Wednesday, June 27, 2007

before the surrealists...

astronomybox2

astronomybox1

two images from the beautiful 1897 book "new astronomy" by professor david p. todd...

the top image (which looks a bit like a johannes itten bauhaus exercise) shows how to find "true north" using a desk and the path of the sun moving through morning and afternoon.

the bottom image (which reminds me of a magritte painting as well as this one by max ernst) shows how to find "accurate time", again using the sun; but also a few plumb lines and a "strong box" wedged into an open window frame.

there are so many amazing images in this book that i'm certain to post more in the future...

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4 Comments:

Blogger woolgathersome said...

Yes, I AM getting this book, right now (if just for these images).... Beautiful!

p.s. lovely sea sounds and texts posted today...

12:03 PM  
Blogger sroden said...

yes, it is amazing. these are probably the best, but don't prepare for other totally different things, one color, and some great engraving type line drawings, maps, etc. we can have post wars once you get it, there are about 40 copies on abe, some of which are as cheap as $5...! this is the blue cover with glit image, no dj version :-)

5:00 PM  
Blogger woolgathersome said...

It's on the way... though you may have competition sooner, as I saw some amazing astronomy prints today (probably taken from a broken book) that I will be posting soon (hopefully)...

6:18 PM  
Blogger sroden said...

can't wait to see what you've come up with!

10:55 PM  

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