Library Company of Philadelphia
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Welcome to the Library Company of Philadelphia's Tumblr page! Founded by Ben Franklin in 1731, we are an independent research library specializing in American history and culture from the 17th through the 19th centuries. This page highlights materials from LCP's extensive collection of rare books, manuscripts, broadsides, ephemera, prints, photographs, and works of art.
“To give an accurate description of their shape is a thing impossible. Some of them appear with horns that they bend to every shape; some seem to have but one leg and a tail, others seem to have three; some have bodies somewhat of the shape of a tadpole; others bear a distant resemblance to the porpoise; others exhibit the shape of a catfish with the head of a grass-hopper; others resemble nothing under the sun, but are wholly sui generis.”
Magnified #PageFrights from The Book of Wonders (Boston, circa 1872).