An Accident of War

To cut down on the cruft in results when searching I often add '-amazon' and '-ebay'. I was looking for something totally different to the above images today and omitted the modifying search terms. I took a chance on an ebay link and found myself on a page with a large set of high resolution images. The seller advises that they are woodcut illustrations but I'm about 99% sure they are engravings - plate marks can be seen around some of them.

It turns out that this 1596 book, Poliorceticon sive De Machinis Tormentis Telis Quinque by Dutch philologian and humanist Justus Lipsius, while not quite an accident, was a sideline product from study undertaken for an intended lengthy treatise on Roman antiquities.

Poliorcetica are Byzantine works on the art of seige warfare and it's probable that the illustrative work of Roman warcraft here is derivative. As Lipsius's talents lay anywhere but on the battlefield, the accuracy of the written content might also be questionable. Still, I thought they were interesting images and I just may have to make myself a slingshot on the weekend.

• Poliorceticon is available for immediate purchase for only $US2,950 (I've posted probably a bit less than half of the images from the site).
• Justus Lipsius at New Advent.
• Justus Lipsius at Stanford University.
• The seller also advises that the illustrations "are attributed to Pieter van der Borcht".
  

Opera Omnia

[click for full size versions]

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the many contributions made by medical doctor Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694) to science. As the images here suggest, his main works derive from his pioneering use of the microscope.

He established histology (study of tissues) as a field of medicine and there are microanatomical structures in the kidney, spleen and skin (and likely more) that still bear his name. He also founded the science of comparative physiology by documenting his findings from examination of liver tissue from a number of organisms.

He was the first to identify and describe capillaries - the connecting vessels between arteries and veins - thus completing the study of blood circulation that William Harvey had published in the year of Malpighi's birth. His microscopic work with eggs enabled him to describe the development of a chicken embryo: this was itself groundbreaking research.

He didn't restrict his work to human or mammalian microscopy either. He was the first to recognize that insects had breathing tubes and lacked lungs. He contributed a large body of work on plant anatomy too, as many of the above images will testify (it's sometimes hard working out which is animal, insect or plant isn't it?).

He was a life long friend of mathematician Giovanni di Borelli and was something of a collaborator with the Dutch microscopist, Jan Swammerdam. Later in life Malpighi became the Papal physician in Rome and held yet another Professorial Chair of Medicine following his previous appointments in Pisa, Bologna and Messina.

Like all great thinkers, Malpighi's ideas did not go unchallenged. His own student defended a number of theses in 1689 which derided the microscopic work of his mentor:

"It is our firm opinion that the anatomy of the exceedingly small, internal conformation of the viscera, which has been extolled in these very times, is of use to no physician."

Most of Malpighi's formal papers were published in the Journal of the Royal Society of England which made him their first Italian fellow. The collected works of Malpighi were first published as Opera Omnia, his botanico-medico-anatomicus in 1687. I nabbed these images above last week from 2 volumes and don't recall if all of the 700-odd pages were published at the same time.

• Opera Omnia is on display in its entirety at Wolfenbüttel's Herzog August Bibliothek - Volume I; Volume II (thumbnail pages). There are many more illustrations not shown here.
• Malpighi at New Advent, wikipedia and (allegedly) Encyclopedia Britannica.
• Short piece at Southern Illinois University.
• Just out of interest, there are 64 recent citations for 'Marcello Malpighi' in MedLine - some of the abstracts are worth reading and lucky you if you have unrestricted access.

Mother Greenaway

“Living in that childish wonder is a most beautiful feeling —
I can so well remember it. There was always something more —
behind and beyond everything — to me,
the golden spectacles were very, very big.”

Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) was a hugely popular childrens book illustrator from England who drew inspiration from her engraver father and dressmaker mother. Printer Edmund Evans would often photograph Greenaway's illustrations onto wooden blocks (a version of chromolithography) to enable reproduction of her delicate watercolours. She never married despite having some suitors, including art critic John Ruskin, and died from breast cancer.




Mother Goose; or, The Old Nursery Rhymes was published in 1881 and is online in high resolution format at the wonderful Illuminated Books website of Alfredo Malchiodi.

The Ship of Fools

Das Narrenschiff

Of finding treasure

Of luck

Fools, far, near and forever

Of expecting inheritance

Neglecting one's own interests

Of wooing

Of useless books

German Sebastian Brandt (1457-1521) was a lawyer, theologian, teacher and government official but is best remembered for his very popular 1494 incunabulum, Das Narrenschiff or 'Ship of Fools' (becoming Stultifera Navis when translated into latin).

A shipload of fools, steered by fools, sails for the fool's paradise of Narragonia ('ship' being of course a metaphor for life). In a long and disjointed moralistic poem, Brandt criticizes 110 vices or human failures, each pertaining to a different fool. 'Fool' had a wider connotation back then, including such characters as adulterers and gamblers and not just the usual purveyors of the 7 deadly sins. Although it is satirical there is still an earnest, didactic tone to the work which also sought to stress the value of good manners.

