūyō shokubutsu zusetsu * Watanabe Kiyohiko * sample image * 1944

Plantes usuelles des Brasiliens * Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de * sample image * 1824

British phaenogamous botany, or, Figures and descriptions of the genera of British flowering plants V1 * Baxter, William * sample image * 1834

British phaenogamous botany, or, Figures and descriptions of the genera of British flowering plants V2 * Baxter, William * sample image * 1835

British phaenogamous botany, or, Figures and descriptions of the genera of British flowering plants V3 * Baxter, William * sample image * 1837

British phaenogamous botany, or, Figures and descriptions of the genera of British flowering plants V4 * Baxter, William * sample image * 1839

British phaenogamous botany, or, Figures and descriptions of the genera of British flowering plants V5 * Baxter, William * sample image * 1840

British phaenogamous botany, or, Figures and descriptions of the genera of British flowering plants V6 * Baxter, William * sample image * 1843

Plantarum in Horto Medico Bonnensi nutritarum icones selectae * Nees von Esenbeck, Christian Gottfried * sample image * 1824

Das system der pilze und schwämme * Nees von Esenbeck, Christian Gottfried * sample image * 1817

Histoire de plantes les plus remarquables du Brésil et du Paraguay * Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de * sample image * 1824

The British flora medica, or, ahistory of the medicinal plants of Great Britain c1v1 * Barton, Benjamin Herbert; Castle, Thomas * sample image * 1845

A supplement to Medical botany, or, part the second : containing plates with descriptions of most of the principal medicinal plants not included in the Materia Medica of the collegiate pharmacopoeias of London and Edinburgh * Woodville, William * sample image * 1794

Illustrations of medical botany consisting of coloured figures of the plants affording the important articles of the materia medica V1 * Carson, Joseph; Colen, J.H, * sample image * 1847

Illustrations of medical botany consisting of coloured figures of the plants affording the important articles of the materia medica V2 * Carson, Joseph; Colen, J.H, * sample image * 1847

Album de la flora médico-farmacéutica é industrial, indígena y exótica T1 * Argenta, Vincente Martin de * sample image * 1862

Album de la flora médico-farmacéutica é industrial, indígena y exótica T2 * Argenta, Vincente Martin de * sample image * 1863

Album de la flora médico-farmacéutica é industrial, indígena y exótica T3 * Argenta, Vincente Martin de * sample image * 1863

The complete herbal * Culpeper, Nicholas * sample image * 1842

Bird Images from Ancient Egypt

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Jean-François Champollion is best known as a founding figure of Egyptology – primarily known as the primary decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphics. He died in 1831 (at 41 years old) and the book I am featuring as the ‘book of the week’ was published posthumously by his brother. There are many illustrations in the book and the version available from the New York Public Library Digital Collections includes many illustrations in color. It is well worth browsing.

Monuments de l'Égypte et de la Nubie

My favorite images in the book are of birds from the tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan. The notation in the book is: Béni-Hassan el-Qadim [Beni Hasan]. Peintures copiées dans les tombes de Névôthph et de Ménothph. Beni Hasan is famous for tombs with high quality paintings although many are in poor condition today; fortunately, several of them were well documented in the 1800s…as the bird images shown in this book.

David Roberts’ Lithograph Prints from Egypt and Nubia

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The New York Public Library Digital Collections has a book of prints created between 1846 and 1849 by Scottish artist David Roberts. The were evidently based on his sketches made during his travels to Egypt and Nubia between 1838-1840. The images were a success in Britain – predating the earliest photographs of the sites. This collection is well work a look! I’ve picked 4 samples…but there are many more online and easy to browse.

 Egypt and Nubia

Three Japanese Ukiyo-e Artists

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The eBook for this week features the art of ukiyo-e artists from the late 1700s through the first half of the 1800s. The artists are Chōbunsai Eishi, Eishōsai Chōki, and Katsushika Hokusai (links are to the Wikipedia entry for each artist). The book is the catalog from an exhibition of their prints in Paris in 1913. I have included 6 sample images from the book…but there are 118 plates in all – so well worth taking a look at the art work in the online books itself.

