Illustrated - Art, Photography, Architecture, Rare Books
The Weird and the Wonderful: Metropolitan Opera Fine Art
Less a book than a portfolio of rare art prints, this collection of limited edition poster prints–each one of just 25–displays the innovative poster art created for the Metropolitan Opera…. Read more
Literature
Styles of American Prose: Quotes on War, Rebellion, and Coming of Age
In terms of prose, American Literature is by no means the only tradition with diverse styles. Entire books have been written on the subject. For the sake of brevity here,… Read More
Illustrated - Art, Photography, Architecture, Travel
An Artist Finds His Calling: The Story of George Catlin, the “First Artist of the West”
No artist, in the period before photography, traveled more widely among as many different tribes or made as many portraits and scenes of Indians from life. –Robert J. Moore on… Read More
American Revolution, History
American Ephemera: Newspapers
You will see by the Newspapers, which I from time to time inclose, with what Rapidity, the Colonies proceed in their political Maneuvres. – John Adams letter to Abigail Adams,… Read More
Science/Natural History
The Story Behind Opticks by Sir Isaac Newton
Long before his magnum opus on theoretical physics was published, a young Sir Isaac Newton was sticking needles in his eyes. Equipped with a voracious intellect from a young age,… Read More
Literature, Moderns
Salinger
If you’re a reader of this website it means you’re probably in to literary things, so it’s likely no stretch on my part to assume you’re aware of the new… Read More
19th Century, Literature
The Story Behind the First Sherlock Holmes Novel: A Study in Scarlet
In 1882, a young doctor waited for patients to arrive. To pass the time, he began writing short stories. The man named Arthur Conan Doyle later became embarrassed by these… Read More
American Revolution, History
American Ephemera: Broadsides
The Congress have judged it necessary to dissolve the Connection between Great Britain and the American Colonies, and to declare them free & independent States; as you will perceive by… Read More
Literature
Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect by Robert Burns: The Kilmarnock Edition
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,and never brought to mind ?Should auld acquaintance be forgot,and auld lang syne? It’s hard to imagine New Year’s without this song and more difficult to… Read More
Literature, Moderns
J R by William Gaddis
The path to favorite books is hardly ever the same. Whether assigned to you in school, recommended by a friend, a familial right of passage, or just bought in the… Read More
Literature
John Milton’s Paradise Lost
Fallen angels, angry deities and the weakness of man, all are explored in Paradise Lost, the epic poem by John Milton, who was nearly sixty when he wrote the now… Read More