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Andy is our final finalist for the September - November Issue coverstar for PS Mag due to launch mid September.
Written by William Shakespeare, published in 1623. View all four folios at digital.lib.MiamiOH.edu/folios.
Published by W. J. Johnston, New York.
Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.
Tesla gained experience in telephony and electrical engineering before immigrating to the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison in New York City. He soon struck out on his own with financial backers, setting up laboratories and companies to develop a range of electrical devices. His patented AC induction motor and transformer were licensed by George Westinghouse, who also hired Tesla for a short time as a consultant. His work in the formative years of electric power development was involved in a corporate alternating current/direct current "War of Currents" as well as various patent battles.
Tesla went on to pursue his ideas of wireless lighting and electricity distribution in his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs, and made early (1893) pronouncements on the possibility of wireless communication with his devices. He tried to put these ideas to practical use in his ill-fated attempt at intercontinental wireless transmission, which was his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project. In his lab he also conducted a range of experiments with mechanical oscillators/generators, electrical discharge tubes, and early X-ray imaging. He also built a wireless controlled boat, one of the first ever exhibited.
Tesla was renowned for his achievements and showmanship, eventually earning him a reputation in popular culture as an archetypal "mad scientist". His patents earned him a considerable amount of money, much of which was used to finance his own projects with varying degrees of success. He lived most of his life in a series of New York hotels, through his retirement. He died on 7 January 1943. His work fell into relative obscurity after his death, but in 1960 the General Conference on Weights and Measures named the SI unit of magnetic flux density the tesla in his honor. Tesla has experienced a resurgence in interest in popular culture since the 1990s. [Source: Wikipedia]
Battle of Cawnpore (Kanpur), a decisive battle of the Indian rebellion of 1857.
Woodcut from The Illustrated News of the World – First Edition 1858.
‘The Illustrated News of the World and National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages’ was a new publication with the strong visual emphasis of numerous large woodcuts to illustrate local and world events, and also featuring a number of fine steel engravings of eminent persons. The publishers stated their hopes that the publication would match or supplement the existing illustrated magazines:- The Illustrated London News and Punch Magazine .
Published by Illustrated News of the World, The Strand, London. Annual bound collection, red cloth boards 338 pages 42cm x 29cm.
This 1908 whodunit is the author’s first. Rachel is a middle-aged spinster who has had custody of her orphaned niece and nephew since they were children. Halsey and Gertrude are now 20 and 24, respectively, and they talk Rachel into renting a house in the country for the summer. The house they choose belonged to a bank defaulter who had hidden stolen securities in the walls.
The first night Rachel is there, there is a mysterious trespasser and something falls down the stairs in the middle of the night. After Halsey and Gertrude arrive on the second night, there is a murder, and Halsey and the friend he’s brought to stay disappear. Halsey returns a few days later, without his friend and without an explanation, but by then other strange goings-on have occurred to the dismay of the residents.
Woodcut from The Illustrated News of the World – First Edition 1858.
‘The Illustrated News of the World and National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages’ was a new publication with numerous large woodcuts to illustrate local and world events, and also featuring a number of fine steel engravings of eminent persons. A competitor to the existing illustrated magazines:- The Illustrated London News and Punch Magazine .
Published by Illustrated News of the World, The Strand, London. Annual bound collection, red cloth boards 338 pages 42cm x 29cm.
Medical Instruments .
Copperplate engraving from the First Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, or Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, founded in 1768 and printed in 1771. 3 Volumes, this is Volume 3.
The largest encyclopedia of general knowledge published to date, with contributions by leaders in their fields.
Printed for Bell and Macfarquhar, Edinburgh. Original half leather binding, 970 pages this volume. 26cm x 21cm.
My latest purchase, bought simply because I am really starting to explore Fred Allen, one of the best of the old time radio comedians. Now, largely forgotten, he seemed to be quite a force for 20 years or so. In searching for his books I found this one, which he wrote the intro to. H. Allen Smith seems to have been hugely popular during the war, a journalist whose anthology of writing - Low Man on A Totem Pole - gave him enough money to work the rest of his life on his own terms. At the moment discovering Fred Allen is work enough, but I will file H. Allen Smith as someone to explore at some future date.
