Active Filters:
1,720 results in English
Chronicle of Knights in Armor
This book on the proper mode of conduct for a knight was written in French in around 1410 by Christine de Pisan, Europe's first prolific and respected female author. It was translated into English and printed by William Caxton (1422?-91) in 1489 at the behest of Henry VII, who wished to make it available to English soldiers. The book contained not only rules of conduct, such as how a victorious knight should treat a prisoner of war, but also practical information that Pisan had gleaned from several classical ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Curious Designs
Braccelli’s Bizzarie di varie figure contains a suite of 50 etchings that celebrate the human figure in geometric forms. Squares, triangles, circles, and parallelograms take the place of muscle, bone, and tissue, defining the body in a new visual vocabulary. Braccelli’s designs are unique in the history of book illustration. They represent a high point in the Mannerist style of etching that flourished in the 17th century. Mannerism incorporated the techniques of the Renaissance but rejected the classical imagery and harmonious style that is the hallmark of much ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
A Catalogue of Palm-leaf and Selected Paper Manuscripts Belonging to the Durbar Library, Nepal
Mahāmahopādhyāya Hara Prasād Sastri, an Indian scholar affiliated with the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and Cecil Bendall, professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge University in England, made a research expedition to Nepal in 1898–99. A major objective of the expedition was to examine and catalog the palm-leaf manuscripts in the Durbar Library, many of which had been acquired by Mahārāja Sir Vīra Sumsher Jung Bahādur Rānā. According to Bendall, this collection, “as regards the antiquity of the documents,” was “surpassed by no Sanskrit Library known to exist.” This book, printed ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Museum: Entrance Hall, I, Algiers, Algeria
This photochrome print is from “Views of People and Sites in Algeria” in the catalog of the Detroit Photographic Company. It depicts the entrance hall and courtyard of a museum in Algiers--most likely the Musée National des Antiquités Algeriennes, opened in 1897, and described by Baedeker’s The Mediterranean (1911) as “containing the finest collection of the kind in Algeria.” The Detroit Photographic Company was launched as a photographic publishing firm in the late 1890s by Detroit businessman and publisher William A. Livingstone, Jr. and photographer and photo-publisher Edwin H ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Europe, A Prophecy
The English poet, illustrator, and engraver William Blake (1757–1827) first published Europe, A Prophecy in 1794, one year after the appearance of his America, A Prophecy. In both books, Blake attempted to discern the pattern behind human history, and in particular in the momentous events occurring on both sides of Atlantic between the end of the American Revolution in 1783 and the outbreak of war between France and Great Britain in 1793. At first an enthusiast for the French Revolution, Blake saw a world of deprivation and misery emerging ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Manuscript Catalogue of Thomas Jefferson's Library
Throughout his life, Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) collected books on a wide array of topics and in many languages. While serving as the United States minister to France during the American Revolution, he acquired thousands of books for his library at Monticello. By 1814, the final year of the War of 1812 in which the British burned Washington and the Library of Congress, Jefferson owned the largest personal collection of books in the United States. He offered to sell his library to Congress as a replacement for the collection destroyed ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Understanding the Truth, Issue 1, January 1, 1918
Têgeyştinî Rastî (Understanding the truth) was a semiweekly newspaper published by the command of the British army in Iraq in 1918–19. At the time, Britain was at war with the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled Iraq since the 16th century. When British forces began advancing north toward the Iraqi Kurdistan region in the spring of 1918, the paper became the mouthpiece of the British Empire, propagandizing in support of British positions when dealing with political, social, and cultural issues. The paper sold for one ana, or four fils, a ...
Contributed by
Iraqi National Library and Archives
Gospel Book from the Bamberg Cathedral (Reichenau Gospel)
The gospel from the cathedral of Bamberg is one of the most important masterpieces of book painting from the Benedictine abbey on the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance in southern Germany. In the 10th and 11th centuries, this abbey was the site of what was probably Europe’s largest and most influential school of book illumination. Book production reached its artistic peak between around 970 and 1010–1020, a period known as the Ottonian Renaissance (after Otto I, Otto II, and Otto III, German kings and Holy Roman Emperors ...
