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From the library of General Spielsdorf.

Robert Barret’s (fl.1586?-1607) The Theorike and Practike of Moderne Warres (1598) is an excellent example of late 16th-century English book production. The limp vellum cover with ties exemplifies one of the most common binding styles. The front paste down has split allowing us to see the sewing structure underneath: five alum tawed supports with kettle stitches at the head and tail. Curiously, one previous owner chose to write notes upside and on the back cover paste down. This 1598 book also displays how quickly printing evolved over the century from heavy black letter type to sophisticated woodcut diagrams and a more readable Roman type.

Barret was a well-know military man and remarks in his preface that he “spent the most part of [his] time in the profession of Armes.” The book is structured as a dialogue between a gentleman and captain. A fitting format given that this book was written to teach the second dedicatee, William, Lord Harbert, the mathematical stratagems of war. Barret later wrote a long elegiac poem “The Sacred Warr” which chronicles wars in the Holy Land. It was never published and exists as a 1200 page manuscript!

-Jillian

U101  .B26 1598

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I haven't checked in on your tumblr in forever and hope you're doing well. :)

Well that’s relative, hah, but at least I’m alive and I now have time to look at tumblr and put one word after another so I guess I survived my initiation rite/hazing ritual! Yay! Thanks for asking and I hope you have a lovely day, anon! :)

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moma:

Now on view: From Bauhaus to Buenos Aires: Grete Stern and Horacio Coppola is the first major exhibition to focus on these two leading figures of avant-garde photography. 

Self-explanatory really... (okay not sure why the image doesn’t appear like it does on my dash but I’ll fix it later, sorry).

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“I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together.”

My Last Duchess

This woman is the subject of a creepy, creepy poem by Robert Browning. It is in the form of a monologue by someone who is probably Alfonso II d'Este, the fifth Duke of Ferrara, to the emissary of the family of his prospective new wife. That’s right, he’s talking about his former now-dead wife to the people he’s trying to convince should give him their daughter. Continue reading

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More from the Vampyre Librarium.

Owl motif from Khunrath’s Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom, 1609

The owl motif that we use as our avatar on social media is from Heinrich Khunrath’s The Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom, printed in 1609 in Hanau and located in the Young Collection. Khunrath was a physician and Hermetic alchemist. The Amphitheatre is a fascinating volume containing nine plates of incredibly detailed engravings, each one representing a different aspect or stage to Khunrath’s alchemical work. For detailed analysis of the engravings in this book see this webinar by Dr Peter Forshaw The Alchemy of the Amphitheatrum which forms part of the Infinite Fire series.

The owl engraving follows the nine plates and precedes the main text of the work. The motto ‘Was helffen fakeln, licht oder briln, So die levt nicht sehen wollen?’ translates to ‘What good are torches, light, or spectacles, to those who will not see?’

Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae solius verae, Heinrich Khunrath 1560-1605. Hanoviae, 1609

[reference: Khunrath, Young Collection]

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From the archives of the Vampyre Librarium, where the oldest papers on vampire inventions and key discoveries are housed.

Circling the Sun

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When that I was and a little tiny girl...

Miss Muerta, Tony Sandoval

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From the early life of...

‘Maud, a monodrama’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson; with illustrations by Edmund J. Sullivan. Published 1922 by Macmillan &Co., London.

See the complete book here.

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Notes from Nowhere

1. Just realized I’d better get a move on and finish this story before Season 2 steals my thunder - fire tipped arrows? Summer Society wants a word. Men in black? Someone call General Spielsdorf, his men are missing! Guess I’m not as original as I think!

2. Since I’ve been on hiatus I’ve been rereading the entire story to remind myself and getting super distracted with how poor the opening chapters are. *shudders*. So sorry, new readers and followers. If I have time I’ll do my best to edit it into better shape once I’m done with this beast of a story. My only excuse was I was trying to avoid the work which got me to where I am today. 

3. I’m working on the update this week! I promise, gentle readers!

4. I recommend no one become an intern ever. Let this be a lesson to you. The things I’ve been asked to carry up and down stairs, honestly.

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Hey! Stopping by to say I hope everything's okay with you! I hope you aren't too worried about updating the story, it sounds like you have plenty of other stuff to worry about and I'm sure everyone is 100% understanding.

Thanks so much for your kind words. Actually I do stress a lot about updating the story - I know it’s been a while - but I really really have no time, you guys! The first moment I get a chance to breathe I’ll be back on the job. 

Anyway thanks for checking in with me and sending lovely thoughts, I appreciate it, as always. :)

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Have you had the opportunity to watch all the promo for Carmilla's season 2? It looks exciting!!! Be safe.

Thank you! Gah, I haven’t had much of a chance to do much, I have no spare moments to speak of! But I’m excited about the new season, especially the mysterious new location. :)

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Totally Carmilla. Maybe.

And then

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Anchor. You probably know why.

These anchor shaped book clasps on our 1893 copy of Christopher Columbus, His Own Book of Privileges, fits in nicely with the book’s topic. Ahoy! [Ranney fB C726S] #uiowa #specialcollections #libraries #anchors #bookclasps #seavoyages #christophercolumbus #19thcentury #beautifulbookclasps

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You should give us an update about how are you doing, just to make sure you're still alive and well.

Dear Gentle Readers,

Oh dear - well firstly, thank you for your kind thoughts. I am loath to tell you much about my absurd life but I can tell you I am still alive. Everything else about life is still ridiculous and I could certainly do with a time turner. 

Also, congratulate me, for I am no longer sleeping on a couch! Yay! Once these pesky unexpected visitors leave I hope to have more time to update. Move to a big, glittery, shiny city across the seas and all of a sudden all kinds of people come out of the woodwork wanting to see you. Where do they come from? I know not. But they are stealing all my time. 

Do not worry, kind strangers - though I may be completely incompetent as a scribbler and a human being , I at least have a few friends here who would be sure to inform me if I’m dead or something. So if you don’t hear from me it’s because I am nonsensically busy or tripping over something or I have my foot in my mouth - something ridiculous and/or awkward. For instance right now I am sitting in a park, sleep deprived and thirsty, typing to you all because there’s no water or wifi and too much noisy construction in the place I’m staying. This is the kind of thing that keeps happening, so you see, it’s not so easy to find time and space to write. Is this real life? I hardly know.

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When Hell comes to collect its tithe, in the time of the bells.

Illustration by Vicente, for La Esfera (1915, Spain)

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For those who wish to know what smoky, oil slick, wafting evil might look like.

Her smoke rose up forever, Josephine Cardin