We love the use of two different cloths on our copy of Frederick Locker’s London Rhymes (New York, 1893). #PublishersBindingThursday

Browse the Library Company’s database of 19th-Century Cloth Bindings to see more!

Locker, Frederick. London Rhymes. New York : Frederick A. Stokes Company. 1893. 16 cm x 10 cm x 1 cm 

Moral of this story is that small things are cute. 

George Adams, Plates for the Essays on the Microscope (London, 1787).

Adams, a British instrument maker and optician, sold this book of plates, along with his telescopes, in his shop. Note the tiny circles, figure 2 and figure 4, which show the actual size of a bee’s proboscis.

With funding from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Heritage Philadelphia Program, the Library Company began a collaborative project with artist Jennifer Levonian in 2010. The culmination of that collaborative process was the creation of an animated video, Rebellious Bird,  inspired by Levonian’s interactions with the Library Company’s Civil War collection. The animation explores the topic of women who disguised themselves as men and fought as soldiers in the Civil War. 

Complementing Rebellious Bird was a small exhibition, In Disguise: Cross Dressing and Gender Identity, expanding this topic beyond the Civil War. Women not only fought as men in the Civil War, they also concealed their gender to fight alongside men during the American Revolution and in other military conflicts. Women went to sea as male sailors, played theatrical roles written for male characters, and in one instance an African-American woman escaped from slavery disguised as a white man. Using material from both the book and graphic collections of the Library Company, the exhibition explores cross dressing and gender identity during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Watch the short animation, Rebellious Bird, here: 

https://vimeo.com/49038883

and view the online exhibition, In Disguise, here:

http://www.librarycompany.org/crossdressing/index.htm

Loreta Janeta Velazquez. The Woman in Battle: A Narrative of the Exploits, Adventures, and Travels of Madame Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Otherwise Known as Lieutenant Harry J. Buford, Confederate States Army. Hartford: T. Belknap, 1876.

Sometimes books want to go out in a fancy sweater. 

According to the bookplate, Mary Sandwith (1732-1815) was given this Bible by her grandfather in 1736, when she was a small child. She likely made the needlepoint woolen cover in the Bargello style, or flame stitch, when she was around eleven years old. The spine has the words “Mary Sandwith her BIBLE 1743” embroidered to look like a book label.

The Book of Common Prayer (London, 1702), The Holy Bible (London, 1684), The Whole Book of Psalms (London, 1673) bound together.

Last week the Library Company hosted a book club, On the Map, to compliment our current exhibition, The Living Book : New Perspectives on Form and Function. The discussion explored how maps relate and realign our history. We also found some interesting beasts splashing around like this one in our hand-colored copy of Theatrum orbis terrarum by Abraham Ortelius (1595).

Ortelius, Abraham. Theatrum orbis terrarum… .  [Antverpiae : Ex officina Plantiniana, M.D.XCV.]

Transform your outfit from work to evening with this fancy feathered feline festooned accessory, or the 1884 version of the Cat in the Hat. 

Godey’s Magazine. V. 108, no. 647 (May 1884).  Philadelphia : L.A. Godey & Co., 1884. Per G 43 114939.O.

Some people think this is particularly savage, to draw in books to highlight an important passage. However, we think this is evidence of a book well-loved, and gives insight to its life and should never be disposed of.

The classic “pointing finger” is also called a manicule. 

Basilius Valentinus. The triumphant chariot of antimony … .  [Oxford : A. Lichfield], 1660.

This episode of Unfolding Fossils is brought to you by the Library Company of Philadelphia and the personal library of Sarah Mapps Douglass, a prominent African American abolitionist, gifted artist and educator.

Written by a female author, our copy of Familiar Lessons in Mineralogy and Geology… (Vol. II) includes this beautiful hand-colored fold-out showing impressions of leaves on various stones as well as layers of sedimentary rock. Douglass signs her name at the top of the title page signifying her ownership of the book.

Welsh, Jane Kilby. Familar lessons in mineralogy and geology… Vol. II. Boston : Clapp & Hull, 1833. 

Last week our conservation staff in the bindery had a creative day of making paste papers. It is hard to not be jealous of all the work they get to do on a daily basis, but sometimes we get a chance to participate. With this project we had that opportunity. Who can say finger painting isn’t allowed in the work place??

Naughty dog or not, that cat’s face looks awfully human to us! #FelineFriday

Found while cataloging our copy of The Infants’ Delight (Volume II, 1871).

The Infants’ delight. Volume 2.. [London] : The Graphotyping Com. Lim London., [1871] 3-141, [1] p., [3] leaves of plates :  ill. ;  21 cm.