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Journal of the conversations of Lord Byron noted during a residence with his lordship at Pisa, in the years 1821 and 1822 by Thomas Medwin; 1824; Henry Colburn, London. On 17th May 1824, a month after Lord Byron died, his memoirs were burnt in the upstairs drawing room of a house on Albemarle Street,...
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How I killed the tiger being an account of my encounter with a royal Bengal tiger, with an appendix containing some general information about India; 1902; Smith’s Print.and Pub. Agency, London. How I killed the tiger; being an account of my encounter with a royal Bengal tiger, with an appendix containing some general information...
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Bible symbols, designed and arranged to stimulate a greater interest in the study of the Bible by both young and old. The choicest passages of God’s word put in the fascinating garb of pictures by Frank Beard and others. Text prepared and arranged by Martha Van Marter; 1908; Hertel, Jenkins Co., Chicago. As the...
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At the time of his death in 2001 at the age of 57, the German writer W.G. Sebald was cited by many critics as a future winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was his book The Rings of Saturn, written in 1995 (translated into English in 1998), which went a long way...
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Magic: stage illusions and scientific diversions, including trick photography, compiled and edited by Albert A. Hopkins, with an introduction by Henry Ridgely Evans; 1897; Low, London. A massive late 19th century book on magic and stage illusions including a section on trick photography. The book includes more than 400 (mostly) magnificently surreal illustrations and...
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The Accidents of Youth, consisting of short histories, calculated to improve the moral conduct of children, and warn them of the many dangers to which they are exposed : illustrated by engravings; 1819; Jas. W. and Chas. Adlard, London. Through a series of short stories and wonderful engravings, this book is aimed at keeping...
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The Hasheesh Eater: being passages from the life of a Pythagorean, by Fitz Hugh Ludlow; 1857; Harper & Bros., New York. The Hasheesh Eater: being passages from the life of a Pythagorean is an autobiographical book by the American novelist and journalist Fitz Hugh Ludlow in which he describes his altered states of consciousness...
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Appointed as the expedition’s official botanist, a 25 year old Joseph Banks travelled on Captain Cook’s first great voyage to the South Pacific in 1768. After landing on the island of Tahiti, Banks was soon to become an invaluable member of the crew by virtue of the friendly relations he struck up with the...
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Explanatory notes of a pack of Cavalier playing cards, temp. Charles II. forming a complete political satire of the commonwealth, by Edmund Goldsmid; 1886; E. & G. Goldsmid, Edinburgh. A facsimile with explanations of a “very curious Pack of Cards” which used to belong to Lord Nelson and date from around 1660. The cards...
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Vaught’s Practical Character Reader, by L. A. Vaught; 1902; L. A. Vaught, Chicago. A book on phrenology by L. A. Vaught published in 1902, jam-packed with strange theory and a whole host of strange illustrations. As he confidently states in his Preface: The purpose of this book is to acquaint all with the elements...
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On the Writing of the Insane, with illustrations, by G. Mackenzie Bacon, M.D.; 1870; John Churchill and Sons, London. A book of observations on the peculiarities of writing styles as shown by asylum patients. G. Mackenzie Bacon was a medical superintendant at Cambridgshire County Asylum (now Fulbourn Hospital) located near Cambridge, England. As well...
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Endless Amusement, a collection of nearly 400 entertaining experiments in various branches of science, including acoustics, arithmetic, chemistry, electricity, hydraulics, hydrostatics, magnetism, mechanics, optics, wonders of the air pump, all the popular tricks and changes of the cards, &c., &c., &c.; 1820; Thorp and Burch, and Thomas Boys, London. As it states on the...
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Devises et Emblemes Anciennes & Modernes, Tirees de Plus Celebres Auteurs; 1699; Kroniger & Göbel, Augspurg. Beautiful 17th century book showing various emblems with mottos described in German, Latin, French and Italian, and the emblems themselves described only in German. Some highlights include a floating stone, a lion being suspended over an empty throne,...
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Croatian Tales of Long Ago, by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, translated by F. S. Copeland; 1922; Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York. A seminal collection of short stories by the acclaimed children’s author Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić originally published in 1916 in Zagreb by the Matica Hrvatska publishing house. The collection is considered her masterpiece and it features...
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Passing English of the Victorian era, a dictionary of heterodox English, slang and phrase, by J. Redding Ware; 1909; Routledge, London. Passing English of the Victorian era, a dictionary of heterodox English, slang and phrase is complied and written by James Redding Ware, the pseudonym of Andrew Forrester the British writer who created one...