The book collects two science fiction novels, “The Legion of Time” and “After World’s End,” which originally appeared in the magazines Astounding and Marvel Stories.
"I moved, and could not
feel my limbs:
I was so light -- almost
I thought that I had
died in sleep,
And was a blessed
ghost."
William Andrew Pogány (1882-1955) was born in Hungary, studied art in Budapest, and worked in Paris briefly before moving to London in 1905 where he worked as a book illustrator for ten years. He moved to New York in 1915 and had success as a book illustrator and designer of stage sets and hotel interiors. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is one of Pogany’s best-known books. It is a bold artistic experiment in unifying text and images. Every page is elaborately decorated in Pogany’s distinctive style, which attempts to create a printed version of a medieval illuminated manuscript. He was responsible for the beautiful calligraphic text, green and mauve page decorations and borders, and the many black and white drawings and tipped-in plates in full color.
Doctor Ox (French: Le Docteur Ox) is a collection of short stories by Jules Verne, the only collection of short stories published in his lifetime. It consists of four varied works by Verne:
1. "Une fantaisie du Docteur Ox" ("Dr. Ox's Experiment," 1872), illustrated by Lorenz Froelich. Dr. Ox runs a large-scale experiment on the effect of oxygen on plants, animals and humans. He secretly pumps higher levels of oxygen in a Flemish town which causes accelerated growth of plants and aggressiveness in animals and humans.
2. "Maître Zacharius" ("Master Zacharius," 1854), illustrated by Théophile Schuler. This is a Faustian tragedy about the clockmaker Master Zacharius whose overpowering pride leads to his downfall.
3. "Un drame dans les airs" ("A Drama in the Air," 1851), illustrated by Émile-Antoine Bayard. This short story foreshadows Verne’s first novel, “Five Weeks in a Balloon.” Just as the narrator starts the ascent of his balloon, a stranger jumps into its car. The unexpected passenger intends to take the balloon as high as it will go, even at the cost of his and the pilot’s life.
4. "Un hivernage dans les glaces" ("A Winter Amid the Ice," 1855), illustrated by Adrien Marie and Barbant. A search party heads North to find the crew of a missing ship and ends up fighting the bitter cold and trying to survive a bitter rivalry.
The collection also includes a preface by Pierre-Jules Hetzel and a story, "Quarantième ascension au mont Blanc" ("Fortieth Ascent of Mont Blanc"), written by Verne's brother Paul and illustrated by Edmond Yon.
“Tarzan and the Lost Empire,” the twelfth in the series of Tarzan books, was first published as a serial in Blue Book Magazine from October 1928 through February 1929. The story involves a lost remnant of the Roman Empire that Tarzan and a young German find hidden in the mountains of Africa. The book is notable for the introduction of Nkima, Tarzan’s monkey companion who appears in a number of later Tarzan stories. It also reintroduces Muviro, first seen in “Tarzan and the Golden Lion,” as sub-chief of Tarzan’s Waziri warriors.
“The Blue Poetry Book” was Andrew Lang's first and only “colored” book of poetry. It collects nearly 150 poems by masters such as Blake, Wordsworth, Scott, Longfellow, Burns, Byron, Shakespeare, Poe, Marlowe, Coleridge, Milton, Macaulay, among others. The poems are accompanied by 100 black and white illustrations by Henry J. Ford and Lancelot Speed.
Andrew Lang (1844 -1912) was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales and for his twelve “colored” fairy books, published between 1889 and 1910. Each volume is distinguished by its own color, beginning with “The Blue Fairy Book” (1889) and ending with “The Lilac Fairy Book” (1910). In all, 437 tales from a broad range of cultures and countries are presented. The series was immensely popular, helped by Lang's reputation in folklore, and by the packaging device of the uniform books. The series proved of great influence in children's literature, increasing the popularity of fairy tales over tales of real life.
The Moonstone of the title is a diamond (not to be confused with the semi-precious moonstone gem). It gained its name from its association with the Hindu god of the moon, Chandra. Originally set in the forehead of a sacred statue of the god at Somnath, and later at Benares, it was said to be protected by hereditary guardians on the orders of Vishnu, and to wax and wane in brilliance along with the light of the moon.
