BibliOdyssey

East Asian Designs

2012-02-10T23:39:00.000+11:00

I'm afraid I don't recall where these stylised organic line drawings came from. They were scanned a couple of years ago from a library book but I didn't keep the details. Such is life.

Previous line drawing designs: Ancient Designs - Mexico + Peru ::: Native North American Designs.

At delicious bookmarks: Japan.

See you on Twitter.

Map Ornamentation

2012-02-09T19:25:00.010+11:00

The images below come from a Harvard Library exhibition from last year called: 'Going for Baroque - The Iconography of the Ornamental Map' [LINK]

"The ornamental features that may now seem little more than decorative embellishments once acted as richly nuanced symbols, analogies, and coded commentaries. This exhibit explores how decorative cartographic devices - cartouches, vignettes, figural borders, title pages, and frontispieces—could provide narrative underpinnings for the geospatial content of maps."

Note: the captions below are excerpted and you will find more information by visiting the exhibition site. Also, the names immediately below the images are the map publishers.

'Carte von Ertzgebürgischen Creysse in

Churfurstenthum Sachssen' by Peter Schenk, 1758

"Schenk’s map of Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), situated on the border of Saxony and Bohemia, offers a graphic tribute to a region whose economic livelihood relied on the extraction of tin, silver, cobalt, lead, and other metals. [..]

The instruments at the top of the sheet provide reassurance about the accuracy of the cartographic content."

'Imperium Japonicum' by Adriaan Reelant, 1740

"Adriaan Reelant (Reland), professor of oriental languages at the University of Utrecht, created this map of Japan’s 66 provinces from a variety of sources [..]

In Tokugawa Japan (1603-1868), contact with Europeans was strictly limited to trade with the Dutch East India Company—and only through the port of Nagasaki. [..]

The cultural uniqueness of Japan is emphasized by the Sino-Japanese characters identifying the provinces, the noble crests (including the triple hollyhock flowers of the Tokugawa clan), and the images of the samurai, palanquin, and pagoda."

'Going for Baroque - Japan Map' [from Harvard College Library channel]

"In the seventeenth century, the Netherlands was actively engaged in exploration, colonization, and trade throughout all regions of the globe, and Dutch publishers were busy keeping up with a growing internal demand for travel accounts, illustrations, and maps. This map of Japan, published for the first time in 1715, shows one of Holland's newest commercial partners."

'Topographische Vorstellung der neuen russischen Haupt-Residenz

und See-Stadt St. Petersburg' by Johann Baptist Homann, 1718

"When Homann published his map of St. Petersburg, this city on the shores of the Gulf of Finland was a work-in-progress, founded in 1703 by Tsar Peter I to open Russian access to Western Europe via the Baltic Sea. [..]

The cartouche represents a graphic apotheosis of Tsar Peter, whose portrait is surrounded by allegorical figures representing a broad range of the arts and sciences promoted during his reign - including geography, astronomy, history, mathematics, navigation, poetry, geometry, and engineering."

"This is one of the first published maps of St. Petersburg. The hexagonal Peter-Paul fortress is depicted at the center; the similarly fortified Admiralty is across and downriver from it. Vasilevskii Island (left), only just being settled at the time, shows the plan for its “regular” development drawn up for Peter the Great by the Swiss-Italian Domenico Trezzini (ca. 1670–1734), the first architect of St. Petersburg."

'Novissima Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula' by Nicholas Visscher, 1690

"A double hemisphere world map invites graphic embellishments that take advantage of the sheet’s marginal curved spaces. Designers often responded to this challenge by including celestial charts or polar projections in the central sections. The other margins could serve as the arena for illustrating religious, cosmological, or astrological themes. [..]

The two figures at the intersection of the hemispheres represent the triumph of Christianity over pagan idolatry."

'America Novo Descriptio' by Nicholas Visscher, 1752

"[T]he views and figures are primarily drawn from Theodore de Bry’s illustrations in his collections of travel accounts. De Bry himself never set foot in the Americas, but he had access to numerous accounts by European travelers and explorers, including those acknowledged on the borders of the map: Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and four circumnavigators (Ferdinand Magellan, Francis Drake, Thomas Cavendish, and Olivier van Noort)."

('America Novo Descriptio' is modelled after earlier maps by Willem Blaeu and Pieter van der Keere)

'Carte de la Mer du Sud et de la Mer du Nord..' by Nicolas de Fer, 1713

"De Fer’s map of the Americas offers an iconographic feast of imagery for those trying to grasp the implications of European colonial intrusion into societies whose “otherness” was their most defining feature. The map seems to suggest both economic opportunities (resources to exploit) and cultural clashes (among peoples whose customs, rites, and mores were so vastly different). The decorative vignettes are adapted from illustrations in various accounts of the first European encounters in the New World."

(Herman Moll incorporated the scene with the beavers {the scene in the top left panel above, next to the corner panel} in his 1715 map of North American British colonies)

'Plan tres exact et vüe de la ville, baye, et des nouvelles

fortifications de Gibraltar..' by Albert C Suetter, 1760

"Spain formally recognized British rule of Gibraltar in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) but, throughout the 18th century, periodically sought to reassert its territorial claims. The cartouche presents a graphic argument for an end to hostilities by featuring Mercury with his caduceus (the staff of entwined serpents, which symbolized commerce) and a cornucopia (horn of plenty). Whatever is decided by the human arbiters of destiny, the sea (Neptune) will continue to determine the fate of ships sailing through the Pillars of Hercules."

'Nova et exacta tabula geographica Salae et Castellaniae Iprensis'

by a member of one of the Hondius families of Flanders, 1663

"This carte-à-figures originally appeared in 'Flandria Illustrata' (1641-1644), a work by Antonius Sanderus, a theologian and historian whose descriptions of Flemish cities and towns are enlivened with numerous plans and views, including detailed depictions of monuments, abbeys, convents, and châteaux. [..]

This map of Ieper (Ypres) [..] celebrate[s] the rich architectural heritage of Flanders."

'Cambridgeshire' by John Speed, ~1610

"John Speed admitted that he borrowed liberally from other cartographers (or as he phrased it, “I have put my Sickle into other mens Corne and have laid my Building upon other mens Foundations”)

[F]or the ornamental features, [Speed] employed stylistic features that he particularly admired in Dutch mapmakers (including Jodocus Hondius, who engraved the plates)."

"Cambridgshire deſcribed with the deviſion of the hundreds, the Townes ſituation, with the Armes of the Colleges of that famous Vniuerſiti. And alſo the Armes of all ſuch Princes and noble men as haue heertofore borne the honorable tytles & dignities of the Earldome of Cambridg."

[the Cambridgeshire map above is one that I prepared earlier]

'Amsteldam' by Johannes de Ram, 1690

"When Johannes de Ram designed this map in the late 17th century, Amsterdam was the center of a global trading network and the wealthiest city in the world. De Ram takes great pains to emphasize the magnitude of the city’s achievements. [..]

The vignette of the busy harbor illustrates a city hosting sailing ships from every corner of the world. Accompanied by putti engaged with a plumb line, nautical charts, globe, compass, cross staff, and anchor, Mercury (instantly recognizable by his winged helmet and caduceus) symbolizes the commerce, efficiency, and spirit of adventure that made the Netherlands such a formidable maritime power."

'Le Globe Terrestre Représenté en Deux

Plans-Hémisphères..' by Jean Baptiste Nolin, 1767

"Nolin’s world map [..is presented] in the context of a biblical narrative stretching back to the beginnings of the universe. [..]