Contributed by
Bavarian State Library
The History of Bologna in Four Books. Poems to Galeatius Marescottus
Under the influence of Italian humanism and of his book-collector tutor János Vitéz, the Archbishop of Esztergom, Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (1443–1490), developed a passion for books and learning. Elected king of Hungary in 1458 at the age of 14, Matthias won great acclaim for his battles against the Ottoman Turks and his patronage of learning and science. He created the Bibliotheca Corviniana, in its day one of Europe’s finest libraries. After his death, and especially after the conquest of Buda by the Turks in 1541, the library ...
Contributed by
Bavarian State Library
Notes to the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, Edited with Supplements
Even though the title indicates that this work is a supplement to Quan shu bei kao (Notes to the complete library of the four treasures), the existence of such a work cannot be confirmed. This edition contains very finely executed illustrations, which are of sociological and historical as well as artistic importance. Each volume has an inscription certifying that the volume was produced by Zheng Shangxuan at the printing shop, Ren Rui Tang (Hall of auspicious mankind). The contents of the work were mostly taken from Bu qiu ren (Not ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
American Library Association, Library War Service
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the American Library Association established a Committee on Mobilization and War Service Plans, which was invited by the Department of War’s Commission on Training Camp Activities to provide library services to U.S. soldiers and sailors in the United States and overseas. ALA's wartime program became known as the Library War Service and was directed by Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress. Between 1917 and 1920, ALA mounted two financial campaigns and raised $5 million from public donations, erected ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Old Gospel. Manuscript. Russian Empire
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Old Gospel. Binding. Russian Empire
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Gospel and the Tabernacle in the Church of the Nativity of Christ. Krokhino, Russian Empire
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Gospel Belonging to the Nun Varsanofiia, the Tsarevnas' Governess. Trinity Monastery, Aleksandrov
From 1909 to 1912, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) made several trips to the territory around the Ural Mountains, where he photographed railroad installations, factories, urban settings, and natural scenes. In 1911 Prokudin-Gorskii visited the town of Aleksandrov, northeast of Moscow in Vladimir province. Settled by the 14th century, the village was deeded by Grand Duke Ivan III in 1504 to his son Vasily. After his accession to the Muscovite throne in 1505, Vasily III converted the site, known as Aleksandrova Sloboda, into a hunting estate in 1509 ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Pictures from the 1603 Gospel. In the Vestry of the Ipatevskii Monastery. Kostroma
In 1911, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) visited the town of Kostroma and photographed at the Trinity-Ipat’evskii Monastery. The monastery received lavish gifts during the 16th century from the Godunov family, which produced Tsar Boris Godunov (1552–1605). The Godunovs considered the founder of the monastery to be their Tatar ancestor Murza Chet, who in 1330 left the Mongol Golden Horde for the court of Muscovite Prince Ivan Kalita. He was said to have accepted Christianity after seeing a vision of Mary flanked by Saints Philip and ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Pictures from the 1603 Gospel. In the Vestry of the Ipatevskii Monastery. Kostroma
In 1911, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) visited the town of Kostroma and photographed at the Trinity-Ipat’evskii Monastery. According to tradition, the monastery was founded by the Tatar noble Murza Chet, who in 1330 left the Mongol Golden Horde for the court of Muscovite Prince Ivan Kalita. Considered the ancestor of the Godunov family, which produced Tsar Boris Gudonov (1552–1605), Chet was said to have accepted Christianity after seeing a vision of Mary flanked by Saints Philip and Hypatius. This photograph shows an illumination from a ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Pictures from the 1603 Gospel. In the Vestry of the Ipatevskii Monastery. Kostroma
In 1911, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) visited the town of Kostroma and photographed at the Trinity-Ipat’evskii Monastery. The monastery received lavish gifts during the 16th century from the Godunov family, which produced Tsar Boris Godunov (1552–1605). The Godunovs considered the founder of the monastery to be their Tatar ancestor Murza Chet, who in 1330 left the Mongol Golden Horde for the court of Muscovite Prince Ivan Kalita. He is said to have accepted Christianity after seeing a vision of Mary flanked by Saints Philip and ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Pictures from the 1603 Gospel. In the Vestry of the Ipatevskii Monastery. Kostroma
