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In Company Style: Illustrations from James Skinner’s Kitāb-i tashrīḥ al-aqvām (1825)
An illuminated Persian manuscript about customs, culture, and caste, written by an enigmatic figure of the early British Raj.
Veronese's Dogs
“Oh, if I could only pray”, Luther once said of his dog Tölpel, “the way this dog watches the meat”. Attending to attentive canine figures in half a dozen paintings by Paolo Veronese, Thomas W. Laqueur explores the work of an artist whose love of dogs landed him in hot water with the Inquisition.
It’s “A Cat-astrophe”! (1919)
“A Cat-astrophe” came on the tail end of an odd 1918 boom in cat-themed music.
Metamorphosis: Transformations in the Early Modern Flap Book (early 19th century)
By manipulating paper flaps, the child could turn Adam into Eve into a mermaid, a lion into a griffin into an eagle — all while learning about the inevitability of death.
The Ties that Bind: Central Asian Ikat (ca. 19th century)
Vibrant textiles from the dazzling Timurid metropolis of Bukhara.
Artificial Intelligence: Ars Notoria and the Promise of Instant Knowledge
Centuries before Neo instantly mastered Kung Fu in *The Matrix*, medieval scholars found a shortcut to years of difficult study: a magical manuscript that promised to fast-track advanced learning. Anne Lawrence-Mathers investigates the *Ars notoria*, its supposed powers, and the demonic influence…
Photographs of Atlantic City Sand Sculpture (ca. 1880–1920)
Photographs from when Atlantic City beaches featured artists ornately sculpting sand.
“The Persian Mâr-Nâmeh or, The Book for Taking Omens from Snakes” (1892)
A Zoroastrian text about serpents translated by the President of the Bombay Anthropological Society.
Archie G. Norcross’ Maine Forest Fire Maps (1918–22)
Circular maps custom-made for the fire towers that once dotted the American wilderness.
“Worthless Idiot, Donkey Head”: Parodies of Pedantry on the Renaissance Stage
Pompous know-it-alls were once a mainstay of mockery on the Italian stage. Arnoud Visser investigates this stock character of the pedant and his association with individual superiority, social distinction, and sexual transgression, finding a form of satire that took aim at the Renaissance…
Peruvianizing Peru: Covers from Amauta Magazine (1926–30)
Cover designs for José Carlos Mariátegui’s radical Lima-based magazine.
Choice Notes on History from Notes and Queries (1858)
Selections from the long-running British journal on historical peculiarities, from the whereabouts of Mary Queen of Scot’s severed head to the identity of Charles I's hooded executioner.
Diagrams for Travel from the Qanoon-e-Islam (1832)
Diagrams from a now-lost Urdu manuscript illustrating the propitious days and directions for travel.
Louis Pope Gratacap, A Curator in Lost Worlds
Arguably the first work of fiction to feature a *Tyrannosaurus rex*, Louis Pope Gratacap’s *The New Northland* (1915) is at once kaleidoscopic, mischievous, fascinating — and exhausting. Richard Fallon explores this “lost world” novel, finding a work as interested in cutting-edge science as it was…
The Art of Kite Flying (1430–1929)
69 images of kite flying from across 5 centuries and some dozen countries.
Venetian Bridge Brawls in 17th and 18th Century Art
Artworks from an era when Venetians brawled on bridges.
Genevieve Stebbins’ Delsarte System of Dramatic Expression (1886)
A philosophical system and a practical guide for the cultivation of dramatic genius.
The Launch of Our Mid-Year Fundraiser!
Our Mid-Year Fundraiser is launched, and the new postcards theme will be Soil.
Covers from Cerîde-i Adliye, a Turkish Law Journal (1924–26)
Legal infographics that reflect a Turkish nation in flux.
Animal, Vegetable, Lamb: The Zoophyte from Tartary
In the Middle Ages, rumours spread across Europe of a strange hybrid creature, half-animal, half-plant, known as the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary. A hoax based on fern rhizomes? A euphemism for culled fetal lambs? Or perhaps a medieval misapprehension of cotton? Thom Sliwowski traces the roots of this…
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