June 02, 2004

19th Century Swedish Copybook. 'This is the first page of my great-grandfather's copybook. There could have been a separate wrapper or cover that did not survive.'
'Dated December 9, 1858, the book was signed by C.Damm, a writing tutor in Wirestad, Sweden. There are 12 pages of handwritten model forms of the Copperplate Script alphabet (sometimes called English Running Hand or Engraver's Script). Side margins appear to have been trimmed off at some time, and new binding holes were punched. The arrangement of pages below seems logical, but punched holes suggest that the leaves were bound in a different sequence. When I received the copybook as a child, the pages were no longer tied together, but wrapped individually in recycled yellow cellophane (smoked ham labels were printed on the cellophane) ... '

May 28, 2004

The Starry Messenger. Electronic history of astronomy.

May 27, 2004

Janakpur Women's Development Centre. 'The paintings are rooted in traditions which Maithil women have passed down through generations. On the occasion of marriage or for festivals such as Deepawali, Maithil women paint lively designs on the mud walls of their houses. During Deepawali, in order to attract Laxmi the goddess of wealth, they paint designs of elephants and peacocks which symbolize prosperity, as well as images of tigers, birds, and other animals. In monsoon season the paintings fade or wash away.' Gallery here.

May 24, 2004

A tour of Iceland with the poetry of Jonas Hallgrimsson.

May 22, 2004

Wharram Percy. A lost village in Yorkshire.

May 18, 2004

Caxton's Chaucer: View the Original Canterbury Tales. British Library site.

May 08, 2004

The William Blake Archive.

May 03, 2004

Classic Chinese Literature in Comic Strip Form. One of the most famous of all is the story of the Monkey King.

May 02, 2004

Anatomy of an Exhibition: Art Nouveau 1890-1914. An exhibition about an exhibition.

April 18, 2004

Reversing Vandalism. Reversing Vandalism. 'A slide-show essay about how the San Francisco Public Library converted a vandal's crime into art.' The story starts here.

April 12, 2004

America in Caricature 1765-1865. Political cartoons.

April 10, 2004

And did those feet in ancient times? From todays Times :- Every time Jerusalem is sung, a legend is revived

April 09, 2004

Byzantium: Faith and Power. An online exhibition from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

April 07, 2004

The Allison Delarue Collection of art about ballet. Remarkable.

April 04, 2004

Algiers: The Right Bank. A taste of a historic New Orleans neighbourhood through old photographs.

April 01, 2004

Swiss National Exhibition Bern 1914. A virtual museum.

March 27, 2004

Across the Generations: Exploring US History Through Family Papers. 'Family papers contain a wealth of information. Most obviously, the history of a particular family can be learned by examining the records a family leaves behind. At the same time, larger trends and events can be traced within the records of one family. Families do not go about their daily lives in a vacuum. They bear and raise children, marry and die, work and play as members of a larger community ... '

March 24, 2004

19th Century Photography of Ancient Greece. '19th-century Photography of Ancient Greece illustrates approximately 200 nineteenth- and early twentieth-century photographs of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. Focusing on Greece, Asia Minor, the Aegean islands, Cyprus, South Italy, and Sicily, these images belong to the Getty Research Institute's Gary Edwards Collection. '

March 14, 2004

The Georgian Museum of Photography. Online exhibits from the Republic of Georgia; themes include the Tiflis Society of Amateur Photographers 1893-1906, independent Georgia 1918-1921, architecture 1850-1914, the 1930s, and the family.

March 12, 2004

Strokes of Genius: Contemporary Iraqi Art. 34 Iraqi aartists from around the world.