In 1911, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) visited the town of Kostroma and photographed at the Trinity-Ipat’evskii Monastery. Founded as early as the late 13th century, the monastery received lavish gifts in the 16th century from the Godunov family, relatives of Tsar Boris Godunov (1552–1605). This photograph shows a colored miniature from a large 1603 copy of the Gospels held in the monastery treasury. The book was intended for service at the altar. The image, edged with a decorative border, depicts the Evangelist Mark writing his ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Pictures from the 1603 Gospel. In the Vestry of the Ipatevskii Monastery. Kostroma
In 1911, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) visited the town of Kostroma and photographed at the Trinity-Ipat’evskii Monastery. Founded as early as the late 13th century, the monastery received lavish gifts in the 16th century from the Godunov family, relatives of Tsar Boris Godunov (1552–1605). This photograph shows a miniature from a large 1603 copy of the Gospels held in the monastery treasury. The book was intended for service at the altar. This illustration, edged with a decorative border, depicts the Evangelist Luke writing his gospel ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Pictures from the 1603 Gospel. In the Vestry of the Ipatevskii Monastery. Kostroma
In 1911, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) visited the town of Kostroma and photographed at the Trinity-Ipat’evskii Monastery. Founded as early as the late 13th century, the monastery received lavish gifts in the 16th century from the Godunov family, relatives of Tsar Boris Godunov (1552–1605). This photograph shows a miniature from a large 1603 copy of the Gospels held in the monastery treasury. The book was intended for service at the altar. The illustration, edged with a decorative border, depicts the Evangelist Matthew writing his gospel ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Pictures from the 1603 Gospel. In the Vestry of the Ipatevskii Monastery. Kostroma
In 1911, Russian photographer Sergei MIkhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) visited the town of Kostroma and photographed at the Trinity-Ipat’evskii Monastery. This photograph shows an illustrated page from a large 1603 copy of the Gospels donated by the boyar Ivan Ivanovich Godunov and intended for altar service. At the top of this miniature are scenes from the Nativity, including the Flight into Egypt (lower left of top panel), the massacre of the innocents, the Three Wise Men and the Adoration of the Magi, with the Nativity scene in the middle ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Picture from the 1603 Gospel. In the Vestry of the Ipatevskii Monastery. Kostroma
In 1911, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) visited the town of Kostroma, where he photographed at the Trinity-Ipat’evskii Monastery. This photograph shows an illuminated page from a large 1603 copy of the Gospels donated by the boyar Ivan Ivanovich Godunov and intended for altar service. This page is devoted to the life and genealogy of Mary Theotokos (Mother of God). At the top of the miniature are three related scenes (from left): the Nativity of Mary with a depiction of St. Anne; the Annunciation; and the Purification ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Gospel Belonging to Metropolitan Iona. In the Vestry of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. Rostov Velikii
In 1911, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) visited Rostov the Great, located some 210 kilometers northeast of Moscow. Its main landmark is the kremlin (citadel), also known as the Court of the Metropolitan, constructed primarily in the 1670s and 1680s by Metropolitan Jonah Sysoevich (circa 1607–90). With the transfer of the metropolitanate from Rostov to Yaroslavl in 1787, the kremlin fell into decay. In the late 19th century, local merchants gathered funds to maintain the ensemble, and in 1883 the White Chamber opened as a museum of ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Document Issued by Saint Dimitri, Metropolitan of Rostov, with His Autograph, from 1705. Museum Inventory Number 3081. In the Rostov Museum. Rostov Velikii
In 1911, Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) visited Rostov the Great, located some 210 kilometers northeast of Moscow. Its main landmark is the kremlin (citadel), more precisely known as the Court of the Metropolitan, constructed primarily in the 1670s and 1680s by the powerful prelate Metropolitan Jonah Sysoevich (circa 1607–90). With the transfer of the Metropolitanate from Rostov to Yaroslavl in 1787, the kremlin fell into decay. In 1883, the White Chamber, built as a banquet hall for the Metropolitan of Rostov, opened as a museum of ...
Contributed by
Library of Congress
Records of the Southern Song Imperial Library
This work is an account of the Imperial Library (Zhong xing guan) during the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). It was compiled by Chen Gui (1128–1203), who received the jin shi degree in 1150 and became an official at the library. Issued circa 1265–74, it traces the history of the Imperial Library from the beginning of the Southern Song. The work records the names of library officials, their stipends, their positions, and their daily activities; and provides information on the library’s basic functions, including book acquisition and ...
