Today we honor the life and legacy of trailblazing Civil Rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. 

Honoring Martin Luther King ([United States], 1979). Collotype envelope. 

Image depicts a 1st day of issue commemorative envelope featuring a portrait of Martin Luther King.

Happy Birthday, Ben!   Sorry, we couldn’t fit 314 candles on the cake.

Does this half dragon/half bird chasing an insect qualify for #Feathursday? 

We’re honestly not sure anymore. 

Anyway, Happy Appreciate a Dragon Day!

Image: Painter, Read & Eldredge, Fashionable Clothing, Franklin Hall, 321 Chestnut St., Philadelphia. [Philadelphia, ca. 1880]. Chromolithograph; 6.5 x 10 cm.

We are venturing #outofthisworld past the moon this week, far into the Milky Way, and beyond. These striking ombrè plates show a small grouping of nebulae of peculiar forms, including the Crab Nebula found in the constellation Taurus, the Cone Nebula in the constellation Monoceros (Unicorn), and a Spiral Nebula in the constellation Virgo.   

The spiral nebula, you might have noticed, looks an awful lot like a galaxy, and that’s because it is. Up until the beginning of the 20th century, the existence of galaxies outside of our own wasn’t known or understood. Spiral nebulae were the focus of the great Shapley-Curtis Debate in 1920, but it wasn’t until 1924 that Edwin Hubble was able to prove that the spiral-shaped Andromeda Nebula was actually a galaxy of its own, comprised of stars, far outside the Milky Way. 

 J.A.S. Rollwin. Astronomy simplified for general reading. London: William Tegg & Co; New York: Scribner, Welford, & Armstrong, 1875.

Is it Friday yet? 

Conway, gent’s furnisher ([Philadelphia]: [ca. 1880]). Chromolithograph. 

Image depicts  a man wearing a conductor’s cap asleep on a train with his mouth open and his head in his left hand. A suitcase with the name of the business superimposed onto the side sits on the floor next to him.   

It may be #MorrisMonday, but who says we can’t still celebrate #SelfieSunday? 

Marriott Canby Morris, Picture of myself standing in porch, 1885. Glass negative. 

Image depicts Marriott Canby Morris wearing breaches and a hat with a round brim. He stands with one hand at his hip in the corner of the porch at the Morris family home Avocado.

Just some colorful block printed #endoftheweekendpapers to get you in the weekend groove. 

Found in: Benjamin Franklin. Manuel de Philosophie Practique: pour servir de suite à la Science du Bon-homme Richard. Lausanne: Chez Hignou et Compe,1795.

A small selection of the recently-digitized Pattison Patterned Cloth Binding Collection is now on display at 1314 Locust. Stop by and check it out! All 600+ bindings in this collection will soon be added to the 19th Century Cloth Binding Database, so stay tuned! Until then, we invite you to explore the 4000+ bindings already in the database here: http://ow.ly/g5G850xMwSX 

For this weeks #outofthisworld post, we are traveling a mere 238,900 miles away, to our own moon.  The volvelle shown here was drawn and engraved by Polish astronomer Johonnes Hevelius for inclusion in his book, Selenographia. The first lunar atlas, Selenographia provides detailed drawings of the moon, including its landscape, topography, and waxing and waning phases.

Johannes Hevelius. Selenographia: Sive, Lunae Descriptio. Gedani : Autoris sumtibus, typis Hünefeldianis, 1647.

Now that it’s the first full week of the New Year, it’s time to get started on those resolutions! 

Edward Williams Clay, Roper’s Gymnasium. 274 Market Street, Philadelphia (Philadelphia: From Childs & Inman’s Press,  [ca. 1831]). Lithograph. 

Image depicts an advertisement showing the interior of the well-attended gymnasium, operated by James Roper on the 800 block of Market Street, in which several men exercise in front of a crowd of spectators. Roper established the gymnasium circa 1831 which relocated to the 800 block of Walnut Street circa 1833.