Rachel Verinder, a young English woman, inherits a large Indian diamond on her eighteenth birthday. It is a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt British army officer who served in India. The diamond is of great religious significance as well as being extremely valuable, and three Hindu priests have dedicated their lives to recovering it. The story incorporates elements of the legendary origins of the Hope Diamond (or perhaps the Orloff Diamond). Rachel's eighteenth birthday is celebrated with a large party, whose guests include her cousin Franklin Blake. She wears the Moonstone on her dress that evening for all to see, including some Indian jugglers who have called at the house. Later that night, the diamond is stolen from Rachel's bedroom, and a period of turmoil, unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill-luck ensues. Told by a series of narratives from some of the main characters, the complex plot traces the subsequent efforts to explain the theft, identify the thief, trace the stone and recover it. [Source: Wikipedia]
No less an authority than T.S. Eliot called “The Moonstone "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels. (He must not have read Edgar Allan Poe.) The story was originally serialized in Charles Dickens' magazine “All the Year Round” between January and August 1868. “The Moonstone” and “The Woman in White” are considered Wilkie Collins' best novels.
Where Mars was observed during Winter, 1896-97.
Percival Lowell (1855-1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars. In 1894, he chose Flagstaff, Arizona as the home of his new observatory, the now famous Lowell Observatory. For the next fifteen years, he studied Mars extensively, and made intricate drawings of the surface markings as he perceived them. He was particularly interested in the canals of Mars, as drawn by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, who was director of the Milan Observatory. Lowell published his views in three books: “Mars” (1895), “Mars and Its Canals” (1906), and “Mars As the Abode of Life” (1908).
Lowell’s works include a full account of the “canals,” single and double, the “oases,” as he termed the dark spots at their intersections, and the varying visibility of both, depending partly on the Martian seasons. He theorized that an advanced but desperate culture had built the canals to tap Mars’ polar ice caps, the last source of water on an inexorably drying planet.
While this idea excited the public, the astronomical community was skeptical. Many astronomers could not see these markings, and few believed that they were as extensive as Lowell claimed. In 1909 the sixty-inch Mount Wilson Observatory telescope in Southern California allowed closer observation of the structures Lowell had interpreted as canals, and revealed irregular geological features, probably the result of natural erosion. The existence of canal-like features was definitely disproved in the 1960s by NASA’s Mariner missions. Today, the surface markings taken to be canals are regarded as an optical illusion.
Lowell's greatest contribution to planetary studies came during the last decade of his life, which he devoted to the search for Planet X, a hypothetical planet beyond Neptune. In 1930 Clyde Tombaugh, working at the Lowell Observatory, discovered Pluto near the location expected for Planet X. Partly in recognition of Lowell's efforts, a stylized P-L monogram – the first two letters of the new planet's name and also Lowell's initials – was chosen as Pluto's astronomical symbol.
Although Lowell's theories of the Martian canals are now discredited, his building of an observatory at the position where it would best function has been adopted as a principle for all observatories. He also established the program and an environment which made the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh possible. Craters on the Moon and on Mars have been named after Percival Lowell. He has been described by other planetary scientists as "the most influential popularizer of planetary science in America before Carl Sagan". Lowell is buried on Mars Hill near his observatory. [Source: Wikipedia]
Doctor Ox (French: Le Docteur Ox) is a collection of short stories by Jules Verne, the only collection of short stories published in his lifetime. It consists of four varied works by Verne:
1. "Une fantaisie du Docteur Ox" ("Dr. Ox's Experiment," 1872), illustrated by Lorenz Froelich. Dr. Ox runs a large-scale experiment on the effect of oxygen on plants, animals and humans. He secretly pumps higher levels of oxygen in a Flemish town which causes accelerated growth of plants and aggressiveness in animals and humans.
2. "Maître Zacharius" ("Master Zacharius," 1854), illustrated by Théophile Schuler. This is a Faustian tragedy about the clockmaker Master Zacharius whose overpowering pride leads to his downfall.
3. "Un drame dans les airs" ("A Drama in the Air," 1851), illustrated by Émile-Antoine Bayard. This short story foreshadows Verne’s first novel, “Five Weeks in a Balloon.” Just as the narrator starts the ascent of his balloon, a stranger jumps into its car. The unexpected passenger intends to take the balloon as high as it will go, even at the cost of his and the pilot’s life.
