Sunday, April 17, 2011

A 310 year old book...

On the topics of old books, this one takes the cake, at least in my household...
This 1701 book about mythology or how they called "the heathen gods" was an amazing find back in 2006.
The Flatiron bookstore I got this from doesn't even exist anymore...
I can see why. The salesguy told me that the book was from 1801 - not the accurate 1701 the Roman numerals clearly stated... I guess if you work in a bookstore that sells rare and antique books, you would have to know Roman numerals, but... I got this book relatively cheap and who am I to contradict him, especially because he would probably raise the price!!! The book is actually from 1701 like I knew the moment I looked at it!

So, 310 years this year... So awesome, with so many antique engravings... a dream!


 Just cannot rotate this one above... dunno why... sorry...


So look at this little pile here:

If you add up the age of these books, you will have more than 700 years... Mind boggling...

My favorite flower: Hyacinths...



My antique books - more photos!!!

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Well, as you probably noticed, I am in luuuurve with my new acquisitions: my old English books from the late 1700's!
Since this is MY blog, I and I can do whatever I want with it... I will post even more pictures!

Woke up yesterday (Saturday) and found this package at my door!


And inside of it: my amazing 1785 copy of the "The European Magazine and London Review"!!!!
Chockfull of amazing information of the time and also gorgeous prints - even foldouts!!!
I was soooo thrilled! Still am... Look at my shots:


Original leather with gilt!!! From 1785!!!!




Then we have some shots of my 1794 "European Magazine" - a bit more tattered copy with some plates missing... Oh well, nothing is perfect... But amazing to read accounts of the Frenc Revolution, the execution of Marie Antoinette... so many fascinating facts...





Things of beauty... at least for me ;-)

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My passion for old books - my "new" old book!

I was on a 18th century book fever lately (see my older post) and managed to snag another priceless (at least for me!) book , for an unbelieavable price!

Since I've received my 1794 copy of "The European Magazine and London Review" last week, I've managed to find an even OLDER copy on abebooks.com - a maaaajor resource for amazing books.
I did find another copy of this wonderful magazine from 1785!!!!



The seller was amazing and did send it to me expedited...
How wonderful is to wake up on a lazy and gray Saturday and find a book that is almost 220 years waiting for you at your door???



This one I've bought on abebooks.com is incredible: the covers are in full leather with some gilt left even. The book is also in GREAT shape - with LOTS of portraits and prints - even pull on illustrations that would cost more than the book itself!!!







I am sooooo happy!

Take a quick look - I will upload more shots of the book soon...

Fashion through the ages 1700's and 1800's

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Looking for fashions for 1794 to see what people were wearing in the times of my new old book  and stumbled upon these charming History of Fashion fashion plates.

They are from the late 1880's, just loved to see a set like, showing the astonishing fashion changes in the 1700's and 1800's...

(Click and click again to see it in detail...)

 Look at this one above: it does say "Present Fashions" ! Amazing!

A thing of beauty is to see so much evolution in one place!

There is always some movie being shot in NYC!

This is one of the pros of living in NYC.
Constantly see some film being shot in here.

I even participated in one as an extra! A dream came true in 1998 when I participated in a scene (along millions of others!) for the movie "Cradle Will Rock". But this is a subject for another post! Have to dig up the shots of me styled as a 1930's gal! Stay tuned!!!

But coming back to this post...

Did you ever notice how many movies are set in New York? If you start to pay attention, you will see that many are!
One of these days, I was going back home and started seeing cranes, cameras, tons and tons of equipment and a lot of vintage 50's and 60's cars!
Just stopped on my tracks and decided to document everything (it is soooooo good to have a great camera phone - in the past I did see so many things that were not documented) :






 Frozen extras dressed in 1960's garb

Vintage cars lining the street

Heard from a production guy that this is a movie with no title as of yet and is starring James Gandolfini and Brad Garrett.

Let's stay tuned to discover more about it...

Passion for old books! "The European Magazine and London Review"

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I do have a passion for antiques and especially old books and magazines.
They are the true picture on an era, a time capsule of how people lived.
Just to touch the pages of something so old and read its contents like someone in the past did more than a 100 years ago is a big thrill for me...



Just discovered the existence of this wonderful 18th century magazine:

"The European Magazine and London Review"

Ebay can very educational!

This book is a compilation of the issues from January to June 1794...

SEVENTEEN NINETY-FOUR!!! Can you believe that? A book from almost 220 years ago!
They were reporting the French Revolution, and lamenting the execution of Marie Antoinette... America was just a super young country. These things just blow my mind...
Reading all this in archaic English... Wonder how many people have read those pages and where this book has been during all those years. The old paper, the antique type, the articles, so many thrills...
Fascinating!

Well, besides being an antiques fanatic, I am also a fashion enthusiast... So had to find a picture of what the ladies were wearing in 1794... I like to read the book and imagine what the people were wearing in those days...

Just look:


And now the BOOK itself!

Here are some shots of the amazing book I've just bought: the 1794 January to June issues of  "The European Magazine and London Review"!




 Amazing engravings... and someone during those 200+ years colored then by hand... A child perhaps?






A brief history of this magazine:


The European Magazine, and London Review was launched in January 1782, dedicated (according to its subtitle) to the mission of bringing to its readers "the Literature, History, Politics, Arts, Manners, and Amusements of the Age." Established by the journalist James Perry as the mouthpiece of the Philological Society of London, the European quickly passed under the proprietorship of the Shakespearean scholar Isaac Reed and his co-partners John Sewell and Daniel Braithwaite, who would preside over the magazine's fortunes during its first two decades. A contemporary of the Gentleman's Magazine, the EM in many ways was similar to its more famous and more successful counterpart. Like the GM, the European consisted primarily of articles and letters concerning literature, antiquarian matters, theology, science, biography, and current news, backed up by sections set aside in each monthly issue for book reviews, poetry, parliamentary reporting, theatre, and (generally) lists of births, deaths, marriages, promotions, and bankruptcies, the whole embellished with superb engravings. Like the Gentleman's Magazine, the European was nonpartisan though unswervingly loyal to Church, King, and Constitution, its editor specifically noting in 1790 that "there is not one Dissenter from the Church of England among either the Proprietors or Conductors of this Publication." Again like the GM, the European appealed primarily to a readership of clergymen, landed gentry, magistrates, physicians, antiquaries, and lovers of literature, though comparative sales figures in the late eighteenth century indicate that the EM was less successful than the GM in reaching that market, the EM's average sales totaling 3,250 to the GM's 4,550.  Unlike the GM, unfortunately, the European offers limited opportunities for identifying the authors of the letters, articles, poems, and reviews that fill its volumes, as no staff copy of the EM, annotated with the names of contributors and comparable to the Nichols File of the GM, has survived.  Though the authorship of a large proportion of the EM's nearly 50,000 pages remains unknown, a substantial number of attributions can be made based on the evidence of contemporary letters, obituaries, and literary histories; the pseudonyms and initials signed to contributions; the places whence they were sent; internal evidence contained in the items themselves; and publication data for works from which the EM reprinted excerpts.