Love watching what's for dinner in Japan. So healthy! All the interesting names and different ways of making things.

Wonderful spontaneous singing in Split, Croatia on New Year's Eve (starts at 0:25)

Always loved the fairy stories with little elf helpers, shoemakers.

Miyagawa (Makuzu) Kōzan, Kōro (incense burner). Porcelain, 11 x 12 x 14 cm. Japan, 19th-20th century, Meiji-Taishō period.

Amusingly mischievous, slightly mean illustrations. "Flower Children" by Elizabeth Gordon.
The whole book is online here.

A 1970's ring by the jeweler, Paul Flato

I want to come with you!!

Little Thumbelina

The artist,

Jan van Kessel the Younger, illustrated his name in creepy crawlies.

The exquisitely beautiful art of gasoline rainbows.

Image via BOBBIECOUGHLIN

Image by Anselan Photography

Abstract ~ study of oil & water, photographer Karen Keogh

Great interactive, detailed map of NYC buildings not conforming to the present zoning laws, too tall, too commercial, taking up too much space.

40 Percent of the Buildings in Manhattan Could Not Be Built Today

Occupations of persons from Panama Papers

Shin-en (Calm),1992; plate; porcelain with vivid colored glaze (yôsai) Tokuda Yasokichi III (1933–2009). More of his art here.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Wandering around the Museum of Natural History's rare book images online

Wandering around the Museum of Natural History images
I came across this lovely old book of fern illustrations. Isn't
that a beautiful cover? Love the deep blue and gold.

When I was a child in Jamaica, West Indies, there were ferns with a silvery white, powdery underside that one could place against one's skin, slap the fern and it would leave a temporary tattoo of the fern's shape.

Book cover of Sowerby's The ferns of Great Britain

More images from the Museum of Natural History collection.

From the marvelous Brain Pickings.
Natural Histories: Extraordinary Rare Book Selections from the American Museum of Natural History Library (public library) brings together an extraordinary collection of works from the Rare Book Room and Rare Book Collections of the American Museum of Natural History’s Research Library, spanning five centuries of anthropology, astronomy, earth science, paleontology, and zoology representing all seven continents. Each highlighted work is accompanied by a short essay exploring its significance, what makes it rare — scarcity, uniqueness, age, binding type, size, value, or nature of the illustrations — and its place in natural history.