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Pictorial Atlas to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Thirty-six plates, containing 225 illustrations from works of ancient art, with descriptive text, and an epitome of the contents of each book, for the use of schools and students of literature and art, by R. Engelmann and W.C.F. Anderson; 1892; H. Grevel, London. This Pictorial Atlas is...
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The six voyages of John Baptista Tavernier, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, translated by John Phillips; R.L. and M.P., London. To give it its full title – The six voyages of John Baptista Tavernier, a noble man of France now living, through Turky into Persia and the East-Indies, finished in the year 1670 giving an account of...
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The Nine Lives of a Cat – a Tale of Wonder, by Charles Bennett; 1860; Griffith and Farran, London. Beautifully illustrated (though perhaps not so well rhymed!) tale of the cat with nine lives. From the preface: This tale of wonder is told for children; with which view, it has been carefully designed and...
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The First New Year, by George Warwick; 1885; C. T. Bainbridge’s sons, New York. A short little poem meditating on the inevitable end of all things and the power of new beginnings. Little is known about the author George Warwick although he appears to also be the author of this poem on the theme...
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A Christmas Sermon, by Robert Louis Stevenson; 1900; C. Scribner’s Sons, New York. A Christmas Sermon by Robert Louis Stevenson written while he convalesced from a lung ailment at Lake Sarnac in the winter of 1887. In the short text he meditates on the questions of death, morality and man’s main task in life...
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In 1897, Dr. Philip O’Hanlon, a coroner’s assistant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, was asked a question by his then eight-year-old daughter, Virginia, which many a parent has been asked before: whether Santa Claus really exists. O’Hanlon deferred. He suggested Virginia wrote asking the question to one of New York’s most prominent newspapers at...
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Sir Isaac Newton’s Daniel and the Apocalypse with an introductory study of the nature and the cause of unbelief, of miracles and prophecy, by Sir William Whitla; 1922; Murray, London. Best known for his advancements in scientific thought Sir Isaac Newton was also big into his apocalyptic prophecy. Largely unknown and unpublished documents, evidently...
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With December 25th fast approaching we have put together a little collection of entries for Christmas Day from an eclectic mix of different diaries spanning five centuries, from 1599 to 1918. Amid famed diarists such as the wife-beating Samuel Pepys, the distinctly non-festive John Adams, and the rhapsodic Thoreau, there are a sprinkling of...
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Prison diary of Michael Dougherty, late Co. B, 13th., Pa., cavalry. While confined in Pemberton, Barrett’s, Libby, Andersonville and other southern prisons. Sole survivor of 127 of his regiment captured the same time, 122 dying in Andersonville, by C. A. Dougherty; 1908; Bristol, Pennsylvania. The diary of Michael Dougherty, a young Irish soldier in...
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Snowflakes: a chapter from the book of nature; 1863; American tract society, Boston. A collection of poems, extracts, anecdotes and reflections on the theme of snow and the snowflake (most often in a religious direction). Interspersed amongst the texts are a series of beautiful plates showing the shapes and structure of the ice-crystal –...
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Scientific Amusements, translated from the French of Gaston Tissandier. By Henry Frith ; fully illustrated; 1890; Ward, Lock & co., in London, New York. Harry Houdini’s copy of Scientific Amusements left by his estate to the Library of Congress in 1927. From the Preface: Young people of both sexes, and persons of all ages...
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The Sonnets of Michaelangelo Buanarotti, now for the first time translated into rhymed English, 2d ed., by John Addington Symonds; 1904; Smith, Elder, & Co., C. Scribner’s Sons in London, New York. Most famous for painting the Sistine Chapel and his sculpture of David, the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo was also a prolific poet,...
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Stevenson’s baby book, being the record of the sayings and doings of Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson, son of Thomas Stevenson, C.E. and Margaret Isabella Balfour or Stevenson; 1922; John Howell / J.H. Nash, San Francisco . A remarkable record of the first few years of author Robert Louis Stevenson’s life, as noted down by...
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“Description of the Brain of Mr. Charles Babbage, F.R.S”, by V. Horsley in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Containing Papers of a Biological Character (1896-1934); 1909; Royal Society of London. Charles Babbage, (1791–1871) was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable...
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Artificial Fireworks, by John Maskall; 1785; (no publisher information). Beautiful hand-written and illustrated treatise on firework design and manufacture, including ‘blue-prints’ for the devices and explosive recipes. The book is housed at the Internet Archive, donated by the Getty Research Institute . HELP TO KEEP US AFLOAT The Public Domain Review is a not-for-profit...