Yeishi, Choki, Hokusaï : estampes japonaises tirées des collections de MM. Bing, Bouasse-Lebel, Bullier...[et d'autres] et exposées au Musée des arts décoratifs en janvier

La vie et les paysages en Egypte

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My choice for ‘book of the week’ is La vie et les paysages en Egypte – a group of 60 heliotype prints of Egypt published in the 1870s by Photoglob Co. in Zurich. The prints are from The New York Public Library Digital Collections and can be browsed in a thumbnail view or book view.  I picked 4 images of structures from Ancient Egypt to share in the post – but recommend browsing the whole collection.  

Photography was relatively new and labor intensive when these images were created…and yet we already see elements of excellent composition. They show what Egypt was like at the time in a way that drawings and paintings could not

eBotanical Prints – December 2024

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Twenty more books were added to my botanical print eBook collection in December - available for browsing on Internet Archive. They cover a range of botanical topics: medicinal plants (9 volumes), ferns (2 volumes), plants of China (2 volumes), and fungi of Scotland (7 volumes).  Overall - the 20 books were published over less than 100 years (1760-1852).

My list of eBotanical Prints books now totals 3,023 eBooks I’ve browsed over the years. The whole list can be accessed here. Click on any sample image below to get an enlarged version…and the title hyperlink in the list below the image mosaic to view the entire volume where there are a lot more botanical illustrations to browse.

Enjoy the December 2024 eBotanical Prints!

Plantes de chine * Buc'hoz, Pierre Joseph * sample image * 1760

Herbier ou collection des plantes médicinales de la Chine d'après un manuscrit peint et unique qui se trouve dans la Bibliothèque de l'Empereur de la Chine * Buc'hoz, Pierre Joseph * sample image * 1760

Icones filicum ad eas potissimum species illustrandas destinata V1 * Hooker, William Jackson; Greville, Robert Kaye * sample image * 1831

Icones filicum ad eas potissimum species illustrandas destinata V2 * Hooker, William Jackson; Greville, Robert Kaye * sample image * 1831

Flora Edinensis, or, A description of plants growing near Edinburgh * Greville, Robert Kaye * sample image * 1824

Scottish cryptogamic flora, or Coloured figures and descriptions of cryptogamic plants, belonging chiefly to the order Fungi V1 * Greville, Robert Kaye * sample image * 1823

Scottish cryptogamic flora, or Coloured figures and descriptions of cryptogamic plants, belonging chiefly to the order Fungi V2 * Greville, Robert Kaye * sample image * 1824

Scottish cryptogamic flora, or Coloured figures and descriptions of cryptogamic plants, belonging chiefly to the order Fungi V3 * Greville, Robert Kaye * sample image * 1825

Scottish cryptogamic flora, or Coloured figures and descriptions of cryptogamic plants, belonging chiefly to the order Fungi V4 * Greville, Robert Kaye * sample image * 1826

Scottish cryptogamic flora, or Coloured figures and descriptions of cryptogamic plants, belonging chiefly to the order Fungi V5 * Greville, Robert Kaye * sample image * 1826

Scottish cryptogamic flora, or Coloured figures and descriptions of cryptogamic plants, belonging chiefly to the order Fungi V6 * Greville, Robert Kaye * sample image * 1828

Icones plantarum medico-oeconomico-technologicarum cum earum fructus ususque descriptione V1 * Vietz, Ferdinand Bernhard; Alberti, Ignaz * sample image * 1800

Icones plantarum medico-oeconomico-technologicarum cum earum fructus ususque descriptione V2 * Vietz, Ferdinand Bernhard; Alberti, Ignaz * sample image * 1804