4. "Un hivernage dans les glaces" ("A Winter Amid the Ice," 1855), illustrated by Adrien Marie and Barbant. A search party heads North to find the crew of a missing ship and ends up fighting the bitter cold and trying to survive a bitter rivalry.
The collection also includes a preface by Pierre-Jules Hetzel and a story, "Quarantième ascension au mont Blanc" ("Fortieth Ascent of Mont Blanc"), written by Verne's brother Paul and illustrated by Edmond Yon.
Vol. II, First Series, First edition.
Originally written as newspaper journalism, “Sketches by Boz” is the public record of Dickens’ apprenticeship. The 56 sketches concern London scenes and were originally published in various newspapers and other periodicals between 1833 and 1836, including the “Morning Chronicle,” the “Evening Chronicle,” the “Monthly Magazine,” the “Carlton Chronicle” and “Bell’s Life in London.” Fist published in book form in 1836, the whole work is divided into four sections: “Our Parish,” “Scenes,” “Characters,” and “Tales.” Dickens’ writings are enhanced by the regular inclusion of illustrations by George Cruikshank to highlight key scenes and characters.
This edition of the novel contains six color illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith. The book was first published in the US in 1966 under the title “The Garden of Evil” by Paperback Library. In 1988, it was adapted into a film by Ken Russell.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Q-PyZxZjw
“The Lair of the White Worm” was Bram Stoker’s twelfth and last novel, published a year before his death. The novel, along with “The Jewel of Seven Stars, is one of his most famous after “Dracula.” It is a horror story about a giant white worm that can transform itself into a woman. Partly based on the legend of the Lambton Worm from North East England, the White Worm in Stoker’s story is a large snake-like creature that dwells in a hole or pit and feeds on whatever is thrown to it. It is thought to reside in the house of Arabella March, a local lady and a suspect in numerous crimes that cannot be proven.
From May through November 1864, 20-year-old Sergeant Major Robert H. Kellogg of the 16th Regiment Connecticut volunteers and most of his regiment were confined in Confederate prisons at Andersonville, Georgia and Florence, South Carolina. Upon entering the notorious Andersonville prison, Kellogg scribbled into his diary: “Our hearts failed us as we saw what used to be men now nothing but mere skeletons covered with filth & vermin.”
Robert Kellogg’s “Life and Death in Rebel Prisons” was published in 1865, right after the American Civil War while the horrors of that time were still fresh in the author’s memory. The book was based on his journal and the accounts of other Union Army prisoners. It details the harsh conditions and daily atrocities of life in Confederate prisons as well as some details of the war.
Written by William Shakespeare, published in 1623. View all four folios at digital.lib.MiamiOH.edu/folios.
The Moonstone of the title is a diamond (not to be confused with the semi-precious moonstone gem). It gained its name from its association with the Hindu god of the moon, Chandra. Originally set in the forehead of a sacred statue of the god at Somnath, and later at Benares, it was said to be protected by hereditary guardians on the orders of Vishnu, and to wax and wane in brilliance along with the light of the moon.
Rachel Verinder, a young English woman, inherits a large Indian diamond on her eighteenth birthday. It is a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt British army officer who served in India. The diamond is of great religious significance as well as being extremely valuable, and three Hindu priests have dedicated their lives to recovering it. The story incorporates elements of the legendary origins of the Hope Diamond (or perhaps the Orloff Diamond). Rachel's eighteenth birthday is celebrated with a large party, whose guests include her cousin Franklin Blake. She wears the Moonstone on her dress that evening for all to see, including some Indian jugglers who have called at the house. Later that night, the diamond is stolen from Rachel's bedroom, and a period of turmoil, unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill-luck ensues. Told by a series of narratives from some of the main characters, the complex plot traces the subsequent efforts to explain the theft, identify the thief, trace the stone and recover it. [Source: Wikipedia]
No less an authority than T.S. Eliot called “The Moonstone "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels. (He must not have read Edgar Allan Poe.) The story was originally serialized in Charles Dickens' magazine “All the Year Round” between January and August 1868. “The Moonstone” and “The Woman in White” are considered Wilkie Collins' best novels.
Medical Instruments .
Copperplate engraving from the First Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, or Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, founded in 1768 and printed in 1771. 3 Volumes, this is Volume 3.
