And on a lighter note - illuminated manuscript cookies from Luminarium Blog.
Ogham from Book of Ballymote manuscript, Royal Irish Academy collection, circa 14th - 15th century.
(Source: ceredwyn)
A Hypocrite Kneels Before a Satanic Beast as it Tramples a Saint
French Manuscript 13th Century
The Acropolis of Athens, Greece
Violin
1685, England
The Victoria & Albert Museum
The Invisible Mother:
‘This was a practice where the mother, often disguised or hiding, often under a spread, holds her baby tightly for the photographer to insure a sharply focused image.’
Casa Loma, built 1911
Toronto, Canada“Casa Loma (Spanish for Hill House) is a Gothic Revival style house in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is now a museum and landmark. It was originally a residence for financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt. Casa Loma was constructed over a three-year period from 1911-1914. The architect of the mansion was E. J. Lennox, who was responsible for the designs of several other city landmarks.
“In 1903 Sir Henry Pellatt purchased 25 lots from developers Kertland and Rolf. Sir Henry commissioned Canadian architect E.J. Lennox to design Casa Loma with construction beginning in 1911, starting with the massive stables, potting shed and Hunting Lodge (a.k.a. coach-house) a few hundred feet north of the main building. The Hunting Lodge is a two storey 4,380-square-foot (407 m2) house with servant’s quarters. As soon as the stable complex was completed, Sir Henry sold his summer house in Scarborough to his son and moved to the Hunting Lodge. The stables were used as a construction site for the castle (also served as the quarters for the men servants), with some of the machinery still remaining in the rooms under the stables. The house cost approximately $3.5 million and took a team of 300 workers three years to build from start to finish. Unfortunately, due to the start of World War I, construction on the house was halted. At 98 rooms, it was the largest private residence in Canada. Notable amenities included an elevator, an oven large enough to cook an ox, two vertical passages for pipe organs, central vacuum, two secret passages in Sir Henry’s ground-floor office and three bowling alleys (never completed).
“Most of the third floor was left unfinished, and today serves as the Regimental Museum for The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada. Pellatt joined the Regiment as a Rifleman and rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the Commanding Officer. He was knighted for his dedication to the Regiment. Later, Pellatt served as the Honorary Colonel and was promoted to Major-General upon retirement.
“During the depression that followed World War One, the City of Toronto increased Casa Loma’s annual property taxes from $600 per year to $1,000 a month, and Pellatt, already experiencing financial difficulties, was forced to auction off $1.5 million in art and furnishings for only $250,000. Sir Henry was able to enjoy life in the house for less than ten years, leaving in 1923. It was later operated for a short time as a luxury hotel. During the late 1920s Casa Loma was also a popular nightspot. The Orange Blossoms, later known as Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, played there for eight months in 1927–1928. Shortly thereafter, they went on tour of North America and became a major swing era dance band.
“The city seized Casa Loma in 1933 for $27,303 in back taxes.
“The castle was extremely run down and the city was motioning for the castle to be demolished. In 1937, however, it was leased by the Kiwanis Club of Toronto (currently known as the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma). Today, Casa Loma is undergoing a 15 year exterior restoration.
“During World War II, Casa Loma was used to conceal research on sonar, and for construction of sonar devices (known as ASDIC) for U-boat detection.
“Contrary to popular belief, Casa Loma has never been an official residence of either the city or the Province of Ontario. In 1937 it was opened to the public for the first time as a tourist attraction operated by the Kiwanis Club of Toronto. Coincidentally, this is the same year that Chorley Park, the Government House of Ontario, was closed by the provincial government. The house is still operated by the Kiwanis Club. Today it is one of Toronto’s most popular tourist attractions.”
(Source: blaaargh)
Bookbinding: From a manuscript of the Mantiq al-tair (The Language of the Birds) of Farid al-Din cAttar,
ca. 1600
Safavid
Iran (Isfahan)
Leather, gold, and colors
The Chained Library at Hereford Cathedral is a unique and fascinating treasure in Britain’s rich heritage of library history.
There were books at Hereford Cathedral long before there was a ‘library’ in the modern sense.The cathedral’s earliest and most important book is the eighth-century Hereford Gospels; it is one of 229 medieval manuscripts which now occupy two bays of the Chained Library.
Sanguisugae Virulenta by FraterOrion
![PHYSICI EPIDEMEIE
[noun]
a plague doctor; a special medical physician who saw those who had the bubonic plague. They were specifically hired by towns that had many plague victims in times of plague epidemics. They were not normally professionally trained experienced physicians or surgeons, and often were second-rate doctors not able to otherwise run a successful medical business or young physicians trying to establish themselves.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lybsylfQpT1r47bczo1_500.jpg)
PHYSICI EPIDEMEIE
[noun]
a plague doctor; a special medical physician who saw those who had the bubonic plague. They were specifically hired by towns that had many plague victims in times of plague epidemics. They were not normally professionally trained experienced physicians or surgeons, and often were second-rate doctors not able to otherwise run a successful medical business or young physicians trying to establish themselves.
(Source: victoriousvocabulary)
The Book of Kells (Irish: Leabhar Cheanannais)
ca. 800
The Ormesby Psalter is one of the most well-known yet mysterious manuscripts to survive the Middle Ages. Commissioned in the late thirteenth century to celebrate a marriage that never took place, this exquisite book of psalms—likely meant for private devotion by its wealthy patrons—was left unfinished.
A latticed window in Lacock Abbey, England, photographed by William Fox Talbot in 1835. Shown here in positive form, this is the oldest known extant photographic negative made in a camera.
