#ColorOurCollections is back and we are ready to get creative!  

Launched by The New York Academy of Medicine Library in 2016, this week-long challenge has brought new and whimsical perspectives to special collections and the Library Company is excited to participate again this year. Once our higher resolution images are available on the #ColorOurCollections site, we will share the link!  

We start with a fine prospect. #getmeashrubbery 

Worlidge, John, fl. 1669-1698.  Systema horti-culturæ : or, the art of gardening. In three books. … Illustrated with sculptures, representing the form of gardens, according to the newest models. …  London : printed for Will. Freeman, 1700.

Drawn by an unknown artist, these cats are doing the weekend right in our copy of Explanations : a sequel to “Vestiges of the natural history of creation.” Wishing you a happy and relaxing #caturday! 

Chambers, Robert.  Explanations : a sequel to “Vestiges of the natural history of creation. New York : Wiley & Putnam, 1846.

This beautiful gilt illustration caught our eye, in our 1874 purple cloth binding of Richard Wagner and the music of the future : history and aesthetics. 

Hueffer, Francis. Richard Wagner and the music of the future : History and aesthetics. London : Chapman and Hall, 1874.

An image so nice, they used it twice! Happy #Caturday

Aesop’s Fables: a new version, chiefly from original sources. Philadelphia : Geo. S. Appleton, 1851. 208, [8] p. :  ill. ;  16 cm.

TGI Finis Friday! We love this nature scene finis, found while cataloging our copy of Sergeant Bell, and his raree-show, published in 1839 by Thomas Tegg in London. 

Old Humphrey, 1787-1854. Sergeant Bell, and his raree-show : embellished with wood cuts / by Cruikshanks, Thompson, Williams, etc. London: : Printed for Thomas Tegg, no. 73, Cheapside; ; [Dublin] : Tegg and Co. Dublin; ; [Glasgow] : Griffn and Co. Glasgow; ; [Sydney, Australia] : ; [Hobart Town, Australia] : J. and S.A. Tegg, Syndey, and Hobart Town., 1839. 

We love the Eastlake-inspired decorative gilt blocking on our copy of Bella Zilfa Spencer’s Right and Wrong, or, She Told the Truth at Last, published by W.J. Holland & Co. in 1870. 

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

1870, Right and wrong : or, she told the truth at last. With other stories. Springfield, Mass. : W.J. Holland & Co. 1870 12 cm x 20 cm x 4 cm.  

Hats off to you on this #TinyTuesday!

Although this tiny book measures just 10 centimeters, it is chock-full of advice on how to be polite and well-mannered by mid-19th-century standards.

The Polite present, or Manual of good manners.. Boston: : Munroe and Francis., 1834. 71, [1] p. :  ill. ;  10 cm.

Purple bookcloth is notorious for fading, as evidenced by our copy of John Smith Dye’s History of the Plots and Crimes of the Great Conspiracy to Overthrow Liberty in America, published in 1866. Exposure to light faded much of this bookcloth to its original ecru, but a shorter shelf-mate protected a portion of the front cover.

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

Dye, Deacon.   1866, History of the plots and crimes of the great conspiracy to overthrow liberty in America. : Complete in one volume. / By John Smith Dye.  New York : published by the author.  15 cm x 23 cm x 2.5 cm

A sweet new addition to our #caturday library. 

Accessioning gives the curator a first look at a new acquisition. Often, it’s the first opportunity to find hidden treasures inside books, such as drawings, inscriptions or ephemera tucked between pages. Sometimes it’s just as exciting to see a kitten illustrated on the cover. 

Family Cares; and other stories. Boston : D. Lothrop and Company, [1879]. 

Although we don’t know who created them, we love these ink drawings that were found on the front free endpaper of Benjamin Franklin’s copy of congressional proceedings from November 1783 to June 1784.

United States. Continental Congress.  Journal of the United States in Congress assembled: : containing the proceedings from the third day of November, 1783, to the third day of June, 1784. Volume IX. Published by order of Congress. Philadelphia [Pa.]: : Printed by John Dunlap, printer to the United States in Congress assembled., [1784] [2], 317, [1], xviii p. ;  22 cm (8vo)