Method of using quadrant fitted with a plumb line and marked with shadow scales to measure the height of a tower. From Robert Fludd Utriusque cosmi ... historia, Oppenheim, 1617-1619. Engraving.
Rachel Verrinder telling Franklin Blake, to his amazement, that she saw him taking the Moonstone. Illustration by Arthur Fraser (active 1865-1898) for The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (London, 1890). First published in 1868 and said by TS Eliot to be the 'the first and greatest of English detective novels.
The Children of the Poor (Les Enfants Pauvres) - The Ragged Babes That Weep. Miserable, ragged, undernourished children. Illustration by T Cobb for Algernon C Swinburne translation of poem by Victor Hugo, London c1875. Wood engraving
Beaver hats; 'felting' the body of the hats in the 'kettle'. Mercury was used during the manufacture and many hatters suffered from the uncontrollable shaking typical of mercury poisoning. From The Penny Magazine, London, 1841. Woodcut
Reconstruction of Iguanadon, large herbivorous dinosaur, sketched from model on show at the Natural History Museum, London . From The Illustrated London News (London 1895). Engraving.
Involuntary movement. Descartes' idea of how impulses from limbs reach the brain. He believed all nerves to be hollow. From Rene Descartes' Opera Philosophica, 1692. Woodcut
(Jean Bernard) Leon Foucault (1819-1868) French physicist. Velocity of light: Rotation of earth: Gyroscope. Silver-on-glass telescope mirrors. Engraving
Coal cutting machine on rails, powered by compressed air produced by a steam engine at the pithead. From The Practical Dictionary of Mechanics by Edward H Knight (New York and London, c1880). Engraving.
George V, King of Great Britain 1910-1936, with his consort Queen Mary, watching Delhi Durbar from the Red Fort, accompanied by the Indian princes acting as pages. India, 1911.
Cecil John Rhodes (1852-1902) English-born South African statesman. The Rhodes Colossus striding from Cape Town to Cairo with a telegraph wire. Richard Linley Sambourne cartoon from 'Punch', London, 10 December 1892. Engraving
St Denis also Denys or Dionysius, Patron Saint of France (dc150). First bishop of Paris. Under Valerian, beheaded at Montmartre and was said to carry his head to his burial on site at Saint-Denis. Woodcut 1826.
Unification of Italy: Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), Italian Patriot, conquering Sicily and Naples on behalf of the new kingdom of Italy. John Tenniel cartoon from Punch, London, 16 June 1860. Wood engraving
Mr Punch tells John Bull to ignore Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891), Irish politician, as he is sure to come a cropper riding the Irish horse. John Tenniel cartoon from Punch London 5 September 1885. Engraving
Antoine de Jussieu (1686-1758), French botanist.One of a family of distinguished botanists. He was director of the Jardin des Plantes Paris and also practiced medicine, devoting himself to the very poor. From The Temple of Flora by Robert John Thornton. (London, 1807). Engraving.
The divine harmony of the microcosm and the macrososm according to the Hermetic and Cabalistic teaching. God is always at the apex of the triangle. From Robert Fludd Ultriusque cosmi... historia, Oppenheim, 1617-1619. Engraving
Crimean War (Russo Turkish War) 1853-1856: Siege of Sebastopol, October 1854 to September 1855. French mule train evacuating the wounded. Italian hand-finished lithograph c1857.
Success in Life: Role reversal and the modern professional woman. George du Maurier cartoon for Punch Almanack for 1867. In 1865 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917) was licensed to practice by the Society of Apothecaries.
Man visited by the scourge of leprosy. Disease was often thought to be God's punishment for a sinful act or acts. From Hans van Gersdorff Veldt Boeck van den Chirugia Scheel-Hans, Amsterdam, 1593. Illustrations same as in 1517 Strasbourg edition. Woodcut.
Seypoys, native troops employed by East India Company. It was the Sepoys who began the Indian (Sepoy) Mutiny 1857-1859 which brought about the transfer of government from the Company to the British Crown. 19th century hand-coloured etching
Fray Luis Ponce de Le?n (sometimes Luis de Le?n) (born Belmonte, in Cuenca province, of the Castilian region of La Mancha, Spain, in 1527 ? 23 August 1591 AD) was a Spanish lyric poet and an Augustinian canon, of the Spanish Golden Age
Mr Fezziwig's Ball, illustration by John Leech for A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens( London,1843). This novella was the earliest and most popular of Dickens' Christmas stories. Scene from the end of the book shows jollity and bonhomie, with fiddler (violinist) playing for dancers. Kissing under mistletoe, left, and evergreen decoration hanging from ceiling are vestiges of pre-Christian winter rites.
