1905: Flatiron Building

via shorpy

New York circa 1905. Flatiron Building, corner after snow storm. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company.

A lovely image. View full size here.

Original patents for famous toys

via retronaut


Patent for Etch-A-Sketch, September 1962. Go to this link to see the patents for Monopoly, Slinky, Lego, Barbie, and others.

Business Cards: Page III

Many of the cards on this page were paper samples. In the past, paper manufacturers would showcase their paper stocks utilizing various printing techniques. As time has marched on, many of the companies have merged together, and the number of stocks, as well as printed samples, has dwindled.

Middle card, top row: I like how primitive the artwork is in the circle. The card next to this is blind embossed.

Middle row, left card: Embossed and foil stamped, perfect to represent a financial service. Center card was given to me by my father-in-law. It is a Carte de Visite or calling card, and is the only one I have in my collection. Right card: Opaque inks [probably double-hit] on a deep teal stock.

Bottom row, left card: Nice incorporation of a map, though the address gets a little illegible. Far right card: Two colors on a guinea egg shell stock, embossed as well.

Click on the image for a larger view of the cards.

Year of the Golden Rabbit

via gidfengshui

“Thursday marks the year of the Golden Rabbit, the one and only golden rabbit you can find in the cycle of 60 permutations, the fourth in place from The Twelve Animal Zodiac. It is called the year of The ‘Golden’ Rabbit because we have the element of Metal (Xin) over Wood (Rabbit), however, Rabbit still belongs to the group of Spring of the four seasons, and in addition, it is the peak of Spring dominated by the major element of Wood in the Chinese Metaphysical Science. Thus, this is actually a wood year of Metal over Wood. And as Metal conquers over Wood in the cycle of destruction, this is not really a harmonious and friendly year generally speaking.”

Ice Storm

Near the Multi-Sport Facility on Penn State’s campus.

A sign nearby warned of falling ice from the roof of the building.

In our backyard -- I loved how the ice coated these leaves, and as the day warmed up the ice separated from them. 

Boston to sell off entire contents of its print shop

via boingboing

“The city of Boston has shut down its 78-year-old printing office to save money, and they're auctioning off 200 lots of astounding old print-shop junk. This is a potential bonanza for fine-art printers, zinesters, and people whose idea of fun is historical recreation of pre-digital printing techniques (green eyeshade optional). The auction is being held on Feb 24 at 11AM eastern and will be simultaneously conducted live and digitally.”

Read the rest here.

Amanda Rebuck Howerter

My mother passed along a book that was my maternal great-grandmother’s . 

She would have been about 12 years old when she signed this.

A great ampersand from the back cover.

Although this photo was taken in 1942, this is how I remember her.  She was about 63, and sitting on the front porch of her home in Pitman, PA.

Amanda with my great-grandfather George Monroe Howerter in 1942.

My great-grandmother Howerter passed away in 1965. She would have been about 86 at the time. My only memory of her was when she was on her death bed. I would have been 3 at the time. I remember going upstairs into her bedroom with my mother and Amanda was in a very large bed. She seemed tired, but was very happy to see me. I was wearing this Ratfink ring and was probably fiddling with it. She called me over to her bedside and asked to see it. I tried to explain to her what it was, and I recall that though she didn't really understand what I was saying -- I was 3 and probably didn't speak very clearly or make any sense -- she listened intently, smiled, and said something to the effect that she was so glad that I shared my special ring with her.

Today, though the ring part is long gone missing, the Ratfink holds a special place in my typecase display.

More ampersands can be found here.

The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies

Follow-up to an earlier post on Peter Rabbit

I purchased this copy of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies almost twenty years ago from the local library’s sale shelf.

I love the ampsersand, as well as the decoration inside of the “O’s” in Flopsy and Potter on the cover.

This edition is dated form 1937, and though the cover is in quite bad shape, the pages are lovingly worn by generations of readers.

This always makes me sad, and I almost feel obligated to purchase these books to save them from a landfill.

How many children’s books contain words like soporific? 

More ampersands can be found here.

Reverse Mixologist: 1920

via shorpy

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. U.S. Treasury, Internal Revenue Department. Measuring the alcohol content of various libations and tonics at the start of Prohibition. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

View full size here.

Mooch: Fashionably Early

This photo was taken a few days before the cartoon was published.  

Seven Squared

Some links and ramblings on forty-nine:

Interpreting The I Ching - Hexagram 49 Ko
Keyphrase: Revolution.
Formed By The Trigrams: Lake over Fire.
verview: Ko appears at a time of potential radical transformation. Although fast, decisive, action is often the best way this is not necessarily so when Ko appears. Timing is crucial. Any action needs to be thoroughly thought out and based on very solid foundations. Action should only be taken if absolutely necessary. Resist the temptation to act impetuously as that will undermine your efforts and quite possibly have a negative affect.

