Prints & Engravings of Famous Places

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Pictured in this entry is 1914 print depicting one of the most historical structures: The Parthenon. This ancient temple is located in the city of Athens, Greece. It is in the Acropolis and was dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena. It was built over the period 447 to 438 BC. It is considered by historians to be the most important surviving piece of architecture of classical Greece. Buildings such as these are often the subject of print makers.     

Postal History Covers

While ofen ignored by history buffs, with the exception of philatelic collectors, postal history is a great insight into the past. Postal History is the collection of mail...in the forms of letters & postcards...mailed from points all over the world to friends, relatives & business acquaintances...well, all over the world. Pictured here are a couple of examples. 

The first is a 1893 envelope from the Newton, Iowa, Knights of Pythias lodge. The stamp used was one of the Columbus Issues, a beautiful set of stamps. The envelope has a pre-printed lodge insignia on its left side.  

A second example is beautiful air mail cover commemorating the change in the postal rate for air mail service to 5-cents (those were the days) that occurred August 1, 1928. It has a rubber-stamped cachet (a graphic image of some design). It bears a beautiful airmail stamp known as  the Beacon and Rocky Mountains stamp. Just great engraving on this colorful stamp.

Third example is a 1933 rubber-stamped cachet cover commemorating the presence of the U.S. Frigate Constitution in Seattle WA. Used to pay the postage are three 1/2-cent Nathan Hale stamps. 

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Flowers of Cyprus Color Lithographs

 

 

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Here is shown two of the 40 lithographs developed for Flowers of Cyprus, a work based on the watercolor art of Electra Megaw. The lithographs depict 51 species or subspecies of wildflowers found in Cyprus, although these flowers also grow throughout the world. The prints capture beautifully the watercolor look of the original paintings. these prints are folio-sized at 11" x 19".         Plate #2: Anemone Coronaria and Plate #3: Grecian Windflower.

Beautiful Bible Leave from 1690s Bloom Bible

The engraving in my first post was one that was found in a stack of bible leaves. Above is one of these leaves (both sides shown). This double-side leaf  from what is frequently known as "Blome's Bible," after the name of the publisher, Richard Blome. The Old Testament was published in 1690 with several "2nd" editions in 1691 & 1701. The New Testament was actually published in 1688. This leave has verses from the Books of Obadiah & Jonah, specifically the entire Book of Obadiah and Jonah 1:1 to 4:2. These verses contain the story of Jonah swallowed by a giant whale.  

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My Adventure into History

I am not exactly sure when and where my interest and passion for history began. It certainly was not during my formal education period...as many of my history teachers will attest. More than likely it all started during my years of traveling in Europe as part of my previous career. During those trips I would visit museums and old bookstores. I began to buy old book, antique maps and early engravings. On every trip I tried to buy an earlier and earlier piece of history. After a while I had quite a collection. And, I mean quite a collection...thousands of books, maps, copper-plate engravings and much more. After retirement I decided to turn my hobby gone wild into an enjoyable business. So, I started an Internet business of selling my pieces of history. I called my business HistoryOnPaper and opened my store on Ebay. the rest is...History.  Sorry, I could not resist the pun.

What I hope to do with this blog is to share some of the wonderful pieces of history I have and continue to acquire. I am going to close my first blog entry with a picture of one of my most recent acquisitions.  

This is a 1690s copper-plate engraving by van Hove. It is from a copy of "Blome's Bible." It represents a verse in the book of Jonah, Chapter 3, where the people of Nineveh repent as Jonah preached to them. The print is called a copper engraving because it is printed from a copper printing plate upon which the art picture was engraved.