Contributed by
National Central Library
The Meccan Revelations
Muḥyiddin ibn Arabi (1165–1240 AD, 560–638 AH), also known as al-Shaykh al-Akbar (the Great Shaykh), was a Muslim mystic and philosopher of Andalusian origin. He was born in Murcia but his family later moved to Seville. Ibn Arabi’s life was divided almost equally between West and East. After traveling extensively in North Africa, he embarked on a spiritual journey from his native Spain. He arrived in Mecca in 1202, where he spent three years. He then spent years traveling in Syria, Palestine, Iraq, and Turkey. He died ...
Contributed by
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
The Golden Encyclopedia of Islamic Sciences
Born in Cairo and educated in Egypt, the United States, and Great Britain, Dr. Fatima Mahjoub is a historian, linguist, and author specializing in encyclopedias. Al-mawsoo’a al-thahabiya lil ‘aloom al-Islamiya (The golden encyclopedia of Islamic sciences) is one of three encyclopedias she has written. Organized according to the Arabic alphabet and published in nine volumes, the work covers nine branches or fields of Islamic scholarship in religious studies, such as Quran exegesis, Islamic doctrine, and Islamic jurisprudence. The encyclopedia also includes entries on sciences in which Muslim scholars excelled ...
Contributed by
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
The Catalog
Abu al-Faraj Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn al-Nadim, also known simply as Ibn al-Nadim (935–95 AD), was an Arab author, bookseller, and calligrapher. He lived in Baghdad, and briefly in Mosul, during the middle Abbasid era and, like his father, made a living from copying manuscripts for sale. Al-Fihrist, sometimes also referred to as Kitab al-fihrist (The catalog), is an index of all books written at the time in Arabic, by both Arab and non-Arab authors. It contains ten discourses. The subjects they cover are the ...
Contributed by
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
The Acts and the Epistles of the Apostles
The Acts and the Epistles of the Apostles, also known as the Apostle, is the first dated imprint published on the territory of present-day Ukraine. Written in Church Slavic, the liturgical language of the Orthodox Church in Russia, Ukraine, and other Slavic-speaking countries, it was printed in 1574 at the Saint Onuphrius Monastery in Lviv by Ivan Fyodorov (circa 1510-83). One of the fathers of printing in the East Slavic region, Fyodorov graduated from Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, and later worked in Moscow, where he published liturgical works using ...
Contributed by
V.I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine
Locomotive: Newspaper for the Political Education of the People, No. 1, April 1, 1848
The radical 1848 newspaper Locomotive is the most important journalistic work of Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander Held (1813–72). After pursuing a military career as an officer in the Prussian army, Held returned to civilian life and worked for a time as an actor and writer. In 1843, he moved to Leipzig where he published the newspaper, Die Lokomotive (The locomotive). The paper quickly achieved success, its circulation reaching some 12,000 copies per day. His paper was soon banned, even though Held was less a political radical than an advocate ...
Contributed by
Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
Qajar Album
This small Qajar album from the time of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (1772–1834; ruled, 1797–1834) combines calligraphic art from various epochs with early 19th-century illustrations of high artistic quality. Although the depiction of persons is standardized and lacks individuality, the use of perspective, especially in the background, reveals European influence. Two of the miniatures portray princely scions dressed in expensive robes. Two other pages are dedicated to one of the most popular motifs of Persian book painting: the love of the nightingale for the rose, a symbol of unconditional ...
Contributed by
Bavarian State Library
Art of Dying
Block books are slim volumes, typically comprising 20 to 50 pages, produced by cutting text and images into wooden blocks (a process known as xylography). The production of block books reached its peak at a time when printing with metal letters (moveable type) was already established, around the 1460s–1470s. Worldwide only about 600 block book copies have survived, and they are among the rarest and most precious products of the printing press. The Bavarian State Library holds 40 of these books and eight fragments. Only a limited number of ...
Contributed by
Bavarian State Library
The Dance of Death
Block books are slim volumes, typically comprising 20 to 50 pages, produced by cutting text and images into wooden blocks (a process known as xylography). The production of block books reached its peak at a time when printing with metal letters (moveable type) was already established, around the 1460s–1470s. Worldwide only about 600 block book copies have survived, and they are among the rarest and most precious products of the printing press. The Bavarian State Library holds 40 of these books and eight fragments. Totentanz (The dance of death ...
Contributed by
Bavarian State Library
La Première Ligne: Organ of the 25th Battery of the 3rd Colonial Artillery. Number 19, March 1, 1916
La première ligne (Front line) is the trench journal published by the 25th Battery of the Third Colonial Artillery Regiment of the French armed forces during World War I. Trench journals were produced by and for soldiers at the front and were known for their black humor, portrayal of life on the front lines, poems, drawings, and other features. The journal appeared, usually on a bi-monthly basis, and each issue ran to four pages. It was produced on a simple duplicating apparatus, most likely a mimeograph machine. The Third Colonial ...
