Works of Industry of All Nations

A scrapbook, compiled by William Paxon, an exhibitor at The Great Exhibition of 1851 (The Crystal Palace Exhibition). In addition to flyers and cards gathered at the stalls of fellow exhibitors, Paxon appears to have helped himself to examples of placards that were intended to remain where they were.

Paxon, from Hampstead, exhibited a device called the “Lunarian, an improved contrivance for showing phases of the moon.”

The Agnes Magazine

A handmade magazine by Gelett Burgess, created for his crush, Agnes Bouchard, while living in London in 1898.

Mettle

Salvation

Image links have been fixed, Praises Be!

And now, a more exacting route to heaven:  “Survey or table declaring the order of the causes of salvation and damnation according to God’s word …”

From: Perkins, William, 1558-1602.  The workes of that famovs and vvorthy minister of Christ, in the Vniversitie of Cambridge, Mr. W. Perkins … Newly corrected according to his owne copies … [London] Printed by Iohn Legate, printer to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge, 1608-31.

Divine Comedy

A photograph of the first production of Owen Dodson’s Divine Comedy, based on the life of the religious leader Father Divine, at the Yale University Theatre, February, 1938.

Whisper Campaign

An issue of Whisper from June, 1956, an example of the gossip-fueled tabloids that multiplied in the 1950s,
answering (and creating) the American public’s thirst for scandals – especially about
actors and actresses, and exposés of the underbelly of the middle class.

Among such articles about wife-swapping in the suburbs and crime rings for hire,
are overtly hostile profiles of gay men, including the pan of Liberace’s first starring role in a film
and a frank open letter to Tennessee Williams penned by his “old friend,” Max Maxwell.

The magazine is also filled with ads promising body-reshaping, sex tips, and
and the extremely practical “hair-do cutouts” from Hollywood Hair-Do (located on Long Island).

Frame backs

Versos of a few framed paintings in the Beinecke Library’s collection.

Broken

Faithful readers may have noticed that links to many images in older blog posts are broken.
This is the result of moving files to a new server location.

Please bear with us as we fix these links. Soon our vision will clear.