Les Fleurs Animees (1847)

I was thumbing through some antique prints in a shop a few weeks ago and came across a unique colored plate from a 1847 book called Les Fleurs Animees, illustrated by J. J. Grandville. I'm not French scholar, but I believe it translates to The Animated Flowers, animated in that the difference between this book and other botanical pictorials is that these flowers have human faces and characteristics.



Many of the illustrations are based on the flower or plant's namesake, such as the Narcissus.



Some of them are cheeky or amusing, like these Hawthorn (Aubepine in French) which are about to be trimmed.






I've found the book and its individual prints for sale online in various places, but it does seem to be somewhat rare. A framed print from Les Fleurs Animees would make for a lovely decoration of any room.

Brooklyn Bridge 1899

I thought this video was really cool, especially for people who are familiar with New York. This footage of the Brooklyn Bridge was filmed by Thomas Edison in 1899.

The Princess and the Goblin

When I was a kid, the 1992 film The Princess and the Goblin was one of my favorite movies. I was surprised to find out that it is actually based on a children's novel by George MacDonald. The novel was published in 1872 by by Strahan & Co, and its sequel published in 1883. Critic Jeffrey Holdaway describes both books as initially "normal fairytales" that "slowly become stranger," and they contain layers of symbolism similar to Lewis Carroll's work. George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister who influenced other authors like W.H. Auden, J.R.R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, Mark Twain, and Madeleine L'Engle. I've heard of MacDonald before but I had no idea of his work in fantasy and children's literature or that he, a simple minister, impacted so many famous authors.

Absinthe

Absinthe is an anise-flavored spirit and is usually green in color but can also be clear or milky. In literature, absinthe is commonly referred to as le fee verte, the green fairy. Absinthe contains the chemical thujone and was banned in many countries because it was thought to contain an addictive psychoactive drug, but there is no evidence that absinthe is more harmful than any other spirit.



Absinthe was traditionally poured over a sugar cube, as seen here.

Grande wormwood, one of the three main herbs used to produce absinthe.

Absinthe has been around since the mid-1500s but reached its popularity in the 1840s when it was given to French troops as a malaria treatment. Absinthe then became popular in bars and cabarets, and by the 1860s, 5 p.m. in Paris was called l'heure verte, the green hour. Mass production caused the price of absinthe to drop and the French were drinking 36 million litres of absinthe a year by 1910. Absinthe also enjoyed popularity in Spain, the Czech Republic, and New Orleans. The Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street was frequented by Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Franklin Roosevelt, and Frank Sinatra. Absinthe was banned in many countries due to its high alcoholic content and supposed hallucinogenic effects, but one can purchase it in the States today, as the ban on absinthe was lifted in 2007.



Poster by Henri Privat-Livemont, 1896.



The Absinthe Drinker, by Viktor Oliva (1861-1928)

Nikola Tesla, Inventor

My grandfather was full-blooded Croatian, so I always enjoy discovering new things about his cultural heritage. I recently found out that Edison's fiercest competitor was Nikola Tesla, a Serb from modern day Croatia. Tesla's father was a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, which may help explain Tesla's later pledge of abstinence. Tesla studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic, where he memorized complete books with the help of a photographic memory. He worked for the National Telephone Company in Budapest and the Continental Edison Company in Paris. Along the way, he conceived many inventions and adaptations of electrical devices related to his field. In 1884, Tesla came to the US to work for Edison himself, and, in 1886, Tesla formed his own company, where he continued to develop advancements in electric engineering (that I couldn't begin to explain, thus the vagueness). Tesla and Edison butted heads in the late 1880s partly due to Edison's promotion of the less efficient DC (direct current) and Tesla's advocation of AC (alternating current). During his life, Tesla contributed research to radiation, remote control devices, radio, commercial electricity, wireless telegraphy, and energy conversion. After his death in 1943, Tesla was cremated and his papers confiscated and declared top secret, as officials like J. Edgar Hoover feared that Tesla's work on such hypothetical weapons as "the death ray" would fall into the wrong hands.



Tesla, circa 1890.

Interesting facts about Nikola Tesla: predicted his mother's death after a dream; was influenced by Hinduism and named devices after Sanskrit words; displayed obsessive-compulsive tendencies; was obsessed with pigeons; spoke eight languages; never married; openly expressed disgust for overweight people; was a close friend of Mark Twain; famously ripped up a contract that would have made him a billionaire; lived the last ten years of his life on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker; believed women would become the dominant sex in the future; was a vegetarian.



Publicity picture of Tesla's magnifying transmitter.

Victorian Inventions

Click here for antique illustrations of bizarre Victorian inventions, like this multipurpose cane, perfect for catching butterflies, smoking a pipe, playing the flute, and measuring horses:

Freak Shows and Joseph Merrick

Freak show exhibitions became popular in the States and in the UK during the 1840s. Freak shows often exhibited medical anomalies and people who were considered "freaks of nature," like albinos, hermaphrodites, midgets, fire-eaters, sword-swallowers, etc. Freak shows were associated with traveling carnivals and circuses, and so they are still today, in some form or other. Still, their popularity began to wane in the 1970s, as awareness for the degradation of handicapped persons increased. Interestingly, a Michigan law forbids the exhibition of "any deformed human being or human monstrosity, except as used for scientific purposes."







In 1884, Joseph Merrick was billed as the Elephant Man in London's East End. Merrick was born a healthy child and only showed signs of skin deformation at the age of five. Though Merrick got his nickname from the belief that he had elephantiasis, modern scientists have speculated that he suffered from a combination of neurofibromatosis type I and Proteus syndrome. Unable to keep a job, Merrick accepted his fate as a human novelty and allowed himself to be exhibited as such. Merrick spent the last few years of his life in the hospital, as his condition worsened. Throughout his life, Merrick believed the cause of his affliction was due to maternal impression, the antiquated idea that the emotional experiences of pregnant women could have a lasting physical effect on their unborn children.



Click here for more antique images of tattooed people.