The narrative panels conclude with the giving of thanks after the Ark settled atop Mount Ararat (prominently featured on the map southwest of the Black Sea)."

IN: 'Art and Cartography: Six Historical Essays' 1987, edited by David Woodward.

Tractatus de Herbis

2012-02-06T04:40:00.005+11:00

Codex Sloane 4016 is a 15th century Italian parchment manuscript belonging to a class of books known as herbals. These medicinal treatises recorded knowledge accumulated in the oral tradition about plants believed to possess therapeutic properties. See: one, two, three.

Miniature of plants and a demon - the herb Ypericon, supposed to repel demons

Miniature of a plant and boys standing in the branches of a fruit tree

picking fruit and throwing down to a woman standing below

Miniature of a tree, a spider web, and an eagle

Miniature of plants, including a mandrake plant with a naked male body as the root

Miniatures of plants, and a cat and mouse

Miniature of a lion, a leopard, a rabbit, and an elephant

Miniatures of plants, a braying donkey, and a map

Miniatures of plants, crabs, and [most likely] a lobster-like animal [versus a scorpion as captioned at the source site] (thanks ogerard)

Miniatures of a tree and a snake

Miniatures of a plant and a bird, holding a horseshoe in its mouth

Miniature of a plant, a cricket, a crane, and a salamander

Miniature of a tree and an animal castrating itself

Produced in Lombardy in Northern Italy in 1440, 'Tractatus de Herbis' consists of over two hundred beautifully illustrated pages accompanied by Latin commentary in a Gothic script.

The whole manuscript (Sloane 4016) is accessible online from the British Library; including enlarged detail images.

A facsimile edition of 'Tractatus de Herbis' is available from the Spanish manuscript reproduction firm of M Moleiro.

VIA: Medieval & Earlier Manuscripts Blog | Miniaturaitaliana.

Previously: flora/medieval.

Calligraphy Letterform Album

2012-01-30T04:25:00.002+11:00

'Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen' (calligraphic writing styles) was produced in the 1620s in Germany by the scribe, Johann Hering.

Johann Hering (?1580-1647) compiled his album of elaborate calligraphic letterforms, innovative type arrangements and traditional alphabets over a ten year period in the 1620s and 1630s in the Kulmbach region of Bavaria. (Or it was produced sometime during this time frame: it's not clear)

I tend to believe - and I may well be wrong - that Hering's album is more along the lines of a practice manuscript for himself rather than being a true copybook or modelbook* for educational purposes. The majority of the writing is in German (with occasional Latin) and many of the written pages are obviously copied from the bible, particularly the Book of Psalms.

[*Modelbooks: see here & here]

There is next to nothing by way of commentary online about either Hering's life or the background to his amazing album. He is simply described as a 'writing master'. A number of published books are attributed to Hering - most or all on the type/font arts - and one of his handwriting manuals was apparently republished in German in 1982 (although I didn't actually find much of a trail online).

Johann Hering's 80-page 'Kalligraphische Schriftvorlagen' is regarded as one of the treasures of the Bamberg State Library (I think it has only recently been uploaded)
Worldcat Identities entry.
CERL Thesaurus entry.
Worldcat entry for 'Das Schrift- und Kunstbüchlein' (1982 republication)
Previously: calligraphy (something of a catch-all phrase, as are most of the thematic bookmarks at Delicious - that include post summaries - relating to the BibliOdyssey blog)
Luc Devroye's giant page of calligraphy & type design resources.

Gods of the Ancients

2012-01-28T23:50:00.003+11:00

'Images Depicting the Gods of the Ancients' by Vincenzo Cartari was first published in 1556. The engravings below are from a 1624 edition (in Italian).

'Le Imagini De gli Dei de gli Antichi' by Vincenzo Cartari (with illustrations based on designs by Bolognino Zaltieri) was recently made available online via Wolfenbütteler Digitale Bibliothek.
[this is the 1664 edition, in the original Italian, with the woodcuts (that first appeared in the 3rd Ed.) replaced by engravings of modest artistic merit perhaps, yet possessing a not insignificant - continuing - contemporary influence].

Misteraitch, at the venerable (and retired) Giornale Nuovo, covered this book some years ago, displaying some woodcut scans from an earlier edition, and including some very useful commentary which is recommended; but I shan't repeat it here. The engravings above seem to be both reversed and modified from the original woodcut layouts.

Instead, as an adjunct, I'll paste in below the (complete and unaltered) translated commentary on Cartari's book from a rare book exhibition at the University of Navarra (in Spain) [LINK]:

"Mythological matter was one of the sources and themes used in literature and art of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, both in its more pagan and hedonistic as its symbolic and moralized version. The myths came to the sixteenth century by two ways: the deformed but very influential medieval transmission, and collected by his humanist philological recovery of ancient texts and testimonies.

One of the works that contributed to the systematization and dissemination of this rich heritage throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was the work of Italian poet Vincenzo Cartari 'I Imagini Antichi degli degli Dei, nelli cualisono degli Antichi descritte religione him, riti e parrot ceremony with di molto agiunta principalia l'e con l'Imagini Esposizione in epilogue di suo ciascheduna and significance'.

Cartari, of which little else is known other than it was in the service of the house of Este, is known almost exclusively for this work and a versified translation of the Tuscan in meters Fasti of Ovid published in Venice in 1551.

The book is divided into 15 chapters, each of which is one of the main gods and lesser gods and heroes in some way related to it. The subject of each chapter comes from the texts of ancient poets translated by Cartari as Italian poems.

The cause of the success of the work was in addition to its originality in presentation, the only of its kind available in a vulgar tongue. This success was further increased from the 1571 Venetian edition by Ziletti Giordani, who illustrated with 89 large woodcuts opened by Bolognino Zaltieri dimensions.

Samples of undoubted interest aroused by the book are the successive reprints of the original Italian and translations of it made into Latin and French Verdier in 1581.

The copy owned by the Library of the University of Navarra belongs to the first edition of this Latin translation published in Lyon in July Guichard, Barthelemy Honorat and Michel Etienne. The engravings with which it is illustrated are very similar to those of Zaltieri, but sometimes are smaller and are often printed in mirror."

The University of Mannheim has what appears to be a 1581 Latin edition of the 'Gods of the Ancients' (click 'Titel...' for thumbs) -- these are a more sophisticated digital rendering of the original woodcut illustrations, I'd say. It's also probably a more reliable legend for distinguishing Gods in the images above than I might otherwise fumble to misconfabulate.
Wikipedia has a small entry for Vincenzo Cartari.
But again, I recommend reading the entry at Giornale Nuovo for salient background information.
Follow along at Twitter, if you are so inclined: @BibliOdyssey

Stripping Turtles

2012-01-26T20:20:00.010+11:00

The very rare, 2-volume series, 'Anatome Testudinis Europaeae', by LH Bojanus was published in 1819-1821 (in Latin), and includes 39 stipple engravings by F Lehmann after drawings by the author.

[The images below have been cropped and background cleaned]

Following completion of his medical training in Germany, Ludwig Heinrich (Louis Henri) Bojanus (1776-1827) somehow obtained a position at the University of Vilnius (Lithuania) as a professor of veterinary science.

Bojanus eventually specialised in comparative anatomy, an emerging discipline - originally steeped in philosophy - that had been championed by contemporary German thinker-polymaths such as Goethe, Lorenz Oken* and Johann Baptist von Spix*.

