"The Foxes' Wedding" from A.B. Mitford's Tales of old Japan (1891). Full text here.
Schematic representations of ant movement, showing "regular walking" (left) and "trail-laying" (right) from Psyche v.75 (1968).
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A mountain houseleek from Henry Correvon's La flore alpine (1908)
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An "articulated wrought iron flying monster" from Loan exhibition 1893 : descriptive catalogue of works in bronze and iron loaned from the collection of Mr. Heber R. Bishop (Bishop, 1893).
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Posable paper horse with interchangeable background diagrams illustrating horse movement ("gallop" and "leap" respectively) from Eugène Alix's Le cheval (1886). Full text here.
An elaborately constructed grotto and pavilion from Victor Petit's Parcs et jardins des environs de Paris (1850s).
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A feather-worker from The book of trades, or, Library of the useful arts Part II (Tabart and Co., 1811). From the text: "The person represented in the plate is at work on a military feather ; but the feathers which are represented as in the shop window for show, are those which ladies wear in full dress."
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Illustration of anthropomorphized nightshade from Walter Crane's A flower wedding (1905).
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An octopus of the species Muusoctopus levis (referred to in the text by the outdated name "Polypus levis") from Carl Chun's The Cephalopoda (1975 translation of 1910-1914 volume). Full text here.
A black and white reproduction of a painting by "Chin-Nan-Pin" (aka Shen Quan), a Chinese painter who lived in Japan for a time in the 18th century and influenced Japanese painters of that era. From John La Farge's An artist's letters from Japan (1903).
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Illustrations of what the text refers to as “Curious Fishes” from Harry Johnston’s Marvels of the Universe v.2. From the top: 1. Sapphirine gurnard 2. Probably a yellow-fin parrotfish (referred to as a “golden-finned parrot fish” in the text) 3. Harlequin fish (referred to by the outdated name “Richardson’s plectropoma” in the text) 4. An unspecified species of blenny 5. Red velvetfish (referred to by the outdated name “Holoxenus” in the text)
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Art Nouveau inspired cake trimming patterns from Georg Steinberger’s Torten-Verzierungen (1910).
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A French jug with a snake handle deemed to be “in bad taste” by the author of Guter und schlechter Geschmack im Kunstgewerbe (Pazaurek, 1912), which translates to “Good and bad taste in arts and crafts.” The author writes: “[The jug] shows a particularly nonsensical construction, in which the spout and handle are formed by the same snake, apparently wrapped around it.”
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Playing cards theorized to be from 15th century Germany of the “acorns” suit (the four standard card suits in Germany at that time being bells, hearts, leaves, and acorns), including what appears to be an illustration of a unicorn on the two of acorns. From Samuel Weller Singer’s Researches into the history of playing cards (1886).
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A variety of possible fur patterns for Dutch and English rabbits respectively from William E. Castle’s Contributions to the genetics of the domestic rabbit (1932).
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Illustrations of insects on plants from Shunkei Mori’s 19th century book Chūka senzen.
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Costume designs by Walter Schnackenberg. Top: Knight Bluebeard (Ritter Blaubart) (character from the opera of the same name). Middle: a Salamander. Bottom: “The Blue Flame.” Full text here.
The fruit of the salmon bean tree (Archidendron vaillantii) from Frederick Bailey’s Comprehensive catalogue of Queensland plants [1909].
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Ornately decorated bedstead legs from Thomas Hendley’s Memorials of the Jeypore Exhibition 1883.
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