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Lionel Wendt's Ceylon
Lionel Wendt (1900-1944) was born in Colombo, Ceylon, in 1900 the son of a Supreme Court Judge. He was educated at St Thomas's College, Columbo but as a young man spent time in England studying piano...
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Ralph Lavers illustrates Redskin Morning by Joan Grant
These are the colour plate illustrations for a book of stories with folkloric Native American settings called Redskin Morning and Other Stories by Joan Grant (Methuen, London: 1944). Normally, when I...
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Ralph Lavers illustrates Redskin Morning by Joan Grant II
As foreshadowed in yesterday's post in which I put up some of the colour illustrations from this book. These are a selection of the black and white work of Ralph Lavers illustrating Redskin Morning...
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The Corvo Cult by Robert Scoble
The 25th of this month, last Saturday, was the 101st Anniversary of the death of Baron Corvo. Last year at this time there were banquets and catalogues and all sorts of things going on. This year, a...
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Paul Nash Illustrates John Pudney's Almanack of Hope
John Pudney may well be one of the underrated fiction authors of the twentieth century, but possible not underrated as a poet. But I was completely charmed by this Almanack of Hope, a series of...
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Such Drama!
Every now and again friends and correspondents send me photos they have either found on the net or own themselves because they think they will appeal. Which is exactly how this chap came to me from...
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An Act of Contrition
I've long been fascinated by the predominantly, though not exclusively, Catholic practise of printing Holy Cards: small cards with illustrations, usually of saints, and prayers on the back relating in...
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Albert Wainwright Artist and Playwright
A while ago, Callum James Books published the visual diary of the artist Albert Wainwright through some years when he was involved in a relation with a young German called Otto. He has featured on...
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C. W. Allers draws Bob Openshaw
May I introduce you to Bob Openshaw. He is the subject of a three-headed portrait here by C. W. Allers. I was delighted to see the original of this and take these photos when visiting a friend and...
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Abraham and Isaac, Benjamin Britten & The Old Stile Press
The Biblical story of Abraham and Isaac is a peculiar and, for some, problematic one. There are currents of conflict and tension and impartial readers often react strongly to God's role in the story...
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Gymnastic Display Postcards
Today I have been enjoying this set of postcards. This, according to the handwritten annotations on the verso is the 1st Royal Naval Brigade giving a gymnastic demonstration at a "Tattoo" in Groningen...
View ArticleA. J. A. Symons and his Musical Boxes
A. J. A. Symons (1900-1941) will be known to most readers of this blog as the author of the first and only biography of Frederick Rolfe to catch the public's attention, The Quest for Corvo. Although...
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Sydney Matthewman and Albert Wainwright
The poet Sydney Matthewman who was, at various points a founder of the magazine Yorkshire Poetry and an editor of The Poetry Review in the 1920s, and through the agency of his father's printing...
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1958: The Atomium
Those who follow me on Twitter will know that I've been at the ABA Chelsea Bookfair today in Chelsea Town Hall. I don't go to buy but to help on the stand of a shop I work with, but every now and...
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Vintage Swimwear on a Sunday
I thought, it has been a little while since we've seen any vintage swimwear here so this is a Sunday Swimwear treat for us all. I don't own any of these, all come from the Internet: many but not all...
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How To Be An Edwardian In The Snow
I've been photographing and scanning a huge pile of photographs of an Edwardian party in some, as yet, anonymous Alpine resort ready to put them all up for sale but some of them are just such great...
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Paintings by Alfred Waagner
These intricate and beautiful paintings are by Alfred Waagner and I am grateful to their owner for allowing me to photograph ans post them here. Waagner (1886-1960) was an Austrian painter and...
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The Diary of a Dead Officer by Arthur Graeme West (1918)
WEST, Arthur Graeme. The Diary of a Dead Officer. The Office of the Herald, London: 1918. Posthumously edited by C. E. M. Joad, a contemporary of West both at school and at Oxford, the book consists...
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Vintage Swimwear: Beach Buddies
It's been a while since I have added any bona fide vintage swimwear photos to my physical collection so when these two sexy chaps dropped onto the mat this morning I felt you all might like to share...
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Albert Wainwright Illustrates Castle in the Sun by Hilda Brearley
Hilda Brearley was a teacher, poet and author of just one novel for children, Castle in the Sun (Thomas Nelson, London: 1947), from which these illustrations by Albert Wainwright are taken. Brearley...
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