"[At] the University of Vilnius, Bojanus became the chairman of the school of “livestock medicine.” He was the first to describe the organ of secretion (kidney) of the lamellibranchia mollusk (Bojanus organ), but he erroneously identified it as the lung.

He studied equine anatomy and embryology and contagious animal diseases (anthrax, plague, and others). He established zoological and zootomical departments at the University of Vilnius, created the first helminthological collection in Russia, developed a curriculum, and introduced a program of veterinary studies. Bojanus’ basic works were in embryology, zoology, medicine, veterinary science, and zootechnology." [source]

Bojanus published a wide variety of scientific papers and was an Honorary Member of the Swedish Scientific Academy, but it was the turtle anatomy set that was his most famous publication and these volumes are still cited as primary sources.

The two volumes of 'Anatome Testudinis Europaeae' by Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus (1819-1821) are available from the fabulous Biodiversity Heritage Library (from Harvard University).
The Bojanus turtle anatomy volumes at the Internet Archive.
At least Vol. 1 is available from the AnimalBase at SUB Göttingen (I think they are presently digitising Vol. 2).
I noticed in passing that the 2-volume set - "not in good condition" - was selling for more than $US8000. I also saw mention of a reissue of the set in the early 20th century, but I've not been able to find a copy of the books in English.
A short Bojanus biography at Wikipedia.
A paperback edition of 'Anatome Testudinis Europaeae' is available from Amazon.
Previously: The Embryology of Turtles ::: Turtle Diary.

The Yuko Shimizu Book

2012-01-20T23:20:00.012+11:00

All images below © Yuko Shimizu

(posted with permission)

Blow Up 3 © Yuko Shimizu (2010) [book]

DJ Slip Mat (A Nice Set) © Yuko Shimizu (2006) [book]

When I Opened My Eyes © Yuko Shimizu (2009) [book]

Heinrich Popow^ © Yuko Shimizu (2008) [book]

Fear © Yuko Shimizu (2007) [book]

The Snow Machine © Yuko Shimizu (2002/3) [book]

Now Hear This 2 © Yuko Shimizu (2007) [book]

Isis the Cat © Yuko Shimizu (2007) [book]

The Unwritten 1 © Yuko Shimizu (2004) [book]

Neil Gaman^ © Yuko Shimizu (2007) [book]

These delightful pop-graphics -- if I may so dub them -- were scanned by me from New York freelance illustrator Yuko Shimizu's first monograph, published by Gestalten in Berlin in 2011 [Amazon].

Yuko was kind enough to pass on a copy of this (very) handsome book recently. It features a comprehensive overview of her comicesque and culture-melding graphics (she's originally from Japan), produced over the last decade or so. It is a beautiful product and highly recommended.

Previously: Yuko's Progression from two years ago shows the evolution from sketch to final illustration in Yuko's work. There's also links to interviews and the like.

Beechey's Voyage

2012-01-17T21:53:00.002+11:00

'The zoology of Captain Beechey's voyage / compiled from the collections and notes made by Captain Beechey^, the officers and naturalist of the expedition, during a voyage to the Pacific and Behring's Straits performed in His Majesty's ship Blossom, under the command of Captain F. W. Beechey ... in the years 1825, 26, 27 and 28, by J. Richardson ... [et al.] ; illustrated with upwards of fifty finely coloured plates by Sowerby' ----------> Harvard University.

Alternatively: NYPL :: BHL :: Googlebooks :: Internet Archive :: Amazon.
Frederick William Beechey at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
Undoubtedly via @john_overholt & Houghton Library Blog

The Rocket Book

2012-01-07T00:55:00.008+11:00

"The upward progress of a rocket,
lit in the basement by the janitor's son,
causes some strange situations as it
passes through 20 floors of apartments!"

American artist and author, Peter Newell (1862-1924), established his credentials providing humorous illustrations for famous magazines and newspapers in the last two decades of the 19th century.

Newell also illustrated popular books by other authors (Twain and Carroll, for instance) and wrote and illustrated a series of his own children's books. These latter works proved fairly influential and tended to revolve around a single theme (or perhaps, gimmick). The 'Topsys & Turvys' series could be viewed right way up or upside down; 'The Hole Book' had an actual physical hole through all its pages and 'The Rocket Book', above, features the recurring sight of a rocket flying through each illustrated scene.

'The Rocket Book' (1912) by Peter Sheaf Hersey Newell is available from the Library of Congress via the Center for the Book's read.gov portal.
'The Rocket Book' is also available as a synchronised audiobook/slideshow on Youtube through Librivox and the CCProse Youtube channel.
Read.gov.
Peter Newell bio: [W] & NonsenseLit.
Newell fairytale illustrations at SurLaLune.
Peter Newell books: Amazon :: Internet Archive :: Project Gutenburg.
VIA the always interesting Ptak's History of Ideas blog.

Satyr Taxis

2011-12-31T23:20:00.017+11:00

Fantasy ornament designs (1550s) by Cornelis Bos
- image captions below are translated/edited. A bit.

Chariot of grotesques and scrollwork drawn by two fantasy animals and pushed by a satyr, whose head is trapped in a large shell. A satyr is in the car with a lighted lamp. [I]n print series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures; decorated with trophies, garlands and vines. [1550]

Chariot of grotesques and scrollwork (series title).

Chariot pulled by a fantasy beast (?like a goat) -- the chariot has a seated woman and four satyrs, one of the satyrs on the front of the car is holding a mask in his hand, without a name. [1550]

Frieze with chariots of grotesques and roll and fittings work with figures and animals, decorated with garlands and vines (series title)

Car containing a woman, pushed by a man and pulled by a man riding on the back of a bear. A man with a lance sits in the front. Behind the back of the woman is a monkey. Belongs to series of 4 prints. [1552]

Frieze with chariots of grotesques and roll and fittings work with figures and animals, decorated with garlands and vines (series title) [1552]

The car is pulled by two men and a goat, which runs between them. Belongs to series of 4 prints.

Chariot of grotesques and scrollwork (series title)

The car is propelled by three satyrs with saucer-shaped chins. [From a] series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures, decorated with trophies, garlands and vines. [1550]

The structure rests on a turtle. [From a] series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures, decorated with trophies, garlands and vines. [1550]

A man and woman are seated in a car pulled by a satyr and pushed by two men, all caught in the frame. [From a] series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures, decorated with trophies, garlands and vines.

The vehicle is moved through the water by a paddle wheel. Two satyrs pull, two women push. [From a] series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures, decorated with trophies, garlands and vines.

The woman sits in a loop of scrollwork in a cart pushed by 2 men. A woman riding on a deer leads the way. [1550]

Frieze with chariots of grotesques and roll and fittings work with figures and animals, decorated with garlands and vines (series title)

Behind the turtle is a woman with a stick. Another woman holds a dog's ears in front of her. The car is pushed by a dog and two men. Belongs to series of 4 prints. [1552]

The front satyr runs between two plates. [From a] series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures, decorated with trofeeëen, garlands and vines.

Three satyrs with heads and hands locked in the rear bogie. A male sits under a trellis in the vehicle. The chariot is pulled by 2 bulls and a satyr. [From a] series of eight chariots of grotesques and scrollwork with satyrs, animals and various other creatures, decorated with trophies, garlands and vines. [1550]

2-part picture. A procession in honor of the god Bacchus who sits in a chariot. And a procession to the temple with his satyrs and putti and others elated with feasting and dancing. Some play on flutes and tambourines, others carrying sticks or jars with grapes and vines with them.