. . .


Shakespeare’s Sonnet 49 (Addressed to the Unidentified Young Man) 
Against that time, if ever that time come,
When I shall see thee frown on my defects,
When as thy love hath cast his utmost sum,
Call'd to that audit by advised respects;
Against that time when thou shalt strangely pass
And scarcely greet me with that sun thine eye,
When love, converted from the thing it was,
Shall reasons find of settled gravity,--
Against that time do I ensconce me here
Within the knowledge of mine own desert,
And this my hand against myself uprear,
To guard the lawful reasons on thy part:
To leave poor me thou hast the strength of laws,
Since why to love I can allege no cause.

Here is what Shakespeare says, on the surface, to the young man: 
Suppose a time comes when my flaws become annoying to you and, as a result, you evaluate our friendship–weighing the pluses and minuses as a bookkeeper does. Suppose a time comes when you walk by, hardly even noticing me, because your regard for me is no longer what it was and you have settled upon reasons to break off our relationship. Well, if such a time does come and our relationship ends, I will still hold you in fond memory and, like a soldier, defend your reputation against anyone who criticizes you for your action. I will defend you by pointing out my faults, noting that they are good reasons for you to go your own way. With all my defects, I will not be able to make a good case for you to stay.

. . .


Atomic Number 49: Indium; In
A rare soft silvery metallic element; occurs in small quantities in sphalerite. Its major uses are in low-melting-point alloys that replace mercury in thermometers, and in flat screen televisions. Indium was discovered in 1863 and named for the indigo blue line in its spectrum that was the first indication of its existence in zinc ores, as a new and unknown element.

. . .

True indigo in its spectrum, I like that.

Official Green Hornet Agent

Sometime after 1964, I became a Green Hornet Agent. I apparently had to sign the back of the badge for it to be official. Even though the badge is 4" across, it still wasn’t big enough for my signature at the time, so I had to add the S above the M and the E.

Morgans Hotel Inspiration

via notcot

Morgans Hotel Penthouse in NYC leaves The School Of Life quote postcards on your pillow. Fun, inspiring, and nice clean typography. Makes me smile.

See them here.

Matches

via Design Observer, John Foster’s Accidental Mysteries, 01.30.11

“Accidental Mysteries is an online curiosity shop of extraordinary things, mined from the depths of the online world and brought to you each week by John Foster, a writer, designer and longtime collector of self-taught art and vernacular photography. “I enjoy the search for incredible, obscure objects that challenge, delight and amuse my eye. More so, I enjoy sharing these discoveries with the diverse and informed readers of Design Observer. All images link to their original source and are copyright their original owners.”

See the rest of John Foster’s Accidental Mysteries here, link to original image here.

Steampunk Memory Keys

via retronaut


See other steampunk flashdrives here.

TED: Jake Shimabukuro

This is a follow-up to an earlier post of mine;
Jake Shimabukuro was recorded at TED2010, February 2010, in Long Beach, CA playing his cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Watch it here, duration: 7:08

Bluebirds!

On our travels today, we saw at least two male bluebirds. Pretty exciting that we saw some of the earliest arrivals of the annual spring pilgrimage to the Northeast.

Business Cards: Page II

The top row of cards: Dianetics, the John Birch Society, and the National Socialist White People’s Party. I’m not entirely sure where I acquired the first two radical cult cards, but the third I remember vividly.

It was an early morning in 1979, probably around 7:15 a.m. I was walking across the newly completed Dorcas Street bridge in Lewistown on my way to high school. Lightly masking taped to the bridge was this card. I stopped in my tracks and looked around me. It felt like I was being watched as a removed the card. I quickly tucked the card in my pocket and continued to school, still feeling that I was being watched all day long.

Though not specifically listed on The Southern Poverty Law Center’s site, Mifflin and her neighboring counties have their share of hate groups.

. . .

Center card: “Bettie the Bookie”—Would anyone really go to have their legitimate bookkeeping done by someone who refers to themselves as a bookie? I like that it lists among her skills, Girl Friday. There is a term you do not hear anymore. Below her card, is “The Killers Inc” which I assume is an extermination service. The guy with the gun seems just a little too happy.

Click on the image for a larger view of the cards.

Image of the Day: Rabbit Statue

Earworm of the Day: k.d. lang’s Constant Craving

“Even through the darkest phase
Be it thick or thin
Always someone marches brave
Here beneath my skin . . .”

The rest of the lyrics can be found here. Watch a video of the song here.