Icones plantarum medico-oeconomico-technologicarum cum earum fructus ususque descriptione V3 * Vietz, Ferdinand Bernhard; Alberti, Ignaz * sample image * 1806

Flora medico-farmaceutica V1 * Cassone, Felice * sample image * 1847

Flora medico-farmaceutica V2 * Cassone, Felice * sample image * 1847

Flora medico-farmaceutica V3 * Cassone, Felice * sample image * 1848

Flora medico-farmaceutica V4 * Cassone, Felice * sample image * 1850

Flora medico-farmaceutica V5 * Cassone, Felice * sample image * 1850

Flora medico-farmaceutica V6 * Cassone, Felice * sample image * 1852

An early 1900s collection of art from hunting days in the Himalayas

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Lieutenant Lionel Bickersteth Rundall’s The Ibex of Sha-ping was published in 1915, the year after he died at the beginning of World War I in the trenches at Festubert, France because of a blundered order. He was 24 years old. The joy he must have felt in the Himalayas during his years in India shows in his artwork included in the book….a glowing reminder of a life that ended too soon. The book is freely available on Internet Archive and is well worth browsing.

The ibex of Sha-ping, and other Himalayan studies

James Bolton’s Birds

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James Bolton was a naturalist in the 1700s that published books about plants, fungi, and birds. He was a talented illustrator. The week’s eBook is his book about birds. He was a keen observer of the birds themselves and their nests. The book is available on Internet Archive.

 Harmonia ruralis, or, An essay towards a natural history of British song birds V1 and V2

James Bolton’s botanical books were included in my monthly botanical posts for August (flowers and ferns) and September (mushrooms) 2024.

Francis M. (Madge) Fox – Children’s Author

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The week’s featured eBooks are six historical books for children - written in the early 1900s (1903-1924) by Francis Margaret (Madge) Fox. It’s interesting to think about how childhood has changed in the past 100+ years…and the books available to them. My grandparents were children during this time and their families were settlers/farmers of the prairie; they likely did not have any children’s books in their households and lived in very rural communities. There were not as many libraries in the US in the early 1900s as there are now and books were beyond the means of many families. Now  we have whole sections of libraries dedicated to books for children! When I volunteer at the used book sales at the library, the ones for children are our most reliable sellers.

 Carlota, a story of the San Gabriel Mission

Adventures of Sonny Bear

Brother Billy

Madge Fox’s papers are held by the University of Michigan Library. Their site has a short biography of her life.

 

eBotanical Prints – November 2024

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Twenty more books were added to my botanical print eBook collection in November - available for browsing on Internet Archive, New York Public Library Digital Collections, or Botanicus. They cover a range of botanical topics: medicinal plants, botanical link in literature (Milton), particular taxonomic groups, and fruit as well as plants of places (Italy, Russia, and Korea (7 volumes!)). Three volumes (1 by Cornut and 2 by Presl) were about North American plants from preserved plants collected by others – the authors never visit the New World. Overall - the 20 books were published over almost 300 years (1635-1933).

My list of eBotanical Prints books past the 3,000 volumes milestone in November – now totaling 3,003 botanical eBooks I’ve browsed over the years. The whole list can be accessed here. Click on any sample image below to get an enlarged version…and the title hyperlink in the list below the image mosaic to view the entire volume.

Enjoy the November 2024 eBotanical Prints!

Picturesque botanical plates * Thornton, Robert John * sample image * 1807

American medical botany * Bigelow, Jacob (artist) * sample image * 1820

Sorimachi 409 * Spencer collection * sample image * 1746

The Flowers of Milton * Giraud, Jane Elizabeth (Lithographer) * sample image * 1846

Pomona Italiana * Gallesio, Giorgia (illustrator); Capurro, Niccolo (pubisher) * sample image * 1839

Iac. Cornvti ... Canadensivm planatarvm, aliarumque nondum editarum historia.  * Cornut, Jacques Philippe * sample image * 1635

