Claire Allfrey Photography
Day 23: Marvels Of The Universe
I was given these books years ago by my grandfather (now sadly deceased), "Marvels Of The Universe Volumes I & II - A Popular Work On The Marvels Of The Heavens, The Earth, Plant Life, Animal Life, The Mighty Deep". I cannot find a publication date anywhere in the books, but a brief internet search suggests they are from 1913, which is the year my grandfather was born.
They are absolutely beautiful books in amazing condition, with incredibly detailed illustrations, some colour plates, and lots of photographs. The entries are written by a host of scientific dignitaries of the time, and are fascinating in terms of the language as much as the content, not what we would think of now as scientific language, but wonderfully descriptive. For example, the entry for "Waterspouts" contains the following section:
"On looking upward, immediately above this movement of the waters will be seen a corresponding excitement in a cloud, from which will presently descend a dark tube, much like the trunk of some mighty elephant, swaying about as it lengthens, until at last it joins the mound of water beneath and establishes a connection between sea and sky. Now, in obedience to who knows what centrifugal impulse, the water of the sea rushes upwards with a roar which may be heard five hundred yards away. The cloud above grows black, menacing, monstrous. In a few minutes, some mysterious operator has signalled that the one hundred thousand tons or so of water received above is sufficient for the cloud to bear, and immediately the connecting tube begins to dwindle, until soon it ceases to exist and its attenuated length is absorbed into the black bosom above."
Day 23: Marvels Of The Universe
I was given these books years ago by my grandfather (now sadly deceased), "Marvels Of The Universe Volumes I & II - A Popular Work On The Marvels Of The Heavens, The Earth, Plant Life, Animal Life, The Mighty Deep". I cannot find a publication date anywhere in the books, but a brief internet search suggests they are from 1913, which is the year my grandfather was born.
They are absolutely beautiful books in amazing condition, with incredibly detailed illustrations, some colour plates, and lots of photographs. The entries are written by a host of scientific dignitaries of the time, and are fascinating in terms of the language as much as the content, not what we would think of now as scientific language, but wonderfully descriptive. For example, the entry for "Waterspouts" contains the following section:
"On looking upward, immediately above this movement of the waters will be seen a corresponding excitement in a cloud, from which will presently descend a dark tube, much like the trunk of some mighty elephant, swaying about as it lengthens, until at last it joins the mound of water beneath and establishes a connection between sea and sky. Now, in obedience to who knows what centrifugal impulse, the water of the sea rushes upwards with a roar which may be heard five hundred yards away. The cloud above grows black, menacing, monstrous. In a few minutes, some mysterious operator has signalled that the one hundred thousand tons or so of water received above is sufficient for the cloud to bear, and immediately the connecting tube begins to dwindle, until soon it ceases to exist and its attenuated length is absorbed into the black bosom above."