Russian Sledges

Bradshaw, William Richard, 1851-1927. The goddess of Atvatabar : being the history of the discovery of the interior world and conquest of Atvatabar, 1892.

SF-251

Houghton Library, Harvard University

Robida, Albert, 1848-1926. Le vingtième siècle, 1883.

*90W-205

Houghton Library, Harvard University

American wood type co., South Windham, Conn. [Specimens of wood type, 1885?]

TypTs 870 90.139

Houghton Library, Harvard University

There was a signal mix-up this evening on the train, and when I had to switch tracks at Stony Brook I was resigned to commuter mayhem, complete with battling announcements over the loudspeakers. But there was a silver lining - the tenth Doctor was o [...]

virtual-artifacts:

A simurgh - a monstrous mythical bird with the power of reasoning and speech. From ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) by al-Qazwīnī (d. 1283/682).

The Takarazuka Revue is a highly successful musical theatre troupe in which all the actors are women. If they want to get married, they have to resign. The compensation is stardom and they are envied by millions of women across Japan. On stage they conjure up an impossibly romantic and glamorous world far removed from the narrow confines of housewives' and office-girls' lives.

This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the Julio Mario Santo Domingo Collection. 

The Santo Domingo Collection continues to bolster Harvard’s library of works by author and occult leader Aleister Crowley. These range from substantive books on magic to pamphlets containing individual poems (one of these, titled “Tyrol”, is a condemnation of Mussolini for his 1929 prohibition of that name as part of his Italianization of the region). Crowley’s grandiose, egotistical mode is in evidence throughout, but so is his sardonic sense of humor. That humor is emblemized in his dedications, forewords, and other front matter, at turns combative, boastful, and wryly self-effacing. Two examples appear in this post. The first appears in The sword of song, called by Christians the book of the Beast. This was Crowley’s first publication in which he referred to himself as “the Beast”, in defiance of his critics, and according to Crowley, was impeded by boycotts from British publishers. (The publisher on the imprint is the Society for Religious Truth, Benares, although subsequent Society publications would give Inverness as their location.) The dedication roundly dismisses these opponents of Crowley’s poetic vision.

The second example is Ambergris, a selection of poetry. In its preface, Crowley outlines the selection process in a passage both self-deprecating and resentful, making reference to the public’s underappreciation of his work.

The sword of song: EC9.C8863.904s, HOLLIS number 14166213

Ambergris: EC9.C8863.910a, HOLLIS number 2915207

Thanks to rare book cataloger Ryan Wheeler for contributing this post.

horror-sci-fi-gifs:

Nuns go mad under the influence of Satan in WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES (1922)

It's true that people with substance abuse problems can "detox" when they get clean, but the kind of "detoxing" offered by stuff in the grocery store or pharmacy has no basis in science and is just a scammy way to scare you into opening your wallet (the companies that sell "detox" can't even say what "toxins" they're getting rid of). Read the rest

In the past few weeks, Walsh has sacked nearly a dozen department heads and city managers. Earlier this week, he swept out all three members of the Boston Licensing Board and installed his own appointees to regulate liquor licenses and other issues.

Keegan, a 1-year-old yellow Lab weighing 65 pounds, is the Boston Fire Department’s first arson dog since the early ’90s, when Shuttle the black Lab retired along with his handler. In the intervening years, Boston relied on Massachusetts State Police dogs. Keegan was a gift from the Connecticut State Police. He is “imprinted” on 17 of the most common accelerants used in arsons — among them gas, diesel, kerosene, lighter fluid, Coleman fuel, mineral spirits, acetone, and lacquer thinner. He can detect as little as two microliters of accelerant — that is, two one-millionths of a liter — and he can do it in smoky darkness, while the embers of a fire still burn around him and smoke detectors and sirens wail.

Space cards

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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Oh, God bless the Internet. Just check out the following Craigslist ad and its accompanying picture, please. (Bolding my own and out of love.)

