Atlas Moninckx

Between 1686 and 1709, 453 watercolour on parchment botanical pictures were made of specimens from the renowned Amsterdam Medicus Hortus. The work was commissioned by the Director of the gardens Jan Commelin, who issued one botanical volume before he died and the second was completed by his nephew in 1701.

More than 3/4 of the paintings were made by Jan and Maria Moninckx and the books have always been informally referred to as the Moninckx Atlas. Their work still generates academic study in art and botany. If I've understood the poor translation correctly, Carolus Linnaeus relied heavily on the accuracy of the material in the Moninckx Atlas in compiling his Species Plantarum book in 1753. There appears to be very little background detail in english on the internet. The original title of the volumes: Horti Medici Amstelodamensis Rariorum Plantarum Descriptio et Icones

• 432 plates from the volumes are hosted by Bibliotheek van der Universiteit van Amsterdam (thumbnail page).
• Exhibiton start page translation.
• University of Glasgow Flower Exhibition.

[family crest of Atlas sponsor]

Hydromechanica

Machine fort necessaire par laquelle l'on peut donner grand
secours aux maisons qui seroyent enflambées

Machine, par laquelle les soufflets de la
precedente, se pourront hausser pour
donner le vent aux tuyaux d'orgues

Machine par laquelle on fera sonner
un jeu d'orgues, par le moyen de l'eau

Autre moyen de lever l'eau par le moyen d'un ruisseau

Les raisons des forces mouvantes, avec diverses machines tant utiles que puissantes, auxquelles sont adjoints plusieurs dessings de grotes & fontaines by Salomon de Caus 1616. [via]

Addit: Go see misteraitch's entry on de Caus. I should realize nothing is too esoteric for searching!

UPDATE: The three de Caus volumes are now available in page image format from the University of Heidelberg.

Enpaku Ukyioe

Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum Enpaku Ukyioe Gallery Actor Prints

The Golden Age of Travel Posters

Los Angeles Public Library's The Golden Age of Travel Posters [link updated May 2010]
(inadvertently via Pita)

Hieronymous Manuscript

"The work contains the commentaries of Saint Jerome (+420) on the epistles of Saint Paul. The illumination is the work of Gherardo and Monte di Giovanni. On the left side of the double title-page is a list of contents and on the right side - between Matthias' emblems - the royal arms can be seen at the bottom, the Hunyadi arms at the top, as well as portraits of Matthias and Beatrix. The di Giovanni brothers were popular miniaturists in the last years of the king's reign; six of the surviving manuscripts from the Corvinian library are their work. Many of the inside pages were also decorated using the favourite motifs of Renaissance illumination in the same abundance as on the title-page: putti, birds, vases, candelabra and weapons. After repeated requests by the Hungarian estates, Prince Francis of Modena donated the manuscript to the library in 1847. However, it was seized on the way in Vienna and did not reach the library until 1891. It was returned to Modena after the Treaty of Trianon and it was only in 1927 that it came permanently into our possession."

Hieronymus: Commentarii in epistolas S. Pauli 1488 körül. Firenze, Pergamen - at the Bibliotecha Corviniana Digitalis in Hungary, who have quite a few manuscripts online. Oh, that's a library stamp on the bottom right of the title page detail.

Goat Motion

The DeMoulin Brothers Catalogue from 1930. via Suzanne G. at Thee Temple of Psychick Blah. (But it's been around for a few years I think)