English castles

This one is Bodiam Castle in East Sussex. Link…

Russian books

I can't read Russian so I don't know what this is all about. This image is from a book dated 1890. Link…

The LE herbarium

The Herbarium of Vascular Plants of the Komarov Botanical Institute (LE) is one of the largest collection in the world and main herbarium in Russia. Some of the specimens have (I think) been scanned holographically. They are not intended as such but they are art in nature. This specimen was collected from Kazakhstan in 1930. The images are quite large - I have reduced this one by 50% and dropped the quality to 80% of the original. Link…

Panoramas

Ron Rack has created some superb panoramas. The subject matter has a religious leaning (churches and monasteries) and also includes the unusual Vent Haven Museum (the world's only museum dedicated to ventriloquism), libraries, parks and other locations in Ohio. Link…

Squat Lobster

They have a long way to go but the Smithsonian are constantly updating their online National Museum of Natural History. Link…

Magazine Covers

A comprehensive collection of magazine covers. Link…

Advertising

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Moving office sucks

No links. There are many pitfalls when moving your company to a new office. It takes 6 to 7 days to transfer an ADSL account from one place to another. You can't begin the transfer until you have the new phone number established. Unless you have access to the premises you can't get a new number. If your new office fit out hasn't got ducted skirting or access to the ceiling you will have to pay a large amount of money for labour when you install the phone system, data cabling and power points. Electrical contractors are very busy people, most of them cannot even give you a quote within a week, never mind actually commence the work. North Sydney Council do not do rubbish removal for commercial premises, you have to arrange for a private contractor. And on and on and on…

Models

A fabulous collection of model cars from the German Democratic Republic at DDR-MODELLAUTOS.INFO. Oh! and space ships and tanks and boats and… Link…

Visual Culture and Health Posters

The National Library of Medicine (Bethesda) has a selection of posters on their site covering infectious disease, environmental health, anti-smoking campaigns and HIV/AIDS. Great looking art on some of the retro ones. Link…

Mutinus caninus (Dog stinkhorn)

I have quite a few of these in my garden. Tom Volk has a great fungi site. Check out his fungi of the month. Link…

Free State Art

The Irish Free State established by the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) following the War of Independence (1919-1921) pursued a project of cultural nationalism which among other aims focused on reviving the Irish language. The Cumann na nGaedheal government established An Gúm, the publications branch of the Department of Education (later Oifig an tSoláthair/the State Publishing Agency) in 1925-1926 to supply textbooks and fiction in Irish for the educational and recreation needs of the newly independent Ireland. Link…

Defence of Cumbria in the 20th Century

I used to hang out in pillboxes like this a lot when I was a kid. Not in Cumbria though, Kent. These things are to be found all over the UK. Link…

19th-century racial images

The majority of these images originally appeared in the Australian popular press of last century. Link…

The War of the Worlds

Over 100 years of covers of the H. G. Wells classic in various languages. Link…

Boxcar art

Photographs, articles and links about hoboes and trains. Link…

The Girl's Own Paper

Fiction and non-fiction, 1880 to 1941. Link… This is just an index. Go to this page to access selected pages. This should all be in one place.

Handmoulds

A website about the development, shape and use of typefounders' moulds. Is it just me and the industry I work in, or are these not things of beauty? Link…

Ice from Norway to Britain

19th Century London wanted ice in far greater quantities than the British climate provided. Whilst ice was gathered from lakes, and indeed from the Regent's Canal, and was stored, the amount of ice available was small and its quality often poor. Ice started to be imported from the United States in the 1840's, with the Wenham Lake Ice Company as one of the most famous names in the business. Carlo Gatti brought his first consignment of ice from Norway to London in 1857, of 400 tons, and one of the two ice wells at 12-13 New Wharf Road was almost certainly dug to receive it and store it until it was wanted by customers. Customers wanted ice for food preservation, for making ice cream, and for medical use. In the last 40 years of the century Norwegian ice dominated the market in London. Link…

Ani

Invaded by the Arabs, Mongols, Turks and Russians. Devastated by earthquakes and storms. Subject to forced emigration and ethnic cleansing. The Armenian city of Ani, in existence since the 5th Century AD, is a ghost city. It now faces another threat - 'restoration' by the Turkish Ministry of Culture. Link…