13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol.752)

1. Forgotten Victorian hobby: seaweed herbariums bound in scallop shells View this post on Instagram A post shared by @templeofleaves Found one for sale here. 2. The surrealist set design of Charles Kaisin for Casino de Monte-Carlo, 2017 More of Kaisin’s surreal dinners & installations found here. 3. Costume portraits for Face the Music, a…

Coins of Desire: The Erotic Currency of Parisian Brothels

Not all antiques clink with noble history. Some carry a more risqué past, whispering of velvet curtains, candlelit parlors, and the secret economies of Paris by night. Among them are the curious “jetons de maison close” (brothel tokens) — currency that look at first like ordinary coins, stamped with imperial profiles or decorative motifs, but…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 751)

1. Truth Windows A traditional feature of strawbale houses is the truth window – a small section of a wall that is left unplastered on the interior, and a frame is used to show the walls are actually made from straw bales for insulation. Truth windows often take on the role of an altar, bringing gratitude for the…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 750)

1. These incredibly vibrant portraits of 1930s High Society by Madame Yevonde A forgotten master of her trade: Yevonde Philone Middleton (née Cumbers; 5 January 1893, Streatham – 22 December 1975, London), English photographer, a pioneer in the use of color in portrait photography. She used the professional name Madame Yevonde or simply Yevonde in…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 749)

1. Trees for dancing in Tanzlinden are trees designed for dancing in. Found across Germany, the oldest is from the 1680s. The branches envelop a platform for meeting & dancing. Found on Present & Correct. 2. A spotlight on the sets of Sesame Street Over its several decades, the show’s setting has always been both…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 748)

1. Captivating pre-war Still Life works of this lesser-known French photographer Louis-Victor-Emmanuel Sougez (1889 – 1972) was a French photographer born in Bordeaux, who enrolled at age 15 at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, where he studied art, but soon abandoned that to concentrate on photography. After the First World War, became a freelance photographer, based…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 747)

1. This is Japan’s Answer to Playboy magazine: weekly animal themed erotica! Find more on the Casual Archivist, found via Present & Correct. 2. Not Dolls’ Clothes: a bridal “catalogue” crafted by an Armenian seamstress in the 1930s Uncovering a 19th-Century Textile Treasure at the British Museum… Originally catalogued in 1934 as dolls’ clothing, this…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 746)

Celebrating all things French and Parisian for our special Bastille Day edition of weekly distractions… 1. Paris Is A Woman’s Town, 1929 Cover art for Paris is a Woman’s Town, by Helen Josephy and Mary Margaret McBride (1929), published as a guidebook aimed at American women traveling to Paris. A chapter on daytime fun starts with 5 pages…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 745)

1. Word of the day: Xylarium – Library of Wood This one is in Canberra, it has 47000 samples. Found on Present & Correct. 2. Couldn’t think of a better way to beautify blank walls: French artist Mantra paints photo-realistic murals that look like massive butterfly specimen display frames. Found on Kottke. 3. Rabbit charioteer from…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 744)

1. Summer restaurant goals Chef Dean Baldwin Lew was looking to host a dinner of an invasive species. The Ministry of Natural Resources told him that it was illegal to carry the Rusty Crawfish over land as a single pregnant animal could extend the population to another watershed. His only option to cook & serve…