In the absence of a handy academic storyline to explain the hallucinogenic excesses of **mannerist** ornament, I'm choosing to believe that this array of 'transport' is the mid-16th century equivalent of a bloated movie franchise: the one sequel too many inadvertently became a parody of itself.

These designs are essentially riffing on a seminal technological, artistic and mythological motif from throughout recorded history: the chariot, which was first developed in the Middle East in about 2000 to 3000 BC.

"The chariot, driven by a charioteer, was used for ancient warfare during the bronze and the iron ages. Armor was limited to a shield. The vehicle was used for travel and in processions, games, and races after it had been superseded by other vehicles for military purposes." [W]

"One of the culminating battles of chariotry came early in the 13th century B.C., when armies of the Hittites and Egyptians clashed on the plains of northern Syria at Kadesh. Muwatallis II, the Hittite king, deployed a force of 3,500 chariots, and Ramses II is supposed to have countered in kind, but the battle seems to have ended in a stalemate. By the end of that century, as armies learned to blunt the attacks with swarming infantry and later cavalry, the age of the chariot as a weapon drew to a close. The high-speed vehicle was reduced to roles in sport and regal parades." [source]

For the sake of brevity we fast forward to Roman times when the ceremony of the Roman Triumph (sanctification of military honour) involved parading of the celebrated hero through the city streets on a chariot. This would seem to be the true origin for the establishment of the chariot as an important iconographic symbol for elevating/feting/honouring/celebrating either man or God in drama and art (mythological in particular : see the final image, pertaining to Bacchus, above).

The chariot, as a symbolic cultural element, followed various paths down through history, from the pageantry and Joyous Entries associated with the festivals of the 16th/17th centuries to parodies in Fractured Fairytale cartoons in the 1960s, by way of polar examples.

My personal view - apply skepticism as necessary - is that the designs above by Cornelis Bos are much less concerned with adding to the visual language of pageantry (or even ornament) than they are with satirising the Renaissance festival culture itself. Ornament that once adorned the embellished chariots and floats of the festival scene has come alive here not as secondary decoration but as the primary focus. The abstracted grotesque figures and mythological details propel our 'taxis' - the almost irrelevant, bizarre land and water transport frames - forward.

Doubtless, art historians would observe these ornamental fantasies and line up to expand on the projected meanings from analysis of allegorical features and symbology. They are welcome to it. I prefer to see the simple, humorous mockery of artistic forebears by the emerging talents of a new movement. Mannerist Fractured Fairytales, if you will.

All of the Cornelis Bos designed fantasy-ornament prints are to be found online (among a wide range of his material) at the Rijksmuseum in Holland.
Remaking the Wheel: Evolution of the Chariot 1994.
British Library - Renaissance Festival Books.
Wikipedia: Cornelis Bos :: Chariot :: Mannerism :: Roman Triumph :: Triumphal Arch.
Other luminary figures from the Dutch/Belgian print scene involved - variously - in producing these suites of ornamental illustrations include Hieronymus Cock, Maarten van Heemskerk and Cornelis Floris (at least).
I am greatly indebted to Will C from San Diego, who kindly pointed out these industrial-grade hallucinations earlier in the year. Thanks mate! A fitting end to the year.

Oscar Sanmartin Vargas

2011-12-26T23:15:00.004+11:00

All images below © Oscar Sanmartin
{posted here with permission}

El Planeta Hermetico

El Hotel Maelstron

Nadal Baronio

El Efecto Lupa El Niño Gusano 1995

Funeral

Ritual de Fecundidad

El Faro de Alesia

Composicion Digital 3

Mercado Medievál 2012

Leyendario Cubierta

Preview of book, 'Leyendario: Criaturas de Agua' 2007

{*Legendary Creatures of the Water*}

Text: Óscar Sipán :: Illustrations: Oscar Sanmartin

[Study for diorama]

Diorama 3

Diorama 5

All images © Oscar Sanmartin - posted here with permission.

Oscar Sanmartin (Vargas) (b. 1972) is a mixed-media artist from Zaragoza (Spain). On his website you will find a collection of his box-dioramas, absurdist, surreal bio-etchings and paintings and faux retro collage-esque works, book illustrations and commercial art pieces. Marvellous stuff. {Oscar's BLOG}

Other related sites: one, two, three.

UPDATE: Oscar is now on Twitter : @SanmartinVargas

On The Nile

2011-12-24T22:50:00.005+11:00

“After getting astride of the saddle, comes motion No. 1, which is caused by the animal raising his hind quarters from the ground; this throws you forward, and you lose both your hat and your balance : then comes motion No. 2, which corresponds to motion No. 1, but with the front quarters; this motion throws the traveller as far backward as he was thrown forward before.

These two motions leave the animal and the traveller neither fairly up nor altogether down ; and it requires another motion, No. 3, to bring fore and hind quarters, together with the hump and other adjacent portions, to a “perpendicular;” which act, when accomplished, leaves the rider on the animal’s hump, provided he has clung to the saddle with sufficient tenacity. After the first mount the whole matter is simplified.“

"In the early nineteenth century a trip to Egypt and up the Nile aboard a native dhahabîyeh (large sailing craft) was reserved for only the most adventurous traveler, or howadji, a Turkish word originally meaning 'merchant' or 'shopkeeper'. Howadji soon became a term applied by local inhabitants to all foreign travelers." [Source: Smithsonian exhibit: Nile Notes of a Howadji]

"Augustus Hoppin [W] left his law profession in 1848 to study art and pursue a career as an illustrator. He became quite successful and widely known for his illustrations for novels. In 1873, he embarked on a extensive tour of Egypt and soon followed his adventure with a fully illustrated book, On the Nile. The accompanying narrative disturbingly captures the narrow, patronizing, and prejudiced views of Anglo travelers during the Victorian period, especially toward those from Middle Eastern culture and religion. Scattered about are illustrations describing more lighthearted amusing moments during the trip[..]. [source/via]

'On The Nile' by Augustus Hoppin (1874) is available from Widener Library at Harvard University.

The scratchy, engraved vignettes contain a lot of interesting/humorous detail.

Liber Floridus

2011-12-19T02:40:00.005+11:00

These images come from the fabled manuscript, 'Liber Floridus' (Book of Flowers), a Medieval encyclopædia produced some 900 years ago by Lambert, Canon of St Omer, in the NE France/Flanders/Belgium region.

"For Lambert the encyclopedia is a heavenly meadow where the “flowers of literature” flourish together to attract faithful readers by their sweetness."

{Some of these page and detail images were spliced together from screenshots, but I didn't go to the trouble, in most instances, of generating very large images; click through to adequately enlarged versions. Mouseover above for approximated image titles}

The 'Liber Floridus' is essentially a compilation of extracts from nearly two hundred late Classical and early Medieval works by authors such as Isidore of Seville, Orosius, Julius Honorius, Pomponius Mela, Solinus, Venerable Bede, Rabanus Maurus, Pseudo-Callisthenes and Martianus Capella. There are, unsurprisingly, biblical dimensions to the manuscript, including a description of the Apocalypse, and the final illustration above depicts Noah's Ark, for instance.

Lambert's manuscript was completed in his own hand by ~1120 and is regarded as the first encyclopædia of the High Middle Ages. It chronicles the history of the world and describes the cosmos and man's place in the greater whole. Lambert's personal contribution to the work was confined to the fields of cosmography, geography and cartography.