Giant burning glass of the Academie des Sciences, used for chemical experiments, and constructed under the direction of Lavoisier (1743-1794) and others. From Amedee Guillemin Les Applications de la Physique, Paris 1874. Engraving
Paths of alpha, beta, and gamma rays from a radium sample placed between poles of electromagnet, as used in Curies' laboratory, Paris. Engraving published Paris, 1904
Cross section of Newcomen-type steam engine attributed to Jean Rodolphe Perronet, French civil engineer. (1767). Perronet (1708-1794), after training as an architect and working as a civil engineer, was appointed first director of the 'Office of the Draughtsmen of the King'. (Paris, 1767). Copperplate engraving.
Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871: Battle of Sedan, l September 1870. Stampede of French troops in retreat from the Prussian onslaught. From The Graphic, London, 24 September 1870. Wood engraving
Rint v. Potatoes - The Irish Jeremy Diddler. Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) Irish political leader continued to collect repeal rents to fund Home Rule movement while Irish poor were starving. Cartoon from Punch, 15 November 1845. Wood engraving.
Top: Chief Wahunsonacock (father of Pocahontas) head of Powhatan confederacy of Algonquin-speaking tribes smoking in his hut. Below: Palisaded village of huts typical of Virginia and east shore of Chesapeake Bay. Copperplate engraving 1686
St Dunstan (c925-988), born in Glastonbury, Somerset, Archbishop of Canterbury (961), patron saint of goldsmiths. Illustration of legend that Dunstan, interrupted while making a golden chalice, seized Devil by the nose with red hot pincers and would not release him until he promised not to tempt Dunstan ever again. From Every-Day Book William Hone (London 1826). Woodcut.
William George Armstrong (1810-1900) British industrialist and inventor: Elswick Engine Works, Newcastle: Armstrong Gun. Built Cragside, his home, which he fitted with electricity. Photograph published c1880. Woodburytype
Blood Transfusion: blood flowed from arm of donor, left, into cup, and was then pumped from the bottom of cup and forced through canula into patient. Before use, apparatus immersed in tepid water to prevent coagulation. Engraving from technical dictionary c1880.
German; British; English; Royalty; Burial; Practice
Description
Albert (1819-1861) Consort of Queen Victoria from 1840. Funeral procession in nave of St George's Chapel, Windsor. From first issue of The Illustrated London News after Albert's death 14 December 1861. Black border denoting the nation's mourning
Hooke's microscope with condenser for concentrating light: left to right above are his Barometer, Refractometer for measuring refractive power of liquids, and lens-grinding machine. From Robert Hooke Micrographia London 1665. Engraving.
Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Sacrifice of Iphigenia by her father at Aulis to secure favourable winds for the fleet to sail against Troy. Rescued, according to legend, by Artemis (Diana) and carried to Tauris where she became a a priestess. Euripedes uses her story as plot material for two dramas.
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, northern Italy. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture.
Transportation: Convict ship ready to sail from England to Australia, parts of which Britain used as a penal colony. Friends and relations having said farewell, probably for ever, wave from the shore. Early 19th century engraving.
Europe; Religious; Conflict; Roman; Catholic; Thirty; Years; War
Description
Johann Tserklaes, Count Tilly (1559-1632) Flemish soldier. Commanded Catholic army at beginning of Thirty Years War (1618-48) Succeeded Wallenstein as Commander-in-Chief Imperial Forces 1630. Engraving.
A Puritan Family. Father teaching his family to sing Psalms rather than vayne and tryflying ballades. From the position of his hands it seems he is using a mnemonic device such as the Guidonian hand to signal which note to sing. From frontispiece of Tenor of the whole Psalmes in Four Parts London 1563. Woodcut .
Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788-1855) English soldier, c1860. Field marshal in Crimean War (Russo-Turkish War) 1853-1856: He was victorious at the battle of Alma, but at Balaclava gave order for suicidal 'charge' of the Light Brigade. Engraving.
James Beattie (1735-1803) Scottish poet, essayist and schoolmaster, holding his Essay on Truth (1770) attacking David Hume. Now best remembered for long poem The Minstrel (1771-1774). Engraving after portrait by Joshua Reynolds
Woman and boy underground in coal mine drawing cart containing 3-4 cwt of coal - Bolton, Lancashire. From Matthias Dunn A Treatise on the Winning and Working of Collieries Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1848
February - Cutting Weather. A typical day at Dr Swishtail's Academy. George Cruikshank cartoon from The Comic Almanack for 1839. Boys at their desks look on as the schoolmaster punishes a boy by flogging him with the birch. Biggest boy in class holds victim on his back. Engraving.