The bulk of the often allegorical woodcuts that accompany the text are attributed to a young Albrecht Dürer. The success of the work is almost certainly due to these frequently comical illustrations - this was probably the first book in which humorous woodcuts had appeared.

Brandt and his publisher Johann Bergmann de Olpe brought out 7 further editions in both german and latin but unauthorized copies still surfaced. More than 50 editions were released by the middle of the 16th century.

"It has been argued that the work also resembles later emblem books, particularly the English version which provides a verse "motto" as well as a Latin title and summary. The book has been variously labelled as satire, allegory, sermon and complaint, incorporating themes such as the dance of death, memento mori and the wheel of fortune. The Ship of Fools may be thought of as a blend of tradition and innovation."

• The first image above comes from the Bayerische German National Library which has a complete 1494 copy of the book* - but the framed interface is very quickly tiring and I gave up there once I found other versions online (but they do have large images).
• The rest of the images come from the University of Huston Library exhibition website which have reproductions of all the original woodcuts on display (it's their captions with the above images).
• The University of Glasgow Library have a webpage with a selection of images and background commentary, particularly in relation to the english editions.
• IMPORTANT ADDITION (31.5.08): MDZ have a 1512 version of 'Das Narrenschiff' which is probably the most easily accessible version online.
  
• ***ALSO***: SLUB Dresden now have a complete 1494 version available (click on the book icon for thumbnail pages) {updated Aug. 2009}

*actually, the top image is in latin but most of the other pages I viewed were in the original german so they are hosting a 'mixed' set.

Tangential addition: Foolish Clothing: Depictions of Jesters and Fools in Medieval and Renaissance Art via Frank from Hooting Yard.

Pomp and Circumstance

The first plate of the regalia : the open pall, the supertunica of cloath of gold, the surcoat of crimson sattin, a armilla, the colobium sindonis, a buskin, a sandall, the spurrs, the ampulla or eaglet, the anointing spoon, King Edwards Chair in which his Majestie was crownd, curtana or the sword of mercy, the second sword, the third sword.

The second plate of the regalia : St. Edward's crown, The crown of state, the orbe, the queens circle, the crown wherwith the queen was crowned, the rich crown, the king's coronation ring, St. Edward's staff,..., the Queen's scepter.

The orb, borne by the Duke of Someset; the crown, borne by the
Duke of Ormond; the scepter with the dove, borne by the
Duke of Albemarle;...gentlemen pensioners.

The Kings Herb-woman, & her 6 Maids, with baskets
of sweet herbs & flowers, strewing the way;
the deans beadle of Westin; the high constable of
Westminster; a fife; drums; the drum major.

A marchioness; York herald alone, Windsor herald
supplying the place of Garter; Duchesses, in number eight; a duke.

The manner of the champions performing the ceremony of the challenge.

The inthronization of their Majesties King James the second and Queen Mary.

A representation of the fire-works upon the River of Thames,
over against Whitehall, at their Majesties coronation Apr. 1685.

[click images for full size versions]

The History of the Coronation Of the Most High, Most Mighty, and Most Excellent MONARCH, JAMES II. By the Grace of GOD, KING of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, &C. And of His Royal Consort QUEEN MARY: Solemnized in the Collegiate Church of St. PETER in the City of WESTMINSTER, on Thursday the 23 of April, being the Festival of St. George, in the Year of Our Lord 1685.
With an Exact Account of the several Preparations in Order thereunto, Their MAJESTIES most Splendid PROCESSIONS, and Their Royal and Magnificent FEAST in WESTMINSTER-HALL. The Whole WORK Illustrated with SCULPTURES. By his Majesties Especial Command. By FRANCIS SANDFORD Esq; Lancaster Herald of Arms. In the Savoy: Printed by Thomas Newcome, One of His Majesties Printers. 1687.

All the images from the festival book, The History of the Coronation of James II, are online at NYPL.
Originally I found example images at Octavo Books - they have the complete work online together with some background commentary. But the images are smaller; the actual text is only occasionally readable anyway.

Trivia: Samuel Pepys held one of the 4 canopy poles covering the King during the procession. 1445 meat dishes were consumed at the party. James II was removed from the throne by the Glorious Revolution a year after the publication of this book. Sandford died later in a debtor's prison, partly as a result of this book having such a small market.

Liber Amicorum

I'm guessing that Dutch historical romance novelist, Anna Louisa Geertruida Bosboom-Toussaint was an altogether wonderful person. So wonderful in fact that the cultural elite in Holland in the 1880s - writers, artists, politicians, clergy, scholars - contributed to a 600+ page liber amicorum ('friends book') that was presented to Bosboom-Toussaint in 1882 on the occasion of her 70th birthday. There are original musical scores, poetry, calligraphy, sketches, paintings; with the majority of pages containing written dedications and certificates of one sort or another.

The first ~10 web pages of the liber amicorum have the most artistic contributions and almost all of the book is online at the Regional Archive of Alkmaar in Northern Holland (large thumbnails). I saved the full pages above using the 'print' function and the other image details came from the zoom interface.
The information page in Dutch.