The copious illustrations and idiosyncratic maps ensured that the manuscript came to be regarded as a classic, and up to eight extant copies of 'Liber Floridus' may have survived. [Three contemporary manuscripts exist: Ghent {MS 92} is the original {some of the ending is missing}; and mid-12th c. copies are located at Paris and Wolfenbüttel - these later copies weren't produced by Lambert's hand and contain full mappa mundi-type world maps]

"A medieval encyclopedia has little in common with the modern form of encyclopedia that we know. [..]

Instead of an alphabetical order and rational classification, a medieval encyclopedia has an organic structure. Knowledge is embedded in the images showing the world – a so-called ‘world view’. [..]

Many of these encyclopedias were intended to be used as didactic tools in convent and cathedral schools and, later, in universities. The Liber Floridus was probably used for teaching at the chapter school. The few entries in the Liber Floridus which Lambert did not write himself are assumed to have been done by his pupils."

After some modest reading around on the web, I have come to the conclusion that delving into the cartography - the most interesting aspect of the MS, in my view - is beyond the scope of this post. The various commentaries are more ambiguous than enlightening, because it's hard to properly identify the maps and editions under discussion. Nevertheless, I very much recommend examining the maps (and the rest of the MS) in the rather tolerable high resolution zoom frame at the source site. This manuscript - of about 300 folio leaves - is a real treat to look at closely.

'Liber Floridus' {MS 92} by Lambert, Canon of St Omer, is owned by Ghent University Library and hosted on a trilingual site (choose 'Online' to get to the actual manuscript).
Overview of the maps at the Henry Davis site.
Wikipedia article on 'Liber Floridus'.
Wikimedia images (from other MSS)
Amazon references to 'Liber Floridus'.
Previously: Medieval :: cartography.

Japanese Family Crests

2011-12-16T10:40:00.005+11:00

Kamon are Japanese emblems or crests, corresponding to the European heraldy tradition, that are used to specifically represent and identify a family.

They are a subset of the larger body of motifs (called mon) that are symbols of temples, clans, guilds and similar groups of people. Mon first appeared by the 12th century as patterns on flags and uniforms in battles, but their wider use followed the vagaries of class and social custom.

The quartets of kamon below were selected and spliced together from the symbol categories: animal, plant, flower, furnishing, martialism, natural and pattern crests. {I think there is some crossover}

[animal crest] chicken, phoenix, crane, phoenix

[animal crest] butterfly, tortoise, bamboo grass, rabbit

[plant crest] hollyhock, bracken, cryptomeria, Oxalis corymbosa

[plant crest] grape, rice, date palm, ginkgo

[flower crest] wisteria, wisteria, tree peony, anchor

[flower crest] Morning glory, goldthread, wisteria, chrysanthemum

[furnishing crest] key, gin trap, broom, alarm plate

[furnishing crest] wooden hammer, bag, temari ball, amulet

[martialism crest] arrow, anchor, fan, gem

[martialism crest] arrow, samurai warrior helmet, anchor, arrow

[natural crest] cloud & moon, arrows of lightning, sun, wave

[natural crest] water & moon, arrows of lightning, gem, wave

[pattern crest] comma-shaped, swastika, gem, fusil

[pattern crest] tortoise-shell, Japanese quince, crossed stick, meyui pattern

The (bilingual) Crest Japan site has more than 280 kamon available copyright free for download as .eps files. They convert to jpegs in photoshop (as has been done above) or can be used as scalable vector illustrations in Adobe Illustrator. [beware the flash show's embedded audio!] I think, from a very brief look, that there might be slightly bigger thumbnail images and maybe even more range of styles available from/via the Japanese homesite.
The wikipedia article on kamon is fairly comprehensive : note all the links to further material.
Pingmag 2007.
Inspired by, and ever so slightly ransacked from, Will's Crest Syndrome post on 50 Watts from Jan, 2009.

A Sometimes Unnatural History

2011-12-14T08:45:00.006+11:00

The images below (background cleaned) are taken from the multi-volume natural history work, 'Getreue Abbildungen Naturhistorischer Gegenstände' (1795-1807), by Johann Matthäus Bechstein.

Gibbon

Common (!?) Marmoset (Simia jacchus Linnaeus)

Three-Toed Sloth (nb.)

Lion

Hippopotamus

Elephant

Rhinoceros

Vulture

Dodo (extinct by 1681*)

Barbary Falcon

Blue Whale

Sperm Whale

Antelope

Tapir

Squirrel

Polar Bear

I originally found this fabulous polar bear image from the Bechstein volumes a couple of years ago and chose at the time not to pursue the series. I felt that, although there was a BibliOdysseyesque diversity of material (in terms of artistic merit and style, absurdity, and range of species types), the illustrations had been largely stolen or adapted from earlier works (Buffon & Von Schreber come immediately to mind).

With the passage of time and the random rediscovery of the series website, I've had something of a change of heart. Repeated appearance of some of the illustrations (both in contemporary publishing terms and on this blog) underlines the importance and relative ubiquity of the contrived sketch settings, human-like emotions and absurdly humorous representations of some of the less familiar species in Early Modern natural history literature.

In fact, after skipping through the multiple volumes of similar material that constitute Bechstein's zoological encyclopaedia, the appearance of the anatomically correct and detailed renders among the more bizarre illustrations can feel the more incongruous finds. It's a snapshot reminder of progress in popular scientific reporting and accuracy.

Basilisk (mythological)

Wood Boring Beetle

Johann Matthäus Bechstein (1757-1822) was a German ornithologist and forestry expert and a pioneer in animal and environmental conservation.

After studying and teaching theology, Bechstein's casual interest in natural history was formalised professionally with the founding in the 1790s of a forestry school and a forestry society in the German state of Thuringia.

Bechstein was a prolific author - if only a modest figure in the history of science - and is probably best remembered in the English-speaking world for his series on singing birds. He also provided the first description of several bird species, wrote a monograph on caged bird diseases and advocated for preservation of animals considered to be pests in his day (bats, for instance).

The 8-volume series by Johann Bechstein, 'Getreue Abbildungen Naturhistorischer Gegenstände' (Realistic Pictures from Natural History), was issued between 1795 and 1807. Seven of those volumes are available from the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. (click through on a volume - band - then on anything below 'Inhalt', and then on 'Vorschau' for thumbnail pages. Easypeasy.)
Bechstein books: Amazon | German National Library | Biodiversity Heritage Library | Googlebooks.
Wikipedia bio.
Previously: science | fauna.
BibliOdyssey on Twitter.

Birds of Paradise

2011-12-10T07:44:00.009+11:00

"The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae [and] the order Passeriformes. The majority of species in this family are found on the island of New Guinea and its satellites, with a few species occurring in the Moluccas and eastern Australia.

The family has forty species in 14 genera. The members of this family are perhaps best known for the plumage of the males of most species, in particular highly elongated and elaborate feathers extending from the beak, wings or head.

For the most part they are confined to dense rainforest habitat. The diet of all species is dominated by fruit and to a lesser extent arthropods. The birds-of-paradise have a variety of breeding systems, ranging from monogamy to lek-based polygamy." [continues]

The set of images below (all assiduously background cleaned) would be more accurately titled: Birds of Paradise AND Friends.

They come from an 1806, 2-volume work called 'Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis et des Rolliers, suivie de celle des Toucans et des Barbus' by François Levaillant and Jacques Barraband {featured on BibliOdyssey recently with Toucans}.

'Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis et des Rolliers, suivie de celle des Toucans et des Barbus' is owned by Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire de Neuchâtel and made available online via the Swiss E-Rara portal.
"David Attenborough & birds of paradise" HD videos at Youtube.
Earlier this year, the Folio Society released a limited edition deluxe reprint of the classic 'Sharpes' Birds of Paradise' {1890s} and the film of their presentation of the volume to David Attenborough is highly recommended. It is this book and that group of exquisite birds that are largely responsible for Attenborough having pursued his life's work of documenting and sharing the living world with us all.
Paradisaeidae: Birds of paradise Flickr pool.
'The Birds of Paradise: Paradisaeidae' 1998 by CB Frith & BM Beehler.
Research site on birds of paradise by ornithologist Edwin Scholes III (arguably one of the better all-round online sites of authority)
Passeriformes: Birds-of-paradise (Paradisaeidae).
Related recent post: Toucans.
Previously on BibliOdyssey: fauna.
BibliOdyssey on Twitter.

Machine Power

2011-12-09T01:35:00.013+11:00

Illustrations by Vittorio Zonca (1607) from
'Novo Teatro di Machine et Edificii'

A perpetual water-raising system

"Zonca shows a large copperplate engraving of a huge pipe for raising water. It had a large, sealed inverted U-tube with larger diameter on one side. The figure shows the larger tube (A) on the left emptying water at a higher level than the water intake on the right. This water then powered a horizontal turbine at the bottom, which drives a millwheel for grinding grain. The sealed port at the top was to facilitate the initial filling of the tube with water.

For want of a better name, I call this a "perverted siphon", though it doesn't work as a siphon*. (It's so hard to name devices that don't work.) Didn't folks in the 17th century know that siphons can only lift water over an elevation if the output tube's opening is lower than the input water level? Perhaps not. Roman engineers had successfully used water tubes or pipes to transport water over hills, but the output was always lower than the input water level. These tubes were a last resort for engineers, for the apex of the tube could not be higher than 10 meters above the water level at the input end. It was difficult to seal the tubes so that air would not seep into the top of the tube and eventually form an air pocket that destroyed the continuity of the water and halted water flow. Perhaps some felt that it was only such practical "engineering difficulties" that prevented the use of siphons to actually deliver water to a higher level.

Remember that the role of atmospheric pressure in these devices wasn't understood. So why did the water stay in the inverted U-tube? This was explained by Aristotle's principle that "nature abhors a vacuum", that is, nature will not allow a vacuum in the top of the tube and will do whatever necessary to prevent it. This explained why a suction pump could lift a column of water (but didn't explain why it could only lift water about 33 feet)." [cont]. {see also}

Schematics of perpetual screw

Mill powered by animals

Gears, ratchets and turning mechanisms for a meat rotisserie

Water-mill (for flour or ..?)

Mitre gates on a navigational river or canal lock

Water raising system (dual power)

A waterwheel stamping mill - for crushing pulp in paper making

Intaglio-plate {illustration} printing press

Book printing press

Perpetual screw for raising heavy weights

Multi-wheel watermill

Cross-section of machine/pumping system to raise water to a "great height"

Human-powered water pumping system

As the few online references to Vittorio Zonca (1568-1602) attest, little is known about the Italian architect's life beyond the fact that he lived in Padua and wrote an illustrated technical manual on machines.

Zonca's book -- part of the Renaissance/Early Modern genre known as The Theatre of Machines -- wasn't released until four years after his death, and the illustrations seen above are from the 3rd edition, published in 1656.

In 'Novo Teatro di Machine and Edificii', Zonca presents more than forty engravings that illustrate a wide variety of machines, including presses, grinders, locks, pumps, lathes, weight lifting, load bearing and even water-powered silk throwing systems.

The source for many of Zonca’s designs is believed to be a manuscript by the Sienese painter Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501), which depicts various 15th c. machines.

Zonca's work was nevertheless important and original because it came closest, among contemporaries in the emerging field of technical manuals, to showing how the mechanical systems would function in the real world. Zonca pared down overly elaborate gear/pulley/lever systems (in which friction would hamper machine operation) and he drew the components mostly to scale, as compared to Ramelli for instance. In other words, Zonca's manual was more practical than (merely) theoretical. References in his book infer that working examples of some of Zonca's machines were successfully built during his lifetime.

In the 1620s, a collection of European machine designs by Zonca, Ramelli and Besson was published in China by the Jesuit scholar, Johann Schreck. The illustrations were produced in a Chinese pictorial style and were the first European technological systems seen in the Far East.

'Novo Teatro di Machine et Edificii' by Vittorio Zonca is available via the European Cultural Heritage Online (ECHO) portal at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.
The book is also available via Cornell University's Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library.
Istituto Internazionale di Storia economica "F. Datini" has titled illustrations from Zonca's book (in Italian) -- the 1621 edition (some of these *might* be different from the series published in 1656 and 1607)
New Technology of 1607 at Princeton's Graphic Arts blog.
Zonca bio: Kmoddl :: Wikipedia.
Perpetual Futility from the Museum of Unworkable Devices.
Mentions of Vittorio Zonca at Amazon and Googlebooks.
Previously on BibliOdyssey: machines (which includes posts on all the main players involved in the Renaissance-era Theatre of Machines; for instance: Early Machine Technology.
BibliOdyssey on Twitter.

Das Baby-Liederbuch

2011-12-05T02:05:00.013+11:00

The Baby Songbook

Tom Seidmann-Freud (née Martha Freud) (1892-1930) was a German illustrator and book artist and niece of Dr Sigmund Freud. Her movable and pop-up books were particularly well regarded.

When she was only twenty-two years old, Seidmann-Freud composed verses and produced the illustrations for the charming 1914 songbook seen above [sourced from the State Library of Berlin].

Because Seidmann-Freud was Jewish, many copies of her books were destroyed during the nazi era and remain scarce items in the book trade.

"As an adult, [Seidmann-Freud] was noted for her eccentricities as well as her artistic talent, in particular, her decisions to adopt a man's first name and to wear men's clothing. A long history of emotional instability preceded a major breakdown after the failure of her husband's publishing venture and his suicide in 1929; she took her own life the following year.

Seidmann-Freud has been characterized as a member of the Jugendstil (German Art Nouveau) movement. Her artwork often featured people and objects simply but precisely rendered in ink, their outlines carefully filled in with watercolors using the pochoir (stencil and layering) technique."

The quote above (and a wider variety of her illustrations) can be found at the Tom Seidmann-Freud homesite {well worth a visit}. [also; and]

UPDATE: See Will's December 2012 post on 50 Watts: The Rabbit Dreams of Dr. Freud's Niece.

BibliOdyssey on Twitter.

The Royal Anjou Bible

2011-11-28T01:00:00.002+11:00

"By any definition, it is one of the supreme Bibles of the gothic period"
[Christopher de Hamel*, Cambridge]

"The House of Anjou ruled over Central and Southern Europe for two centuries. The different areas gradually became close-knit states boasting efficient institutions, lucrative trade and a flourishing cultural life. It was the era of great artists and writers like Giotto, Simone Martini, Boccaccio and Petrarch. Music was also given a new lease of life at the Neapolitan court: even under Charles of Anjou (1226-1286), investments were made in more and better musicians.

This healthy artistic climate provided scope for musical experimentation. One of the most gifted musicians at Charles’ court was undoubtedly the trouvère Adam de la Halle, who wrote the celebrated musical pastoral play Le Jeu de Robin et Marion while in service in Naples.