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Dennison’s bogie book, by Dennison manufacturing co.; 1920; Dennison manufacturing co., Framingham, Massachusetts.] Decoration, costume and party suggestions from 1920 for the night of Halloween, that one time (according to the book) “of all the year when an opportunity is supposed to be given for looking into the future and having one’s fate settled...
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Morte d’Arthur, a poem by Alfred Tennyson, written out and illuminated by Alberto Sangorski; 1912; Reproduced by the Graphic Engraving Co. for Chatto & Windus, London. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Morte d’Arthur, written as early as the spring of 1835, was a retelling of the third, fourth and fifth chapters of the twenty-first book of...
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Kunstrichtige Schreibart allerhand Versalie oder AnfangsBuchstabe der teütschen, lateinischen und italianischen Schrifften aus unterschiedlichen Meistern der edlen Schreibkunst zusammen getragen; 1655; Bey Paulus Fürsten Kunsthändlern daselbst, Nürnberg. A 17th century German book on the art of writing. The full title (in English) reads The Proper Art of Writing: a compilation of all sorts of...
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The art of invigorating and prolonging life, by food, clothes, air, exercise, wine, sleep, &c and peptic precepts, pointing out agreeable and effectual methods to prevent and relieve indigestion, and to regulate and strengthen the action of the stomach and bowels: to which is added, the pleasure of making a will, by William Kitchiner;...
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Chap-books of the eighteenth century, with facsimiles, notes, and introduction by John Ashton; 1882; Chatto and Windus, London. Wonderful book offering facsimiles of hundreds of 18th century chapbooks upon a huge range of subjects – from tragic tales of revenge and murder to guides for interpreting dreams and moles – and the exquisite illustrative...
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Russian fairy tales from the Russian of Polevoi, by R. Nisbet Bain, illustrated by Noel L. Nisbet; 1915; Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York. A collection of Russian fairytales translated from the Russian of Nikolai Polevoy, a notable editor, writer, translator in the early 19th century. The translations were made by Robert Nisbet Bain,...
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An Alphabet of Celebrities, by Oliver Herford; 1899; Small & Maynard, Boston. Intricately rhymed and beautifully illustrated alphabet book on the world of late 19th century celebrity. It ends up creating quite wonderfully bizarre a-historical scenarios by throwing names with the same beginning letter all in with each other – for the letter N:...
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Curiosities of Puritan nomenclature, by Charles W. Bardsley; 1888; Chatto and Windus, London. A fascinating look at some of the more bizarre names given to children during the 17th century in England. Among the names explored are “From-above”, “Free-gift” & “More-fruit” for unexpected additions to families; “Humiliation”, “Abstinence” & “Sorry-for-sin” to express those qualities...
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The Bible, compiled by Myles Coverdale; 1535; Merten de Keyser, Antwerp. The Coverdale Bible, compiled by Myles Coverdale and published in 1535, was the first complete Modern English translation of the Bible (not just the Old Testament or New Testament), and the first complete printed translation into English. The later editions (folio and quarto)...
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The Hole Book, by Peter Newell; 1908; Harper & Brothers, New York. While fooling with a gun, Tom Potts shoots a bullet that seems to be unstoppable. A literal hole on each page traces the bullet’s path as it wreaks havoc across various scenes until it meets its match in a particularly sturdy cake....
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Cartoon portraits and biographical sketches of men of the day, the drawings by Frederick Waddy; 1873; Tinsley Brothers, London. A book of caricatures of famous “Men of the Day” (as was the case in 1873) – including the likes of Darwin, Swinburne, Tennyson and Browning – drawn by cartoonist Frederick Watty and accompanied by...
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Fables for children, stories for children, natural science stories, popular education, decembrists, moral tales, by Count Lev N. Tolstoy, translated from the original Russian and edited by Leo Wiener; 1904; Dana Estes & Co., Boston. As well as writing such lengthy literary classics as Anna Karenina and War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy turned his...
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The Fifth Olympiad: the Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912; 1913; Wahlstrom & Widstrand, Stockholm. The official report of the Olympic Games held in Stockholm in 1912. As exhaustive account of all there is to know about the 5th Olympiad including all the bureaucratic wranglings and preparations for the Games, the...
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Jack and Jill and old Dame Gill, author/illustrator unknown; 1806; J. Aldis, London. Extended version of the famous nursery rhyme in which, in addition to fetching some water, Jack and Jill get into various scrapes with animals, swings, see-saws, and the ever-chastising Old Dame Gill. The illustrator goes uncredited in the book, though the...
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An exact and authentic narrative, of the events which took place in Baltimore, on the 27th and 28th of July last. Carefully collected from some of the sufferers and eyewitnesses. To which is added a narrative of Mr. John Thomson, one of the unfortunate sufferers; 1812; Printed for the purchasers A small book giving...
