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A colourful bookI encountered this book from 1692 in a French database today and it turns out to be quite special. For one thing, apart from a single mention in a catalogue, no scholar appears to have written, or even know about it. Moreover, the object is special because it provides an unusual peek into the workshop of 17th-century painters and illustrators. In over 700 pages of handwritten Dutch, the author, who identifies himself as A. Boogert (Pic 2), describes how to make watercolour paints. He explains how to mix the colours and how to change their tone by adding “one, two or three portions of water”. To illustrate his point he fills each facing page with various shades of the colour in question (lower image). To top it he made an index of all the colours he described, which in itself is a feast to look at (Pics 1 and 3). In the 17th century, an age known as the Golden Age of Dutch Painting, this manual would have hit the right spot. It makes sense, then, that the author explains in the introduction that he wrote the book for educational purposes. Remarkably, because the manual is written by hand and therefore literally one of a kind, it did not get the “reach” among painters - or attention among modern art historians - it deserves.
Pic: Aix-de-Provence, Bibliothèque municipale/Bibliothèque Méjanes, MS 1389 (1228). Luckily, the entire book can be viewed here, in hi-res, zoomable images. Here is a description of the book.
The camaraderie between theological antagonists has caused a firestorm in the blogosphere. On the right, critics see Mr. Baucum as soft on crime because he has called Bishop Johnston not only a friend but also a brother in Christ. On the left, some doubters see Mr. Baucum as a schismatic.“The extreme on the right and the extreme on the left have much to lose if they give an inch,” said the Rev. J. Barney Hawkins IV, vice president of Virginia Theological Seminary. “If you’ve made your position synonymous with the will of God, it is very difficult to be reasonable.”
The backlash intensified when Bishop Johnston allowed a prominent author, John Dominic Crossan, who has questioned the literal truth of key elements of the New Testament, to address his diocesan clergy. In response, the leader of breakaway Anglicans in Virginia, Bishop John A. M. Guernsey, asked Mr. Baucum not to appear in public with the Episcopal bishop. Bishop Guernsey explained in an email interview that “the Episcopal Church’s embrace of false teachers and false teaching made it impossible for the relationship to continue.” (The relationship has, in fact, continued, but more privately and with less frequent get-togethers.)
[gallery] Howl’s Moving Castle, 8-bit style
[gallery] biblipeacay:
Scans from Modern Publicity annuals from the 1930s. Many more examples in blog post. (images above on Tumblr only)
[gallery] Two of John Vernon Lord’s illustrations from the new Folio Society edition of Finnegans Wake, plus two pages from the elaborate notebooks he keeps when working on such a project. I think I may have to buy the book, but I also wish I could buy a facsimile of Lord’s notebooks!
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And another. The app is fabulous, by the way.