Charles’ successor, Robert of Anjou, was a particularly well-read and sophisticated sovereign and [a] supporter of Pope Benedict XII and patron of numerous musicians from the latter’s entourage in Avignon. [..] The numerous musical instruments and musical scenes in the Anjou Bible are a unique, artistic externalization of this heyday of music." [source]

"The 14th century Anjou Bible, was created at the court of Robert I of Anjou, King of Naples. After peregrinations in royal circles, in 1509 the book ended up on Brabantine soil. During the course of the next 500 years, this unique manuscript fell into oblivion. Until 2008. On March 10th the bible was officially recognized by the Flemish Community as 'a Masterpiece' and that year a major project was launched which involved researching and conserving the book and making it accessible to the public." [source] ::
[The manuscript now resides in the strongroom at the Maurits Sabbe Library of the Theology Faculty at K.U.Leuven]

I recommend (more than usual, let's say) seeing this magnificent parchment manuscript online via the (often tri-lingual) Anjou Bible site [direct link to a flash zoom presentation of 91 illuminated folio pages that allows you to see the details at high magnification]

The manuscript decoration work is said to have been carried out (or overseen) by Cristophorus Orimina, the leading illuminator in Naples, whose signature appears in the Anjou Bible.

'The Anjou Bible: A Royal Manuscript Revealed. Naples 1340 (Corpus of Illuminated Manuscripts)' 2010, edited by J van der Stock & L Wateeuw was released at the time of the exhibition last year.

{all the images in this post were spliced together from screencaps : the full page images - after clicking through - are at 25% magnification and the details towards the end of the post were spliced from 50% zoom captures}

China Court Service

2011-11-25T01:30:00.001+11:00

Scenes of Service from a small album known as 'Chinese Drawings: Court and Society', hosted by the John Rylands University Library in Manchester.

We are told that these illustrations (scanned from colour transparencies) depict 19th century Chinese society and costumes and that these (slightly cropped) illustrations are bordered by blue silk.

This collection of delicate hand-painted scenes is part of a much larger set of Chinese cultural material owned by the Rylands Library [Chinese Collection description]. About fifty of these items are hosted on the Rylands' Luna Imaging site. Some of these sketches are just exquisite.

The full Rylands Luna Imaging site hosts more than 60,000 items.
The John Rylands University Library homepage.
Previously: China ::: costumes.

Blake Illuminations

2011-11-21T22:40:00.004+11:00

Example pages from William Blake's:

Songs of Innocence
Songs of Experience
The Book of Thel
Visions of the Daughters of Albion

"If a method of Printing which combines the Painter and the Poet is a phenomenon worthy of public attention, provided that it exceeds in elegance all former methods, the Author is sure of his reward." WB 1793

"The great advance in Blake's printmaking occurred in 1787, following the untimely death, probably from tuberculosis, of the artist's beloved younger brother Robert [..]. Blake reported discovering his wholly original method of "relief etching" — which creates a single, raised printing surface for both text and image — in a vision of Robert soon after his death.

Relief etching allowed Blake to control all aspects of a book's production: he composed the verses, designed the illustrations (preparing word and image almost simultaneously on the same copper printing plate), printed the plates, colored each sheet by hand (where necessary), and bound the pages together in covers. The resulting "illuminated books" were written in a range of forms — prophecies, emblems, pastoral verses, biblical satire, and children's books — and addressed various timely subjects — poverty, child exploitation, racial inequality, tyranny, religious hypocrisy." [source] [Also see: Illuminated Printing]

"William Blake was born in London on November 28, 1757 [d. 1827], to James, a hosier, and Catherine Blake. Two of his six siblings died in infancy. From early childhood, Blake spoke of having visions—at four he saw God "put his head to the window"; around age nine, while walking through the countryside, he saw a tree filled with angels.

Although his parents tried to discourage him from "lying", they did observe that he was different from his peers and did not force him to attend conventional school. He learned to read and write at home. At age ten, Blake expressed a wish to become a painter, so his parents sent him to drawing school. Two years later, Blake began writing poetry. When he turned fourteen, he apprenticed with an engraver because art school proved too costly. One of Blake's assignments as apprentice was to sketch the tombs at Westminster Abbey, exposing him to a variety of Gothic styles from which he would draw inspiration throughout his career. After his seven-year term ended, he studied briefly at the Royal Academy." [continued]

The William Blake images seen above were sourced from the Houghton Library at Harvard University: Songs of Innocence and Experience :::: The Book of Thel :::: Visions of the Daughters of Albion.
Via Houghton Library blog and John Overholt.
The William Blake Archive.
The Blake Society.
Wikipedia :: Amazon.

The Danse Macabre Collection

2011-11-15T01:29:00.013+11:00

Title: Der Tod von Basel : acht Holzschnitte von Rudolf Schiestl zu dem alten Volksliede [LINK]
Author: Rudolf Schiestl, 1924

Title: Ein moderner Totentanz : dreiundzwanzig Blätter aus dem Bilderbuch des Todes [LINK]
Author: Tobias Weiss, 1913

Title: La Danse des Morts à Bâle [LINK]
Illustrator: (after) Hans Holbein, 1846

Title: The dance of death on the Muhlenbruke at Lucerne [LINK]
Author: Caspar Meglinger, 1893

Title: Ein Totentanz [LINK]
Authors: Walter Draesner & Max von Boehn, 1922

Title: Bilder des Todes oder Todtentanz für alle Stände [LINK]
Illustrator / Author: Johann Gottfried Flegel / Carl Merkel, 1850

Title: Auch ein Todtentanz [LINK]
Author: Alfred Rethel & Robert Reinick, 1902

Title: Daud un Düwel [LINK]
Author / Illustrator: Karl Wagenfeld / August Heumann, 1919

Title: Schau-Platz des Todes oder Todten-Tanz in Kupffern und Versen vorgestellet [LINK]
Author: Salomon van Rusting, 1736

The Heinrich Hein University of Düsseldorf recently uploaded the Graphiksammlung „Mensch und Tod“ (Danse Macabre Collection). There are more than ninety books available, many of them from the later (lesser known) Totentanz / Death's Dance period. The complete books are available for all but one or two of the entries.

Previous related entries (the first 3 in particular have a lot of background and links about the Death's Dance genre):
Heidelberger Totentanz ::: Death's Dance ::: Totentanz Blockbook ::: Ars Moriendi ::: Los Calaveras de Posada ::: The Day of The Dead - Papercuts ::: The Antikamnia Chemical Company ::: Speculum Musico-Mortuale.

UPDATE: See the Wurzeltod post: A Mid-November's Dance of Death in which the inimitable Suzanne puts some personal flesh on the bones of 'Bilder des Todes oder Todtentanz für alle Stände' by Carl Merkel & Johann Gottfried Flegel.

Modern Rejection

2011-11-13T23:35:00.013+11:00

'Le Petit Journal des Refusées' (The Little Journal of Rejections) by Gelett Burgess was a fun, modernist magazine published in San Francisco in 1896 on butterfly-shaped wallpaper by James Marrion. Only one edition was ever released.

"The cover of Le Petit Journal des Refusées advertises that it will be published quarterly, but the magazine appeared only once. That issue came out in the summer of 1896 in San Francisco, California, a city that was not “attracting the same attention as that of other cosmopolitan centers”, but had a lively Bohemian scene. Le Petit Journal was the creation of Gelett Burgess. The other contributors, if there were any, are unknown.

