Monday miscellany

" In ancient Greece, the act of reading was seen as a kind of possession by the text; the loss of autonomy involved in allowing one’s spirit to be inhabited by an unknown writer meant that reading was viewed with suspicion – an activity unsuitable for free citizens and grown men." - from a review of The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton.

London then and now - a filmed comparison of the same sights in 1927 and now, recreated shot by shot (by Simon Smith). This is "the entrance to London's lung" (Hyde Park) -

See it all at londonist.com.


Last month the British Library released over 1 million images from the 17th-19th centuries into the public domain. It hopes that browsers will use the collection in creative ways, and next year it will release a crowdsourcing application so users can help improve descriptions of the illustrations. If you're looking for a particular subject, the only way to find it at the moment is via keywords in the titles of the book the figure came from, not figure legends.

Maps and views galore, for example this one

Once you've found your image, you can download any image you like without having to worry about copyright infringement.

See and search the images at <http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary>


A sewing specimen book -

Traced back to northeastauctions.com - sold in 2010 for $3,304. What a wonderful object!

TWO EXTREMELY RARE NEEDLEWORK INSTRUCTION BOOKS WITH SAMPLES FROM THE FEMALE MODEL SCHOOL, KILDARE PLACE, DUBLIN, IRELAND, 1833-37.

Comprising "A Concise Account of the Mode of Instructing in Needle-Work... " printed by Thomas I. White, Dublin, 1833, and "Specimens of Needle-Work Executed in the Female Model School..." printed by George Folds, the cover inscribed "Sarah Darby 1837" and including cloth samples of sewing, darning, embroidery, knitting, and miniature clothing. Each in marbleized covers, largest 9 ¼ x 6 inches. (One illustrated)
Provenance: Witney Antiques, Oxon, England.

Two crocheted books by Phiona Richards -

See more at madeinslant.com


A "texture map" photographed by Abigail Doan - (reminds me of these, found earlier) -

On a blog, she says, you can leave "a bread crumb trail of sorts when work is in progress". Tantalising indeed...


Here's a life skill you didn't know you needed to have - creating darling little pom-poms with a fork. This pic (via) sums up the method -