The largest encyclopedia of general knowledge published to date, with contributions by leaders in their fields.
Printed for Bell and Macfarquhar, Edinburgh. Original half leather binding, 970 pages this volume. 26cm x 21cm.
“The Chimes” is Dickens’ second Christmas book, the first being “A Christmas Carol.” It continues his social commentaries on the poor. Structured similarly to “A Christmas Carol,” the main character, Trotty, witnesses an alternative future through a series of visions and ultimately is given a second chance to put things right. “The Chimes” was a bestseller in its day, but has since been eclipsed by “A Christmas Carol.” “The Chimes” is illustrated with thirteen engravings by artists John Leech, John Tenniel, Richard Doyle, Daniel Maclise and Clarkson Stanfield.
In all, Dickens wrote five Christmas books: “A Christmas Carol” (1843), “The Chimes” (though dated 1845 it was released in December 1844), “The Cricket on the Hearth” (1845), “The Battle of Life” (1846), and “The Haunted Man” (1848).
The Illustrated News of the World – First Edition 1858.
‘The Illustrated News of the World and National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages’ was a new publication with the strong visual emphasis of numerous large woodcuts to illustrate local and world events, and also featuring a number of fine steel engravings of eminent persons. The publishers stated their hopes that the publication would match or supplement the existing illustrated magazines:- The Illustrated London News and Punch Magazine .
Published by Illustrated News of the World, The Strand, London. Annual bound collection, red cloth boards 338 pages 42cm x 29cm.
Ex-libris bookplate of Toxteth Park Library, in The Glebe, Sydney, Australia.
Power Without Glory by Frank Hardy, was a very contentious book in its day, leading to a major court case based on an old law -- criminal libel. Fortunately the author Hardy won the case, which you can read about in his book The Hard Way.
I found the above List of Characters sheet in one of the first editions of the book that I own. Apparently many typed versions of this appeared in the 50s and 60s to help people identify the fairly light weight disguised names Hardy used.
From "Siegfried & The Twilight of the Gods" by Richard Wagner. New York: Doubleday Page & Co., 1911. First American Edition
Grass Stain Green Field Notes arrived just before the weekend. They're just as gorgeous in real life as they were in the photo - I love the coordinating green graph. Can't wait to finish my current FN to move on to this fresh baby.
Hoke Moseley was really getting into the “cold cases” he’d been assigned – and then Commander Bill Henderson dropped into Hoke’s office and told him to let his beard grow for a couple of days. Henderson couldn’t say why, only that Major Willie Brownley, the division chief, had something up his sleeve.
Hoke went back to puzzling out what an electronic garage door opener might have to do with a three-year-old murder. But the major’s request nagged at him. What was so secret? And on top of that, when he got home he discovered that the man who just bought the house across the street was a fellow he had put away for murder – and there he was, out on parole, sitting on his lawn staring at Hoke’s house.
Hoke soon found out what the beard was for – at least as much as the major wanted to tell him. At a ramshackle crossroads south of Miami, Hoke was stripped of all identification – money, wallet, gun and even his false teeth – and sent south to the migrant farms where rumors of slavery and murder had become impossible to ignore. From this point on, Charles Willeford, author of “Miami Blues,” “Cockfighter,” and a dozen other novels, spins a bizarre and brutal story.
“And all this time the lions and tigers was sorting out the clothes.”
“Tom Sawyer Abroad” features Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in a parody of adventure stories like those of Jules Verne. In the story, Tom, Huck, and Jim set sail to Africa in a futuristic hot air balloon, where they survive encounters with lions, robbers, and fleas to see some of the world’s greatest wonders, including the Pyramids and the Sphinx. The story is told using the first-person narrative voice of Huck Finn and is a sequel, set in the time following the title story of the Tom Sawyer series, “Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” [Source: Wikipedia]
OS first edition 1871 Hartsheath, Flintshire Sheet XVII-2
IN THE NEWS TODAY – 30th March 1895 - STEALING SNOWDROPS AT HARTSHEATH, NEAR MOLD
“LARCENY AND POACHING – John Millington, Joseph Jones, William Boswell, and John Tudor were summoned for stealing snowdrops from the grounds of Hartsheath Hall, the residence of Colonel Macfie, and also for trespassing in pursuit of game in a plantation belonging to Mr Carstairs Jones. Mr J.B. Marston prosecuted. On Monday, the 10th inst., the first three defendants were seen to take the snowdrops by David Jones, Col. Macfie’s gardener, and, on being told to desist, they treated him with a certain amount of contempt. Tudor was with them, but he was not seen to take any snowdrops. Defendants afterwards went into a plantation with a lurcher dog, which David Jones (gardener) and David Davies (gamekeeper to Mr Carstairs-Jones) saw them working with. – For the first offence, the defendants, with the exception of Tudor, who was dismissed, were each fined 5s. and costs, and a similar fine was imposed upon all the defendants for the game trespass.”