This sword is from the 1700s. I got it at an antique store in my memaw’s home town back in 1984. The person who sold it to me told me to be careful because there is a 90+% chance that it is cursed. Since it’s been in my house my life has descended into pure chaos. My knitting group came over and they all said they could feel a strange energy in my sword room (I have a collection of over 100 swords. This is my only haunted sword). Since i got this sword, about 3 times a week a crucifix will fall off of my wall for no reason. I am 76 years old. I cannot have this cursed item in my house anymore. Please take it off my hands!!

Listen, everyone, don’t get the wrong idea about collecting ancient weaponry. Heck, this gal’s collected over 100 swords, and this is the first one possessed by the undead! I bet if she didn’t have a crucifix she’d never even have known the difference!

Incidentally, this is almost exactly how Joe Hill’s Heart Shaped Box begins. Any potential buyers looking to take that massive sword off that tiny woman’s hands better have a plan for how to deal with their new roommates. (Ghosts just can not stick to chore wheels.)

(Via io9)

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1935 Duesenberg SJ Town Cabriolet by Bohman & Schwartz. Photos by Darin Schnabel, courtesy RM Auctions.

In the 1930s, Mae West was among the highest paid and most influential women in America. A star of her stature deserved a car that was equally outlandish, and J. Herbert Newport reportedly designed just such a Duesenberg for the Hollywood starlet. The match was not to be; for reasons of cost (or perhaps, more immediate gratification), West opted to purchase another Duesenberg model, leaving the Bohman and Schwartz-bodied Duesenberg SJ to be purchased by candy heiress Ethel V. Mars instead.

Mars was the second wife of Franklin Mars, whose Mars Candy Company enjoyed monumental success with its Milky Way and Snickers candy bars. One of the wealthiest families in America, the Mars clan enjoyed a 2,800 acre compound in Tennessee (complete with a 21-bedroom home that boasted the largest non-commercial dining room in the state) along with additional real estate holdings that included a Chicago mansion on the shores of Lake Michigan. When Franklin Mars died in 1934, he left control of his company to Ethel, making her the highest paid businesswoman in America.

The 1935 Duesenberg SJ Town Cabriolet designed by Herb Newport and rendered by Bohman and Schwartz would have been a fitting automobile for such a titan of industry as Ethel Mars. Its aerodynamic body must have seemed downright futuristic to passersby, and its factory supercharged inline eight-cylinder engine (rated at 320 horsepower) would have produced acceleration sufficient to leave lesser motorcars in its wake.

Such a fine motorcar came with an equally prestigious price tag, reported to be $20,000; that alone was enough to get the Duesenberg a mention in the November 16, 1936 issue of Time magazine, where chassis 2582 was described as, “the costliest car in the United States.”

Mars kept the chauffer-driven town car for several years before selling it to Edward Engle Brown, chairman of the board of Chicago’s First National Bank and Trust. Brown retained possession of the one-of-a-kind Duesenberg until the late 1940s, but the car then passed through a string of short-term owners. No longer a practical driver and not yet a prized collectible, the Duesenberg found its way into the collection of Bill Harrah in 1966. Under his stewardship, chassis 2582 received its first restoration, and the car remained in the Harrah Collection for the better part of two decades.

When Holiday Inn began selling off cars from the Harrah Collection in the mid-1980s, the Duesenberg was acquired by Richard Dicker, the retired chairman of the Penn Central Corporation. Dicker turned to Hibernia Auto Restorations in Hibernia, New Jersey, for the car’s second reconditioning, and it remained a highlight of his collection until his death in 1995.

Since then, the Duesenberg has seen four more owners, including the Andrews family, its current caretakers. Now that the family has announced its intention to downsize its collection, chassis 2582 (which reportedly retains its original engine, chassis and coachwork) will once again be offered for sale to the public.

When chassis 2582 crossed the block in August of 2007, it sold for a fee-inclusive price of $4.4 million. Described by RM as, “among the most ornate of all Duesenbergs,” the car is also said to be one of the 36 factory-built SJ models and one of four clean-sheet body designs produced by Bohman & Schwartz. RM predicts a selling price between $3.4 and $4.5 million when the car crosses the block in May of 2015.

For additional details on The Andrews Collection sale, visit RMAuctions.com.

