Speedway!

A photo scrapbook of cars, drivers, and photographers at the Thompson Speedway in Thompson, Connecticut in 1940.

The Word and The Image

A Curious Hieroglyphick Bible; or, Select Passages in the Old and New Testaments. London: T. Hodgson, 1785

The third edition of this title, a format that was used to teach children and uneducated adults passages from the Bible through the use of iconic graphics.

 

Don’t rain on my

Liquid accounting

 H. L. Mencken inscribes a book for Carl Van Vechten and totals the amount of water under the bridge . . .

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, extra illustrated

An 1853 edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin from London, with 100 added illustrations in watercolor by an artist, presumably “Eugene Bauer” by the appearance of his signature next to several images. The detailed and deft characters and objects add a contemporary view of the famous novel by an amateur artist.

Baby-Doll Carriage

Marjorie Lauderdale, daughter of J.V. Lauderdale, in a wicker baby carriage on the verandah

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 Children with a baby carriage, photographed by Carl Van Vechten

Used with permission of the Van Vechten Trust; the permission of the Trust is required to reprint or use Van Vechten photographs in any way. To contact the Trust email: Van Vechten Trust.

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Photography of baby by William Shew

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Young girl with doll and doll carriage

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Girls with dolls and doll carriage

Venus as a Boy

A deluxe artist’s edition. with illustrations by Leonor Fini, of the 1884 novel by the decadent writer, Rachilde.
The images from this edition (Editions d’Art Agori, 1972) express just a hint of the complicated, soap opera-level plot that starts with a young woman, cross-dressing as a man, who takes a male lover who cross-dresses as a woman. Throw in drugs, prostitution and a bit of necrophila and you have a snapshot of what constituted the wildest urges of the decadent movement.

Dueling Apple Pies

Two versions of the well-known ABC tale, The History of An Apple Pie, both from the early 19th century, but which came first?