From the Cheshire Observer, 30th March 1895
YN Y NEWYDDION - 30 Mawrth 1895 - LLADRATA EIRLYSIAU YN HARTSHEATH, GER YR WYDDGRUG
Nombre: Optimus Prime
Afiliación: Autobots
Línea: Transformers Prime First Edition
Clase: Voyager
Año: 2012
Número de adquisición: 507
-----------------------------------------------------------
Name: Optimus Prime
Allegiance: Autobots
Line: Transformers Prime First Edition
Class: Voyager
Year: 2012
Number in Collection: 507
Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Treatise on Painting,” the most important treatise on art to be written during the Renaissance, was actually compiled by Francesco Melzi, one of Leonardo’s pupils, around 1540. It circulated widely, first in separate manuscripts and later in printed books, and for centuries it was thought to have been written by Leonardo himself. Artists, scientists, and scholars including Galileo, read it avidly as an authoritative record of Leonardo’s thoughts. In the 19th century, when the artist’s original notes became available, scholars realized that the text poorly reflected Leonardo’s sophisticated ideas. The text was very influential nonetheless. For better or worse, it was the primary source for disseminating Leonardo’s art theory in Renaissance and Baroque Europe, from the mid-sixteenth century to the early nineteenth century.
[Source: www.treatiseonpainting.org/]
Set in London of 632 A.F. (“After Ford”), the novel portrays a futuristic society in which the individual is sacrificed for the state, science is used to control and subjugate, and all forms of art and history are outlawed. The novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, classical conditioning and psychological manipulation that combine profoundly to change society. Modern Library ranked “Brave New World” fifth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. [Source: Wikipedia]
Steel engraved portrait to celebrate the marriage of Princess Victoria, daughter of Queen Victoria, to Prince Frederick William of Prussia.
The Illustrated News of the World – First Edition 1858.
‘The Illustrated News of the World and National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages’ was a new publication with the strong visual emphasis of numerous large woodcuts to illustrate local and world events, and also featuring a number of fine steel engravings of eminent persons. The publishers stated their hopes that the publication would match or supplement the existing illustrated magazines:- The Illustrated London News and Punch Magazine .
Published by Illustrated News of the World, The Strand, London. Annual bound collection, red cloth boards 338 pages 42cm x 29cm.
Ex-libris bookplate of Toxteth Park Library. ‘Toxteth Park’ is a historic home built in 1829 in The Glebe, Sydney, Australia designed by the Colonial Architect, John Verge for the Australian lawyer and businessman, George Allen ( 1800-1877).
A history of ‘Toxteth Park’ is here:
Window of Taschen bookstore with display of newly-published large-format book of Annie Leiboviitz portraits. Scarlett Johansson as centerfold.
Written by William Shakespeare, published in 1623. View all four folios at digital.lib.MiamiOH.edu/folios.
This is the remake of the 1956 film based on Jack Finney's classic science fiction story. Here is the pod-opening scene in the original film:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLsjlmrQ6Mw
Here is the comparable scene in the remake (1978):
The Mercury Seven were the group of seven Mercury astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959. They are also referred to as the Original Seven or Astronaut Group 1. They piloted the manned spaceflights of the Mercury program from May 1961 to May 1963. These seven original American astronauts were Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, and Deke Slayton. Alan Shepard was the second person and the first American to travel into space. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first person to travel into space.