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Why my fave is better than your fave

naturemetaltolkien:

Attestation of Vegvísir in the Huld Manuscript.

The Huld Manuscript is the name given to the book of collected Icelandic staves and spells, compiled by Geir Vigfusson in the 19th Century. Huld is the name of a völva in the Ynglinga and Sturlunga Sagas, who practiced Seiðr magic. A later Icelandic tale by Snorri Sturlusson tells us that she was a mistress of Odin, and mothered two demi-goddesses by him, who were named Þorgerðr and Irpa. If we look at the etymology, “Huld” means “Hidden” or “Secret” and is derived from Old Norse “Hulda”.  This root is seen in many other words in Germanic lore.

Over 100,000 Detroiters are at risk of losing their homes as the city sells off its stock of tax foreclosures. Young gentrifiers are buying the properties -- but some are queasy about it

“Having to kick people out takes all the fun out of owning a house.”

Oren Goldenberg, a 31-year-old filmmaker based in Detroit, could have bought a $500 house at the Wayne County tax auction this fall-- but having to evict a homeowner turned him off.

Continue reading...

For Part I of this article, visit yesterday’s installment. The Part Where I Ask Marnie Stern How Much Money She Makes There’s a lot of speculation in articles like this one about whether musicians are earning a living from their work in the streaming age, and I figured it might be valuable if I just More

An anonymous reader writes: Scientific journal publishers have been under pressure recently by both scientists and the public to relax their restrictive rules on the sharing of information. Now, Macmillan has announced that its Nature Publishing Group will make all research papers free to read. This will require the use of proprietary viewing software, but it's a step in the right direction. "Initial reactions to the policy have been mixed. Some note that it is far from allowing full open access to papers. "To me, this smacks of public relations, not open access," says John Wilbanks, a strong advocate of open-access publishing in science and a senior fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri. 'With access mandates on the march around the world, this appears to be more about getting ahead of the coming reality in scientific publishing. Now that the funders call the tune and the funders want the articles on the web at no charge, these articles are going to be open anyway,' he says. But Peter Suber, director of the Office for Scholarly Communication at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says that the program is a step forward in that it eliminates the six-month embargo that NPG demands for free archiving of manuscripts."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Labbé, Mr. (Anthony). A new collection of dances : containing a great number of the best ball and stage dances, ca. 1725.

TS 552.13.55.1

Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University

Called "one of the most significant examples of Storybook architecture in Los Angeles" by the LA Conservancy, the Lawrence and Martha Joseph Residence and Apartments in Culver City is an incredibly unique property based on its exterior alone. But there's even more quirky fun inside, where former Disney artist Lawrence Joseph, a skilled carpenter, married fanciful, fairytale decor with nautical themes in both the main single-family residence and two adjacent two-story buildings/cottages with apartments inside. Up for rent today is the two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage that the listing refers to as "the main house."

The cottage's original stone fireplace is intact and stained glass windows give the place that extra whimsical boost. The nautical comes out with a lot of things that look like ship's wheels. The kitchen "comes with a mini-fridge that is built in," and the bedrooms have views of the front yard's fountain and reportedly turtle-filled pond. The entire compound (sometimes called "Hobbit houses") was made an LA Historic-Cultural Monument in 1996. Rent is $2,595.

· $2595 / 2br - Enchanting 2 Bedroom Cottage in "The Hobbit's House" [Craigslist] · Sublet in Culver City's Historic Hobbit Compound [Curbed LA]

The holidays are packed with opportunities to raise a glass of our favorite boozy beverages and toast family, friends and good fortunes. But our ability to digest rum-spiked eggnog may be due to a massive climate shift that occurred millions of years ago. Using the tools of paleogenetics, scientists have recently traced the evolutionary history of an enzyme that helps us metabolize ethanol, the principal type of alcohol found in adult beverages. Scientists believe early human ancestors evol

The last time Frank Rich had a conversation with Chris Rock was in early 1996, when they and the 1950s teen heartthrob Pat Boone were thrown together in a New York television studio as panelists on Bill Maher’s old show Politically Incorrect. This time they had two conversations in a ... More »