Eidodendron: views of the general character and appearance of trees foreign and indigenous connected with picturesque scenery * Burgess, Henry William (artist); Hullmandel, Charles Joseph (printer) * sample image * 1827

Flora Rossica * Pallas, Peter Simon * sample image * 1788

Reliquiae Haenkeanae V1 * Presl, Karel Borivoj; Haenke, Thaddaus * sample image * 1833

Reliquiae Haenkeanae V2 * Presl, Karel Borivoj; Haenke, Thaddaus * sample image * 1835

Hymenophyllaceae :eine botanische Abhandlung  * Presl, Karel Borivoj * sample image * 1843

Tentamen Pteridographiae * Presl, Karel Borivoj * sample image * 1836

The Hardy Catalpa * Record, Samuel James * sample image * 1906

Flora Sylvatica Koreana Pt 11 Caprifoliaceae * Nakai, Takenoshin * sample image * 1921

Flora Sylvatica Koreana Pt 16 Araliaceae and Cornaceae * Nakai, Takenoshin * sample image * 1927

Flora Sylvatica Koreana Pt 17 Elæagnaceæ, Alangiaceæ, Daphnaceæ, Flacourtiaceæ et Ternstrœmiaceæ  * Nakai, Takenoshin * sample image * 1928

Flora Sylvatica Koreana Pt 18 Piperaceæ, Chloranthaceæ et Salicaceæ * Nakai, Takenoshin * sample image * 1930

Flora Sylvatica Koreana Pt 19 Ulmaceæ et Moraceæ * Nakai, Takenoshin * sample image * 1932

Flora Sylvatica Koreana Pt 20 Bambusaceæ, Myricaceæ, Juglandaceæ, Magnoliaceæ * Nakai, Takenoshin * sample image * 1933

Flora Sylvatica Koreana pt. 21 Aristolochiaceæ, Lardizabalaceæ, Berberidaceæ, Pittosporaceæ, Malvaceæ, Empetraceæ, Urticaceæ * Nakai, Takenoshin * sample image * 1933

Nevin Otto Winter Travel Books

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This week’s books are 9 well-illustrated travel books by Nevin Otto Winter published between 1910 and 1918. I was most interested in the illustrations – mostly photographs – although the narrative would serve to understand the perspective of an American traveler of that time period encountering foreign customs. I picked two sample images from each book to include with this post but follow the link to Internet Archive to experience the whole book. Enjoy!

 Brazil and her people of to-day

Robert Edwin Peary’s Arctic

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Robert Edwin Peary’s Arctic explorations in the later 19th and early 20th centuries are documented in 6 books he published between 1898 and 1917. They are available on Internet Archive and worth browsing. They are all well-illustrated…attempting to show every aspect of Arctic exploration and Inuit life too. I’ve selected 2 sample images from each book…hopefully enough to encourage browsing the books for yourself!

Northward over the "great ice" : a narrative of life and work along the shores and upon the interior ice-cap of northern Greenland in the years 1886 and 1891-1897

Wm. H. Edwards’ Butterflies of North America

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As we head into winter – I am thinking about butterflies…how I didn’t see as many (or any species) this past summer. Maybe it is the drought in our area, and they will be more numerous next year. I hope so.

Edwards’ volume is the first of three he produced in the 1870s. The illustrations were done by Mary Peart and hand colored by Lydia Brown and often include more than simply the adult butterfly in the later volumes. They are well worth browsing.

The butterflies of North America

 I’ve not thoroughly browsed the other two volumes yet but I think I found them on Internet Archive as well: Volume 2, Volume 3.

A Hand-book to the Order Lepidoptera

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William Forsell Kirby was an English Entomologist that authored a 5-volume Handbook to the Order Lepidoptera in 1896 and 1897. I am featuring the 1st volume as this week’s ‘book of the week’ because I was so pleased to find it. I had somehow browsed the other 4 volumes back in 2016! Enjoy the 4 sample images….and follow the link to see many more.