The story of the macho, seat-of-the-pants approach to the space program of the Mercury astronauts and the equally fearless approach of test pilot Chuck Yeager was the basis of a book by Tom Wolfe (1979) and a movie by Philip Kaufman (1983). Both are titled “The Right Stuff.” Here is a link to the movie trailer:
Percival Lowell (1855-1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars. In 1894, he chose Flagstaff, Arizona as the home of his new observatory, the now famous Lowell Observatory. For the next fifteen years, he studied Mars extensively, and made intricate drawings of the surface markings as he perceived them. He was particularly interested in the canals of Mars, as drawn by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, who was director of the Milan Observatory. Lowell published his views in three books: “Mars” (1895), “Mars and Its Canals” (1906), and “Mars As the Abode of Life” (1908).
Lowell’s works include a full account of the “canals,” single and double, the “oases,” as he termed the dark spots at their intersections, and the varying visibility of both, depending partly on the Martian seasons. He theorized that an advanced but desperate culture had built the canals to tap Mars’ polar ice caps, the last source of water on an inexorably drying planet.
While this idea excited the public, the astronomical community was skeptical. Many astronomers could not see these markings, and few believed that they were as extensive as Lowell claimed. In 1909 the sixty-inch Mount Wilson Observatory telescope in Southern California allowed closer observation of the structures Lowell had interpreted as canals, and revealed irregular geological features, probably the result of natural erosion. The existence of canal-like features was definitely disproved in the 1960s by NASA’s Mariner missions. Today, the surface markings taken to be canals are regarded as an optical illusion.
Lowell's greatest contribution to planetary studies came during the last decade of his life, which he devoted to the search for Planet X, a hypothetical planet beyond Neptune. In 1930 Clyde Tombaugh, working at the Lowell Observatory, discovered Pluto near the location expected for Planet X. Partly in recognition of Lowell's efforts, a stylized P-L monogram – the first two letters of the new planet's name and also Lowell's initials – was chosen as Pluto's astronomical symbol.
Although Lowell's theories of the Martian canals are now discredited, his building of an observatory at the position where it would best function has been adopted as a principle for all observatories. He also established the program and an environment which made the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh possible. Craters on the Moon and on Mars have been named after Percival Lowell. He has been described by other planetary scientists as "the most influential popularizer of planetary science in America before Carl Sagan". Lowell is buried on Mars Hill near his observatory. [Source: Wikipedia]
The plot of the book revolves around a group of radical pirates who seek the freedom to live under the articles set out by Captain James Mission. It imagines an alternate history in which Captain Mission’s 18th century anarchist colony called Libertatia lives on. His way of life is based on “The Articles,” a general freedom to live as one chooses, without prejudice. The novel is narrated from two different standpoints: one set in the 18th century which follows a group of pirate boys led by Noah Blake, who land in Panama to liberate it. The other is set in the late 20th century, and follows a detective tracing the disappearance of an adolescent boy. The cities of the title mimic and parody real places, and Burroughs makes references to the United States, Mexico, and Morocco.
Haggard blends Inca history and myth in this adventure tale. He explores the Inca myth surrounding the rise of one of the Americas greatest pre-Columbian leaders - Pachacuti. Today, Pachacuti is best known for one of the most recognizable icons in the world - Machu Picchu. "Virgin of the Sun" was published in 1922, a scant 11 years after explorer Hiram Bingham rediscovered the lost city nestled in the Peruvian mountains. Bingham hadn't yet connected Machu Picchu to Pachacuti, but myth had already surrounded the Inca ruler who is credited with expanding Inca rule to cover a huge swath of territory on South America's western coast.
Haggard's story unfolds as a "modern day" antique hound translates 400-year-old letters found in an ancient chest. The letters tell the tale of Hubert - a fisherman working and living in England. Following a few small adventures and misadventures, our hero, Hubert, meets and befriends a strange man from a foreign land. After Hubert's wife of less-than-24-hours commits suicide and Hubert kills her former lover, he and his friend, Kari, are off into the Atlantic Ocean. Kari acts as a physical and emotional guide to Hubert who's immediately declared a White God by the various natives they come across after finding landfall in South America.
In addition to the Victorian era-like romance that leads to his wife's death, Hubert also falls in love with a beautiful Indian princess, Quilla - daughter of the moon. Haggard uses this surprisingly touching romance to further Hubert and Kari's adventure. [Source: Jason Golomb at the Goodread website www.goodreads.com/book/show/6328821-the-virgin-of-the-sun]