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1894) French chemist, demonstrating his discovery of oxygen, 1776. On the table in the right background of the picture is his calorimeter. From Louis Figuier Vies des Savant Illustres du XVIIIe Siecle, Paris 1874. Engraving
Geocentric universe showing the Earth surrounded by the spheres of water, air and fire, and by the spheres of the Moon, Sun and planets and the sphere of the fixed stars. Beyond these lies Heaven with the hierarchies of angels and the abode of God, represented here by the dove of the Holy Spirit. From Robert Fludd Ultriusque cosmi... historia, Oppenheim, 1617-1619. Engraving
Natural; History; Botany; Nineteenth century; 19th century
Description
Common Silverweed (Argentina anserina or Potentilla anserina) Ceeping herbaceous plant of temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. From Amedee Masclef Atlas des Plantes de France, Paris, 1893.
Edward V (1470-1483), King of England 1483, but never crowned. Son of Edward IV. One of the 'Princes in the Tower' . Under 'protection' of his uncle the Duke of Gloucester (Richard III), taken to the Tower of London with his brother and neither boys ever
London Dockers' Strike, September 1889. Among the aims was establishment of minimum wage of 6d (2.5 pence per hour) but it failed. Picture shows 'Father Neptune's' float in the procession
'A Farewell Ride on Jumbo' at the Zoo. This large African elephant was sold by London Zoo in 1882 to the American showman Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891) for his circus which became known as the 'Greatest Show on Earth'. From The Illustrated London News (London, 18 March 1882). Wood engraving.
Giant Land Tortoises of the Galapagos Islands. Charles Darwin's study of the fauna of the Islands contributed to his theory of evolution. Wood engraving published 1884.
Alfred the Great (849-899) Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex from 871. Defeated Danes at Edington, Wiltshire. Signed treaty of partition and formalisation of Danelaw 886. Engraving c1850
Halle au Bles et Farine (Market for Corn and Flour), Paris. Built in 1772 by the Paris authorities, enlarged 1782 and rebuilt after fire in 1802. Woodcut London 1836.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Italian astronomer and mathematician. Frontispiece of first edition of his Dialogo dei Massimi Sistemi Florence 1632. 3 figures, left to right, Aristotle, Ptolemy and Copernicus. Engraving by Della Bella.
Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932) Brazilian aeronaut in his aeroplane of 1906, the machine in which he made first recorded flight in Europe (22 August 1906). Fitted with Antoinette engine Chromolithograph card 1915.
Geocentric universe and the hierarchies of cherubims and seraphims, etc., leading to God. From Hartmann Schedel Liber chronicarum mundi, (Nuremberg Chronicle) Nuremberg, 1493. Woodcut.
Death. Allegorical print of War after German painter and engraver Hans Sebald Beham (1500-1550). In background, baggage wagon with sappers' tools, including barrels of explosive. In front, soldiers carry booty including pig they have commandeered. Beh
Ezekiel's vision of chariot in sky c.614 BC. Bible Ezekiel II:9. One modern explanation is that Ezekiel, on of four great Hebrew prophets, observed parhelia (mock suns), a phenomenon caused by reflection from water droplets or minute particles in the earth's atmosphere. From Conrad Lycosthenes Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon, Basel, 1557. Woodcut
Sottoscrivete al prestito Italian World War I Poster shows a classical female figure, representing Italy, wearing a crown, armour and draped in the Italian flag, holding a sword toward a Nordic warrior coming over mountains. 1917
Gregory I the Great (c540-604). Pope from 590, seeing English slave children in Rome, is reputed to have said These are Angels, not Angles. Sent St Augustine (d604) and 40 monks to England in 596 to convert Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Colour printed wood engraving c1860,
Beekeeping showing beekeepers preparing to take a swarm. At bottom of tree are straw beehives (skeps) used in the apiary. From 18th century edition of Virgil Georgics which followed the agricultural traditions set down by Virgil in Roman times. Copperplate engraving.
Queenstown/Cobh, the harbour for Cork. Between 1845 and 1860 above 2.5 million people emigrated from Ireland through Cobh. It was also last port of call the SS Titanic. Chromolithograph c1900.