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The life and death of Mr. Badman presented to the world in a familiar dialogue between Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Attentive, by John Bunyan…with twelve compositions by George Woolliscroft Rhead & Louis Rhead designed to portray the deadly sins of the ungodly Mr. Badman’s journey from this world to hell. With an introduction reprinted...
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The dodo and its kindred or, The history, affinities, and osteology of the dodo, solitaire, and other extinct birds of the islands Mauritius, Rodriguez and Bourbon, by H. E. Strickland and A.G. Melville; 1848; Reeve, Benham, and Reeve, London. This seminal 1848 monograph sets out to separate the myth from reality regarding perhaps the...
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Descriptive illustrated catalogue of the sixty-eight competitive designs for the great tower for London compiled and edited by Fred. C. Lynde for the Tower Company; 1890; Industries, London . A catalogue showing the entries for a competition to design a new tower for London. The year previous, 1889, saw the hugely successful Eiffel Tower...
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Fancy dresses described or, What to wear at fancy balls, by Ardern Holt; 1887; Debenham & Freebody, Wyman & Sons, London. A comprehensive guide to all things fancy dress, with detailed descriptions of costume ideas, from the more abstract such as “Air”, “Africa” “Dew” and “Five o Clock Tea”, to the more specific in...
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What to draw and how to draw it, by E.G. Lutz; 1913; Dodd & Mead, New York. Drawing made easy a helpful book for young artists; the way to begin and finish your sketches, clearly shown step by step, by E. G. Lutz; 1921; C. Scribner’s Sons, New York. A cartoon drawing masterclass from...
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Navaho Legends, edited by G.E. Stechert; 1897; American Folk-Lore Society, New York Book from the American Folk-Lore Society compiling Navaho myths and legends and including also a lengthy introduction on the history, beliefs and customs of the Navaho people. I. THE STORY OF THE EMERGENCE. 136. At To‘bIllhaskI’di (in the middle of the first...
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A History of Mourning, by Richard Davey; 1890; Jay’s, London. A history of mourning, burial customs, and funerary rites. “Then occurred an event unique in history,” continues this naive contemporary chronicle. “The body of Inez was lifted from the grave, placed on a magnificent throne, and crowned Queen of Portugal. The clergy, the nobility,...
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The first six books of the Elements of Euclid in which coloured diagrams and symbols are used instead of letters, by Oliver Byrne; 1847; W. Pickering, London. Oliver Byrne (1810–1890) was a civil engineer and prolific author of works on subjects including mathematics, geometry, and engineering. His most well known book was this version...
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Paradise Found, the Cradle of the Human Race at the North Pole – a Study of the Primitive World, by William Fairfield Warren; 1885; Houghton Mifflin, Boston. A book by William Fairfield, the first president of Boston University, placing Atlantis at the North Pole, as well as the Garden of Eden, Mount Meru, Avalon...
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A Manual of Gesture, embracing a complete system of notation, together with the principles of interpretation and selections for practice, by Albert M. Bacon; 1875; J. C. Buckbee, Chicago. Based heavily on Gilbert Austin’s Chironomia of 1806, this book by Albert. M. Bacon explores the art of hand gestures, particularly in relation to effective...
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Shin-Bijutsukai, The new monthly magazine of various designs by the famous artists of to-day; 1902; Unsodo, Kyoto Turn of the century Japanese design magazine, gifted to the Smithsonian Museum by Robert W. Chanler. See a gallery of selected pages here in the PDR images collection. Open Library link HELP TO KEEP US AFLOAT The...
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The Whole Booke of Psalmes collected into Englishe metre, by T. Sternhold, W. Whitingham, J. Hopkins, and others, conferred with the Hebrue, with apt notes to them withall; 1584; John Daye, London. Thomas Sternhold published his first, short collection of nineteen Certayn Psalmes between mid-1547 and early 1549. In December of 1549, his posthumous...
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The Faerie Queene – Disposed into twelue bookes, fashioning XII. morall vertues, by Edmund Spenser; 1596; William Ponsonbie, London. Original 1596 first edition of the second part to Edmund Spenser’s epic poem The Faerie Queene – disposed into twelue bookes, fashioning XII. morall vertues – a book published, according to Spenser, to “fashion a...
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The Practical Magician and Ventriloquist’s Guide, a Practical Manual of Fireside Magic and Conjuring Illusions, also Containing Complete Instructions for Acquiring & Practising the Art of Ventriloquism; 1876; Hurst & Co., New York Ex. 1. The Suffocated Victim – This was a favorite illustration of Mr. Love, the polyphonist. A large box or close...
