It’s Friday and we wanted to do something fun so here are some funghi. 

This hand colored plate is from Rambles in Search of Flowerless Plants, by British botanist Margaret Plues. Margaret wrote an  entire series of “Rambles,” which were marketed towards the general public, in addition to other scientific works on British grasses and ferns. 

Margaret Plues. Rambles in  Search of Flowerless Plants. (London, 1865)
#FunghiFriday #Botany #WomeninScience #WomeninSTEM #WomensHistory #RareBooks #SpecialCollections #NewAcquisition

Please excuse us while we swoon over these gold printed #endoftheweekendpapers and keep swooning right on into the weekend.  

Printed advertisement endpapers from The Lady’s Almanac for 1854. By Damrell & Moore & G. Coolidge. Boston: John P. Jewett & Co., [1853].

Not really sure how it’s the end of July already, but we’re trying to stay cool about it. Wishing you all a pleasant weekend! 

Image from Frank Leslie’s Lady’s Magazine, 1874.

Processing new acquisitions has an element of exciting discovery. This beautifully engraved back case of a pocket watch functions as a personal memento. Watch and discover! 

[Portrait of an unidentified man.] [ca. 1850.]  Daguerreotype pocket watch setting. P.2017.60

Looks like something had an appetite for the gilt edges of our copy of Poems by Bernard Barton (1844). Glaire, the preparation used to create these shimmering fore edges, possibly attracted these hungry little bibliophiles [insects] with the egg white in its mixture. Now that’s an enriching protein… #nom #giltypleasures 

Barton, Bernard. Poems. Philadelphia : Henry F. Anners, 1844.

We are excited to present one of our favorite new acquisitions: A View of the Tunnel under the Thames, as it will Appear When Completed, a tunnel book published in London in 1828 by S.E. Gouyn. Read more about this recent acquisition in the latest Curator’s Favorite, written by Associate Curator of Prints and Photographs, Erika Piola.

A view of the tunnel under the Thames, as it will appear when completed … / Engineer M. Brunell. [graphic]. London : S. E. Goyn, 7 Fish St. ; February 1, 1828. 1 item :  hand-colored engraving and aquatint ;  folded to 12 x 15 cm (4.75 x 5.75 in.) (accordion format) + slip case (12 x 15 cm; 4.5 x 5.75 in.)