Contributed by
National Library of France
La Première Ligne: Organ of the 25th Battery of the 3rd Colonial Artillery. Number 20, March 8, 1916
La première ligne (Front line) is the trench journal published by the 25th Battery of the Third Colonial Artillery Regiment of the French armed forces during World War I. Trench journals were produced by and for soldiers at the front and were known for their black humor, portrayal of life on the front lines, poems, drawings, and other features. The journal appeared, usually on a bi-monthly basis, and each issue ran to four pages. It was produced on a simple duplicating apparatus, most likely a mimeograph machine. The Third Colonial ...
Contributed by
National Library of France
La Première Ligne: Organ of the 25th Battery of the 3rd Colonial Artillery. Number 21, March 15, 1916
La première ligne (Front line) is the trench journal published by the 25th Battery of the Third Colonial Artillery Regiment of the French armed forces during World War I. Trench journals were produced by and for soldiers at the front and were known for their black humor, portrayal of life on the front lines, poems, drawings, and other features. The journal appeared, usually on a bi-monthly basis, and each issue ran to four pages. It was produced on a simple duplicating apparatus, most likely a mimeograph machine. The Third Colonial ...
Contributed by
National Library of France
La Première Ligne: Organ of the 25th Battery of the 3rd Colonial Artillery. Number 22, March 25, 1916
La première ligne (Front line) is the trench journal published by the 25th Battery of the Third Colonial Artillery Regiment of the French armed forces during World War I. Trench journals were produced by and for soldiers at the front and were known for their black humor, portrayal of life on the front lines, poems, drawings, and other features. The journal appeared, usually on a bi-monthly basis, and each issue ran to four pages. It was produced on a simple duplicating apparatus, most likely a mimeograph machine. The Third Colonial ...
Contributed by
National Library of France
La Première Ligne: Organ of the 25th Battery of the 3rd Colonial Artillery. Number 23, April 1, 1916
La première ligne (Front line) is the trench journal published by the 25th Battery of the Third Colonial Artillery Regiment of the French armed forces during World War I. Trench journals were produced by and for soldiers at the front and were known for their black humor, portrayal of life on the front lines, poems, drawings, and other features. The journal appeared, usually on a bi-monthly basis, and each issue ran to four pages. It was produced on a simple duplicating apparatus, most likely a mimeograph machine. The Third Colonial ...
Contributed by
National Library of France
La Première Ligne: Organ of the 25th Battery of the 3rd Colonial Artillery. Number 24, April 8, 1916
La première ligne (Front line) is the trench journal published by the 25th Battery of the Third Colonial Artillery Regiment of the French armed forces during World War I. Trench journals were produced by and for soldiers at the front and were known for their black humor, portrayal of life on the front lines, poems, drawings, and other features. The journal appeared, usually on a bi-monthly basis, and each issue ran to four pages. It was produced on a simple duplicating apparatus, most likely a mimeograph machine. The Third Colonial ...
Contributed by
National Library of France
The Ledger Polka
This lithograph from circa 1849 is the cover illustration to the sheet music “The Ledger Polka,” composed by Ja’s [James] Bellak and dedicated to the readers of the Public Ledger, a Philadelphia daily newspaper. The print shows a group of comically-portrayed men dressed in top hats and suits surrounding a man reading the Public Ledger. The group stands on the corner in front of the office of the newspaper, located at 300 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. (Newspaper operations were based out of this Chestnut Street office from 1840 to ...
Contributed by
The Library Company of Philadelphia
Creations, 1906–1908
Creations was a magazine produced by Hylaea, а Russian futurist group of which Velimir Khlebnikov (born Viktor Khlebnikov, 1885–1922) was one of the leading figures. This issue includes Khlebnikov’s poems, poetical fragments, and his play, The Little Devil. His works are preceded by two introductions, one by David Burliuk and another by Vasily Kamensky, both of whom were associated with Hylaea. They emphasize Khlebnikov’s talent and credit him with liberating words and imbuing them with grand meaning. Creations was illustrated by David and Vladimir Burliuk. Khlebnikov was ...
Contributed by
National Library of Russia