Le Petit Journal is sixteen pages long, intricately illustrated by hand, printed on wallpaper cut into trapezoids, “and full of parodic references”. The small volume claims to print only “productions that have been ruthlessly rejected” at least three times “by less large-hearted and appreciative editors”. All of the pieces in Le Petit Journal are attributed to women whose names, such as Alice Rainbird and Lulu Lamb, signal to the reader that they are fictitious.

While the mysterious and short-lived journal is very humorous, it is also seriously well-informed of the trends of American and British magazines. Gelett seems to be poking fun at the quick rise of magazines because of the breadth and specificity of the magazines (real and invented) he names as having refused the “exceptional merit” of “female authoresses”. There is a magazine for everything, Gelett illustrates, yet there is not a place for these refused works. Until, of course, with playful absurdity, Gelett creates one.

Le Petit Journal des Refusees had a very small circulation that did not extend past San Francisco, but it is “important as a precursor of the more ambitious little magazines, offering hints of Dada and Surrealism before these modes of modernism existed” (Scholes)".
[Compiled by Zoe Balaconis for Little Magazines & Modernism. {nb. slightly edited for clarity}]

'Le Petit Journal des Refusées' - :: A “reductio ad absurdam” [sic] literary journal in which works “ruthlessly rejected by less large-hearted and appreciative editors than [James Marrion, 2nd] are permitted to witness the light of day for the first and last time.” :: is online at Harvard University's Houghton Library. In fact, they have a second printing also which is worth seeing for comparison [via & via]
A couple of pages of an essay - 'Le Petit Journal des Refusées: A Graphical Reading' by Johanna Drucker, 2010 - can be accessed here for free (the full article is available for subscribers/purchasers).
Ms Drucker released a facsimile version of 'Le Petit Journal des Refusées' (with an Afterword) in 2007 through Rice University Press. See: Druckweb ::: also.
A joint Brown U & U Tulsa Modernist Journals Project - another (so-so quality) digital copy of 'Le Petit Journal' can be accessed here.

Peking Embassy

2011-11-11T01:24:00.006+11:00

The German 1666 title page (after the Dutch original) was rendered into English a couple of years later as:

'An embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham, emperor of China: delivered by their excellencies Peter de Goyer and Jacob de Keyzer, at his imperial city of Peking wherein the cities, towns, villages, ports, rivers, &c. in their passages from Canton to Peking are ingeniously described by John Nieuhoff; also an epistle of Father John Adams, their antagonist, concerning the whole negotiation; with an appendix of several remarks taken out of Father Athanasius Kircher; Englished and set forth with their several sculptures by John Ogilby'

Macau

Ceremonial barge or long-boat

Street scene in Nanking

Tianjin* (city in N China)

A pair of views of the Imperial Palace in Peking with bilingual legends

Canton town and harbour, including the palace of the Viceroy

Pagoda near the Chinese city of Sinkicien

The Porcelain Tower or Pagoda of Nanjing, otherwise known as the Temple of Gratitude

"It was a pagoda constructed in the 15th century during the Ming Dynasty, but was mostly destroyed in the 19th century during the course of the Taiping Rebellion.

In 2010 Wang Jianlin, a Chinese businessman, donated one billion yuan (US$156.3 million) to the city of Nanjing for its reconstruction of the pagoda. This is reported to be the largest single personal donation ever made in China."

Chinese peasants near a traditional farmhouse

Untitled

Mongol ambassadors stand in front of an encampment [alternative]

Hunter or warrior men from Tartary*, Mongolia

Chinese priests and monks

Tiger, musk deer and other animals and birds

The first edition of this important book by Johan Nieuhof was published in Dutch in [?]1662 and translated into the major European languages within a couple of years. It was one of the few non-Jesuit sources on China from this period and was famous for its wealth of engravings.

The book was translated into English by the great Scottish mapmaker and publisher, John Ogilby, in 1669, and included excerpts from Athanasius Kircher's 'China Illustrata' (1667) and illustrations (at least some) by Wenceslaus Hollar, based on the originals from the Dutch text.

Nieuhof (1618-1672) [previously] was a Dutch diplomat and traveller who wrote about his journeys to Brazil, China and India. The most famous of these was a trip of 2,400 km from Canton to Peking in 1655-1657, which enabled him to become an authoritative Western writer on China. After an adventurous career in the service of the Dutch East India Company (or VOC) in Sri Lankan and Indian posts, Nieuhof lived in Batavia until 1670. In 1672 he disappeared without trace in Madagascar while travelling in a sloop from which he had landed to seek drinking water.

The images above were sourced from a newly digitised book posted by the University of Heidelberg, 'Die Gesantschaft der Ost-Indischen Geselschaft in den Vereinigten Niederländern an den Tartarischen Cham und nunmehr auch Sinischen Keiser' (1666; published by Jacob van Moeurs) :: {click anything below 'Inhalt' and then 'Vorschau' for thumbs}
The image below, engraved by Wenceslaus Hollar, comes from the English edition of Nieuhof's book, online at the Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture at the University of Wisconsin (arguably, these are better quality engravings and also better quality digital files - note the gallery view link in the sidebar).
[W]: Johan Nieuhof, John Ogilby.
Previously: Connecting with China [& China]; Voyage to Exotica.
Follow along on Twitter, if you are so inclined.

Canton

Atlas Title Pages

2011-11-05T22:30:00.006+11:00

Title: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
Creator: Abraham Ortelius
Published in Antwerp, 1650

Title: Atlas Nuevo contiene Todas las Partes del Mundo, adonde Sono exactamente fefialados los Imperios, Monarchias, Reynos Estados, Republicas, y los Pueblos que al presente se conocen
Creator: Sanson
Publisher: Georgio Gallet, Amsterdam, 1699

Title: Atlas containing ye Best Maps of the severall parts of the World collected by Phil: Lea who selleth all sorts of Mathematicall Books and Instruments
Creator/Publisher: Phillip Lea, ~~1580~~ ~1690

Title: Atlas Novus Terrarum Orbis Imperia, Regna et Status exactis Tebulis Geographice demonstrans, Opera Johannis Baptistae Homanni
Creator: Johann Homann
Publisher: M.P.?, Nuremburg (undated but late 17th/early 18th c.)

Title: Ioannis Ianssonii Novus atlas, sive Theatrum orbis terrarum : in quo tabulae & descriptiones omnium regionum totius universi accuratissime exhibentur. In quinque tomos distinctus
Creator: Jan Jansson
Publisher: D. V. Bremden, Amsterdam, ~1649

Title: Cinquième Partie du grand Atlas, contenant une parfaite description du monde maritime, ou hydrographie générale de tout la terre, enrichie des particularities de la Navigation tant Ancienne que Moderne, avec un excellent et curieux tableau du monde des Anciens
Creator: Jan Jansson
Publisher: D.V. Bremden, Amsterdam, 1657

Untitled/incomplete title page
Creator: Joan Blaeu, Amsterdam, 1645

Title: Livre Troisieme des Villes Principales du Monde
Undated and anonymous (according to the source site) but possibly by Georg Braun and Frans Hogenburg from the late 16th c.

Title: Nouveau Theatre du Monde ou Nouvel Atlas (Tome Second)
Creator/Publisher: Iohannem Iansonium (Jan Jansson), Amsterdam (undated but mid-1600s)

Title: Atlas Gerardi Mercatoris et Ivsti Hondii Cosmographorum mortem dolens
Creator: Gerhard Mercator
Published by Jodocus Hondius, Amsterdam, 1633

The Artz Atlas Title Pages are among the Oberlin College Digital Collections - [FB Arntz bio].

Previously: cartography.