Up, up, and away....

Oh to travel in a beautiful red and white hot air balloon. Here`s the Vauxhall which made a record flight from Vauxhall Gardens England to Nassau Germany in 1836. It was 157 feet in circumference and, with car attached, 80 feet high.

Diamonds Are A Girl`s Best Friend

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend and if you can’t afford a real one you can at least look at this beautiful photograph of one of the most beautiful diamonds in the world. This 1947 picture shows the famous Jonker Diamond One, at one time owned by Harry Winston.

1924 Admiral Peary The Man Who Thought He Found the North Pole

Robert Edwin Peary (1856 - 1920) was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole. He was the first explorer to study and use Inuit survival techniques, build igloos and use Inuit to drive dog-sled teams and provide back-up support. Unfortunately, Peary, in his final expedition, was some 8 km or 5 miles short of his destination.

This is a beautiful photogravure of Peary dressed in the furs that he wore on his expedition in front of a mock up of a globe with the American Flag and “Peary 1909” centered on the North Pole.

1901 The Barn Owl

The fabulous Barn Owl with its heart shaped face, dark eyes and golden buff feathers on its back is joined by fifteen other birds to colorfully grace this plate. This graceful and elegant print was originally intended as a scientific document for academic purposes. Now, not surprisingly, this ornithological masterpiece can be appreciated for its real beauty with birds that are rare, common, and sadly, some extinct.

1940`s John and Jane Bedroom

Back to the 1940`s when everything old seems new again. A nursery-bedroom for two kids -- John and Jane featuring walls lamps for reading in bed and wall coverings to minimize finger marks, red linoleum floor with an easy-wash white carpet, a table desk large enough for two. Neatness is encouraged by the built-in storage units beneath the window.

1923 Picking Cotton

Working picking cotton was back-breaking labor, inspiring the old saying “sure beats picking cotton.” Fingers would be pricked on sharp prongs which held the soft white cotton firmly inside the boll. It might take a family one whole day to pick the cotton from a long, seemingly endless, row of plants.

On the most part, the images I’ve recovered from books from long ago, portray the cotton pickers as a happy lot. This print is quite different. The two young boys in the foreground appear haunted by misery; their elders in the background, heads bent, lost in their work, as the sky above appears cloudy and announces an impending storm.

Man as Woman

This print is of the Japanese actor Segawa Tumisaburo, in female character, by the artist Toshusai Sharaku. Sharaku’s prints have qualities that distinguish them from others of the same genre as they are more intense with differing harmonies of color and portray heightened facial expressions. They were all produced in one year, 1794, and there is no evidence that the artist, a dancer by profession, had even designed a color-print before.

1954, Chiswick Press of London