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How to Become a Magician, Containing a Grand Assortment of Magical Illusions as Performed by the Leading Magicians and Wizards of the Day; 1882; F. Tousey, New York A grand assortment of various tricks, illusions, conjurings, deceptions and slights of hand…. The following pages are not intended to make the young reader either a...
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A Floral Fantasy in an Old English Garden, set forth in verses & coloured designs, by Walter Crane; 1899; Harper, London Walter Crane (1845–1915) is considered to be the most prolific and influential children’s book creator of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the...
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Memoirs of Count Boruwlaski, containing a sketch of his travels, with an account of his reception at the different courts of Europe, Joseph Boruwlaski; 1820; Andrews, Durham Józef Boruwłaski (1739–1837) was a Polish-born dwarf who toured in European and Turkish courts. Although not a nobleman by birth (the Count in his name did not...
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Choregraphie, ou, L’art de décrire la dance, par caracteres, figures, et signes démonstratifs avec lesquels on apprend facilement de soy-même toutes sortes de dances: ouvrage tres-utile aux maîtres à dancer & à toutes les personnes qui s’appliquent à la dance, by M. Feuillet, maître de dance; 1701; Chez l’auteur et chez Michel Brunet, Paris....
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A Burlesque Translation of Homer, by Thomas Bridges; 1797; G.G. and J.Robinson, London Homer’s Iliad set to bawdy verse by Thomas Bridges (c.1710-c.1775), originally published in 1762 under the pseudonym Caustic Barebones. The work achieved some popularity, and was reprinted several times, the last in 1797. In 1765 Bridges wrote The Battle of the...
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Geometrical Psychology, or, The Science of Representation an Abstract of the Theories and Diagrams of B. W. Betts, by Louisa S. Cook; 1887; G. Redway, London. Geometrical psychology, or, The science of representation: an abstract of the theories and diagrams of B. W. Betts details Benjamin Bett’s remarkable attempts to mathematically model human consciousness...
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Aino Folk-tales, by B.H. Chamberlain; 1888; Folk-lore Society, London. The Ainu (アイヌ?), also called Aynu, Aino (アイノ), and in historical texts Ezo (蝦夷), are a group of indigenous people living in Japan and Russia – thought to originate from the Jōmon-jin people whom many think might have been the first to settle North America....
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Welsh Fairytales and Other Stories, collected and edited by P.H. Emerson; 1894; D. Nutt, London. Collection of stories told to the author during his stay in Anglesey during the winter of 1891-2, mostly involving fairies in some form or other, and either the finding or losing of money. Open Library link HELP TO KEEP...
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“Museaum Clausum” in Certain Miscellany Tracts, by Thomas Browne; 1684; London In the latter half of the 17th century the English polymath Thomas Browne wrote Musaeum Clausum, an imagined inventory of ‘remarkable books, antiquities, pictures and rarities of several kinds, scarce or never seen by any man now living’. His list of desired items...
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An Account of a Fire-Ball, Seen at Hornsey, by William Hirst, F. R. S. Communicated in a Letter to Samuel Mead, Esq; F. R. S Hirst, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Vol. 48 Pg 773–776; 1753; Royal Society of London, London “I was then going down the hill adjoining to the...
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Some Account of a Sheep, Shewed Alive to the Royal Society, in November 1754, Having a Monstrous Horn Growing from His Throat; The Stuffed Skin of Which, with the Horn in Situ, is Now in the Museum of the Society, by James Parsons M. D. and F. R. S. from the Philosophical Transactions of...
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A Theory of Pure Design – Harmony, Balance, Rhythm; 1907; Houghton Mifflin, Boston. A book detailing the science behind harmony, balance, and rhythm in art. The author, Denman Waldo Ross (1853-1935), was an American painter, art collector, and professor of art at Harvard University. From the preface: The terms and principles of Art have,...
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An Alphabet of History, the words by Wilbur D. Nesbit, the pictures by Ellsworth Young; 1905; Paul Elder and Company Publishers, San Francisco. “Who frets about the mystery / Enshrouding all of history / On reading this will, maybe, see / We’ve made it plain as ABC.” From Alexander The Great, “a victim of...
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Natural History of Shakespeare, Being Selections of Flowers, Fruits, and Animals, arranged by Bessie Mayou; 1877; E. Slater, Manchester. Collection of little snippets from Shakespeare’s plays pertaining to the natural world: Garden Flowers, Wild Flowers, Weeds, Trees, Fruits, Vegetables, Herbs, Spices and Medicines, Grain, Birds, Animals, Fish, Reptiles, and Insects. Open Library link HELP...
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