A hand-book to the order Lepidoptera - volume 1

The links to the other 4 volumes are: two, three, four, five.

eBotanical Prints – October 2024

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Twenty more books were added to my botanical print book collection in October - available for browsing on Internet Archive. These 20 books covered a range of botanical topics: berries, fruits, nuts, plants for sale as well as plants of particular places (Mexico, Korea, New Zealand). They were published between 1830 and 1942.

The whole list of 2,983 botanical eBooks I’ve browsed over the years can be accessed here. Click on any sample image below to get an enlarged version…and the title hyperlink in the list below the image mosaic to view the entire volume.

Enjoy the October 2024 eBotanical Prints!

Rio Mayo plants: a study of the flora and vegetation of the valley of the Rio Mayo, Senora * Genty, Howard Scott * sample image * 1942

Hymenophyllaceae - eine botanische Abhandlung * Presl, Karel Borziwogo * sample image * 1843

Symbolae botanicae, sive, Descriptiones et icones plantarum novarum aut minus cognitarum * Presl, Karel Borziwogo * sample image * 1830

Icones Plantarum V31 * Hooker, Joseph Dalton; Hooker, William Jackson * sample image * 1922

Icones Plantarum V32 * Hooker, Joseph Dalton; Hooker, William Jackson * sample image * 1933

Icones Plantarum V33 * Hooker, Joseph Dalton; Hooker, William Jackson * sample image * 1935

New Zealand Berries * Harris, Emily Cumming * sample image * 1894

New Zealand Flowers * Harris, Emily Cumming * sample image * 1890

New Zealand Ferns * Harris, Emily Cumming * sample image * 1890

Illustrated catalogue of fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, roses, etc. * May Brothers * sample image * 1887

Rose buds and holly berries * Bennett, Harriet M. et al (illustrators) * sample image * 1888

Bush-fruits; a horticultural monograph of raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, currants, gooseberries, and other shrub-like fruits * Card, Fred * sample image * 1898

Betten, Robert: Beerenobst 1908  * Betten, Robert * sample image * 1908

The Book of the Grape * Ward, William Henry * sample image * 1901

The Small Fruit Culturist * Fuller, Andrew Samuel * sample image * 1887

The Nut Culturist * Fuller, Andrew Samuel * sample image * 1896

Practical Forestry * Fuller, Andrew Samuel * sample image * 1884

Flora Sylvatica Koreana Pt 1 Aceraceae; Pt 2Betulaceae * Nakai, Takenoshin * sample image * 1915

Flora Sylvatica Koreana Pt 7 Rosaceae; Pt 8 Ericaceae * Nakai, Takenoshin * sample image * 1918

Flora Sylvatica Koreana Pt 8 Rhamnaceae; Pt 9 Oleaceae * Nakai, Takenoshin * sample image * 1920

Life Histories of North American Birds

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The 6 early volumes of Arthur Cleveland Bent’s 23 volume work, Life Histories of North American Birds are available on Internet Archive. The work was published from 1919-1968…the later volumes completed posthumously after his death in 1954. The volumes available are from before 1930.

Bent evidently traveled extensively and interacted with 100s of people to compile the histories…quite an undertaking – more so since it was done before the computers! He started the work when he was 44 years old and spent the 44 remaining years of his life working on it. The work includes numerous photographs; I provide two from each book below but there are many more – well worth browsing these volumes - and the text is interesting as well.

 Life histories of North American diving birds

A more detailed biography of Bent’s life can be found here.

Fredrik Robert Martin and Oriental Carpets

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A History of Oriental Carpets was produced by Fredrik Robert Martin based on his collection experiences in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Its three volumes are well-illustrated and easy to browse although I found myself wanting to zoom in on a lot of the images!

 A history of oriental carpets before 1800 pt 1 (1906)

A history of oriental carpets before 1800 pt 2 (1906)

A history of oriental carpets before 1800 pt 3 (1908)